Realignment decided - 4 Conferences

[achildr1 255]

Who isn't surprised that Bettman wouldn't put the Wings in the East? All about the Benjamins...

Edited December 6, 2011 by achildr1

[Jasper84 333]

I absolutely love this change and am pretty excited about the payoff possibilities. I am one of those who wanted the Wings in the east for two twos. 1) less travel/less of those late night games and 2) get to play teams like the Leafs and Boston more. The only down side to the change made IMO, is that we are pretty much in the same group that we've been in the Central. I would have loved to see the Wings placed in the conf with the Leafs. But overall, very happy with this.

[cusimano_brothers 1,655]

From Toronto Star:

...

According to Burke, however, the deal was all but done before the meeting even began.

“It was typical Gary Bettman,” he said with admiration. “It’s like a Chicago election in the 1930s. Not that it’s fixed, but you have a pretty good sense what’s going to happen beforehand.”

There was little actual debate, and the vote was taken to implement the new alignment in just over an hour.

...

There will be a lockout before re-alignment happens.

[syntax 359]

After some pontification on this (read: killing stuff with my legendary daedric waraxes), I'm feeling better about the regular season schedule. It'll be nice seeing all of the old Eastern Conference teams once home and once away during the year.

Basically, we're going to lose 5 West Coast 10:30PM starts and 3 Central Time Zone 9:30PM starts....works for me as a first shift worker.

Playoff setup is still stupid though, as is the overall alignment of the teams in the East....Tampa and Florida got screwed really bad.

[Chunkylover 26]

I don't understand the hate for this idea. This was the Red Wings' idea as I understand. I'm happy to know my favorite teams GM has the clout to change the whole league.

It won't be perfect, but for you nostalgic types who've been pining for the Norris division to return, of course you remember that uneven divisions are the way those great historic divisions were aligned. Even divisions and conferences are actually a Bettman thing, so you should really like this new idea.

[TheWestWing 71]

The cop out woulda been just to swap Detroit and Winnipeg. Drastically realigning the entire NHL was the hardest thing for them to do.

Not really. Since they had to move WPG now (so they said - I mean, we've been traveling Left forever. So make WPG go South for a bit), this also gives them options for when (gasp!) PHX may move. Since PHX will currently be in a Conf\Div with 8 teams, all they'd have to do is move the new QBC\ONT franchise to one of the Conf\Div currently with 7 teams.

Biteman was 'proactive' for the first time in his career. PHX was the real reason for this, not WPG.

Edited December 6, 2011 by TheWestWing

[xtrememachine1 795]

Not my perfect realignment, but it knocks out some of my concerns. No more flying back and forth across the country several times playing the Coyotes and Sharks in the first two rounds. No more 10:30pm start times for playoff games. No more crossing my fingers and hoping the Wings play in Pittsburgh every year, as they're guaranteed a game here every season now. I don't like the fact that its the top 4 teams of each conference, so you'll have teams with better records not making the playoffs. Kind of like the old Patrick division where two teams were battling for one spot, while in the Adams division, which ever team sucked less (Quebec or Hartford) got forced into the playoffs.

I wonder if they'll go with Adams, Norris, Patrick and Smythe? Or maybe Howe for our division, Lemieux for the Pens division, Gretzky for the Oilers/Kings division and Orr for the Bruins division. I would say they'll just go with geographic location conference names, but Tampa Bay and Florida in the Northeast seems silly.

Biteman was 'proactive' for the first time in his career. PHX was the real reason for this, not WPG.

I agree. The uncertainty around Phoenix and where they'll be in the near future is the reason for this type of alignment. Not to mention, who knows about the Isles and the Panthers as we could easily see those franchises moving within the next few years.

[Guest stinky fish taco]

Who isn't surprised that Bettman wouldn't put the Wings in the East? All about the Benjamins...

the other teams wouldn't put detroit in the east.

at least blame the people actually responsible.

[Guest NeedMoreToughness]

This sucks so hard in so many ways for the fans, I bet the management and the franchise is happy, but the fans wanna battle with toronto, montreal, boston god damnit.

[Heroes of Hockeytown 694]

I mean I'm just saying. Doesn't it seem this was done very "quick and dirty"? I know this talk's been going down for years and years, but I feel like I found out about this current deal over the weekend and now it's set. No, not easy, but very all of a sudden.

This is an excellent look behind the scenes of the voting process, and helps explain why it was all sorted out in such a hurry.

I wonder why the NHL didn't go with

Florida, Tampa Bay, Carolina, Washington, Philly, Pittsburgh, New Jersey

Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Buffalo, Boston, New York, New York

Probably because all the power players in the NHL's big time Atlantic teams (Boston, NY) wouldn't stand for having to travel up to Canada so much when they're fat and happy being able to bus around to all their opponents. No one gives a s*** about Florida's teams so they get the short end of the stick.

If the NHL was going to use a 8,8,7,7 split, this makes the most sense to me:

Don't want the Western teams to lose revenue from the Wings? Fine. Swap em with Columbus.

http://i.imgur.com/hJ6FT.png

That would be nice, but if you're the NHL do you split up the Pens/Caps? Not in a million years.

