Rumor - Realignment

[juliansteed]

I don't like the idea of unbalanced conferences. I can't imagine the teams in the east would like this arrangement too much. They would all project to lose a lot of playoff revenue over the long-term, and would want to be compensated for it. But I could see this being part of a bigger plan that Bettman might have to either expand or contract the NHL by 2 teams in the near future. Normally I would assume expansion would be the more likely scenario and I suppose I still do but to a lesser extent. With the Coyotes situation, the Panthers not exactly being a license to print money, and Winnipeg no longer being vacant for relocation, I can see contracting 2 teams getting more consideration than it normally would (none). All that being said, I really wouldn't mind the idea of 4 divisions of 8 at all, where exactly half the teams make the playoffs.

 

[sherbert1421]

here's another article on possible realignment

The Fourth Period :: Columnists :: Michael Grossi, The G-Spot

 

[SLY]

It is not a "possible" realignment anymore. It is definite.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/news?slug=nc-cotsonika_dvision_realignment_062511
Report: NHL will dramatically realign in 2012 - St. Petersburg Times

Ugh... Looks like its either going to be one 8 and one 7 team division in each conference. Or 16 teams in the East and 14 in the West...

This oughta be interesting.

 

[TiLoBrown]

Wheres the dislike button?

 

[pixburgher66]

Why in the world would they do that? Just...so stupid. Why does Detroit "have" to move? I understand the reasoning, because of the time zones, but "Have" to?

 

[treple13]

Is it just me or is two divisions of 8 and two of 7 less balanced than six divisions of 5?

Secondly if they go to a divisional playoff that makes it dramatically more unfair to those in a division of 8 and those with stronger divisions.

 

[TiLoBrown]

At first I was against it...but now I'm for it just for the fact that the Devils were the most dominant team in the Atlantic

 

[maddogmark25]

As long as they name them the old division names (patrick, norris, etc.) then its all good...just like the old days, except with more teams

 

[sabrefan]

So with recent talks about realignment coming in 2012...this is the obvious solution to realignment that the nhl should use.


Eastern Conferance gets 16 teams

Atlantic Division
Bruins
Islanders
Rangers
Devils

North East Division
Canadians
Maple Leafs
Senators
Sabres

North Central Division
Red Wings
Blue Jackets
Flyers
Pengiuns
Capitals

Southern Division
Predators
Hurricans
Panthers
Lightning





Western Conferance gets 14 teams

Central Division
Wild
Blues
Stars
Blackhawks
Jets

South West Division
Avs
Kings
Ducks
Coyotes

North West Division
Canucks
Oilers
Flames
Sharks


For Playoff Purposes each conferance still gets 8 teams in.

If for some reason the NHL wanted the conferances to stay with the same number of teams in each then all they really need to do is find an owner and north western city for either florida or nashville.

 

[sabrefan]

Yes i just realized that my math is off by one team...lol.

Ok so they seriously need to move either the florida panthers and nashville to a western city or move both to a western city and go with 3 divisions of 5 each like currently.

Or expansion but i would not suggest that for the NHL right now

 

[awaz]

I dont understand why this is so difficult. The teams can break up so that the biggest time change is 1 hr, which isn't a big deal. 5 Divisions of 6. Top 3 from each division make the playoffs and then 1 wild card team.. everyone is seeded 1-16 based on points.. 1 plays 16, 2 plays 15, 3 plays 14, etc. etc..

shorten the season to 80 games, play half against your division (10 games against each team in your division) and half against the other divisions (10 games per division, 2 per team, 1 home/away set)..

Northeast
Buffalo
Boston
Montreal
Toronto
Ottawa
Detroit


West
Vancouver
Anaheim
LA
San Jose
Phoenix
Colorado

Mountain
Calgary
Edmonton
Winnipeg
Minnesota
Dallas
Chicago

South
Washington
Carolina
TB
Florida
Nashville
St. Louis

East
Philly
Pitt
NJD
NYI
NYR
Columbus

Time Zones
Blue - Eastern
Orange - Central
Black - Mountain
Purple- Pacific

Names of divisions can be whatever hockey greats you want.

find something wrong with that, i dare you!

 

[awaz]

i suppose i found 1.. bettman's wet dream only happens twice a year..

still way better than unbalanced divisions/conferences

 

[forty_three]

I dont understand why this is so difficult. The teams can break up so that the biggest time change is 1 hr, which isn't a big deal. 5 Divisions of 6. Top 3 from each division make the playoffs and then 1 wild card team.. everyone is seeded 1-16 based on points.. 1 plays 16, 2 plays 15, 3 plays 14, etc. etc..

shorten the season to 80 games, play half against your division (10 games against each team in your division) and half against the other divisions (10 games per division, 2 per team, 1 home/away set)..

