NHL re-alignment - North and South Conferences

[RaySheppard26 0]

Western Conference

Northwest

Vancouver Canucks

Edmonton Oilers

Calgary Flames

Pacific

Anaheim Ducks

San Jose Sharks

Los Angeles Kings

Phoenix Coyotes

Southwest

Minnesota Wild

Colorado Avalanche

Dallas Stars

Central Conference

Northcentral

Detroit Red Wings

Pittsburgh Penguins

Columbus Blue Jackets

Toronto Maple Leafs

Central

Nashville Predators

Chicago Blackhawks

St. Louis Blues

Southcentral

Atlanta Thrashers

Florida Panthers

Tampa Bay Lighting

Eastern Conference

Northeast

Montreal Canadiens

Ottawa Senators

Buffalo Sabres

East

Boston Bruins

New York Rangers

New York Islanders

New Jersey Devils

Atlantic

Washington Capitals

Carolina Hurricanes

Philadelphia Flyers

36 Conference Games

20 Non-Conference Games

20 Other Non-Conference Games

6 additional Division games

Divisional opponents 6 times/season (3 home/3 away) *4 included in conference games*

Conference opponents 4 times/season (2 home/ 2 away)

Non Conference opponents 2 times/season (1 home/1 away)

No idea how you'd do the playoffs..

[stevkrause 1,247]

There are two logical optionsas I see it. Add two teams to the Western conference, and divide into four-team divisions. This would cut down on travel and allow for better scheduling.

The other option is the non-expansion option; three conferences with two five-team divisions each.

WESTERN CONFERENCE

Anaheim, Dallas, Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Jose

Calgary, Colorado, Edmonton, Minnesota, Vancouver

CENTRAL CONFERENCE

Buffalo, Chicago, Detroit, Ottawa, Toronto

Columbus, Nashville, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, St.Louis

EASTERN CONFERENCE

Boston, Montreal, New Jersey, NY Islanders, NY Rangers

Atlanta, Carolina, Florida, Tampa Bay, Washington

Set up the schedule so each team plays the following:

6 vs Division (24)

4 vs Conference (20)

2 vs Non-Conference (40)

Total 84 games.

Division winners get automatic playoff berths...remaining ten teams are selected based on overall points...teams are seeded 1-16 based on points.

I like your idea into breaking it up into 3, very interesting... but I don't like the game totals

WESTERN CONFERENCE

NorthWest Division

Vancouver, San Jose, Edmonton, Calgary, Minnesota

SouthWest Division

Anaheim, Dallas, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Colorado

CENTRAL CONFERENCE

NorthCentral Division

Detroit, Toronto, Ottawa, Chicago, Buffalo

SouthCentral Division

Columbus, Nashville, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, St. Louis

EASTERN CONFERENCE

NorthEast Division

Boston, Montreal, New Jersy, NYR, NYI

SouthEast Division

Atlanta, Carolina, Florida, Tampa Bay, Washington

5 games against division - 20

4 games against rest of conference - 20

2 games (home and away) against rest of league - 40

for a grand total of 80 games (I think 82 is too long anyways)

The for playoffs, each division gets an automatic seed and seed the other 10 based on pts - 1-16, 1 plays 16, etc, etc...

Edited October 10, 2007 by stevkrause

[stevkrause 1,247]

lets just go back to Campbell and Wales (but make it more like an AL/NL in MLB) too... with a throwback to the legends - EVERYONE TRAVELS!!!

WALES CONFERENCE

Adams Division

Vancouver, Buffalo, San Jose, Toronto, NYI

Patrick Division

Atlanta, NYR, Philadelphia, Anaheim, Tampa Bay

Morenz Division

New Jersey, Dallas, Calgary, Washington, Boston

CAMPBELL CONFERENCE

Scmidt Division

Pittsburgh, Ottawa, Columbus, Colorado, Florida

Norris Division

Detroit, Los Angeles, Montreal, Nashville, Edmonton

Smyth Division

Chicago, Minnesota, St. Louis, Phoenix, Carolina

5 games against division - 20

3 games against rest of conference - 30

2 games (home and away) against other conf - 30

Grand total of 80

Same playoff structure

Side note - I know this would incur a lot of traveling expense and probably wouldn't fly, but I think it would be a cool throw back - Also note, I tried to keep the original divisions as much like the originally were, with some adjustments for new/moved teams and travel

[JayUp88 1]

These are all good ideas, not that they have been said before. I think we should all get together and go knocking on Garys door and demand he stop killing the NHL. the go to ESPN's doors and beg them to take hockey back.

