Schedule Release?

[Guest Playmaker]

The Florida teams were put there in consideration of the large numbers of Canadians living in Florida. If you put the two Florida teams in the Metro Conference, then there are two other teams that have to move. One could be Columbus, but then which other one? You can't split up the 3 NY area teams. Pitt and Philly need to be in the same division. If you moved Washington or Carolina, there'd be complaints about that, too. There's an overabundance of teams in the Northeastern United States and Canada and few in the Southern US. It seems logical that there would be an imbalance in some way or that some team would be unhappy with the realignment.

[haroldsnepsts 4,826]

Not a huge fan of it, but geez, it's not the end of the world. I heard the suggestion of Continental instead, and I liked that better. Other than Carolina, there aren't any other teams geographically close to Florida. So I don't really see how they were "screwed".

If you're referring to my comments on Florida's division placement, I don't recall saying it was the end of the world. But they definitely got screwed.

Out west it's an inevitability that teams will have long travel. In the east that's less the case. The Florida teams closest division rival is further away than at least 5 or 6 teams in other divisions. Doesn't this map seem a little odd?

[haroldsnepsts 4,826]

The Florida teams were put there in consideration of the large numbers of Canadians living in Florida.

link?

If you put the two Florida teams in the Metro Conference, then there are two other teams that have to move. One could be Columbus, but then which other one? You can't split up the 3 NY area teams. Pitt and Philly need to be in the same division. If you moved Washington or Carolina, there'd be complaints about that, too. There's an overabundance of teams in the Northeastern United States and Canada and few in the Southern US. It seems logical that there would be an imbalance in some way or that some team would be unhappy with the realignment.

Why can't you split up 3 NY teams? Pitt and Philly don't need to be in the same division.

Of course there will be some imbalance and some teams will be at least moderately unhappy with it. That doesn't make it a bad plan. But to put the two southernmost teams in the whole league in the same division as all the northeast teams is pretty ridiculous.

This restructuring it's pretty clear which teams hold more sway with the league.

[cusimano_brothers 1,655]

From Puck Daddy (audio of Q&A included):

Sidney Crosby, upon hearing his division is now named the Metropolitan: "Is it really?"

[55fan 5,133]

If you're referring to my comments on Florida's division placement, I don't recall saying it was the end of the world. But they definitely got screwed.

Out west it's an inevitability that teams will have long travel. In the east that's less the case. The Florida teams closest division rival is further away than at least 5 or 6 teams in other divisions. Doesn't this map seem a little odd?

nhl-realignment-bigger.png

Ok, back on track...

They could have put Colorado in the west (giving them 8 teams) and put the Florida teams in the middle (with Colorado gone, this would bring that to 8), then moved Columbus up with the northeast (giving us 7 and the central atlantic 7).

Edited July 20, 2013 by 55fan

[kipwinger 8,522]

Seems like the Florida teams were added into the Division with us, Toronto, Boston, etc. because they'd get more market exposure, and as such their owners would be more likely to vote for the realignment plan. If I owned the Lightening and the league came along and told me that my team was now going to be in a division with Carolina, Nashville, Washington, Florida, etc. I would never vote for it. You are going to make exactly ZERO money if you aren't any good, and never play anyone who's any good, in markets nobody cares about. But play large market teams four or five times a year is a much better deal for a s***ty team. Tampa and Florida didn't get screwed, they got payed off in order to get their vote for a realignment plan which is good for pretty much everybody else except them.

Edited July 21, 2013 by kipwinger

[Guest The Axe]

Seems like the Florida teams were added into the Division with us, Toronto, Boston, etc. because they'd get more market exposure, and as such their owners would be more likely to vote for the realignment plan. If I owned the Lightening and the league came along and told me that my team was now going to be in a division with Carolina, Nashville, Washington, Florida, etc. I would never vote for it. You are going to make exactly ZERO money if you aren't any good, and never play anyone who's any good, in markets nobody cares about. But play large market teams four or five times a year is a much better deal for a s***ty team. Tampa and Florida didn't get screwed, they got payed off in order to get their vote for a realignment plan which is good for pretty much everybody else except them.

Spot on. These teams need to be in the division with the large market teams. Better money to keep them alive.

[GMRwings1983 8,794]

Seems like there's been backlash about the "Metropolitan" thing from hockey fans around the league.

Maybe the league will change it due to unrest? Maybe?

As for the Florida teams, the league should think about moving one to Quebec and the other to Saskatoon. Tampa becomes the Quebec Nordiques and Florida becomes the Saskatoon Panthers. Obviously, this would take several seasons to happen.

Edited July 21, 2013 by GMRwings1983

[DickieDunn 2,571]

Miami should have football and nothing else. 5 or 6 Saturdays and 8 Sundays you can draw people. 81 baseball games or 41 NHL or NBA games, there's too much other stuff to do. The panthers were doomed from day 1.

[nuts2u 22]

The league couldn't just use North, East, South, etc because it would call too much attention to how badly the NHL screwed the Florida teams in the realignment.

The two southernmost teams in the league are in what is essentially the Northeastern division.

I just shook my head when I saw the Panthers and Lightening in the same division as the two Northernmost teams in the Eastern conference, Montreal and Ottawa. Then right in the center of that abortion is the Metropolitan blob.

[Guest Playmaker]

If you're referring to my comments on Florida's division placement, I don't recall saying it was the end of the world. But they definitely got screwed.

Out west it's an inevitability that teams will have long travel. In the east that's less the case. The Florida teams closest division rival is further away than at least 5 or 6 teams in other divisions. Doesn't this map seem a little odd?

nhl-realignment-bigger.png

I didn't say you said it was the end of the world. I was referring to the naming of the conferences.

I'm not saying the plan is perfect, but again, tell me what works better? The NHL is going to give preference to rivalries like Pitt/Philly, NYR/NJ, Montreal/Toronto, etc. The New York area teams are all within like 100 miles of each other (or less), why would they split them up? The longest trip the Panthers have is to Montreal, only 3 hours and 30 minutes. It isn't that much more time than a flight to Philly, and a little over an hour more than a flight to Raleigh.

If they were moved to the Central division then all of their games would be out of their time zone, which they probably wouldn't have liked either.