Playoff pick 'em

Conversely, the NFL jerseys Detroit Red Wings and Vancouver Canucks finished behind the Sharks in the standings, but they cruised through the first round with easy sweeps.
Last night, the Sedin twins were likely enjoying some sushi in Yaletown, while Joe Thornton was trading punches with Ryan Getzlaf.
This hardly seems fair.
I actually didn't go to Washington for Game 5 since we didn't have any news shows on Saturday night. I ended up staying in the Steel City and watching the game from Jerome Bettis' bar next to Heinz Field.
Why should the Presidents' Trophy winners draw Anaheim -- the most dangerous team in the bottom half of the conference? Meanwhile, the Red Wings and Canucks essentially got first-round byes with the Blue Jackets and Blues respectively.
The NHL has talked about making the regular season more relevant and meaningful. If they truly believe in this notion, it's time to re-visit the idea of allowing the top teams to pick their playoff opponent.

In the NHL, the top three teams in each conference would get to pick their opponent. The fourth seed would still get home-ice advantage in the first round and play whichever team was left. The "Pick-Your-Opponent" rule would only be in effect for the first round of the playoffs.
This year for example, it's clearly obvious that the Sharks would have picked either St. Louis or Columbus to face, considering the Ducks won a Stanley Cup just 22 months ago. We all knew that Anaheim was the team you wanted to avoid in the first round.
There would also be the added intrigue and tension from the lower-seeded teams feeling slighted. St. Louis would be offended to be the No. 6 seed and chosen as the opponent by San Jose this year. It would inject instant flavour to a series that might otherwise be devoid of emotion.

It's a simple formula that is actually being used in the NBA's Developmental League this year. (And yes, I'm a big believer in the following philosophy: If it's good enough for the NBA D-League, it's good enough for me).

And think of the television potential for this type of format. The league could televise "Selection Sunday" on the final day of the regular season. How cool would it be to see Peter Chiarelli ready to flip a card over with the identity of the Bruins first-round opponent? Would they take the Habs? Or would they opt for another team that didn't have such a great playoff record against them? It would be an awesome spectacle and every hockey fan would surely tune in.

So who's with me on this one? I have a feeling that Canucks fans might not be ...
Teams could also pick their first-round opponent based on geography. Let's use the Detroit Red Wings as an example for this idea. Since the NHL switched to its current playoff format back in 1994, the Red Wings have been eliminated in the first round four times. In each of those instances, Detroit was knocked out by a western-based team: San Jose (1994), Los Angeles (2001), Anaheim (2003) and Edmonton (2006). I'm not saying that travel was the only reason why the Wings lost their first-round series to those inferior teams, but it does make you wonde