New NHL schedule format for 2008-2009 season

[HockeyCrazy3033 168]

About damn time!!

New format on the horizon.

[Guest DetroitIan]

About damn time!!

New format on the horizon.

That's beautiful news. We con only hope this actually comes to fruition. Personally, I think 6 games against divisional opponents works out the best. That way the Red Wings can can play almost every eastern team once. And play every western conference team 4 times. That would be perfect. Im really crossing my fingers on this one. There needs to be atleast some sort of change with this current scheduling format. Hopefully sooner rather than later.

Edited September 18, 2007 by DetroitIan

[T-Ruff 47]

As expected.... It was inevitable....

[GMRwings1983 8,804]

I don't get it. Didn't the league vote on this same issue last year and turn the plan down? If so, then why did they want to change it for next year and not for this year?

[T-Ruff 47]

I don't get it. Didn't the league vote on this same issue last year and turn the plan down? If so, then why did they want to change it for next year and not for this year?

They can't change the schedule a week and a bit before the season starts.... that stuff is complicated with arena availability, travel, etc.... They also need to iron out the details like divisional games and whatnot.....

Edited September 18, 2007 by T-Ruff

[arnoldbuck 0]

I don't get it. Didn't the league vote on this same issue last year and turn the plan down? If so, then why did they want to change it for next year and not for this year?

Because that would have made too much sense. . Haha, and these are the NHL owners we are dealing with.

[GMRwings1983 8,804]

They can't change the schedule a week and a bit before the season starts.... that stuff is complicated with arena availability, travel, etc.... They also need to iron out the details like like divisional games and whatnot.....

I understand, but not that much has happened since they last voted on the issue for everyone to now all of a sudden change their minds on it. What imbeciles!

[betterREDthandead 58]

I don't get it. Didn't the league vote on this same issue last year and turn the plan down? If so, then why did they want to change it for next year and not for this year?

Because the schedule was already planned to be this way for this season when the CBA was agreed upon. What they voted to do was not spend a relatively short midseason meeting upending a plan that was already in place and trying to hash out a whole brand new one. As I've said in the past, any new schedule would take a fair amount of time to work on because no schedule you can think of will make everyone happy.

[SouthernWingsFan 854]

SWEET!!!!

I don't care if it's a heated rivalry game, 8 games against one team a year is just too damn much. I know most of us are probably a little biased b/c the Wings are an East Time Zone team in the Western Conference, but WC teams barely get to see the new starts in Ovecheckin, Crosby, Malkin, etc.

Got to play each team at least once.

[auxlepli 17]

Yeah, I'm really stoked aboot it. I mentioned this in another thread. Though selfishly, I must admit, I'm kinda disappointed.

[zata40 3]

this is the news i'v been waiting for!!!! woot!

[vangvace 12]

That's beautiful news. We con only hope this actually comes to fruition. Personally, I think 6 games against divisional opponents works out the best. That way the Red Wings can can play almost every eastern team once. And play every western conference team 4 times. That would be perfect. Im really crossing my fingers on this one. There needs to be atleast some sort of change with this current scheduling format. Hopefully sooner rather than later.

5 divisional games and a return to divisional playoff system.

play 1 division in your conference an extra time (rotating seasonally)

3 other games based on previous years conference standings. (#1 plays the bottom 3, Cellar team plays the top 3, etc.)

you'd play every team home and away every year.

rivalries might actually mean something again.

[Gordie Howe hat trick 110]

I was always wondering why we didn't do this earlier...needless to say I'm excited.

[eva unit zero 271]

5 divisional games and a return to divisional playoff system.

play 1 division in your conference an extra time (rotating seasonally)

So how does this work? Central plays the Pacific, and the Northwest plays who?

3 other games based on previous years conference standings. (#1 plays the bottom 3, Cellar team plays the top 3, etc.)

So what three teams do the teams that finish 7-9 play? You have some interesting ideas, but you need to put more thought into them because there are pretty obvious reasons why they wouldn't work as is.

Edited September 19, 2007 by eva unit zero

[Hank 0]

I'm honestly shocked. Everyone knows that Lou Lamourello and his giant Bald Eagle head run this league and hold the entire BOG by the short and curlies. I wonder how they'll be able to get this past him. Afterall, every rule in this league is made to benefit Lou. I wonder how he'll feel about having to actually fly out of the Eastern Time Zone more than once a year.

[Barrie 900]

Last week I saw Kenny on TV and he said the biggest complaint Detroit fans have is the schedule. I'm wondering if the problems the Wings are having selling season tickets has something to do with the League changing the schedule. Last year the majority of the owners liked the current schedule, now they think it's time for a change.

I bet the League took notice as to what's happening in Detroit. Good job as always Detroit fans . Along with cities like Boston, Philly, New York, etc., we're "movers and shakers".

[Hank 0]

I wanted to add that I desperately want to go back to divisional playoffs.

I know I'm showing my age but I loved facing a lot of the same teams every year in the first and 2nd round. THAT'S how rivalries are formed not from playing the same team 8 times a freakin' year.

