Yeah - real leagues seed their teams 1-8 per conference. The way the NHL does it makes no sense. I couldn't tell you why the SHL does it (I truly don't know). It punishes the good teams (but not the best teams) - especially the ones in the tougher divisions. That makes me think it was implemented to grasp at some semblance of parity but it just results in the same old first and even second round matchups every season. It's terrible and I hate it.