VIDEO: Cloutier calls for change as Stingrays plot play-off surprise

Hull player-coach Cloutier has been preparing his team all week for a two-legged play-off quarter-final against regular season runners-up Sheffield Steelers.

But the 38-year-old Canadian believes the current system should be ditched in favour of the more traditional series-based format favoured by almost every other league in the world, including the NHL.

Such a move would mean an end to the play-off finals weekend, which proves popular with fans from all teams in the Elite League.

It is at the season finale in Nottingham next weekend that Cloutier is hoping to take his Hull side, who finished seventh at the end of the regular season and are faced with a Steelers side desperate to salvage something from what has so far been a trophy-less campaign.

“I don’t like the current format at all,” said Cloutier, whose future at Hull, along with the ownership of the club, has been thrown into doubt in recent days.

“Everywhere else in Europe and North America has proper (best-of-five) play-off series between teams and I think that would work better over here. You’d perhaps have to cut down the regular season slightly, but I think it would be better for the fans and finanically for the clubs who make the post-season.

“I know a lot of leagues go for a best-of seven-game series in each round, but you could maybe make it less here – possibly start off with a three-game series in the first round, then five games in the semi-finals and then a seven-game series for the two teams who make it through to the end.”

Cloutier’s team enjoy home ice advantage in tonight’s first leg and welcome a Steelers line-up rocked by the sacking earlier this week of forward Colt King.

But Cloutier, whose team have won their last two home games – including a 4-3 win over the Steelers – says their personnel changes will make no difference to his team’s preparations.

“It was a surprise to hear about King,” said Cloutier. “But they’ve obviously got their reasons for doing so. They’ve got a quality replacement coming in for King in Neil Clark so it doesn’t really change anything for us. We’ve been preparing the same as we would have done and we just need to focus on ourselves.

“We just need to make sure we keep it close and give ourselves a chance of causing a massive upset because we’re going into this as underdogs which suits us.”

Despite being clear favourites to progress, Cloutier’s opposite number – Ryan Finnerty – is expecting two tough nights, particularly when his team visit Hull tonight (7pm).

“We’ve had some very close, one-goal games against Hull,” said Finnerty. “They’ve always been good battles this season and you know that a Cloutier team is always going to come out hard at you, especially at their place.

“It’s going to come down to special teams. That has been our Achilles heel lately and we know we’ve got to be better there.”

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Twitter: @philarra