Another Division Realignment

[Negan4Coach]

I like it- but I would like to see Nashville in the same division with Carolina. So bring them over, put them in the SE with the Florida teams, let the Caps be with the NY region teams. Move Columbus or Detroit back to the West.

 

[Mickey Marner]

Seattle to the Pacific and Arizona to the Central is what's going to happen. None of this Nashville to the East hoopla. Geographically, Columbus & Pittsburgh should swap divisions with Tampa & Florida, but that won't happen.

 

[Spotty 2 Hotty]

Coyotes just need to move to Houston and get it over with. Then we can all be relatively happy in the alignment and it will be balanced.

 

[Rpenny]

lost me at Vancouver/Seattle not in the same division

stopped reading

 

[cptjeff]

Detroit was a bit of driving force behind the current alignment though. It was worth it to Detroit to reignite rivalries with Toronto, Montreal, and the other original 6 teams in the east and shed the amount of trips to the west coast.

Rivalries were not the reason Detroit wanted to be moved into the east. If they could have kept their western rivalries, they would have- much fresher in the memories of fans and players. But they and Columbus hated the time zone issue- having their games routinely start at 10pm local made it very hard for a lot of fans to watch. In the east, that happens on a west coast road trip or two a year, but it's rare.

The distance of travel is not something NHL teams care about too much- they travel in luxury, so spending a few hours on a plane is not a big deal- but adjusting to changing time zones is hard to do constantly, and the late starts are hard on fans, especially kids with bedtimes. Winnipeg to Dallas is an easier trip than Detroit to Colorado.

 

[MoreOrr]

Well, it's been a while,... but here's two possible alignments for both the Western and Eastern Conferences, all with 8-team Divisions but with 4-team 'sub-Divisions' (scheduling purposes), 6 games vs sub-Division opponents, 4 games vs intra-divisional sub-Division, and 2 games vs all other teams in the League.

WEST Option A

PACIFIC Division
sub-Division NW
Edmonton
Calgary
Vancouver
Seattle
sub-Division SW
San Jose
Los Angeles
Anaheim
Las Vegas

WEST CENTRAL Division
sub-Division NC
Winnipeg
Minnesota
Chicago
Nashville
sub-Division SC
St Louis
Dallas
Colorado
Arizona

WEST Option B

PACIFIC Division
sub-Division NW
Vancouver
Seattle
San Jose
Las Vegas
sub-Division SW
Los Angeles
Anaheim
Arizona
Colorado

WEST CENTRAL Division
sub-Division NC
Edmonton
Calgary
Winnipeg
Minnesota
sub-Division SC
Chicago
St Louis
Nashville
Dallas
_ _ _ _ _

EAST Option A

ATLANTIC Division
sub-Division AN
Boston
NY Rangers
NY Islanders
New Jersey
sub-Division AS
Washington
Carolina
Tampa
Florida

EAST CENTRAL Division
sub-Division NE
Montreal
Ottawa
Toronto
Buffalo
sub-Division ME
Detroit
Columbus
Pittsburgh
Philadelphia

EAST Option B

ATLANTIC Division
sub-Division AN
NY Rangers
NY Islanders
New Jersey
Washington
sub-Division AS
Pittsburgh
Philadelphia
Tampa
Florida

EAST CENTRAL Division
sub-Division NE
Boston
Montreal
Ottawa
Toronto
sub-Division ME
Buffalo
Detroit
Columbus
Carolina

* Divisions from Options A & B, WEST and EAST, could be switched.

 

[kvladimir]

I will swear by my Rivalry alignment until the end of my days, even if I'm alone...

[A Rival = 6 games/year, B Rival = 4 games/year, all others = 2 games/year]

Playoff format for this would be bonkers, though...

 

[MoreOrr]

I will swear by my Rivalry alignment until the end of my days, even if I'm alone...

[A Rival = 6 games/year, B Rival = 4 games/year, all others = 2 games/year]

Playoff format for this would be bonkers, though...

