It's funny to think about how the C's playoff path would have been different had they not changed the rules in recent years.
Up until the 2007 season, the 3 division winners were guaranteed the 3 top seeds. So under those rules it would have been:
1. TOR vs 8. WAS
4. BOS vs 5. PHI
2. CLE vs 7. MIL
3. MIA vs 6. IND
I feel like this would be the hardest path for Boston, easiest path for Cleveland. I guess I'm getting old, because it seems like just a few seasons ago when those were still the rules.
Then up until the 2016 season, it was division winners were guaranteed a top 4 seed. So it would have been
1. TOR vs 8. WAS
4. MIA vs 5. PHI (though Philly would still have home court).
2. BOS vs 7. MIL
3. CLE vs 6. IND
Not like any path is going to be easy for the hobbled C's, but I still prefer the actual, current bracket to this one (from a C's fan perspective at least).
Just thought it might be interesting to look at how different the brackets would look under past rules. I really want to see a CLE/PHI matchup, just not in the ECF, under no scenario did that pop up though.