NHLPA Approves Re-Alignment

[forty_three]

Important note: I think this is HUGE for Columbus. Their ratings will go through the roof IMO. Games in the EST consistently, potential rivalry with the Pens, the stars in the division, etc.

And a 7% lower chance of making the playoffs.

Pretty much.

Pittsburgh and Columbus would have been great fits for that geographically speaking.

And competitively speaking.



I just want to know if Holland is happy. Because all we care about is making that whiney fucking douche happy. He just isn't happy until he gets everything he wants.


Fucking retard.

 

[dash]

I just want to know if Holland is happy. Because all we care about is making that whiney fucking douche happy. He just isn't happy until he gets everything he wants.


Fucking retard.

Hey 43, did you mean to put Illitch where you typed Holland? I can't believe you would rip on a fellow goalie like that.

/I've golfed with Ken Holland and he's a great guy.

 

[esls79]

I heard the 4 divisions are to be called the Bettman, the Fehr, the Jacobs, and the Eklund (e4)

 

[Eddie_Shack]

And a 7% lower chance of making the playoffs.



And competitively speaking.



I just want to know if Holland is happy. Because all we care about is making that whiney fucking douche happy. He just isn't happy until he gets everything he wants.


Fucking retard.

Careful, someday you may move again and have to switch teams. Don't want to badmouth a future favorite franchise.

 

[forty_three]

Hey 43, did you mean to put Illitch where you typed Holland? I can't believe you would rip on a fellow goalie like that.

/I've golfed with Ken Holland and he's a great guy.

Whoever the whiney douche up there is.

Careful, someday you may move again and have to switch teams. Don't want to badmouth a future favorite franchise.

lol. I see no possible sequence of events that will have me moving to Detroit.

 

[Darkstone42]

I think they got the West right.

The East is a little unbalanced, but man the Atlantic would be fun in that format.

 

[juliansteed]

I don't like it for a few reasons. Mostly because of the unbalanced conferences. It seems a bit wierd that Chicago is now the only Original 6 team in the west. I think they should have just switched Winnipeg for either Columbus or Nashville (I prefer Columbus) for the time being then do a major re-alignment if/when the league expands to 32. I'm definitely rooting for expansion after this.

 

[puckhead]

under the proposed alignment, the Florida Panthers will not make the playoffs for the next decade.

 

[awaz]

based on the team they have, the Florida Panthers will not make the playoffs for the next decade.

Fify

 

[4thstreet]

LOL @ Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Detroit, Buffalo, Boston, Tampa Bay, Florida.

States/provinces in the division: Quebec, Ontario, Michigan, New York, Massachusetts, Florida.

I think most teams would love to be in that division.
4 of the original 6 teams, that are great drawing cards on the road.

 

[elocomotive]

under the proposed alignment, the Florida Panthers will not make the playoffs for the next decade.

C'mon Puck, that is a ridiculous statement, don't you think?

I mean, what makes you so confident they will make the playoffs 10-20 years from now?

 

[puckhead]

C'mon Puck, that is a ridiculous statement, don't you think?

I mean, what makes you so confident they will make the playoffs 10-20 years from now?

just leaving a little wiggle room for a decade worth of lottery picks.

 

[elocomotive]

I'm excited the Patrick Division is back together. But that is overshadowed by a collosal failure here.

Having a better or worse chance of making the playoffs based on your geographic location is fucking ridiculous. If you are an owner in the East, why would you agree to a business decision that will guarantee you less revenue over time? If you are the NHL, why do you want to have more of your big TV markets in the East out of the playoffs?

If they had made it 15-15, I'd be all for this plan. Division differences are negligible b/c your division winner would have made the playoffs anyway and seedings don't mean that much in hockey. But having a smaller chance to make the postseason? That's pretty huge.

Especially when there are now only 7 playoff spots available in the East with the addition of Detroit.

I'm pretty annoyed by this. I can't wait for the season when 3 teams with winning records in the East miss the postseason while 2 teams with losing records out West make the playoffs.

 

[pixburgher66]

Yeah, I agree with the sentiment here. I like the combinations in each division for the most part (love seeing more of CBus and Detroit), but 7% is a huge number statistically. I agree with you loco, the division numbers are pretty negligible in comparison. Especially since the divisions will be bigger in general.

