Division Realignment & Scheduling Thread

[butterfly]

Originally Posted by SeanCharles

So you agree with me fully from my post (#31) then ?

Ahh, didn't see that was your idea! I guess that was our only difference.

[Tsawwassen]

Originally Posted by butterfly

Adams South:

BUF
CLS
DET
PIT

Patrick North:

NJ
NYI
NYR
PHI

Originally Posted by SeanCharles
You can’t split up Philly and Pittsburgh

Yes you can. The Flyers and Penguins were split up for 5 seasons (93-94 to 97-98). The Penguins were in the NE Division and the Flyers were in the Atlantic Division.

[Jason14h]

But why would you want too ….

[powderjunkie]

Originally Posted by #-3

OK after looking at it for a minute, I like;

West: Van, Sea, Edm, Cgy, SJS, LAK, Ana, LVK,

South: Uth, Col, Dal, Stl, Nas, Car, TBL, Fld

North: Win, Min, Tor, Otw, Mtl, Det, Chi, Buf

Central: CBJ, Pit, Phi, Bos, NYR, NYI, NJD, Was

4 Games in division
2 Games in league = 76 games.

Very easy to get to 76 games like this. The other 6 should be done in an 'In-Season Tournament' like the NBA did that was an absolute smashing success.

The pods of 4 everyone is listing are perfect for the round robin = 3 games

The 1 seeds all playoff from 8 to 4 to 2 to 1 = 3 games

Games still count for the regular season. As teams are eliminated they are simply rescheduled into regular games, but you can lay it all out in advance and just slot the teams in. Requires a few extra nights of availability in buildings, but really not hard to work around.

[butterfly]

Originally Posted by Jason14h

But why would you want too ….

They are split up in baseball and football and nobody seems to be complaining. But not really a huge deal from a Flames fan's perspective to use SeanCharles's way. I wonder what the fans of those teams would say.

[#-3]

Originally Posted by powderjunkie

Very easy to get to 76 games like this. The other 6 should be done in an 'In-Season Tournament' like the NBA did that was an absolute smashing success.

The pods of 4 everyone is listing are perfect for the round robin = 3 games

The 1 seeds all playoff from 8 to 4 to 2 to 1 = 3 games

Games still count for the regular season. As teams are eliminated they are simply rescheduled into regular games, but you can lay it all out in advance and just slot the teams in. Requires a few extra nights of availability in buildings, but really not hard to work around.

I think that's a cool Idea, I have a whole league single elimination tournament coming out at 5 games;

Maybe something like this

Geographic Rival = 5 games (1 night, 16games everyone plays their rival, tail gate parties, buses of out of town fans).
6 Other Division opponents = 4 games
24 Non Division teams = 2 games
5 game in season single elimination tournament for cash (scrap the all star game).

5+24+48+5


West:
Van/Sea Edm/Cgy LAK/Ana LVK/SJS

South:
Uth/Col Stl/Nas Dal/Car TBL/Fld

North:
Win/Min Tor/Mtl Det/Chi Buf/Otw
(it would be natural to mtl/otw and tor/buf, but that wont fly)

Central:
CBJ/Pit NYR/NYI NJD/Phi Was/Bos
(pit and phi are tough because they are state rivals, but both have better geographic rivals).


But I do also still like the idea of rotating the divisions 3rd round opponent every year.

3rd round playoffs;
year 1 - West vs North / Central vs South
year 2 - West vs Central / North vs South
year 3 - West vs South / North vs Central

[butterfly]

Moving a team to Salt Lake City and having their new division "rivals" be in Florida doesn't seem very intuitive. There are 6 teams in the Central time zone, 4 in the Mountain time zone, 6 in the Pacific time zone. Enough to make 2 or 4 western divisions.

[lazypucker]

Before they realign the divisions, the NHL should figure out a way to have all teams end their season on the same day. Why we have Buffalo, Rangers, and Nashville already finished all 82 games while the likes of Calgary, Edmonton, and Vancouver still have 2 more to play? Imagine Nashville is in the last playoff spot and finished all 82 games and another team could overtake them because they have a couple of games left!!

There should be a "season finale" night where all 32 teams are scheduled to play their rivals on the final day, and preferrably start at the same time (maybe a 5pm start for all games in the East and a 8pm start for all West games). This should create some excitement if there are multiple teams trying to fight for the last couple playoff spots or determining playoff positions...

This is much like soccer leagues where the final games of the season all start at the same time and championships and relegations often are decided on the final minutes on the final games....

[Jay Random]

Originally Posted by lazypucker

There should be a "season finale" night where all 32 teams are scheduled to play their rivals on the final day, and preferrably start at the same time (maybe a 5pm start for all games in the East and a 8pm start for all West games).

It's a nice idea, but it would be really tough to build that schedule with all the different restrictions on arena dates.

[#-3]

Originally Posted by butterfly

Moving a team to Salt Lake City and having their new division "rivals" be in Florida doesn't seem very intuitive. There are 6 teams in the Central time zone, 4 in the Mountain time zone, 6 in the Pacific time zone. Enough to make 2 or 4 western divisions.

Somebody needs to have bad travel, and I ask Fck Utah and Florida, it's been us long enough. This cuts back miles travelled for ~ 6-7 teams, leaves it the same for ~23 teams, and screws Miami / Tampa over a little bit. with taxes and weather don't their players get enough advantages?

I think the time zone thing is overblown and much less of a problem than traveling and extra hour each way several times / year.

