[Tsawwassen]

Originally Posted by WilderPegasus

I'm very critical of what Bettman has done but the proposal realignment is not one of them. It is the most logical way to move forward considering where teams are located throughout the continent. Bringing back divisional playoffs is a great idea because it will create stronger rivalries. And when you've got stronger rivalries increasing the number of divisional games per season will increase interest. It has teams playing more games within an hour of their time zone.

Moving Winnipeg out for a team in the Central is not the best solution. Why should Winnipeg be in the Central instead of Minnesota or Dallas? Why would Vancouver want to be moved out of the same division as their long time rivals in Alberta? And if you keep the four Western Canadian teams in the same division it would be make the only American team in that division (Colorado) unhappy.

Moving to four groupings makes the most sense. And if the league expands (probably to Ontario and Quebec) then you can slots those franchises into the easternmost divisions.

Bringing back divisional playoffs is a bad idea because it does not create stronger rivalries. That's why the format changed 20 years ago, those rivalries were stale and repetitive. More div games in a season would be brutal, that's why it stopped after 3 seasons since the 2nd lockout. Variety is important and those rivlaries you like can meet in the 3rd round. The old way that you want won't allow that. There are more fans than you think that would like the Canucks in the Pacific, it would allow more games in the same timezone. That would keep the Avs and Wild together and not leave them as the only US team in a division. Expansion may not stop at 2 teams. I wouldn't be in favour of more teams but, in any expansion, there are sore losers. Those become headaches as they look to buy struggling teams and want to move them or force a league to expand again.