60 replies to this topic

[Wingzman91]

I am torn on this possible move. As someone from North Central Ohio I love having what is essentially a Wings home game three times a year in Columbus which is approx 45 min from where I live, I also appreciate I am spoiled as I am only 3ish hours from JLA and actual home games but still its nice to go to a Wings game and only be out till 11ish at night. I guess the best answer is to make someone else move West and let the Wings red headed step sister CBJ come with us East.

Or as other posters have indicated just create two geographical blind conferences with geographical divisions so everyone is traveling to the coasts and so forth.

NO! damn it, how do people who have 3 "home games" 45 mins from their house, and 3 hours to go to the JLA get to complain?
I have to drive 3 hours to go to FLA or TB, and i get 2 "home games" about every other year, and it takes me 40 hours to drive to Detroit.
With that said, get it done, bring the south good hockey, expand the sport!
Rename the division the Square division instead of Southeast so nobody complains.
Damn it Bettman, kill all the non-believers!!!!!
....i really want this.

A division of Car, TB, and FLA would almost ensure the Playoffs, hell, why do you think Ovechkin scores so much, he was playing these guys and ATL.
....plus, um, I heard that, uh, Washington, yea yea, that Washington said, we don't have the guts to go into their division, and then they called your mom a name.

[stevkrause]

Well, Detroit is in the SE part of MI…

[55fan]

Well, Detroit is in the SE part of MI…

Yeah. And... It's located SE of, um, Edmonton...

Edited by 55fan, 12 October 2011 - 03:37 PM.

[LeftWinger]

Yes to the Southeast if it gets our "foot in the door" of the eastern conference... BUT


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 Patrick: PIT - PHL - Rags - NJD - Iles

Northeast Howe: Detroit - TOR - MTL - BUF - OTT - BOS

Southeast Adams: CBJ - WAS - TPA - CAR - FLA

Campbell Conference:

Central Norris: NAS - CHI - STL - MIN - DAL

Northwest Smythe: VAN - CGY - EDM - WIN

Pacific Hull: ANA - LAK - SAN - COL - PHX

...I also like renaming the conferences back to the Wales/Campbell, it just sounds better... this would put 4 of the original six in one division and move Columbus (which is in the Eastern time zone and more southeast than Detroit) into the Southeast division. Ideally they rename the division to honor NHL history as well, bring back the Norris, Adams, Smythe, Patrick then have two more, maybe Howe and Hull?

Edit: To change the names of the Division's

Edited by LeftWinger, 12 October 2011 - 04:10 PM.

[MulesWillFly93]

Well, that would TOTALLY fix the problem! Instead of having Winnipeg in the SE, which obviously makes no sense because of its northerly location, let's put Detroit in the SE - it's WAY closer to the southeastern United States than Winnipeg is!

I don't know why I'm wasting sarcasm on this because I really don't think this is going to happen. This just seems a little too illogical even for the NHL. For as many bonehead moves as they make, I still don't think they would waste their time on something so ineffectual. Whatever...not going to waste time trying to understand it until it happens.

[Barrie]

What's the point of switching conferences if they're going to put us in the Southeast? I thought the Wings wanted to switch to get a better travel schedule. Having to go to Florida, TB, and Carolina all the time isn't much of a difference.

However the players will like those road trips in January and February.

Just doesn't make sense, but a lot in this league doesn't

So true...

Blah I hope not. Just switch Nashville to the Southeast. Winnipeg to the Northwest and move Minnesota to the Central. Problem solved.

That's what I've been saying too! That makes the most sense to me, and it's the easiest.

[Vladiator]

"New NHL Divisions for 2012-2013: Northeast -Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, Buffalo, Detroit. Atlantic - NYR, NYI, Boston, Philly, Pittsburgh. Southeast - Florida, Carolina, Tampa, N.J., Washington. Central - St. Louis, Chicago, Minnesota, Nashville, Columbus. Central-west (Northwest) - Colorado, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Phoenix, Dallas. Pacific - S.J., L.A., Canucks, Flames, Ducks. Detroit gets in the east over Columbus because bettman made a promise to Ilitich when he bought the team that they would get the first shot into the east if the chance ever came. Detroit has payed their dues way more than Columbus."

Posted from a comment from the TSN article. Makes the most sense to me. The only problem with this is trying to determine were the Yotes are going to end up IMHO.

