Yeah I saw your thread and it reminded me to create the thread for this year's relocation event. Was in the process of answering your questions.
Here's the link to last year's thread:
http://forum.calgarypuck.com/showthread.php?t=137113
Last year there was no option to go into the actual Dome and check the available seats that were marked, as in years previous. I'm not sure if that was because of the flood damage (and subsequent construction) or if they're changing the structure of the event permanently. Also there was no online login option - it was over the phone, or I think you could go to the box office but not actually into the bowls.
I had very little time to make a decision on the phone. Seats come and go all day long so it's really about luck and impossible to predict. They'll ask you what you're looking for and see what they can do at that moment. We got lucky and moved up 8 rows in the same section but the guy said that almost never happens. If I had called 2 minutes later I probably wouldn't have got them - it seems pretty random to me.
My guess is that they will no longer be doing the actual physical relocation in the bowls because just what you mentioned, that it's a mad rush. Could be wrong though.