Multiple Canadian teams lobbying to make North Division permanent

[JianYang]

To be honest things like the Canadian division were supposed to create all this intense hockey, but the games have been dull for a while.

I think this is a combination of the game becoming more robotic and scientific (less emotion based) particularly in the last several years, and the lack of fans in the building.

 

[93LEAFS]

They are somewhat isolated, but geographically speaking, there are alof of better fits. Even the American teams in this division are fairly close to the Canadian border.

That's not to say the metro is much better, but its an improvement to have north carolina in their division, which is the way it used to be.

Logically, Pitt and Columbus should be in a division with Buffalo and Detroit, and the Florida teams with Carolina. But, the NHL is reluctant to separate Pitt and Philadelphia, and Columbus is the closest market to Pitt.

 

[Chan790]

Logically, Pitt and Columbus should be in a division with Buffalo and Detroit, and the Florida teams with Carolina. But, the NHL is reluctant to separate Pitt and Philadelphia, and Columbus is the closest market to Pitt.

You may not be aware of it, but:

Raleigh NC to Sunrise FL: 773.6 mi
Raleigh NC to Toronto ON: 753.5 mi

There's a really great reason we don't want to be in a division with them either...nobody should have to be grouped with two teams 750 miles from the rest of the league.

If the NHL can't make hockey work anywhere remotely near the FL teams...they should be forced to move.

 

[MNNumbers]

The absolutely only way a Canadian Division works would be something like this:
North: VAN, EDM, CGY, WPG, TOR, OTT, MTL
West: SEA, SJS, LAK, ANA, VGK, ARZ, COL (Note....7 teams)
Northeast: MIN, CHI, STL, DET, BUFF, CMB, PIT, PHL, BOS (Note....9 teams)
Southeast: DAL, NAS, FLO, TBL, CAR, WAS, NYR, NYI, NJD (Note...9 teams)

Schedule:
For North and West: home/away with all other divisions = 50 games. Remainder in division (5 games with everyone, 2 extra)
For NE and SE: home/away with all other divisions = 46 games. Remainder in division (4 games with everyone, 2 extra)

Playoffs: From North and West: Top3 (43%)....From NE and SE: Top 4 (44%).
2 league wide wildcards. The two wild cards slot into the North and west division.

But the league will never even do something like that.

 

[ijuka]

It makes sense to lobby for it to become permanent, some of these teams would have no chance of qualifying for playoffs otherwise.

 

[93LEAFS]

You may not be aware of it, but:

Raleigh NC to Sunrise FL: 773.6 mi
Raleigh NC to Toronto ON: 753.5 mi

There's a really great reason we don't want to be in a division with them either...nobody should have to be grouped with two teams 750 miles from the rest of the league.

If the NHL can't make hockey work anywhere remotely near the FL teams...they should be forced to move.

To be honest, Denver is even more isolated. Toronto is grouped with a team that is over 1500 miles away. It's common to have teams 600 to 800 miles away. It isn't particularly common for ones to be 1500 miles away. Only other one I can think of that's bigger than that is Edmonton to LA. Even Winnipeg to Dallas is shorter.

 

[CBJx614]

The absolutely only way a Canadian Division works would be something like this:
North: VAN, EDM, CGY, WPG, TOR, OTT, MTL
West: SEA, SJS, LAK, ANA, VGK, ARZ, COL (Note....7 teams)
Northeast: MIN, CHI, STL, DET, BUFF, CMB, PIT, PHL, BOS (Note....9 teams)
Southeast: DAL, NAS, FLO, TBL, CAR, WAS, NYR, NYI, NJD (Note...9 teams)

Schedule:
For North and West: home/away with all other divisions = 50 games. Remainder in division (5 games with everyone, 2 extra)
For NE and SE: home/away with all other divisions = 46 games. Remainder in division (4 games with everyone, 2 extra)

Playoffs: From North and West: Top3 (43%)....From NE and SE: Top 4 (44%).
2 league wide wildcards. The two wild cards slot into the North and west division.

But the league will never even do something like that.

Yeah because it's stacked against the two eastern divisions from the get. The league isn't gonna have uneven divisions when there's an even amount of teams in the league, that's not fair. It's gonna be 4 divisions of 8.

This is the leagues chances to take a step back and properly divide the league into 4 divisions. But they'll still find a way to f*** it up.

 

[Not The One]

I'll agree that the excitement has certainly worn off, but this is in large part due to having games only against teams in the division. I'd be fine with keeping the same division with a regular schedule.

In a perfect scenario, I'd keep the number of games we have right now AND play other divisions.

 

[MNNumbers]

Yeah because it's stacked against the two eastern divisions from the get. The league isn't gonna have uneven divisions when there's an even amount of teams in the league, that's not fair. It's gonna be 4 divisions of 8.

This is the leagues chances to take a step back and properly divide the league into 4 divisions. But they'll still find a way to f*** it up.

I'm curious as to what you think "properly divide into 4 divisions" actually means.

I totally agree the league won't do this. I just posted it because the reality is there are 7 Canada-based teams. It's not feasible to put a single US-based team with them, for a whole lot of financial reasons, so the 7 Canadian divisions have to stand alone. If that happens, you don't have balanced divisions anyway. So, the way to do it is to put the other 7 PTZ and MTZ teams together. It has nothing to do with which teams are good right now, because that changes over time. But, as you said, the reality is that the league isn't going to do anything except 4 divisions of 8 teams. And, they shouldn't. There is enough wealth and enough revenue to support a balanced alignment.

As I say, "just what does 'properly divide' mean, in your opinion?

Thanks

 

[Golden_Jet]

I'm curious as to what you think "properly divide into 4 divisions" actually means............

As I say, "just what does 'properly divide' mean, in your opinion?

I would say a division where only 3 teams miss the playoffs, vs a division where 5 teams miss the playoffs, will never happen. When it could be equal for all teams.

 

[MNNumbers]

So, no wild cards?

I would say a division where only 3 teams miss the playoffs, vs a division where 5 teams miss the playoffs, will never happen. When it could be equal for all teams.[/QUOTE

 

[Golden_Jet]

So, no wild cards?

Wild cards, or the way it was before with divisional playoffs, doesn’t really matter to me, as long as divisions are 8 teams.

 

[MNNumbers]

I definitely agree. The other poster, however, seemed to be suggesting that the 31 team arrangement wasn't 'proper' or that the 32-team arrangement which has been published for next year isn't 'proper'.

If the poster felt that this:
PAC: Van, Edm, Cgy, Sea, SJS, LA, Ana, Vegas
CEN: Arz, Col, Wpg, Min, Chi, StL, Dal, Nas
ATL: Det, Tor, Buf, Ott, Mtl, Bos, TBL, Fla
MET: NYR, NYI, NJD, Pit, Phl, Was, Car, Cmb

Isn't proper...then I wondered what he thought 'proper' is.

That's all.

 

[LEAFSANDBILLSFAN]

I very much doubt Toronto is lobbying to keep this division. In fact I wonder who besides Winnipeg would lobby for this?

In a perfect world the NHL would find a way to throw a bone to Winnipeg and fit them in with either of the three Western or Eastern Canadian teams but that's a different topic for another day.


I do believe all seven teams are lobbying for more than two games a year against one another. At least give Winnipeg more Canadian games.