This is how my breakdown would look:

Western Conference

Central

Detroit

Nashville

St. Louis

Columbus

Chicago

Dallas

Phoenix

Pacific

Vancouver

Minnesota

Calgary

Colorado

Edmonton

Los Angeles

Anaheim

San Jose

Eastern Conference

Atlantic

New Jersey

NY Rangers

NY Islanders

Atlanta

Carolina

Tampa Bay

Florida

Washington

North East

Buffalo

Ottawa

Toronto

Montreal

Boston

Pittsburgh

Philadelphia

[vangvace 12]

So how does this work? Central plays the Pacific, and the Northwest plays who?

So what three teams do the teams that finish 7-9 play? You have some interesting ideas, but you need to put more thought into them because there are pretty obvious reasons why they wouldn't work as is.

Good point on the first, let me better explain what I was thinking since divisional playoffs really wasn't the right word...

For arguments sake the following make the playoffs

Central:

Det, Nash, StL

NW:

Van, Cal

Pac:

Ana, SJ, Dal

My vision is that, for the first round the matchups would be the following

Det v StL (Best v Worst in division)

Van v Cal (Best v Worst in division)

Ana v Dal (Best v Worst in division)

Nash v SJ (middle teams)

for the second round on it would return to the ranked playoff format that we have today. Because teams will know that they will be playing a playoff series against a division foe, rivalries would start to form again (well as much as they can in this era)

Second rethought for the extra 3 games: Team rank based on previous seasons finish.

Team- Plays

1- 5, 10, 15

2- 4, 9, 14

3- 3, 8, 13

4- 2, 7, 12

5- 1, 6, 11

6- 15, 5, 10

7- 14, 4, 9

8- 13, 3, 8

9- 12, 2, 7

10- 11, 1, 6

11- 10, 15, 5

12- 9, 14, 4

13- 8, 13, 3

14- 7, 12, 2

15- 6, 11, 1

[theman19 47]

about time,..now i know i can see my wings in Raleigh at least once a year

[vangvace 12]

For shame Hank :nonono: but I fixed it for ya.

This is how my breakdown would look:

Clarence Cambell Conference

Norris

Smythe

Eastern Conference

Patrick

Adams

Oh and I found this through wiki: Reorg

-- Four divisions instead of six. The Eastern and Western Conferences would each have eight- and seven- team divisions

-- Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Anaheim, Los Angeles, San Jose, Colorado and Phoenix would make up the eight-team division in the Western Conference. The seven-team division would feature Detroit, Chicago, St. Louis, Nashville, Dallas, Minnesota and Eastern Conference newcomer Atlanta

-- The new divisions in the East: one would feature Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Buffalo, Boston, Pittsburgh and Western Conference alumni Columbus. The other division would include the New York Rangers, New York Islanders, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Washington, Tampa Bay, Florida and Carolina. The Caps rejoining their old Patrick Division rivals was a popular sentiment at Wednesday's meeting;

-- The divisions would be more sensitive to time zones with a huge consideration to TV start times. More games in the same time zone means less games at odd start times for viewers. This would also cut down on travel;

-- The top four playoff seeds would come from the top two teams in each division. Four wild-card playoff berths would then be battled among the teams with the next highest point totals. So it would remain eight playoff teams in each conference. >

[auxlepli 17]

Remember how Bettman said everybody loved the division-heavy schedule? How the NHL didn't have stats to back up that fans wanted a more balanced schedule? Bettman is a liar. On the other hand he'd make a great politician.

''I think it's clear that there will be a change,'' NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said after the four-hour meeting with owners. He is such a shyster. It's reasons like this why me, and I think other fans, hate him so much. Too bad he didn't go away like Goodenow did.

[A.T.Hun 0]

I wouldn't be surprised if this was in no small part because of pressure put on by the Wings management/ownership. I'm of the opinion that the Wings should have at least a home-and-home against the other Original Six franchises every year, especially Toronto. Really, do we need to see the Jackets and Predlies more than six times a year?

[Hank 0]

For shame Hank :nonono: but I fixed it for ya.

LOL! My bad. Thanks for the correction!

[wingsgirl001 983]

Or drop to six games against each divisional opponent and play a home-and-home with every team in the other conference. That would guarantee a visit each year from each team in the league.

We have a winner folks!

[NeverForgetMac25 483]

Great News!

Given that I don't see the NHL changing the current divisions around, here is NFM's proposal for the new schedule:

20 Games = 5 games vs. each divisional opponent (Home Ice Advantage of 5 game series rotated on a bi-yearly format)

30 Games = 3 games vs. each non-divisional conference opponent (Home Ice Advantage of 3 game series rotated by division on a bi-yearly format)

30 Games = 2 games vs. each non-conference opponent = 30 games (Home and Home series)

2 Games = 2 games vs. each non-divisional conference opponent that placed the same seed in their respective division the previous year

82 Games - BOOYAH!

Edited September 20, 2007 by Never Forget Mac #25