[dobbles]

so far, there are 3 reasons to move the wings to the east that i have seen mentioned:

better for the fans
less travel
less time zone switching

to me, each of those reasons is pretty tertiary. i will explain why:

better for the fans? who cares! its a pretty minor inconvenience. 41 games are at home at whatever time the wings prefer. 10 more a year are already against the east. 10-20 more are in the central time zone which is a whole whopping hour behind. when you consider the wings start lots of home games at 730 eastern, and many teams start at 7pm central, its a whopping half hour difference for the start times. is it really that hard to adjust your tv watching schedule for a half hour later?

less travel. IMO, this holds the most water, but let me play devils advocate as to why its not really an issue. the hardest part of travel is getting on the bus, getting to the airport, getting to the plane, getting loaded, etc. the EASY part of travel is the actual flight. teams in the east still have to deal with the headaches of getting to the airport and all that. the only difference is flight time. let me throw some hypothetical numbers in there... so teams in the east still take an hour or two post game to get to the airport and get loaded. in the east, their flight may only take 30 minutes. they still have to get off the plane, get their crap and get to the hotel or to home depending on the situation. so lets add an hour. so for an east team, it still is going to take almost 4 hours to get home. for a team in the west, they still get 1-2 hours to get to the plane, however their flight is 90 minutes, and then an hour to get home. so instead of 4 hours of travel time, its 5. and once again, the time on the plane is when you can relax, decompress, nap, etc. also, a lot of teams in the east bus around at times. that negates the time gain. is an hour on a bus really better than an hour on a plane?

less time zone changes. this really falls in with the first one for me. sure detroit is in the eastern time zone. but is 1 hour difference really all that much? as i mentioned, teams vary between the on the hour start and the on the half hour start, so that adds to just as much variety. even in the east, there would still probably be 1 west coast trip a year to catch whichever division was on the rotation that year. right now they play about 50 games in the eastern time zone; switching to the east would change that to what? 70? and most of those gains would just be 1 hour difference.



i guess to me i just dont see all the whining about how awful the west is. sorry for being long winded though. at least we arent dallas who has no division rivals within hundreds of miles...

i would think its best for the nhl to be in the west. it leaves 2 original 6 teams in the conference instead of orphaning chicago. it allows the det-chi rivalry to build as both teams are good for the first time in decades. it allows the west to be stronger because of the wings success. it allows western teams to draw better when the wings come to town. i just think there are more quality reasons to stay than to go.

[Wingzman91]

What's the point of switching conferences if they're going to put us in the Southeast? I thought the Wings wanted to switch to get a better travel schedule. Having to go to Florida, TB, and Carolina all the time isn't much of a difference.

In the playoffs when its like the last 2 years, Phoenix (1645m) and SJ (2031m), thats a long way.
The farthest team in the East is FLA (1133m) and 2nd is TB (972m).

Say Detroit sweeps every series.
They still have to fly there and back once.
7352 combined miles.
vs.
4210 combined miles.

You are right the alignment is weird.
It's just as weird with Winnipeg playing these teams. 1870m from WIN to FLA.
Way harder on them then the switch would be to us.

In summary:
Less playoff travel time.
Earlier game start times.
Less jetlag. Virtually none in the playoffs.

They don't have to keep it like this they can change it if they want, but do it for a few decades and see if it works out.

EDIT:
The Wings and Mike Ilitch want to move into the East, there is obviously a reason for that.
If this isn't the deal they want they can vote no.
Maybe this is a way to get the foot in the door, before NYI become Las Vegas and Detroit can slide into the Atlantic division.

Edited by Wingzman91, 13 October 2011 - 12:27 AM.

[Crashnburnluder]

What's the point of switching conferences if they're going to put us in the Southeast? I thought the Wings wanted to switch to get a better travel schedule. Having to go to Florida, TB, and Carolina all the time isn't much of a difference.

I think a lot of it has to do with the Time zone difference. We will be staying within our Timezone and players don't have to adjust.

Imagine playing the 7 game Series last year in San Jose. Game 5 your in the Pacific time zone, Game 6 back in the eastern time zone, game 7 back to the Pacific. I much rather that with Tampa where everything is Eastern Time zone.

crash

[xtrememachine1]

Maybe this is a way to get the foot in the door, before NYI become Las Vegas and Detroit can slide into the Atlantic division.

Yeah, that's what I was thinking too. They'll take whatever, just to get into the East. Detroit in the Southeast doesn't make sense, but it makes more sense than Winnipeg in the Southeast. I think with so many teams in limbo and potentially moving, they may want to hold off a big realignment till that all gets settled. One thing for sure though, Winnipeg can't stay in the division they're in and if one team is moving West, one team West will move East and that team SHOULD be Detroit. I understand the arguments for Nashville and Columbus, but Detroit has been waiting to move East since before those franchises existed. Good things come to those who wait.

[Barrie]

I don't really buy the travel argument. Everything they have is first class and 5 star all the way, plus they take naps before the games. I think after a year or two, they're used to the travel. Also I'm sure the Wings when they're playing at the Joe don't get to bed until 3am or later after they talk to the press, have a post game meal, drive back to the 'burbs, and eventually finally wind down after the game.

I know a lot of the Eastern Teams travel by bus. Personally I'd find a plane to be more comfortable. When traveling by a bus you can get caught in traffic and road construction. There's no traffic jams or road work in the skies.

I think the travel thing is more of an issue with the team than players. Being in the East the Wings can save money on travel, that's what the team wants.

Edited by Barrie, 14 October 2011 - 02:39 PM.

