OT: Did you like it better when the Red Wings were in the western conference?

[Steve Yzerlland]

I don't know if I'm being nostalgic but I enjoyed when we were in the west better. I liked playing the Avs in the playoffs. Didn't like the late start times but it made up for it with great hockey back then to me.

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[ricky0034]

more like the opposite if anything, i'm pretty indifferent about most of the Western Conference teams

plus obviously the start times were awful as well

 

[jkutswings]

They haven't had a good team since moving to the East, so it's tough to judge it fairly. I think once the rebuild advances enough that making the playoffs is routine again, it'll be more interesting to see what rivalries develop and how those compare to when they were in the West.

 

[Larkin2AA]

Meh. There were some fun series to watch (Chicago and Colorado), but it doesn't really matter to me. I hated the times mostly.

 

[Ricelund]

I like them being in the East more but I much preferred the old alignment/playoff format... 3 divisions of five teams in both conferences. Top eight in each conference make the playoffs.

I don't like the wild card thing and I find it hard to remember who's in what division.

 

[Holden Caufield]

In general I think the Red Wings got screwed over, more so than any franchise, by getting switched back and forth and all the conference realignments.

I feel like we are a team without a home, who has lost all their rivals.

We had a great thing with Toronto/Chicago. Then we got shuffled West (with Chicago) and built out great rivalries with St.Louis and Colorado and it seemed Columbus would eventually become a rival. (They hated us Atleast)

But now we are in a stupid division where all the Canadian teams naturally have become rivals.
Boston has always been natural rivals with Montreal and fierce rivals with Toronto in recent years.
The Florida teams rivalry seems tailor made to happen.

That leaves us and Buffalo…. Long term it would have been better if Columbus was still In our division over Buffalo.

We got the shaft in a lot of ways. But in the end, the travel is better for our players and the start times are better.

 

[WaW]

I think in terms of Detroit's rivalries, the best setup would be a central division but without a conference structure. Being in the central would be fine if it wasn't tethered to the Pacific, and instead of conferences there were just 4 divisions.

On the other hand my friends are split among Toronto, Ottawa, and Montreal fans, so I enjoy being in the same division as those teams.

 

[Kronwalled55]

I'll reserve my opinion on this in the future. The Wings have largely been irrelevant since moving to the East so there isn't many meaningful matchups or rivalries to this point. It's cool when they play Toronto and there's a large split of fans in the building, but that's about it. Otherwise it's just been a new set of teams using us as a punching bag.

I'm spoiled when it comes to start times now. So much so that I honestly don't watch any of the west coast road trip games anymore. I'm content with missing those 5-6 games a year.

 

[PullHard]

Echoing the sentiments regarding the fact it doesn't make sense for us to be in the West when Detroit the city is in EST, as well as the fact that at least when we were in the West, the rivalries seemed more meaningful and there were regular season games to look out for/ anticipate + some playoff match ups were WILD because of the rivalries at play.

Hopefully over time we meet teams repeatedly in playoffs to start to develop those stakes.

 

[Shaman464]

Nope. Getting to play 4 original 6 teams and having the 7:30 start times beats having to play scrub teams at 9 or 10 pm.

10K posts. Not sure if that’s an achievement or something I should work through with a therapist.

 

[RRhoads]

Easier travel in the east also. Will be very preferable when we can get back to being a playoff team.

 

[OgeeOgelthorpe]

I much prefer it. The Wings had been in the west for so long and all of our rivalries from the 1980s onward are with western teams; Chicago, San Jose, St. Louis, Colorado, Dallas, Nashville. The only "rival" (if they're even that) we have that is in the east is Toronto, and they moved east in the mid 90s.

 

[FMichael]

I became a fan in '84 so for many years I was accustomed to all the 'Campbell Conference' rivals.

 

[FMichael]

I much prefer it. The Wings had been in the west for so long and all of our rivalries from the 1980s onward are with western teams; Chicago, San Jose, St. Louis, Colorado, Dallas, Nashville. The only "rival" (if they're even that) we have that is in the east is Toronto, and they moved east in the mid 90s.

Weird isn't it?

I was happy for the move east and yet I'm sorta longing for those extended west coast trips.

 

[OgeeOgelthorpe]

Weird isn't it?

I was happy for the move east and yet I'm sorta longing for those extended west coast trips.

I was happy about the travel but it just doesn't feel...right being in the same division as the teams we've got. Buffalo and Ottawa seem like teams we could build a rivalry with in the coming years, but all 3 teams will have to start making the postseason for that to happen.

 

[Unfriendly Ghost]

I liked the team better, but that's about it.

 

[DTR]

When I was 20, sure. Now that I am almost 40, no thanks.

 

[Debrincat93]

You honestly, though, cant say you do until we are in the playoffs and develop playoff rivalries for like, 3-4 years.

We miss the west because of the battles with Chicago, San Jose, Colorado, Vancouver. Those were battles. Until we get into the playoffs and run a muck, we cant really give a full opinion.
IMO.

 

[Detroit Knights]

I like them being in the East more but I much preferred the old alignment/playoff format... 3 divisions of five teams in both conferences. Top eight in each conference make the playoffs.

I don't like the wild card thing and I find it hard to remember who's in what division.

All very true. Not having the top 8 go is insane to me. I am sure it happens most of the time, but how can you have a team that is clearly better than another not get it because they had to play (for example purposes) TBL, TOR, BOS, FLA more times than the likes of ARI, ANA, SJS.

Or if you are in the Metro division, you gotta go up against NYR, PIT, WSH, NJD, yet are massively better than (again example) MTL but MTL get's to go because they were top 3 in their division. (again all examples but I think I made my point?)

 

[FabricDetails]

I perceived them being in the West as akin to being a top sales account executive at a company. You're expected to do a lot to grow the business in untapped markets and you probably receive treatment from ownership that only a few receive but there's definitely drawbacks. These days I'm thinking it's the Blackhawks who have that belle of the ball spotlight.

 

[Henkka]

At some point I was kind of sick to meet the west all time.

The change was good.

Against East, it has mostly been losing era but I want to have some domination era also against East.

 

[rangersblues]

I'd like to think if we played in the East during the Stanley Cup era , we'd likely have a few more Cups. The travel had to literally be murder playing in the West all those years.

 

[Winger98]

i actually miss the start times. It was easier for me to watch the late games than the 730 games

 

[Holden Caufield]

I'd like to think if we played in the East during the Stanley Cup era , we'd likely have a few more Cups. The travel had to literally be murder playing in the West all those years.

Yes, every year Detroit had by far the ‘most miles travelled’ on their schedule.
It was always crazy when they would show that graphic.

 

[odin1981]

When I lived in California yes but that was like 12-13 years ago. The start times where easier for me then. But since I moved back east no not at all.