New Proposed Realignment - Thoughts on how it affects Vancouver?

[Cocoa Crisp]

Can I just say, it makes 10x more sense to have the eight team "conferences" out east where the majority of the league's teams are concentrated.

Having 16 "western" teams really just serves to throw another team or two into the mess Detroit and Columbus have been in for years now.

(Speaking of Columbus, how funny is it that Rick Nash will be in town several times a year if this alignment stands..)

I also feel that tighter competition for a playoff spot in the Eastern conference(s) is fair considering the travel, time zone differences etc wil be nil for those teams over most of their seasons.

As for how this affects the Canucks, I like it. Smaller conference, all regional rivals or Pacific time zone teams (Phoenix is the only exception but even they are less than three hours flying from Vancouver). Good deal.

I still hate the playoff format though, if they plan on the same thing.

Not re-seeding after the second round is completely asinine IMO. I just don't see how they could justify not doing it with 4 conferences.

 

[YouppiKiYay]

I hope they go through with the idea of play in wild card games for the playoffs. I know some sort of playoff qualifying crossover was floated as a way to counteract the perceived disadvantage that teams in eight team conferences feel they would have in making the playoffs. Maybe they could have a wild card weekend before the playoffs begin, where 4 plays 5 in each conference to determine who plays the top seed in the first round. And maybe they could let 6 seeds with more points crossover and take the place of five seeds with fewer points.

As for the alignment, fine. I'm relieved to be rid of Colorado in the division. I'd prefer Winnipeg in with the Western Canadian teams over Phoenix, but I see why they probably wouldn't happen. Winnipeg would have a large number of road games starting after 8 and 9 locally.

 

[racerjoe]

Really? Seems to me it would be more because LV is a desireable (and neutral from an NHL perspective) location both for individual tourists and for conventions and other large scale events...

Like I said, just something I had heard. No idea how much truth it holds.

I like the idea I think Mendes said today, where it is just a straight top 16 teams make it. 1 plays 16. Made points how in past years NYI had to play LA, and this is when teams flew commercial the next day. That year the NYI still won the cup.

 

[Kip96]

This 4 conference thing seems really dumb to me

The obvious reason they're doing it is so they can have expansion of 2 more teams

Otherwise it makes no sense under the current format

 

[Bourne Endeavor]

While I love the potential of facing Chicago for the cup. It was brought up last go around we might hardly ever face them, playoffs or otherwise. Worse, teams are highly probable to play against the same team in multiple playoffs. That would become increasingly dull as the years go by - nevermind good teams like San Jose might never get out of the first round.

Florida and Tampa in the same division as Montreal, Toronto and etc is the dumbest thing they could come up with.

Summary: I dislike it for us and hate it overall.

 

[dave babych returns]

Florida and Tampa in the same division as Montreal, Toronto and etc is the dumbest thing they could come up with.

Why?

I would guess the reasoning is that the Northeast and Atlantic teams don't see a major problem with their arrangement as it stands, as such they stay intact and absorb a few teams each and bob's your uncle.

Neither division could entirely absorb the SE and in "Division I" you've got a very tight geographic cluster of teams - basically entirely inside of the Columbus/Raleigh/NYC triangle.

Their options were to either remake the entire Eastern conference, have two small "discrepancies" in the geographic alignment there (ie. shove Carolina and Washington in the Northeast where they don't belong and the Florida teams in the Atlantic where they don't belong) or the one big one that they've decided to try.

It kind of thematically makes sense, all the snowbirds have a few more reasons every year to hit Florida during the winter months.

 

[Potatoe1]

Looks great to me, just the fact we are in a 7 team group is a huge bonus.

 

[Steve Bennett*]

I'd like it, it would finally be a better travel schedule for the team. But I don't really understand it all, so how exactly would the playoffs be formatted with seeding and who plays who and who would play against other conferences before the SC?? Is there a source explaining it all?

 

[Verviticus]

its objectively a good thing for teams in the 7s so good i guess?

 

[Bleach Clean]

its objectively a good thing for teams in the 7s so good i guess?

That's going to change. I don't expect the west to have a comparative advantage like this over the east even if travel is a great factor here. The numbers will be evened out, whether by expansion or other means.

 

[me2]

Florida and Tampa in the same division as Montreal, Toronto and etc is the dumbest thing they could come up with.

Actually it might be the smartest thing they could come up with. Which teams are going to draw the highest for Florida and Tampa? Yep, those ones in that division. Does it add extra travel for the NE, sure, but so what their travel schedule is hilariously easy even with Tampa/Florida. More travel for the eastern teams is a good thing for league wide schedule fairness. Washington and Carolina move in with the geographically closer Atlantic teams.

7 team groups for high travel teams works for me.

 

[Hammer79]

I'm curious how the wild card in the two east divisions works. Is it 4th vs 5th in a mini series to see who plays the #1 seed?

 

[Wilch]

I wish they could just do a 2-3-2 format. Team with highest point total faces team with lowest.

1 vs 16, 2 vs 15, etc. Makes more sense and 2-3-2 means less travel.

 

[Whale]

I really like realignment and the confrence play. I think that the most challenging part for us is that we aren't really built to play against the Pacific teams. We really need to get a kieth primeau type center and a big mean defender to help us deal with Kopitar, Thorton, Getzlaf and Hazal. If that all falls on Kesler we are in big trouble.

I thought that there was a Portland based offer for the Coyotes, but I could also see expansion, especially in Seattle, huge opportunity for the NHL there. Both would be perfect for us.

 

[Apu]

If NHL gets an expansion in Vegas, I can imagine some "chicken barns" might wanna sponsor the team just like the Greek soccer team below just recently:

.

The benefits can be enormous for both the players and the city as an attraction for free agents single or not. I can see Vegas becoming a powerhouse very soon if this is the case!