Nice chart, but there's no way in hell that there's a practical way of making it work for anything in the Regular Season or Playoffs. And at least 50% of the teams likely won't agree with a significant amount of your rivalry matchups.

 

[zar]

In a 1-8,2-7, 3-6, 4-5 format, it REALLY is atrocious for Canadian hockey, since the 7 teams are cramped into 2 divisions. With the amount of games same-division teams play with each other. I don’t see how at the end of the year, more than 2 maybe 3 or 4 canadian teams might reach the playoffs

Stop. Gary Bettman might be perusing HF Boards.

 

[Go Wings]

Lets just have 2 conferences and scrap the divisions all together.

 

[hangman005]

Trying to work out an alignment that is great for every team is going to be nearly impossible, so perhaps there is an alignment which screws over every team equally (or as close to) that might be the better option .

I did see someone mention a 3 conference setup earlier 10/11/11 and am curious as to how the playoffs would work under a 3 conference system.

 

[Whoshattenkirkshoes]

always amazes me how little NHL fans actually like the NHL. Bad refs, Bad rules, Bad schedule, Bad alignment, Bad playoff format

Compared to the NFL in those categories the NHL is gold

 

[Kosmo Kramer]

Western Conference. Eastern conference. That is all.

 

[Kaners Bald Spot]

If they're going to do division realignment, I think moving the Alberta teams to the Central and Colorado to the Pacific nakes the most sense.

 

[These Are The Days]

3 divisions per conference is fine. For each 2 divisions can have 5 teams and another can have 6. It won't be that big of a deal. I don't understand the infatuation with having 4 team divisions

 

[MayDay]

I would get rid of the conference/division structure entirely. 32 teams is a number that allows you to rethink the basic organizational structure of the league.

I would get rid of divisions entirely. We don't really need sub-groups within groups. Too many levels and sub-divisions overly complicates things. The league was structured best back when it was just East and West with 8 teams in each. Now that we have 32, we can do something similar.

I propose that the league should simply have 4 conferences of 8 teams each, no sub-groups. Top 4 teams in each conference make the playoffs, no wildcards. First round is conference semi-final: 1 vs 4 and 2 vs 3. Second round is conference finals. Then you will have 4 conference champions: re-seed them 1-4 based on regular season record. Third round is Cup semi-final: 1 vs 4 and 2 vs 3. Fourth round is Cup Final.

I think this is the simplest, most elegant structure and playoff format. I don't think it will ever happen, but that's what I would do.

 

[StanleyCup55]

If the league is set on keeping 4 divisions (2 per conf) then there is really no choice but to move Arizona into the Central or move them to Houston. Another option here could be to move the Florida Panthers to Houston and slide Nashville over to the Eastern Conference.

What makes the most sense is to create 8 divisions (4 each conference). AZ will always get screwed with time zones but the players are adults so they should be just fine plus Colorado is only an hour difference if not same time zone at some points throughout the season. There are ways to schedule these games that are in different time zones like maybe try getting weekend games or holidays.

I believe they should re-align to 8 total divisions. Also think they need to name the divisions instead of just North East South West.

Norris
Minnesota, Chicago, Winnipeg, Nashville

Smythe
Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Seattle

Betteman
San Jose, Anaheim, LA, Vegas

Dunlop
Colorado, St. Louis, Dallas, Arizona

Adams
Ottawa, Montreal, Toronto, Buffalo

Patrick
Boston, NY Rangers, NY Islanders, New Jersey

Hanrahan
Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Detroit, Columbus

Jaws
Florida, Tampa, Washington, Carolina

 

[NoName]

You're concerned about Arizona's travel in the Central but then you place the Jets in a division with 3 different time zones.

Remember this is Bettman's league. Have to pander to the Sun Belt. Canadian teams on the other hand...