Northeast
Buffalo
Boston
Montreal
Toronto
Ottawa
Detroit


West
Vancouver
Anaheim
LA
San Jose
Phoenix
Colorado

Mountain
Calgary
Edmonton
Winnipeg
Minnesota
Dallas
Chicago

South
Washington
Carolina
TB
Florida
Nashville
St. Louis

East
Philly
Pitt
NJD
NYI
NYR
Columbus

Time Zones
Blue - Eastern
Orange - Central
Black - Mountain
Purple- Pacific

Names of divisions can be whatever hockey greats you want.

find something wrong with that, i dare you!

I'm okay with this except the shortening the season thing. I don't want to hear any more "Statictical" arguments comparing eras.

The other two games can be "Rivalry" games. More against your biggest rival, and late in the season.

Oh, and can Columbus be in the south and Carolina in the east? S/SE Still the weakest division.

 

[awaz]

I'm okay with this except the shortening the season thing. I don't want to hear any more "Statictical" arguments comparing eras.

The other two games can be "Rivalry" games. More against your biggest rival, and late in the season.

Oh, and can Columbus be in the south and Carolina in the east? S/SE Still the weakest division.

that's fine with me.. i'm open to different schedules, 10 games is a lot of games against 1 team.. actually come to think of it, that doesn't even add up haha.. (8 games * 5 teams = 40 games).. 8 games against each team is the right number.. so that's fine.. aren't you guys glad i start my engineering job tomorrow?

i just think if you're going to use divisions/conferences they have to be even, and if they're going to be even that is the fairest way to split them

 

[sabresfaninthesouth]

I don't like the unbalanced divisions at all, unless they modify the automatic 4 from each division seeding. Maybe top 2 from each division automatically then the next 4 spots are totally up-for-grabs.

Though I don't see the need for so much change anyhow. I say leave Detroit in the West and move either Nashville or Columbus to the SE division, move Minnesota to the Central, and Winnipeg into the Northwest.

No offense Detroit fans, but I see no reason to move them. There's a lot of talk about the travel, but their stack of President's Trophies and Stanley Cups tells me they're not really being hurt by being in the Western Conference. And from a financial perspective, Detroit can much more easily handle the additional cost of the extra travel compared to Nashville or Columbus.

 

[SLY]

No idea for Division names...

DIVISION 1
Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Buffalo, Boston, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, New York, Long Island, New Jersey.

DIVISION 2
Detroit, Columbus, Chicago, St. Louis, Nashville, Carolina, Washington, Florida, Tampa Bay, Dallas.

DIVISION 3
Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, Winnipeg, Minnesota, Anaheim, Los Angeles, San Jose, Phoenix, Colorado.

Each team would play every team in their division 6 times (54 games). They would play every team in the remaining divisions at least once (20 games). That would leave 8 games up in the air for the league to play with favoring any rivalries that the league may want to highlight outside their respective divisions.

No more East vs West in the Finals. Just seed the teams based on their regular season point totals into 2 seperate 8 team divisions.

Not sure how something like this would fair...

 

[rares]

Here's how Drew Remenda would do it:

OH CANADA! - Sharks Chatroom

I know the League has and will continue to have high level meetings about realignment. The talks will have input from owners to executives to GMs. Team concerns from travel to historical rivalries will be taken into consideration. This will take months.

Last night, I did it in five minutes, seven if you count the time it took me to color in the conferences.

WESTERN DIVISION: San Jose, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Los Angeles, Anaheim, Phoenix

CENTRAL DIVISION: Winnipeg, Minnesota, Chicago, Colorado, St. Louis, Nashville, Dallas

NORTHERN DIVISION: Montreal, Boston, Ottawa, Toronto, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Columbus, Detroit

EASTERN DIVISION: Rangers, Islanders, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Washington, Carolina, Tampa Bay, Florida

... and then... an inevitable comment:

The first thing that springs to mind is that you separated Detroit from Chicago. This may be inevitable, but still qualifies as a crime against history. Better to have Congress move the timezone boundaries.

Haha!

 

[dboy97]

I think the unbalanced divisions they are setting up are setting the league up for a future expansion. Just my feeling.

 

[SLY]

I dont know Dan... Expansion is not the greatest idea when they can't even get the existing teams in "concrete" markets. Nashville and TB seem like they are alright now, but you still have Florida, Long Island and Phoenix hurting pretty badly.

The only existing markets I could see carrying hockey those teams would probably relocate to. I don't think they are going to go with the uneven divisions. That is probably just an idea thrown out there to gather some buzz. I am sure in the end they are just going to swap two teams or so.

 

[dboy97]

I agree expansion is not a great idea but no one has ever accused Bettman of being the brightest bulb you know.