71 replies to this topic

[korrowan]

This would be awesome since I live in the Philly area....get to see the Wings more = win!

[Crashnburnluder]

This would be awesome since I live in the Philly area....get to see the Wings more = win!

Same here, I'm Lancaster, Pa... Already have my tickets for Wings vs Flyers, Wings Vs Caps and working on wings vs isles...

As for realignment, please bring Detroit to the east!!!

[Krystal]

My only beef would be if they move east - I'll have to drive as far as Detroit to see them play At least in the west, I can jump the train for a couple hours over to St. Louis, or drive out to Denver/Dallas.

But, if it means no more 9:30 starts when they're in Vancouver, Anaheim, etc.. sign us up! I'd rather spend the money to take a trip to Detroit than stay up ridiculously late throughout the whole season.

[BlakKy]

http://tsn.ca/blogs/...eger/?id=377001

The Winnipeg Jets are content to sit and smile while NHL decision-makers work on realignment formulas.

The Jets would prefer to be shifted to the Northwest Division next season, joining Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton and a geographic rival in the Minnesota Wild.

Playing more games in Canada not only has obvious rivalry benefits but has its financial advantages because it's less costly flying principally in Canada than in the U.S.

A shift to the Central Division is also a strong possibility for the Jets; with Detroit, Nashville and Columbus all eager to move east.

The Red Wings will continue to quietly campaign for a move, perhaps, seeking support from influential Eastern Conference teams like Toronto, Philadelphia and the New York Rangers to help sway the vote at the December board meetings.

Detroit, however, has offered a concession.

The Wings are willing to stay in the West, providing they travel to Western Canada once instead of twice and far West into the United States once instead of twice per season.

Eastern Conference teams don't see a need for a drastic change and all clubs remain concerned over the uncertainty of the Phoenix Coyotes and the potential for future realignment.

The perfect scenario would see the Coyotes ownership issues resolved prior to the December vote.

In any case, the Winnipeg Jets will be keen observers of the process.

[stevie for president]

I think travel-wise it makes most sense to go to 3 conferences.

Western Conference (11 teams for now).
Northwest: Wild, Jets, Canucks, Flames, and Oilers
Southwest: Stars, Avs, Coyotes, Sharks, Kings, Ducks

NorthEastern Conference (9 teams for now).
Canada Division: Maple Leafs, Canadiens, Senators, Sabres
Atlantic Division: Bruins, Islanders, Rangers, Devils, Capitals

Central Conference (10 teams).
Midwet Division: Red Wings, Blackhawks, Penguins, Flyers, Blue Jackets
Southeast Division: Blues, Panthers, Lightning, Predators, Hurricanes.

If the Coyotes move to Quebec, which I guess is a strong possibility, they simply move from Southwest Division to Canada Division, otherwise just go with unbalanced conferences. it works fine for the MLB.

For playoffs, top 2 seeds from each division play vs each other, and the winners play vs the other division series winner in the conference. Have 3 conference brackets and 1 wildcard bracket (top 4 seeds that didn't happen to be a 1 or 2 seed in their division. seed them 1-4 based on points and have 1-4, 2-3 and the winners play for a chance to go to the semis) Seed the remaining 4 teams based on regular season standings for the semi finals. I know its complicated, but every team will have similar travel and geographic rivals and most traditional rivals are in the same conference.

[RedBengals]

Detroit needs to be in the same division as Toronto and Chicago, period. Rivalries, better ratings, earlier start times.

[ogreslayer]

EJ Hradek is saying that the 2 teams in the running to move East are Nashville & Detroit and that it would simply be a move into the Southeast to replace the Jets.

http://www.nhl.com/i...s.htm?id=594302

[South Dakota wings fan]

Honestly, for the strength of the whole league, I would prefer to see Detroit and Columbus move to the eastern time zone division(s).  Columbus has good players, and their natural rival is the penguins.  They should be playing in the same division with them, not the Wings.  Detroit also belongs in the east.  This may leave two 8 team divisions in the east, and two 7 team divisions in the west.  You can't have your cake and eat it too.  So do you want to be in an eight team division in the east?  Or stay in the west?  

As far as EJ Hradek's comments in the earlier post, I don't see how Detroit would fit into the Southeast divison.  Nasvhille yes, Detroit no.

[ogreslayer]

Honestly, for the strength of the whole league, I would prefer to see Detroit and Columbus move to the eastern time zone division(s). Columbus has good players, and their natural rival is the penguins. They should be playing in the same division with them, not the Wings. Detroit also belongs in the east. This may leave two 8 team divisions in the east, and two 7 team divisions in the west. You can't have your cake and eat it too. So do you want to be in an eight team division in the east? Or stay in the west?

As far as EJ Hradek's comments in the earlier post, I don't see how Detroit would fit into the Southeast divison. Nasvhille yes, Detroit no.

Remember, this is the same league that thinks Dallas is on the West coast & therefore in the Pacific division. Granted, it would make more sense to actually talk Dallas or Nashville instead of Detroit to the Southeast when it comes right down to it if all they're going to do is slide a team into that division.

