NHL fans bash Gary Bettman for "single handedly ruined and ruining this sport" after his 'emphatic' response to changing current playoff format

NHL fans on social media bashed league commissioner Gary Bettman after his emphatic "no" when questioned about potential changes to the current Stanley Cup playoff format.

With the NHL playoffs just less than a month away, TSN hockey insider Pierre LeBrun posed several questions to Bettman, including one about the possibility of making changes to the current playoff structure.

The league has utilized a bracketed system based on division standings for the first two rounds since the 2013-14 season, moving away from the previous 1-8 seeding in each conference.

Gary Bettman made it clear that he is content with the existing format and sees no need for changes. Here's how fans on X (formerly Twitter) reacted to Bettman's response.

One tweeted:

"Single handedly ruining and ruined this sport."

Another chimed in:

"Lol. The playoff format is horrible, you know most of the match-ups by December."

Here are some of the other top reactions on X:

"Bettman sucks. Fans hate the current format where we see the same stale playoff matchups and some teams are locked into matchups weeks if not months in advance," a third fan posted.

"Current format sucks. Used to be so much better. Maybe he should do a fan poll and see how much more popular the old format was," another opined.

"There is a reason why Gary is met with a chorus of Boo's every time he makes a public appearance. And this is one of them," one disgruntled fan said.

"He likes the format? An out of touch comment… read the room Gary," another chimed in.

Gary Bettman says they will evaluate NHL All-Star after 4 Nations Face-Off set a new standard

The 2025 NHL All-Star event was replaced by the 4 Nations Face-Off best-on-best tournament, featuring Canada, the USA, Sweden, and Finland.

The event was a huge success, culminating in Canada defeating the USA 2-1 in the final. Commissioner Gary Bettman stated that the format of the All-Star event is now under review following the high standards set by the 4 Nations Face-Off.

"We're reevaluating how we want to do things, because I think we've raised the bar about as high as you can for an all-star game in any sport," Bettman said via TSN. "And so we want to make sure whatever we do is up to the standards that we've created."

Gary Bettman also mentioned an obligation to provide an event for the New York Islanders, emphasizing that decisions are still being made and he preferred not to speculate on future plans at the time.