Quote:
Originally Posted by Sylvanfan
If the re-alignment happens, it will be 2 trips a year to one of Chicago, Dallas, Minnesota, Nashville or St.Louis. For the first couple of years I'm sure they'll have Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg all play 4 times to keep the travel more palatable. Seems like 34 teams could be coming sooner than later which is likely back to 3 Divisions per side.
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I think weighting for division and conference play makes the schedule so much more challenging to create, and causes less interesting match-ups.
Easy mode:
Home & Home vs all teams in the league: 62 games.
Home & Home vs division: 14 more games (76 games total).
Now the fun part:
8 Semi-randomly drawn "pools" of 4 teams. Based on your finishing position last year, you're placed in groups (Top 8 teams = group 1, Teams 9-16 = group 2, etc.). Randomly draw one team from each group = Pool A. Draw a second team from each = Pool B, etc.)
Home & Home vs your Pool: 6 more games (82 total).
Everyone sees every team, you get to keep in-division games, and from season to season the teams you get to see more often get mixed up. Also, there's the fun of the day when they draw the pools. Could do it on an off-day between Stanley Cup Final games.