[Shoreline]

It's gonna be interesting to see what the meetings later this year come up with as far as alignment goes.

[IllinoisRedWingsFan]

Remember, this is the same league that thinks Dallas is on the West coast & therefore in the Pacific division. Granted, it would make more sense to actually talk Dallas or Nashville instead of Detroit to the Southeast when it comes right down to it if all they're going to do is slide a team into that division.

I think they'd better putting Columbus in the Southeast versus Detroit or heck Dallas!

[Konnan511]

Remember, this is the same league that thinks Dallas is on the West coast & therefore in the Pacific division. Granted, it would make more sense to actually talk Dallas or Nashville instead of Detroit to the Southeast when it comes right down to it if all they're going to do is slide a team into that division.

The league doesn't "think" Dallas is on the West coast, they just had no where to put them.

[TheDetroitRedWings]

I know I'm probably in the minority here. But I really don't want to move to the East. The West has so much better competition, and so many big and small rivalries with us, which in turn means many more exciting great Red Wings games. I really hope we stay in the West, despite the time zone issue.

Edited by TheDetroitRedWings, 05 October 2011 - 01:14 AM.

[ogreslayer]

The league doesn't "think" Dallas is on the West coast, they just had no where to put them.

Oh subtle sarcasm, why are you lost on so many people?

Don't think that a league that would stick Dallas in a division where all the other teams are 2 time zones away would hesitate putting Detroit in a division with teams in Washington DC, Raleigh, Tampa Bay, & Miami. What the NHL needs is a far-reaching, visionary realignment that addresses all of the current issues. What we'll get instead is the Board of Governors just moving one team from the West into Atlanta's old spot in the Southeast. What they should do at minimum, in my opinion, is move Nashville to the SE, Dallas to the Central, Vancouver to the Pacific, & put Winnipeg in the NW.

Edit: Before anyone points it out, yes Phoenix is only 1 time zone away from Dallas for part of the season.

Edited by ogreslayer, 05 October 2011 - 08:59 AM.

[LeftWinger]

It's funny how folks are talking about Nashville moving east, yet it was a few years ago when Bettman was saying that Detroit is fine where it's at (despite the old rivalries) because they have developed a huge rivalry with Nashville which continues to grow..

..well, so much for that one!

I still say the best would be Detroit and Columbus move East and have a 14 and 16 team conference. Seems to work fine for MLB. Just like MLB the East could have three divisions with 5, 6, 5 teams and the West would have 5, 5, 4.

Wales Conference:

Atlantic:

Pit - Phl - Rags - NJD - Iles

Norhteast:

Det - Tor - Mtl - Buf - Ott - Bos

SouthEast:

CBJ - WAS - TPA - CAR - FLA

Campbell Conference:

Central:

NAS - CHI - STL - MIN - DAL

Northwest:

VAN - CAL - EDM - WIN

Pacific:

ANA - LAK - SAN - COL - PHX

...works for me, but of course this is the NHL, so none of that will happen.

[GMRwings1983]

As I've said before, I see Nashville moving to the Southeast, Minnesota moving to the Central, and Winnipeg moving to the Northwest. Then all the Western Canadian teams will be in the same division.

I like the idea of the league realigning and Detroit moving east, but I don't see it happening.

[ogreslayer]

From Pierre LeBrun's chat on ESPN.com today....

Tom (Lincoln Park)


Pierre, I think the odds of Detroit going East under realignment are less than 10%. It seems like a lot of the WC teams (especially those in CA and Phoenix) need the boost in sales when they come to town, and the teams in the EC probably aren't too excited to make their conference that much more difficult. Would you agree?

Pierre LeBrun (12:48 PM)


Right now betting money is on Detroit going East. But a lot can change between now and December BOG vote

[BlakKy]

I'm greedy and I want Detroit to move east.
Even though we traditionally take a dump when we play the Leafs, I want Detroit to play them 6 times a year and allow my friends and I to put aside our differences over a glass of cold, hard facts.
Detroit>Toronto and the rest of the East.

[Konnan511]

Oh subtle sarcasm, why are you lost on so many people?

Don't think that a league that would stick Dallas in a division where all the other teams are 2 time zones away would hesitate putting Detroit in a division with teams in Washington DC, Raleigh, Tampa Bay, & Miami. What the NHL needs is a far-reaching, visionary realignment that addresses all of the current issues. What we'll get instead is the Board of Governors just moving one team from the West into Atlanta's old spot in the Southeast. What they should do at minimum, in my opinion, is move Nashville to the SE, Dallas to the Central, Vancouver to the Pacific, & put Winnipeg in the NW.

Edit: Before anyone points it out, yes Phoenix is only 1 time zone away from Dallas for part of the season.

Except there was no possible way to detect sarcasm when you are making points on a subject manner. Oh subtle sarcasm, why can't people do it correctly.

[cusimano_brothers]

During the first intermission of the radio broadcast of last night's Boston-Buffalo game, the CBC's Elliotte Friedman offered this: along with realignment, the Club Governors are looking at keeping the first two rounds of the playoffs contained in each "division", trying to re-establish the concept of "rivalries" between certain teams.