Leaked rejected Hurricanes proposals prove that NO vote was to avoid Rangers

If there was any doubt that Carolina voted “no” to the Return to Play format to avoid the Rangers in the play-in round, that was put to bed by Elliotte Friedman today. In what can only be described as two of the most ludicrous proposals I’ve heard to date, apparently for Carolina it’s only about fairness to them.

Rejected Proposals

When you read the two proposals which were rightfully rejected, you will immediately understand why.

A few sources hinted at a “Carolina plan” setting up the playoffs. The Hurricanes politely declined to share a copy of what was proposed, but I’ve asked around and got two different ideas. Some of it was submitted directly by the team to the league, some of it via players through the union. 

One suggestion: Instead of a play-in round, weight the 12 teams in each conference by the percentage chance they had to make the final 16. Each team would then play three games, leading to the “final” regular-season standings. Therefore, instead of Chicago and Montreal getting closer to a 50 per cent chance of making the playoffs, their odds would remain at three per cent and 0.1 per cent, respectively. 

A second suggestion was to force their play-in opponent, the Rangers, to win four of the five games. If Carolina won twice in that scenario, the series would have been over and the Hurricanes would have automatically advanced. Both proposals were rejected.

31 Thoughts

A team source I spoke with verified that this is “100% accurate”. It does make one wonder if the league would’ve considered option two, Carolina may have then proposed the Rangers play shorthanded for the entirety of each game.

Brind’Amour (Getty Images)

At this point, the Hurricanes deserve all the abuse they are getting for this. But like I wrote earlier, the Rangers won’t be distracted. They view this as a tremendous opportunity and one that will be a great experience for the entire organization at this stage of the rebuild.

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Anthony Scultore has been covering the New York Rangers and the NHL since 2014. His work also appears at... More about Anthony Scultore

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