 

[Djp]

City pairs

Calgary-Edmonton
Seattle-Vancouver
San Jose-LA
Anaheim-Vegas
Colorado-Arizona
Winnipeg-Minnesota
Chicago-St Louis
Nashville-Dallas
Tampa Bay-Florida
Carolina-Washington
Columbus-Detroit
Pittsburgh-Philadelphia
NJ-NYi
Rangers-Boston
Ottawa-Montreal
Toronto-Buffalo

2 [aits make a dvision
4 paits make up an 8 team conference

6 games in division= 3x6=18
4 games against other division= 4x4=16
2 games agisnt other conference=2x24=48
82 games

 

[Rosy Cheeks]

Every division needs a balance between teams that pull a lot of fans and teams that have difficulties filling their arena. Teams that are unpopular need to have popular teams in their division to pull in a lot of away team fans. Need to take this into consideration when making new divisions. I guess that is a big reason Tampa and Florida was put into Toronto/Bostons etc. division with the current system.

 

[Spirits]

Bring Detroit back West if we are realigning the divisions and move Nashville to the East while we are at it.

 

[treple13]

I will swear by my Rivalry alignment until the end of my days, even if I'm alone...

[A Rival = 6 games/year, B Rival = 4 games/year, all others = 2 games/year]

Playoff format for this would be bonkers, though...

Can you explain how Calgary-Winnipeg are rivals and Calgary isn't rivals with LA or Anaheim?

 

[treple13]

It's fun to mock realignment, but let's be honest here. Arizona doesn't love moving to the Central, but any other way you slice it makes it worse overall and for more teams than just Arizona. There just isn't a better solution. Any split to divisions of 4 isn't going to help Arizona (since they'll still be in a Central grouping), but it'll piss off the Central teams that end up with Arizona and it'll piss off most of the East.

 

[westc2]

Arizona moving to the central will be a very marginal difference when compared to their current schedule.

In a 32 team league, they'd already play central teams 3 times per season. 24 total, leaving 26 games inside the division split between 7 opponents. They play all of them 3 times, and then an extra game against 5 of them, with 2 or 3 of them being at home.

This means they'd be playing AT MAX, 3 more away games against central division teams than they normally would if they were in the Pacific division instead.

Even the TV schedule would barely change. The divisional separation in the conferences is basically just there to decide what to do with the extra 5 games.

I think the only change they need to make is with the playoff format. Top 2 in each seed make it. Next 4 in the conference are Wild Cards. They could even keep their stupid divisional format. Top 2 in each division are seeded 1 and 2. Then the 4 wild card teams are matched up against those top 4 teams according to overall record. So it's a blend of the current and old playoff format.

Last season would have been:
Tampa(D1) vs Columbus(WC4)
Boston(D2) vs Carolina(WC3)

Washington(D3) vs Pittsburgh(WC2)
New York Isles(D4) vs Toronto (WC1)

 

[BluesOne31]

Arizona moving to the central will be a very marginal difference when compared to their current schedule.

In a 32 team league, they'd already play central teams 3 times per season. 24 total, leaving 26 games inside the division split between 7 opponents. They play all of them 3 times, and then an extra game against 5 of them, with 2 or 3 of them being at home.

This means they'd be playing AT MAX, 3 more away games against central division teams than they normally would if they were in the Pacific division instead.

Even the TV schedule would barely change. The divisional separation in the conferences is basically just there to decide what to do with the extra 5 games.

I think the only change they need to make is with the playoff format. Top 2 in each seed make it. Next 4 in the conference are Wild Cards. They could even keep their stupid divisional format. Top 2 in each division are seeded 1 and 2. Then the 4 wild card teams are matched up against those top 4 teams according to overall record. So it's a blend of the current and old playoff format.

Last season would have been:
Tampa(D1) vs Columbus(WC4)
Boston(D2) vs Carolina(WC3)

Washington(D3) vs Pittsburgh(WC2)
New York Isles(D4) vs Toronto (WC1)

Exactly on the additional games for Arizona. Also, 2/3 of the season, Arizona plays in the Mountain Time Zone. If the league is that worried about their game times involving Arizona, they can work around scheduling games vs. Pacific time teams heavier in October or March and the rest of the league in Nov-Feb.