What Could an NHL In-Season Tournament Look Like?

The 2023-24 NBA season has seen the introduction of an in-season tournament that has added a new twist—and excitement—to the league.

The early returns have been very promising, and the players seem to be all about it.

Especially with a cash reward for the teams that advance, and particularly for the winning squad at the end of it.

Just look at the crowd and player reactions from Monday night in Indianapolis as the Indiana Pacers knocked out the Boston Celtics for an example of how much everybody already cares.

If there is one thing that is consistently true about professional sports, it is that entities tend to be copycats and will try to adopt something that works. So it is only fair to wonder if the NHL would ever consider introducing its own version of an in-season tournament and what it could look like.

The NBA's tournament uses a format that includes round-robin group play followed by a single-elimination knockout phase leading up to the championship. Every game and its stats count toward the regular-season standings, with the exception of the final.

The NBA also gave the games a unique feel with custom courts that blasted fans and TV viewers with bright colors and City edition uniforms.

Hockey's Ace in the Hole

The NHL could follow a similar format in terms of the overall construction of a tournament (round-robin group play and knockout elimination rounds) and count games and stats toward the regular-season standings.

But there is something else the NHL could try to bring in even more interest.

Make the tournament—or at least the bulk of it—centered around its outdoor games, eventually leading to a championship game in the Winter Classic.

Does that seem daunting? Sure! Possible? Maybe not. But we are just floating ideas here, and that would be a potentially fun one.

The logistics of it might not be possible for every team to play every game in an outdoor setting, but you could at least play a significant portion of them there. It would not only bring a new element to the league—the tournament itself—but also give fans across the NHL the opportunity to experience outdoor games (something many have missed out on as the same handful of teams and venues seem to get them). It might also help to recharge interest in the league's outdoor games.

The obvious question is how do you squeeze an entire tournament into what is already a marathon of a season, but other sports—including the NBA—have found a way to make it work.

European soccer, for example, has several in-season tournaments taking place around each club's regular season, ranging from the Champions League, to the Europa League, to the EFL Cup.

Some potential ideas for the NHL to make it all feasible:

• For one, group-play games would simply be part of the 82-game schedule. So unless a team makes it through to the knockout round, those games are not really adding any additional workload for the players.
• The NBA spaced group-play games throughout November, seamlessly weaving them into the traditional schedule. 
• For teams that do make it to the knockout round, the league could decide to count the individual player's stats for the regular-season totals, but not count the points in the standings to keep everything even among all teams in terms of playoff standings. (Or, if the league wanted to cause chaos and add incentive for teams to want to do well in the tournament, those points could still count and give teams that make it through to the knockout round an added advantage to keep adding points to their standings.)
• The NBA's tournament championship game is set for a neutral site in Las Vegas. This is where the NHL could work in the Winter Classic and use that location as its championship game setting. So whether it is an NFL stadium, a baseball stadium, a college football stadium, a race track or something in between, that is the destination for the championship. There would probably need to be some space between the semifinals and that championship game (at least a few weeks or even a month), but it would add a different—and potentially meaningful—twist to the Winter Classic.

Sticking with the outdoor theme, there could be a couple of potential ways to do this to make it work logistically. Because let's be honest: 32 different outdoor sites at the same time would be a daunting task for the league (even if it would also be a lot of fun).

One potential option: neutral hubs where multiple teams play their group-stage games.

Enough teams are close together that it would be possible to host a handful of teams from a particular region. One of the New York stadiums could host the Rangers, Islanders, Flyers, Devils, Capitals and Bruins.

Pittsburgh, Detroit, Columbus and Buffalo are all relatively close together and could be hosted in Pittsburgh's PNC Park, the Horseshoe in Columbus, Ohio, or Comerica Park in Detroit.

Vegas, Arizona, Los Angeles and Anaheim could share a hub. You could even channel the NHL's first attempt at an outdoor game and use something like Caesar's Palace and host teams in unique settings that are not necessarily traditional stadiums. The Washington Mall? The Rideau Canal in Ottawa? The options are limitless.

Even though it would not give every fan the chance to see an outdoor game at home in their home stadium or city, it would still create more opportunities for more people across the league to get the outdoor experience.

There would also be the potential for another round of new uniforms for teams to introduce for their tournament games. Alternate uniforms have always been a staple with the league's outdoor games, and it is always an opportunity for the NHL to sell significant amounts of new merchandise.

Everybody loves playoff hockey, and even though a new in-season tournament would not quite duplicate the experience of playoff hockey or a Stanley Cup Final, anytime you give teams an opportunity to play an elimination game of any kind or play for some sort of a trophy or championship, there is going to be extra intensity and passion.

We have already seen that play out with some of the intensity and crowd atmospheres in the NBA's knockout stage, and it would help add a little more importance to your random, run-of-the-mill games in November or December that teams and fans have a tendency to sleep-walk through.

It would not only add excitement for fans, it could also bring new opportunities for players.

It could present a chance for a fringe playoff team to get hot and go on a roll, or perhaps galvanize a team that is struggling. Neither the Pacers nor Pelicans are overall championship contenders, but they're making a push for the NBA Cup.

The NHL's young, rising stars might have an opportunity to have a big moment and make a name for themselves.

It could give the league's established stars more of an opportunity to add another moment to their resumes.

Teams and fans that do not always get a taste of the national spotlight could get more leaguewide appeal.

If all of that isn't enough motivation for players, there is the ultimate inducement.

Money.

Cold, hard cash.

In the NBA, players on the winning team get $500,000, while the losing team in the championship game gets an extra $200,000. Semifinalists also get a $100,000 bonus.

Even for professional athletes—and especially players who might be on entry-level deals or making closer to the league minimum—an extra $500,000 is a pretty enticing motivating factor.

As it stands, the NHL has shown no real interest in following in the NBA's footsteps with the tournament. Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said before the season that it was not a consideration at that point. But if the NBA has success with its first run with it—and so far, it has—then you can be sure that the NHL will consider changing its mind at some point and investigating the possibility, no matter what the format looks like.

There is not only an opportunity for added excitement and more big moments, but also for added revenue.

No league is ever going to turn that down forever.