[betterREDthandead 58]

Western Conference

Northwest

Vancouver Canucks

Edmonton Oilers

Calgary Flames

Pacific

Anaheim Ducks

San Jose Sharks

Los Angeles Kings

Phoenix Coyotes

Southwest

Minnesota Wild

Colorado Avalanche

Dallas Stars

Central Conference

Northcentral

Detroit Red Wings

Pittsburgh Penguins

Columbus Blue Jackets

Toronto Maple Leafs

Central

Nashville Predators

Chicago Blackhawks

St. Louis Blues

Southcentral

Atlanta Thrashers

Florida Panthers

Tampa Bay Lighting

Eastern Conference

Northeast

Montreal Canadiens

Ottawa Senators

Buffalo Sabres

East

Boston Bruins

New York Rangers

New York Islanders

New Jersey Devils

Atlantic

Washington Capitals

Carolina Hurricanes

Philadelphia Flyers

36 Conference Games

20 Non-Conference Games

20 Other Non-Conference Games

6 additional Division games

Divisional opponents 6 times/season (3 home/3 away) *4 included in conference games*

Conference opponents 4 times/season (2 home/ 2 away)

Non Conference opponents 2 times/season (1 home/1 away)

No idea how you'd do the playoffs..

Any setup with unbalanced divisions is really inequitable. Not fair to the teams in larger divisions, IMO.

I'll throw my idea onto the pile here.....

First, expand the league to Las Vegas and Seattle and move the Florida Panthers to Houston. I just don't think Miami is a good sports town, and especially not for hockey. Then set up the divisions as follows:

NORTHEAST (Adams) (1)

Boston, Montreal, New York, New York

ATLANTIC (Patrick) (1)

Ottawa, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Washington

SOUTHEAST (Bettman) (ok not really. Calder) (2)

Carolina, Atlanta, Tampa Bay, Nashville

NORTHERN (Norris) (3)

Detroit, Toronto, Buffalo, Pittsburgh

CENTRAL (Hart) (3)

Columbus, Chicago, St. Louis, Minnesota

NORTHWEST (Smythe) (4)

Vancouver, Seattle, Calgary, Edmonton

WESTERN (Byng) (2)

Houston, Dallas, Colorado, San Jose

SOUTHWEST (Ross) (4)

Las Vegas, Anaheim, Phoenix, Los Angeles

Notice I've put numbers 1-4 by the divisions - this indicates the "rival" divisions. Northeast and Atlantic are rival divisions and so on.

There are no conferences.

Schedule as follows. Each team plays:

4 games against each division opponent (12)

4 games against each team in the rival division (16)

2 games against each other team in the league (48)

2 games against each opponent in a non-rival division on a rotating basis (8)

Total is 84 games.

Award double points for every intradivisional game.

Playoffs: Top two teams in each division make it and start off playing each other in a best of seven. Re-seed the remaining 8 teams 1-8 based on regular season points. Re-seed again after the next round.

I believe this is the best of all worlds:

Equal travel time? Check. No matter what, the eastern teams will always have better travel because the cities are closer together, but this guarantees a home-and-home against every team in the league. The New Yorks of the world still have to go to the West Coast every year.

Geographic rivalries? Check. You will always play the teams closest to you most often.

Divisional rivalries? Check. If you make the playoffs, you're guaranteed a matchup with a division opponent. Plus, there are only 12 chances to earn those double points. Create a little excitement in the regular season - you think a Detroit-Toronto matchup wouldn't generate real buzz with 6 points on the line? Think the game would be a little more heated? Even Detroit-Columbus would. This double points for division games is something I think the league ought to do regardless.

Original 6 matchups? Check. O6 teams will always play every other O6 team 8 times a year.

Variety? Check. Every team comes to the building and you go to everyone else's.

