The fans can figure it out ... (realignment)

[whitewolf406 3]

It amazes me that the average NHL fan can come up with a better plan than Bettman and his Ivory tower minions. This guys realinement plan is, like all of them, not perfect but IMO better than the current alinement at least in terms of travel. Lets throw it out there for your thoughts/opinions/tweaks.

http://www.freep.com/article/20100205/SPOR...o-and-Minnesota

[McAwesome 754]

That's not a bad plan, and I like the schedule changes proposed too.

I think there should be serious consideration given to either relocating or expanding 1 or 2 teams in Canada, pick any decent-sized city and with the way that the league redistributes revenues, a franchise could survive and even thrive in a smaller Canadian market.

[Hockeytown0001 7,652]

That's not a bad proposal.

[GMRwings1983 8,804]

It's impossible to have a perfect setup.

Even that example had LA playing in the same division as Dallas and St. Louis, two time zones apart. There's just too many teams close together in the East, while the West is more sparse in teams.

The mountain time zone just f***s everything up. I wish we'd get rid of it somehow.

I don't like the current NHL schedule though. I do wish teams would play every team twice.

[dirtydangles 1,328]

the division with pitt, washington, and NJ, columbus, philly is pretty competitive compared to Nash, atl, florida, TB, carolina. and i dont see pitt, wash, NJ getting any worse anytime soon.

[Guest ZetterbergFourty]

Looks pretty reasonable to me.

The only thing I dislike about this is Toronto and Detroit playing five times a season. Toronto seems to have the Red Wings number.

Switch Buffalo and Columbus perhaps?

[Hockeytown0001 7,652]

Division 2

Columbus

Pittsburgh

Philadelphia

Washington

New Jersey

Poor Columbus

[Hockeytown0001 7,652]

Looks pretty reasonable to me.

The only thing I dislike about this is Toronto and Detroit playing five times a season. Toronto seems to have the Red Wings number.

Switch Buffalo and Columbus perhaps?

Would you rather see an Original Six matchup five times a year, or Detroit vs. Nashville six times a year?

[Guest ZetterbergFourty]

Would you rather see an Original Six matchup five times a year, or Detroit vs. Nashville six times a year?

Well if it's Toronto?

Wont happen anyhow, Bettman uses NHL Tradition as s*** tickets so...

I'd be into some more MTL/DET NYR/DET matches.

Edited February 8, 2010 by ZetterbergFourty

[Guest CaliWingsNut]

Realignment

[Guest CaliWingsNut]

Poor Columbus

agreed... that division needs tweeking.

[whitewolf406 3]

Well if it's Toronto?

Wont happen anyhow, Bettman uses NHL Tradition as s*** tickets so...

I'd be into some more MTL/DET NYR/DET matches.

True story, I forgot to add in the original post the his biggest ***** would probably be losing the 2 regular season games.

[GoWings1905 2,694]

The part I like most from that proposed idea is every team plays each other twice. I want to see Toronto, Montreal, and AO at the Joe once each season instead of Columbus three times.

[Electrophile 3,554]

Realignment

Thank you. I was getting a nervous twitch.

[whitewolf406 3]

Realignment

Thanks, I'm lucky to speak coherently let alone figure out spellcheck too.

[Wombat 26]

Pro sports teams don't really even need divisions anymore. To me, it was mostly a function of travel issues across the rather large North American continent. Well they aren't taking trains anymore, they have planes and can make the travel.

58 game season, play every team twice. Or if you must get close to 80 games, play 14 teams 3 times a season, and the rest twice for a 72 game season.

[Holmstrom96 347]

Realignment

[Lovin Jiri Fischer 147]

The only issue here is that all of the Canadian teams would be in the same conference. Maybe it's not the end of the world, but it would definitely take away 50% of Canada's chances of reaching the finals.

[stevkrause 1,247]

I wish I could find the thread I started on here from over a year ago about this... I don't agree with a few of his thoughts, but the overall concept(to re-align) is far overdue - the current system favors the East and isn't right...

Edit: found it (gotta love google) - my post was actually over 2 years ago... http://www.letsgowings.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=45813

I don't know why the NHL hasn't done this...

You change the conferences to North and South, no preferential treatment, EVERYONE travels

This way all teams have to equally travel and you get better Scheduling -

North Conference:

NorthWest Division:

Vancouver

Calgary

Edmonton

Minnesota

Ottawa

NorthCentral Division:

Detroit

Chicago

Columbus

Toronto

Montreal

NorthEast Division:

NY Rangers

NY Islanders

New Jersey

Buffalo

Boston

South Conference:

SouthWest Division:

San Jose

Anaheim

Los Angeles

Phoenix

Colorado

SouthCentral Division:

St Louis

Pittsburgh

Dallas

Nashville

Philadelphia

SouthEast Division

Atlanta

Tampa Bay

Florida

Carolina

Washinton

Everyone plays an unbalanced schedule -

6 games against everyone in your division (24), 4 or 3 against everyone else in your conference -this is the unbalanced part (38), 2 (one home, one away) out of conference - for a total of 82 games a year

Everyone travels, more original six matchups and EVERY city still gets to see all the other marquee teams for close to half of their season...

I guess it just makes too much sense for Bettman...

edited for geography purposes

Edited February 8, 2010 by stevkrause

[MuleRyder 0]

Division 3

Nashville

Atlanta

Tampa Bay

Florida

Carolina

No one is going to watch any of those games. As a matter of fact, you could make a case for four of the five teams being removed from the league.

[Guest Howard He Do It?!]

The idea of realignment is nice, but those proposed divisions are horrible. Some of them are filled with good teams and some of them are filled with terrible teams. There is not enough balance.

[oldredbarnman 13]

I know we've had discussions on schedule and realignment before, and I would prefer a more balanced schedule, where all teams play at least a home and home. That way, travel is more fair across the league.

But my main interest is the playoffs. I'd like to see the NHL go back to a 16 team tournament, like they had back in the late 70s and early 80s. The division winners get the top 6 spots, and the next 10 teams would fill out the field. That way, there are many more possible playoff matchups, and I believe would create more excitement, and fan interest, instead of the same old East vs. East, and West vs. West.

Just for an example, if the regular season ended yesterday, the 1st round would look like this:

1- Capitals vs. 16- Wild

2- Sharks vs. 15- Stars

3- Hawks vs. 14- Wings

4- Devils vs. 13- Predators

5- Canucks vs. 12- Flames

6- Sabres vs. 11- Senators

7- Kings vs. 10- Avalanche

8- Coyotes vs. 9- Penguins

Now this doesn't account for a more balanced schedule, but it is one possibility if the league went to a 16 team tournament. Just opens the door for many more playoff and Stanley Cup matchups, and also gives the 2 best teams a better chance of playing each other for the Cup.

[Wings_Dynasty 267]

This schedule and realignment makes sense. Therefore, it will never happen.

[KrazyGangsta 79]

This schedule and realignment makes sense. Therefore, it will never happen.

True true, try explaining the realignment to the brains of the NHL. There so smart and know what's best for the game that I'm pretty sure they've all ready figured that out and know all ready that it is not good for the game.

[FireCaptain 563]

Strictly because I could attend 3 of them easily - I'd say Nashville.

haha..

Would you rather see an Original Six matchup five times a year, or Detroit vs. Nashville six times a year?