NHL Conference Realignment

[SuperMatt18]

Last years version with the two openings in the East made more sense then this years version.

They should just leave it as is until expansion/ PHX moves and then deal with it then.

[Sidney Crosby's Hat]

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

Last years version with the two openings in the East made more sense then this years version.

They should just leave it as is until expansion/ PHX moves and then deal with it then.

They obviously know more than us when it comes to forecasting, which makes me really wonder what the plans are.

[Daradon]

If they insist on doing it before they can split it up equally, why not give the West the smaller conference? It actually makes more sense, there's less travel in the East and the cities are packed closer together.

The West has had the stronger conference by far for 12+ years now and has always had to deal with more travel. Why not even it up a bit?

Oh yeah, cause all the big owners and all the eyeballs reside in the East...

[getbak]

Originally Posted by Daradon

If they insist on doing it before they can split it up equally, why not give the West the smaller conference? It actually makes more sense, there's less travel in the East and the cities are packed closer together.

The West has had the stronger conference by far for 12+ years now and has always had to deal with more travel. Why not even it up a bit?

Oh yeah, cause all the big owners and all the eyeballs reside in the East...

They are making the West smaller. All 16 Eastern time zone teams will be in the Eastern Conference. The 14 Pacific, Mountain, and Central time zone teams will be in the Western Conference.

[krispykream]

According to the memo, the Pacific Division would include the Anaheim Ducks, Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oilers, Los Angeles Kings, Phoenix Coyotes, San Jose Sharks and Vancouver Canucks, while the Midwest Division would be the Chicago Blackhawks, Colorado Avalanche, Dallas Stars, Minnesota Wild, Nashville Predators, St. Louis Blues and Winnipeg Jets.
The Central Division would be the Boston Bruins, Buffalo Sabres, Detroit Red Wings, Florida Panthers, Montreal Canadiens, Ottawa Senators, Tampa Bay Lightning and Toronto Maple Leafs. The reconfigured Atlantic Division would include the Carolina Hurricanes, Columbus Blue Jackets, New Jersey Devils, New York Islanders, New York Rangers, Philadelphia Flyers, Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals.

[Zarley]

Originally Posted by Sidney Crosby's Hat

They obviously know more than us when it comes to forecasting, which makes me really wonder what the plans are.

I think that the likely expansion targets would be Seattle and KC or Houston based on the new proposal.

This indicates that QC is probably getting one of the SE division teams and Phoenix is staying put.

If Phoenix does end up moving to QC then Detriot would have to move to the central conference and either Winnipeg or Denver to the Pacific. I doubt the league would want to go through that shuffle. All speculation on my part however.

[Daradon]

Originally Posted by getbak

They are making the West smaller. All 16 Eastern time zone teams will be in the Eastern Conference. The 14 Pacific, Mountain, and Central time zone teams will be in the Western Conference.

Just saw that, sorry bout that. I was going with the last version of realignment, didn't see they had changed it again.

[Trojan97]

The guys on TSN are making a big deal about the wild card system. I don't see what's so confusing about it.

[calgaryred]

Id rather see a wild card game between 5th and 4th place team in each division it adds more playoff excitement.

[topfiverecords]

Schedules are fine by the suggested divisions, but they should scrap divisional standings.
The top 8 from the west 14 and the top 8 make it from the east 16.
#9 in the east can crossover and steal #8 in the west.

[MisterJoji]

Originally Posted by topfiverecords

Schedules are fine by the suggested divisions, but they should scrap divisional standings.
The top 8 from the west 14 and the top 8 make it from the east 16.
#9 in the east can crossover and steal #8 in the west.

Crossover like that will never happen. NHL hates heavy travel during the playoffs. Can you imagine a Vancouver/Florida 1st round matchup? It'd be a nightmare.

[GirlySports]

I believe the NHL wants divisional rivalries back.

The Flames and Oilers haven't met in the playoffs since 1991.
The Bruins and Sabres haven't met in the playoffs since 1999.
The Leafs and Habs have never met in the playoffs since the Leafs moved to the East.
The Kings have never met the Sharks or the Ducks in the playoffs EVER. (The Sharks and Ducks have met once)

-----

And I agree with the posts above, based on the new proposal, I don't believe the NHL has any interest in going to Quebec City.

[Pierre "Monster" McGuire]

Anything that adds to the excitement of playoff time. I like the wild card idea.