[eva unit zero]

I don't really buy the travel argument. Everything they have is first class and 5 star all the way, plus they take naps before the games. I think after a year or two, they're used to the travel. Also I'm sure the Wings when they're playing at the Joe don't get to bed until 3am or later after they talk to the press, have a post game meal, drive back to the 'burbs, and eventually finally wind down after the game.

I know a lot of the Eastern Teams travel by bus. Personally I'd find a plane to be more comfortable. When traveling by a bus you can get caught in traffic and road construction. There's no traffic jams or road work in the skies.

I think the travel thing is more of an issue with the team than players. Being in the East the Wings can save money on travel, that's what the team wants.

It's about the East/West travel.

Being in the East means you don't have to play away games at 10:30pm, while the opposing team is playing their away games at 4:30pm.

HUGE difference there.

Solution: move Winnipeg to the Northwest, Minnesota to the Central, Detroit to the Northeast, Pittsburgh to the Southeast, and Boston or Buffalo to the Atlantic.

[GMRwings1983]

Any plan for re-alignment should also take into account Florida, Phoenix and New York's (Islanders) future. Maybe even Columbus.

These franchises are in trouble now and could potentially relocate within the next several years. Look how quickly the Thrashers skipped town.

Therefore, any potential re-alignment would have to be changed again.

[Barrie]

It's about the East/West travel.

Being in the East means you don't have to play away games at 10:30pm, while the opposing team is playing their away games at 4:30pm.

HUGE difference there.

Yea I understand that, but like I said, they take naps before games. They're on different clocks and schedules than we are. The majority of us are up and out of the house before 8:00. They probably sleep till 11:00 or noon the day after games anyway. Also I'm sure a lot of them sleep on the plane.

Personally I don't think the travel is as bad as we think, it's part of the job, but that maybe easy for me to say. We have won 4 Cups despite the travel. I think it's more of a cost for the team.

[VM1138]

I have a feeling the Southeast owners might not like this plan that much. Not to mention it doesn't make any damn sense other than getting us in the Eastern time zone. Unless, like people mentioned, Florida will be gone season after next and they're just looking for a temporary fix until there can be a big re-alignment.

I'd hate that, though. Attendance at the Joe would drop. Nobody wants to see games against Southeast teams. The team would get soft cruising to an easy division title, probably with record breaking ease. And then come playoffs they won't be in killer mode.

This team has struggled with that killer edge the past two seasons, and that won't get any better playing in the southeast. For the benefit of keeping the team in condition to compete, the team better either stay in the Central or move into the Northeast.

[Manoir]

No divisions or conferences. Top 16 make the playoffs. Have the western-based teams play each other more often but have each eastern-based team have the same amount of west coast trips. An added benefit is that in the playoffs teams like Detroit won't necessarily have to travel more than other eastern-based teams. Plus, now any Finals matchup is possible, could have a MTL-TOR Finals(very theoretically).

[Crymson]

I'll take it.

I have a feeling the Southeast owners might not like this plan that much.

I'm sure they'd be thrilled to have within their division the team with the #1 overall away attendance (99.9% last season) in the league. I'm sure the Panthers` and the Bolts` owners would be especially happy, given that there are Wings fans galore in Florida; whenever the Wings are there, it's virtually a guaranteed sell-out, and these are teams that are not doing great in home attendance numbers (87% for Tampa and 82% for Florida).

Not to mention it doesn't make any damn sense other than getting us in the Eastern time zone. Unless, like people mentioned, Florida will be gone season after next and they're just looking for a temporary fix until there can be a big re-alignment.

There are no signs that the Panthers will be moving.

I'd hate that, though. Attendance at the Joe would drop. Nobody wants to see games against Southeast teams. The team would get soft cruising to an easy division title, probably with record breaking ease. And then come playoffs they won't be in killer mode.

Really? People don't want to come to the Joe to see the Wings win? People don't want to see Ovechkin? How about the Bolts, who are a good, young hockey team with Yzerman in charge? The 'Canes, who are always competitive? And will the Wings really become soft playing against those teams? Even Florida might be decent this year, given how much they bought in the offseason.

This team has struggled with that killer edge the past two seasons, and that won't get any better playing in the southeast. For the benefit of keeping the team in condition to compete, the team better either stay in the Central or move into the Northeast.

I don't think "the killer edge" is the issue. If you don't think the boys tore Phoenix a new one and played their hearts out against San Jose (almost completing a historic comeback), then I'm not sure if you were watching.

Edited by Crymson, 14 October 2011 - 09:25 PM.

[IllinoisRedWingsFan]

No F******* way would I go for this!!!!! IF I were to be in favor of a move to the East (Which I am NOT I'd rather see a new Midwest division created) I'd want to see in the Northeast. If anything move Nashville to the Southeast.

[softshoes]

Well we are born and raised in SOUTH Detroit right?

Same time zone anyways in SE, it's a start.

Edited by softshoes, 15 October 2011 - 02:46 PM.