[butterfly]

Originally Posted by #-3

Somebody needs to have bad travel, and I ask Fck Utah and Florida, it's been us long enough. This cuts back miles travelled for ~ 6-7 teams, leaves it the same for ~23 teams, and screws Miami / Tampa over a little bit. with taxes and weather don't their players get enough advantages?

I think the time zone thing is overblown and much less of a problem than traveling and extra hour each way several times / year.

They don't need to, though. If you do

PAC: ANA, CGY, EDM, LAS, LA, SEA, SJ, VAN
CEN: CHI, COL, DAL, MIN, NSH, SLC, STL, WPG

that isn't screwing us or anybody. As a fan it is better if you get more road games closer to normal start time, especially since the league loves giving TOR and MTL their own normal start times when they are on the road in the west (pretty unfair).

[foofighter15]

Why does everyone keep putting Nashville in the West when their closest teams are Carolina, Florida and Tampa? That should be the South East Division

North West
Calgary, Van, Seattle, Edmonton

Pacific
Vegas, LA, San Jose, Anaheim

Central
Colorado, Salt Lake, Dallas, Winnipeg

Great Lakes
Chicago, St. Louis, Detroit, Minny

North East
Toronto, Montreal, Boston, Ottawa

Metro
NYR, NYI, NJD, Washington

Americas Armpit
Columbus, Philly, Pittsburgh, Buffalo

South East
Nashville, Carolina, Florida, Tampa

Few options for scheduling there.
A) Could split into four conferences for scheduling and keeping travel down,
or
B) balance it out purely based of playing your division the most and the rest evenly.

Both options lead to potential new formats to the top 16 making it in. Top two teams from each division make it and play each other in round 1 for the Division Championship then get reseeded in round 2 with all the division winners getting seeded based off regular season, rinse and repeat into the finals

[Jay Random]

Originally Posted by foofighter15

Why does everyone keep putting Nashville in the West when their closest teams are Carolina, Florida and Tampa?

Because Detroit insists on being in the Eastern Conference, and has enough clout to make it happen.

[foofighter15]

Originally Posted by Jay Random

Because Detroit insists on being in the Eastern Conference, and has enough clout to make it happen.

In a 2 conference 4 division system sure, but take my system with 4 conferences and 8 divisions and I’m thinking everyone’s travel balances better

Conference 1
NW & Pacific

Conference 2
Central & Great Lakes

Conference 3
NE & SE
(keeps the idea of snowbirds like they have now in the Atlantic)

Conference 4
Metro & Americas Armpit


Play your division the most, 3 or 4x per team/22 Games
your conference the second - 3x per team/12 games
then a home and home (48 games) with the other 3 conferences

Playoffs
Round 1 Division Championship
Round 2 Conference Championship
Round 3 Final Four (Seeded)
Finals

[Jay Random]

Originally Posted by foofighter15

In a 2 conference 4 division system sure, but take my system with 4 conferences and 8 divisions and I’m thinking everyone’s travel balances better

From what was reported at the time, it wasn't all about travel. Detroit also wanted to be in a division with other teams in the same time zone. Your arrangement puts them with three teams on Central time.

It's a good idea overall, but the Red Wings would fight tooth and nail against it.

[foofighter15]

Originally Posted by Jay Random

From what was reported at the time, it wasn't all about travel. Detroit also wanted to be in a division with other teams in the same time zone. Your arrangement puts them with three teams on Central time.

It's a good idea overall, but the Red Wings would fight tooth and nail against it.

That I didn’t know. What a bunch of whiners.

With my format (that I updated while you were posting) they’d be in a conference with 4 teams in the eastern time zone so hopefully that would shut them up

[Jay Random]

Originally Posted by foofighter15

That I didn’t know. What a bunch of whiners.

With my format (that I updated while you were posting) they’d be in a conference with 4 teams in the eastern time zone so hopefully that would shut them up

There we go.

[powderjunkie]

Originally Posted by lazypucker

Before they realign the divisions, the NHL should figure out a way to have all teams end their season on the same day. Why we have Buffalo, Rangers, and Nashville already finished all 82 games while the likes of Calgary, Edmonton, and Vancouver still have 2 more to play? Imagine Nashville is in the last playoff spot and finished all 82 games and another team could overtake them because they have a couple of games left!!

There should be a "season finale" night where all 32 teams are scheduled to play their rivals on the final day, and preferrably start at the same time (maybe a 5pm start for all games in the East and a 8pm start for all West games). This should create some excitement if there are multiple teams trying to fight for the last couple playoff spots or determining playoff positions...

This is much like soccer leagues where the final games of the season all start at the same time and championships and relegations often are decided on the final minutes on the final games....

Originally Posted by Jay Random

It's a nice idea, but it would be really tough to build that schedule with all the different restrictions on arena dates.

The NBA just did this with all teams in action last Friday and Sunday - and zero games Sat and Mon, so the NHL could easily follow suit and run those dates.

[Tsawwassen]

Originally Posted by Jay Random

If you're going back all those years, there was also the semifinal series against the North Stars in '81. Alas, I remember Dino Ciccarelli, then a rookie phenom, making fools of the Flames that year.

To think it could have been us that got dummied by the Islanders that year!

You can also throw in the Blues semi final from 1986. My father loves to talk about that playoff series as being one of the best. The Monday Night miracle (nightmare for Flames fans) and then the clinching game 7.

[Sidney Crosby's Hat]

Originally Posted by Tsawwassen

You can also throw in the Blues semi final from 1986. My father loves to talk about that playoff series as being one of the best. The Monday Night miracle (nightmare for Flames fans) and then the clinching game 7.

An all-time classic series, no question. But I think he was referring to notable playoff series between the Flames and Stars franchise.