[ken0042]

Originally Posted by MisterJoji

Crossover like that will never happen. NHL hates heavy travel during the playoffs. Can you imagine a Vancouver/Florida 1st round matchup? It'd be a nightmare.

Yes, however that compares the two furthest cities from each other. Vancouver to Miami is 4509 km; however keep in mind that Vancouver to Nashville is 3268 km. Or Vancouver to St. Louis is 2859 km. (Two conference matchups under the current system.) Is a 5 hour flight that much worse than a 3.5 hour flight?

Then look at other matchups. For Calgary to New York it is only 700 km further than Calgary to Dallas. So assuming a crossover happens every other year; the odds of it adding a significant amout of travel time is pretty low. However the potential for end of season excitiement is quite high. I'd love to see a team pull their goalie in a tie game; because they need both points for the win to make the playoffs.

[Red Menace]

The wild card could result in some odd scenarios;

The top division winner based on regular-season points in the standings would face off against the lower-ranked wild-card team. The other division winner would play the higher-ranked wild-card.

So, even if none of the 5th place teams gain a wildcard spot, the 4th place teams in each division could still cross over and play the 1st place team in the other division.

I still like it...but will produce some odd results....wont always be an divisional match up in the first 2 rds...in fact I'd think the crossover would happen regularly.

[getbak]

Originally Posted by Red Menace

The wild card could result in some odd scenarios;

The top division winner based on regular-season points in the standings would face off against the lower-ranked wild-card team. The other division winner would play the higher-ranked wild-card.

So, even if none of the 5th place teams gain a wildcard spot, the 4th place teams in each division could still cross over and play the 1st place team in the other division.

I still like it...but will produce some odd results....wont always be an divisional match up in the first 2 rds...in fact I'd think the crossover would happen regularly.

Yeah, that's odd. I wonder if they'll only do the higher-ranked 1 vs lower ranked 4 if both wild cards are from the same Division?

[Zarley]

I wonder if Winnipeg would prefer to be in the Pacific?

On the plus side they would get higher ratings from rivalry match-ups with CGY, EDM and VAN, and likely more appearances on HNiC. The tradeoff being greater travel and more 8pm and 9pm start times.

[Red Menace]

For example if we take today's standings as the final results with re-alignment they look like this:
Pacific
1. ANA - 27
2. VAN - 24
3. SJ - 21
4. PHX - 21
5. LA - 20
6. CAL - 18
7. EDM - 18

Mid-West
1. CHI - 35
2. NAS - 23
3. STL - 22
4. DAL - 22
5. MIN - 20
6. WPG - 19
7. COL - 17

Neither of the 5 seeds would make the wildcard, but as top seed Chicago would play worst wildcard; in this case Phoenix....and Dallas would then also cross over and play Anaheim
other matchups: VAN v. SJ and NAS v. STL

In the East:
Central
1. MTL - 27
2. BOS - 26
3. OTT - 26
4. TOR - 24
5. DET - 21
6. TB - 19
7. FLA - 16
8. BUF 15

Atlantic:
1. PIT - 26
2. NJ - 24
3. CAR - 19
4. PHI -19
5. NYR - 18
6. NYI - 17
7. WAS - 15
8. CLB - 13

Here the wildcards would both be from the Central.
Top seed Montreal would play low wildcard Detroit, Toronto would cross over and play Pittsburgh.
Other match ups; BOS v. OTT, and NJ v. CAR

So we would actually see 3 1st rd match ups with crossovers

Also strange to see that the 6th place Central team has the same number of pts as the 3rd place Atlantic team.

[topfiverecords]

Originally Posted by MisterJoji

Crossover like that will never happen. NHL hates heavy travel during the playoffs. Can you imagine a Vancouver/Florida 1st round matchup? It'd be a nightmare.

Accepting the risk of it happening once in a while is better than having the east teams get worse odds at making the playoffs than the west.

[GirlySports]

I think the strangest thing is that it's not a cross-over but in fact both wildcards are divisionless.

For example if the Stars are Wildcard #1 and the Flames are Wildcard #2 with Chicago having a better 1st place record than Vancouver. Calgary would play Chicago in the near-west playoffs and Dallas plays Vancouver in the far-west playoffs.

Is that correct? Two crossovers?

/or what Red Menace said.