 

[juliansteed]

C'mon Puck, that is a ridiculous statement, don't you think?

I mean, what makes you so confident they will make the playoffs 10-20 years from now?

Or not relocate to a location that puts them in another division by that time.

In all seriousness I actually think the Panthers can be a force within a few years. They have a good young core led by Jonathan Huberdeau (yes I'm a Huberdeau homer). They should get a top 3 pick this year which would be good for either Jones, Drouin, or MacKinnon. Huberdeau played with Drouin and MacKinnon for team QMJHL during the Subway Series and a bit at the WJC and they were awesome together.

 

[davnlaguna]

7% better chance for the west. Heck with Detroit gone it is more like 10%

 

[puckhead]

I'm pretty annoyed by this. I can't wait for the season when 3 teams with winning records in the East miss the postseason while 2 teams with losing records out West make the playoffs.

1987-'88 Toronto Maple Leafs made the playoffs with a 21-49-10 record.
Nucks missed with 25-46-9.
Oh, Leafs were in the West (Campbell) back then

that's the only one I can remember, but I'm sure there were tons more examples when it was divisional.
The CFL has a system where a team can steal a playoff spot from the other conference. Keeps things interesting.

 

[juliansteed]

1987-'88 Toronto Maple Leafs made the playoffs with a 21-49-10 record.
Nucks missed with 25-46-9.
Oh, Leafs were in the West (Campbell) back then

that's the only one I can remember, but I'm sure there were tons more examples when it was divisional.
The CFL has a system where a team can steal a playoff spot from the other conference. Keeps things interesting.

This isn't quite the same but I remember in the late 80s and early 90s the Whalers had some pretty good teams but had to settle for 4th in their division and a 1st round exit quite a bit. I believe it was 1990 that they finished 6th overall in the NHL but were 4th in the division. Keep in mind the schedule was far more weighted towards divisional play at the time so it was sort of apples and oranges comparing records with teams in other divisions, but to finish that high despite having 3 other very strong teams in the division (the lowly Nordiques were the 5th team) is pretty impressive and probably deserved a better fate than their annual 1st round exit.

 

[elocomotive]

I read this today...

There's also the matter of increased exposure for teams out West, a thought which seems to be in contrast to the lamentations that the NHL would essentially have two powerhouse conferences that the national networks would fawn over while ignoring the rest. In reality, the new alignment would almost force more exposure onto teams out West as the NHL and NBC would need to continue to provide as diverse a selection to their programming as possible. Dallas, Colorado, Chicago, San Jose, Vancouver and Los Angeles could all expect to see an uptick in their exposure to national audiences.

That makes zero sense to me. How does the alignment change the TV programming significantly? It's not like the old days of baseball where the conferences never played each other. The logic here is... Realignment forces NBC to make more diverse selections in it's programming and makes them show more Western teams.

Uh, wha?

Makes zero sense. NBC will continue to Boston, NY, and Philly because they are bigger markets with more hockey fans and more dollars than Dallas, Colorado, and Minnesota. And the fact is that the hockey fans out West generally are more interested in watching the big teams out East than vice versa.

I'm not saying it's right or wrong - it's just reality. And I don't see how realignment changes things in ANY way except they can show Detroit against NY or Pittsburgh more easily and more often. If anything, I would think this would hurt the West, b/c I'll tune in for Detroit vs. ______ more than any other team in the West.

 

[juliansteed]

I read this today...



That makes zero sense to me. How does the alignment change the TV programming significantly? It's not like the old days of baseball where the conferences never played each other. The logic here is... Realignment forces NBC to make more diverse selections in it's programming and makes them show more Western teams.

Uh, wha?

Makes zero sense. NBC will continue to Boston, NY, and Philly because they are bigger markets with more hockey fans and more dollars than Dallas, Colorado, and Minnesota. And the fact is that the hockey fans out West generally are more interested in watching the big teams out East than vice versa.

I'm not saying it's right or wrong - it's just reality. And I don't see how realignment changes things in ANY way except they can show Detroit against NY or Pittsburgh more easily and more often. If anything, I would think this would hurt the West, b/c I'll tune in for Detroit vs. ______ more than any other team in the West.

It would only make sense if NBC often showed late games where Detroit was visiting a geographically western team, but I don't think that is what NBC's coverage is known for.