Money in the owner's pocket? Check. They'll love the extra home game, and no doubt they'll love the expansion fees, too.

The schedule can be flexible. For example, in Olympic years, it would make good sense to eliminate the extra 8 games against a rotating division, to bring it down to 76 games. The owners might swallow that since they'd have the extra home game the rest of the time and it really comes out just about even, and the players have their concerns about fatigue addressed.

The question it leaves is, what to do with the Campbell and Prince of Wales trophies? I'd suggest this: Say we were doing that format this year. Currently Anaheim holds the Campbell. Say they advance out of the divisional round of the playoffs, but are beaten by Ottawa in the second round, who are beaten by the Wings to advance to the SCF. Wings then get the Campbell Bowl.

Anyone care to punch holes in my idea? One thing I say a lot is that no idea along the lines of scheduling and such can possibly please everyone, so have at it.

[stevkrause 1,247]

Any setup with unbalanced divisions is really inequitable. Not fair to the teams in larger divisions, IMO.

I'll throw my idea onto the pile here.....

First, expand the league to Las Vegas and Seattle and move the Florida Panthers to Houston. I just don't think Miami is a good sports town, and especially not for hockey. Then set up the divisions as follows:

NORTHEAST (Adams) (1)

Boston, Montreal, New York, New York

ATLANTIC (Patrick) (1)

Ottawa, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Washington

SOUTHEAST (Bettman) (ok not really. Calder) (2)

Carolina, Atlanta, Tampa Bay, Nashville

NORTHERN (Norris) (3)

Detroit, Toronto, Buffalo, Pittsburgh

CENTRAL (Hart) (3)

Columbus, Chicago, St. Louis, Minnesota

NORTHWEST (Smythe) (4)

Vancouver, Seattle, Calgary, Edmonton

WESTERN (Byng) (2)

Houston, Dallas, Colorado, San Jose

SOUTHWEST (Ross) (4)

Las Vegas, Anaheim, Phoenix, Los Angeles

Notice I've put numbers 1-4 by the divisions - this indicates the "rival" divisions. Northeast and Atlantic are rival divisions and so on.

There are no conferences.

Schedule as follows. Each team plays:

4 games against each division opponent (12)

4 games against each team in the rival division (16)

2 games against each other team in the league (48)

2 games against each opponent in a non-rival division on a rotating basis (8)

Total is 84 games.

Award double points for every intradivisional game.

Playoffs: Top two teams in each division make it and start off playing each other in a best of seven. Re-seed the remaining 8 teams 1-8 based on regular season points. Re-seed again after the next round.

I believe this is the best of all worlds:

Equal travel time? Check. No matter what, the eastern teams will always have better travel because the cities are closer together, but this guarantees a home-and-home against every team in the league. The New Yorks of the world still have to go to the West Coast every year.

Geographic rivalries? Check. You will always play the teams closest to you most often.

Divisional rivalries? Check. If you make the playoffs, you're guaranteed a matchup with a division opponent. Plus, there are only 12 chances to earn those double points. Create a little excitement in the regular season - you think a Detroit-Toronto matchup wouldn't generate real buzz with 6 points on the line? Think the game would be a little more heated? Even Detroit-Columbus would. This double points for division games is something I think the league ought to do regardless.

Original 6 matchups? Check. O6 teams will always play every other O6 team 8 times a year.

Variety? Check. Every team comes to the building and you go to everyone else's.

Money in the owner's pocket? Check. They'll love the extra home game, and no doubt they'll love the expansion fees, too.

The schedule can be flexible. For example, in Olympic years, it would make good sense to eliminate the extra 8 games against a rotating division, to bring it down to 76 games. The owners might swallow that since they'd have the extra home game the rest of the time and it really comes out just about even, and the players have their concerns about fatigue addressed.

The question it leaves is, what to do with the Campbell and Prince of Wales trophies? I'd suggest this: Say we were doing that format this year. Currently Anaheim holds the Campbell. Say they advance out of the divisional round of the playoffs, but are beaten by Ottawa in the second round, who are beaten by the Wings to advance to the SCF. Wings then get the Campbell Bowl.

