TheLegend
Megathread Gadfly
More:
Take a look at your alignment and look at it as 4 divisions (or, as I think will happen: Conferences). What do you see?
Pacific: All PTZ teams, PLUS Colorado
Central: All CTZ teams, PLUS Calgary and Edmonton
Never mind the east for now. What you have written down is one of the common Western re-alignments for a Seattle expansion. There would really be NO need to break that further. In fact, I submit the idea that breaking it into 4x4 in the West is WORSE. It's certainly worse for Minnesota. Only American franchise in that division. I think your 4x4 in East and West is a non-starter. There has literally been NO communication from the league indicating any desire to do that. Meanwhile, there has been lots of communication from the league with the idea of 4 8-team conferences.
Assuming Arizona stays, you either get what you have posted, or you get Arizona and Colorado trading places with Calgary and Edmonton.
But, like others have said, it's 3 years out at least. Arizona might relocate. Calgary is at an impasse with their city government. Who knows what might happen? Hey, the easiest thing might happen: AX>HOU, in which case the alignment issue is trivial.
Thanks MNN....
I know what your stance is on the Yotes but I appreciate the objectivity. For a moment there I was going to ask Tommy when I should order the moving trucks.
Coyotes currently have a rivalry with the CA teams (and maybe Vegas in the near future). To move them into a CTZ division wouldn’t be the same (except Chicago because Yotes fans absolutely hate the Chicago bandwagon that lives in the valley ).
Keeping them in the PTZ and adding Colorado wouldn’t be bad since Denver is the same distance to PHX as SoCal is.