[KrazyGangsta 79]

I don't really mind to be honest, less traveling for the wings.

People keep forgetting NHL = BUSINESS ... owners aren't there to lose money but to make money. By doing this allignment the owners are saving cost for traveling to the west to much etc...

[VM1138 1,921]

So wait...I haven't heard this mentioned. Are the Eastern and Western Conferences eliminated now? I keep seeing these divisions being called conferences. Does this mean we could actually see some unusual matchups in Cup finals?

[xtrememachine1 795]

So wait...I haven't heard this mentioned. Are the Eastern and Western Conferences eliminated now? I keep seeing these divisions being called conferences. Does this mean we could actually see some unusual matchups in Cup finals?

That is correct. We could play the Pens in the semifinals and the Sharks in the Finals. This also means, we'll never play anyone in our conference beyond the 2nd round.

[Jersey Wing 1,521]

I like this compromise. Really, what were most Wings fans saying before this realignment idea was seriously considered:

1) No more constant 10:30 pm starts for the playoffs

2) Less travel

3) A home and away game against every team.

While the new system will no doubt have some flaws I think it's a very fine and workable plan. It meets all three criteria that people mentioned beforehand. Less travel, earlier playoff starts and visiting everyone (and that's HUGE to a guy like me in Jersey City).

Some of those old Norris first and second round playoff donnybrooks will be awesome and I also like the idea the final four is no longer an east/west thing. Like someone said you can play the Pens in the semi-final and the Sharks in the final, I'm ok with that...

Put me down as a yes voat on this

[vladdy16 2,154]

I'm glad the burden of travel on the Wings has been ameliorated, but I'm really glad we're not in the same division as Pittsburgh. My only concern about moving east was that would be the case, and I just couldn't take that much of You Know Who.

The playoff format is going to take some getting used to again, but I'm thrilled there will be a home and home with everyone in the league every year. That is a huge payoff for me.

[stevieisthebest 80]

The only people I feel bad for are Stevie and his Lightning, they along with the Panthers are the only ones who got screwed. I also feel bad for those of you who think the Wings got screwed, the league, as much as we'd like to think it does, does NOT revolve around the winged wheel. The bottom line is that this is still the NHL, and still the Red Wings, and we will still compete for the cup every year no matter where and who we played. Our division is full of cupcakes, and we'll get two games a year against Toronto, Montreal, Boston, and NY. We'll dominate this like we did the Central, and the West. LGW

[Original-Six 254]

I like the 2&2 home and away. Not a big fan of having half our games be between 7 teams though (6 for the east)...Not to mention you get to plays those teams again come first two rounds of playoffs. Seems very redundant to say the least.

I was hoping Detroit would be pared with more 06 teams, Toronto and Montreal in specific.

[Crashnburnluder 385]

I'm not going to lie. I like that your Division/conference just became so much more important.

[nuts2u 22]

Florida Panthers GM thinks it's good and bad. Bad news is more travel to Canada and northeast area but good because he believes the Snowbirds from those areas will buy tickets to the games when their teams come to Miami for the Panther's home games. They must have different Snowbirds than the rest of Florida because the vast majority shop at walmart or flea markets, live in trailer parks and eat out only at joints that offer "Earley Bird Specials". Basically they come down here, consume as cheaply as possible, defecate on the environment, drive like they are the only ones on the road and act like they are doing us a favor by being here........

[softshoes 83]

2-7 team divisions

2-8 team divisions

Well we know gary would rather cut off his nuts than contract, I'd bet expansion will be the next thing on the agenda. The Mexico City Aztecs and The Panama Cigar Rollers anyone?

[wings1110 184]

anyone else think that this could be a prelude to a 2 team expansion in the future?

[Crashnburnluder 385]

Quebec and Atlanta round 3 ???? Lol

[haroldsnepsts 4,826]

Let's see, the Wings wanted less travel out west especially during the playoffs & more games with traditional rivals in the east. And with this realignment they get....less travel out west & more games with traditional rivals in the east. How did the Wings get screwed with this move?

And from the reports I heard, the reason the 2 eastern conferences have 7 teams each & a better percentage chance to make the playoffs is to get those owners to buy off on the additional costs & travel time of now having more games out west under the new alignment. And for any complaints about teams missing the playoffs out west with more points than teams in the east, how is that any different than now?

Agreed.

Though while I believe you, the bolded part is friggin annoying. They had to give the eastern conference a playoff advantage, to make up for losing a little of the advantage they already have in significantly less travel?

It'll be interesting to see how this plays out. I'm sort of neutral on it for now. The Wings were never moving east though. They're too valuable in the west as a popular team with a large fan base.

[Jedi 1,865]

In case anyone wanted to see how the new conferences are aligned in terms of geography...

[greenrebellion 415]

This might open the door to a European conference since you could set it up to only have a couple of road trips under the new format. Not saying I'm a fan of international expansion, but hasn't Bettman mentioned that in the past?