Anyone care to punch holes in my idea? One thing I say a lot is that no idea along the lines of scheduling and such can possibly please everyone, so have at it.

although your ideas are very fresh and interesting, I don't like the idea of expanding a league that should, IMHO, move a couple teams as it is and maybe even kill a couple off

furthermore, hockey is already losing out to the other sports - make a format that is that hard to understand and it would just confuse "new" and old fans alike, most people don't like to think that much, haha

[Konnan511 1,736]

I'm all for realignment of divisions and new division names as long as I can say South Central without getting funny looks!

[Legionnaire11 0]

I don't like that idea because some teams will be paying twice when it shells out its money to the teams on welfare.

and this is another reason why the league has fallen and will continue to fall from the sports spotlight. There are too many teams that want to view the league as 30 individual businesses rather than one large business with 30 departments.

And that just trickles down to the fans of those teams who think that way. How many times have you seen a suggestion that the league should just whack 10 teams and that would fix all of the problems? You think that the media criticizes the league now, wait till 1/3 of the teams are killed off. The NHL will go from obscurity to virtual non-existance.

What the league needs is 30-32 teams that all have the best interest of the league as a whole in mind. Unfortunately, this doesn't seem likely to happen in the foreseeable future, so we're doomed to have mass turmoil in the NHL for many, many more years.

[betterREDthandead 58]

although your ideas are very fresh and interesting, I don't like the idea of expanding a league that should, IMHO, move a couple teams as it is and maybe even kill a couple off

furthermore, hockey is already losing out to the other sports - make a format that is that hard to understand and it would just confuse "new" and old fans alike, most people don't like to think that much, haha

In response to your first point, I can understand why expansion is not looked at too kindly, but I think the expansion train has already left the station, and we'll see new teams announced before Rafalski's contract with the Wings is up. I like the idea of a 32-team league, that seems to be just the right number. But more than that I think of expansion as something inevitable. Ilitch believes, based on his talks with the league, that Vegas will soon have a team, and once you add a 31st team, a 32nd team only makes sense. And the idea of contracting a few teams is, to me, one of the most absurd things I've ever heard.

For the second point, it would definitely take some getting used to. But it's actually quite simple, I think. The only complexities are the schedule format, and hell, most people, including myself, don't always have a 100% grasp on the way the schedule is now. The playoff format is different, but I don't think different necessarily means complex.

[stevkrause 1,247]

and this is another reason why the league has fallen and will continue to fall from the sports spotlight. There are too many teams that want to view the league as 30 individual businesses rather than one large business with 30 departments.

And that just trickles down to the fans of those teams who think that way. How many times have you seen a suggestion that the league should just whack 10 teams and that would fix all of the problems? You think that the media criticizes the league now, wait till 1/3 of the teams are killed off. The NHL will go from obscurity to virtual non-existance.

What the league needs is 30-32 teams that all have the best interest of the league as a whole in mind. Unfortunately, this doesn't seem likely to happen in the foreseeable future, so we're doomed to have mass turmoil in the NHL for many, many more years.

AGREED 100%

Until Bettman is axed, the league will suffer, I have been saying for years that Bobby Clark should be the new commissioner of the NHL, he has YEARS of front office experience with the Flyers and would do what is best for the league, plus, he has an old school connection to the game, which would be good for the game

In response to your first point, I can understand why expansion is not looked at too kindly, but I think the expansion train has already left the station, and we'll see new teams announced before Rafalski's contract with the Wings is up. I like the idea of a 32-team league, that seems to be just the right number. But more than that I think of expansion as something inevitable. Ilitch believes, based on his talks with the league, that Vegas will soon have a team, and once you add a 31st team, a 32nd team only makes sense. And the idea of contracting a few teams is, to me, one of the most absurd things I've ever heard.

For the second point, it would definitely take some getting used to. But it's actually quite simple, I think. The only complexities are the schedule format, and hell, most people, including myself, don't always have a 100% grasp on the way the schedule is now. The playoff format is different, but I don't think different necessarily means complex.

I'm not even saying long term contraction, and not a MASS of teams, but at least 2 teams (Phoenix/Nashville) need to be moved or axed... like I said in my first post, I think moved is the obvious solution, Nashville to Portland and Phoenix to Vegas... then, once the league is HEALTHY again, then consider expanding...