[Rumour] NHL and Seattle talking about expansion fees (~$225M)

[SuperMatt18]

LV and Arizona both will get better attendance for games when the Canadian teams are in town.

They might want to keep them with Canadian teams for that reason.

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by Red Menace

I'm sure Winnipeg isn't a fan of it either.

LV is so close to California, (as is ARZ) seems like they'd want to join them all up...you know Canadian concerns will not be prioritized.

You do?

[underGRADFlame]

Just change it from the Pacific and Central to the Northwest and Southwest divisions.

NW;
Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, Seattle, Winnipeg, Chicago, Minnesota, St. Louis

SW;
Vegas, Nashville, Dallas, Colorado, Anaheim, LA, SJ, Arizona

[Alberta_Beef]

Originally Posted by underGRADFlame

Just change it from the Pacific and Central to the Northwest and Southwest divisions.

NW;
Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, Seattle, Winnipeg, Chicago, Minnesota, St. Louis

SW;
Vegas, Nashville, Dallas, Colorado, Anaheim, LA, SJ, Arizona

I think part of the goal of realignment was limiting the number of time zones in a division

[Parallex]

Originally Posted by Red Menace

Just had a thought....
If NHL actually expanded to Seattle and LV, I am sure they'd both be placed in Pacific division.

I'm not (sure I mean). It would make the most sense for them to both be in the Pacific (move the Yotes to the central) because there is no other option for Seattle and you'd want to max out tourist interest in Las Vegas (so put them in the devision with 3 x Canadian market teams and 3 x California market teams)... but I think the teams in the Central would (rightly) object.

With more gimme games against two expansion franchises (and Edmonton) It'd be harder for teams in the central to get the wild card spots (and sweet sweet playoff revenue).

[Jay Random]

By the time there are teams in both Seattle and Las Vegas, I suspect the league will finally give up and let the Arizona club relocate.

[hwy19man]

Originally Posted by Joborule

Don't think Vancouver would be a fan of being the odd Canadian team out of Canadian divisional rival(s). Plus would increase travel costs, which is part of the reason I believe NHL went to the new division format.

The Canucks were actually open to the idea of being the lone canadian team in the Pacific Division with the three California teams and the Coyotes. This was before the league changed to two divisions in each conference.

[Hockey Fan #751]

Originally Posted by Jay Random

By the time there are teams in both Seattle and Las Vegas, I suspect the league will finally give up and let the Arizona club relocate.

It does seem like it's being set up perfectly for a move to Kansas City. Or maybe the Coyotes will just move to Seattle.

If you did move them to, say, Portland, it would probably make sense then to move the Oilers and Flames to the Central. And would that really be all that bad? Travel to California is about 3 hours for a flight. St. Louis, Dallas, Chicago and Nashville are a little longer than that but not much longer. And Winnipeg is close of course.

CENTRAL

Calgary
Chicago
Dallas
Edmonton
Minnesota
Nashville
St. Louis
Winnipeg

PACIFIC

Anaheim
Colorado
Las Vegas
Los Angeles
Portland
San Jose
Seattle
Vancouver

Canucks would lose a few rivals but they'd be near two other geographic rivals at least.

[killer_carlson]

I think the Vancouver Seattle rivalry would quickly escalate.

[MRCboicgy]

Originally Posted by killer_carlson

I think the Vancouver Seattle rivalry would quickly escalate.

Vancouver tends to escalate everything.

[Joborule]

Originally Posted by Parallex

With more gimme games against two expansion franchises (and Edmonton) It'd be harder for teams in the central to get the wild card spots (and sweet sweet playoff revenue).

The divisions should be balanced at this point, so there wouldn't be a need for wild cards, and the first two rounds of the playoffs are purely divisional playoffs.

[Jay Random]

Originally Posted by Joborule

The divisions should be balanced at this point, so there wouldn't be a need for wild cards,

Every division in the NFL has the same number of teams, yet they still use a wild-card system.

[Joborule]

Originally Posted by Jay Random

Every division in the NFL has the same number of teams, yet they still use a wild-card system.

True, but NFL only have 12 teams qualify for the playoffs, and 4 out of the 12 teams get a first round bye.

NHL system of only 4 divisions works out nicely for them to have divisional playoffs system that translate into a final four. Instead of East versus West for the Stanley Cup, it's the divisional champions competing in the final four for the Stanley Cup.

[Jay Random]

True, but still –

The NHL did not go to a wild-card system because of unequal numbers of teams in the divisions.

If a seven-team division shared the same wild-card spots with an eight-team division, that would help to equalize the chances of making the playoffs for all the teams.

But it doesn't work that way. The two seven-team divisions share one pair of wild-card spots, and the two eight-team divisions share the other pair. That means that the wild-card system does nothing to equalize the odds of making the playoffs.

Having the same number of teams in every division would equalize the odds. But since the wild-card system clearly wasn't put in to equalize the odds, equal divisions would not be any reason to get rid of the wild-card system.

The NHL could move to a purely divisional playoff format right now, and it wouldn't alter the overall odds a bit. Teams in the West would still have a 4 in 7 chance of making the playoffs, and teams from the East would still have a 1 in 2 chance.

[AcGold]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

That's perfect case scenario really as while I would love the Flames getting him I would rather he become the name of a new franchise than have one of the regular losers like the Oilers, Panthers, Islanders, etc benefiting from their constant ineptitude. I shudder to think of the tanking race for last place that will go on next March.

I just don't want to see one of the best prospects in a decade get ruined by Edmonton's clown car developmental system they have up there.

[Jay Random]

Originally Posted by AcGold

I just don't want to see one of the best prospects in a decade get ruined by Edmonton's clown car developmental system they have up there.

Let's not go insulting clown cars. They may be full of clowns, but at least they move from place to place. Edmonton has been stuck in the same place for nearly a decade.

[Tsawwassen]

Originally Posted by Joborule

NHL system of only 4 divisions works out nicely for them to have divisional playoffs system that translate into a final four. Instead of East versus West for the Stanley Cup, it's the divisional champions competing in the final four for the Stanley Cup.

The term divisional champion which competes in the final 4 isn't necessarily true. The wild card team from the other division could end up being in the final 4 which would make it a divisional conference final.

[Alberta_Beef]

Originally Posted by Joborule

The divisions should be balanced at this point, so there wouldn't be a need for wild cards, and the first two rounds of the playoffs are purely divisional playoffs.

The point of the wild card is to balance things out when one division is much weaker than the other. It has nothing to do with balanced divisions/conferences.

[getbak]

A new rumour out today says the potential NHL owner is looking to build a privately funded arena in Tukwila, Washington, east of Seatac Airport: http://espn.go.com/nhl/story/_/id/12...hl-team-source


20 minutes from downtown Seattle. An hour away from Everett (which pulls in good WHL crowds, so I'd suspect the NHL would want to attract those fans). I can't imagine that would be anyone's preferred location.

A 2017 target date for opening also sounds extremely unlikely since most arenas are two years from groundbreaking to ribbon-cutting, and it doesn't sound like groundbreaking will be any time soon.


I bet that in June during the Awards week, the league announces an expansion team for Vegas in 2016 and a conditional franchise for Seattle in 2017 or whenever their arena is ready.

[FBI]

Let's get a hockey team here already! (I'm in Seattle near Everett now)