Plus the possibilities of special offers to fans of the team! haha

 

[BeardyCanuck03]

‏A few tweets fom Bob Mckenzie (Omitted the divisional breakdown as we already know it)

@TSNBobMcKenzie

Going to be series of tweets here on realignment. Remember, neither NHLPA nor NHL B of G have agreed to this yet. It's still just a proposal

Top 3 teams in each of two 8-team East conferences make the playoffs. Two wild cards from remaining 10 East teams also make the playoffs.

Top 3 teams in each of two 7-team West conferences make playoffs. Two wild cards from remaining 8 West teams also make the playoffs.

Playoff format remains old divisional style, 1 vs. 4, 2 vs. 3 though it remains to be seen how the wild cards are slotted for first-round.

I assume schedule matrix stays same as Dec/2011 proposal. Clubs in 7-team conf play 6x 6 in conf (36), and home-and-away with other 23 (46).

8-team conferences also play home-and-away with 22 out of conf teams (44) but play either 5 or 6 games vs. conference rivals (38).

 

[Nuckles]

HOLD THE PHONE

https://twitter.com/Real_ESPNLeBrun/status/306458541743566848

According to NHL memo sent to 30 teams, no longer is the idea to go to 4 conferences, but rather 2 conferences with two divisions each

https://twitter.com/Real_ESPNLeBrun/status/306458948356153344

The Eastern Conference would have the Atlantic and Central divisions, the Western Conference would have the Mid-West and Pacific divisions

https://twitter.com/Real_ESPNLeBrun/status/306460203975589889

Top 3 teams in each division make the playoffs. The remaining 4 spots go to wild-card teams, best two records left in each conference...

https://twitter.com/Real_ESPNLeBrun/status/306460323953651712

So you could have 5 teams make playoffs from one division and only 3 from one division...

 

[BeardyCanuck03]

HAHA, this is getting hilarious, so much conflicting information out there.

 

[dave babych returns]

Here is the latest from Elliotte Friedman (which seems to be consistent with Lebrun's tweets)..

It looks like this:

Eastern Conference

Atlantic Division: Carolina, Columbus, New Jersey, New York Islanders, New York Rangers, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Washington.

Central Division: Boston, Buffalo, Detroit, Florida, Montreal, Ottawa, Tampa Bay, Toronto.

Western Conference

Midwest Division: Chicago, Colorado, Dallas, Minnesota, Nashville, St. Louis, Winnipeg.

Pacific Division: Anaheim, Calgary, Edmonton, Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Jose, Vancouver.

So what does it all mean?

Schedule

It depends on whether you're in a seven- or eight-team conference.

For the sevens (Midwest and Pacific) it looks like this:

32 games vs. Eastern Conference (one home, one away vs. each opponent).
21 games vs. other division in Western Conference (teams with the extra home game will be rotated every season).
29 games vs. own division (you will play one team four times instead of five).

For the eights (Atlantic and Central), it looks like this:

28 games vs. Western Conference (one home, one away).
24 games vs. other division in Eastern Conference (teams with the extra home game will be rotated every season).
30 games vs. own division (you'll play two teams five times, and five teams four times).

Playoffs

It is no longer the top eight teams per conference that qualify. Instead, the top three teams in each division are automatic qualifiers. They will be seeded 1, 2 and 3.

The No. 3 seeds have some potential for crossover. Those spots will be given to the next two teams with the highest point total. (The club with fewer points would play the higher-seeded No. 1.) That is on a conference, not a league-wide, basis, which prevents a cross-continent matchup along the lines of Vancouver-Florida in the first round.

....

Last year, the NHL considered the idea of playing the final four as a meritocracy -- putting the highest-remaining seed against the lowest, with no consideration for geography. That's also a goner, which is too bad, because I was looking forward to seeing if it made for a better final. The Stanley Cup final will remain Western Conference vs. Eastern Conference.

Future tinkering

The league-wide memo indicates the NHL and the NHLPA will meet after the 2015-16 season to see if this is working, "or earlier if circumstances warrant." So there's your "out" for expansion or relocation, should one (or both) of those possibilities exist.

...

Link

 

[opendoor]

Just for interest's sake, here's what the playoff seedings would've looked like based on last year's standings. Obviously it's not really a good comparison because Detroit gets shifted from one conference to another, but I think I definitely would've preferred this scenario for the Canucks.

West:

1) VAN vs. 4) CGY
2) PHX vs. 3) SJS

1) STL vs. 4) LAK
2) NSH vs. 3) CHI


East:

1) NYR vs. WSH
2) PIT vs. 3) PHI

1) BOS vs. NJD
2) DET vs. 3) FLA


Both conferences would've had a situation where both 4th seeds were from the same division.

 

[RandV]

its objectively a good thing for teams in the 7s so good i guess?

Personally I thought this 7 vs 8 team division thing was overrated. The biggest factor in making the playoffs is cracking the top 4, so the difficulty is more about how good your top 4 is rather than how many teams there are. If you take the proposed alignments from last year for example, Washington would have had a better chance making the playoffs if they swapped with a Western team into the 8 team division than they would trying to crack a division that has the Rangers/Pens/Devils/Flyers.

 

[lush]

I think the re-alignment will be a positive thing for the Canucks. We can point to the balance and strength of the different teams in each proposed conference but that's only a present snapshot of the situation. Great teams can and will fall and terrible teams can and will rise.

Looking at it long term it means less travel for the Canucks and less trips outside of our time zone. It makes sense to have 7 teams in our western "conferences" simply because of geography.

 

[Tretiak 20]

This is more of a general question, but can someone please explain to me why the NHL couldn't just have WPG and CBJ swap places? Is it still the "We promised DET that the next time we have a realignment, we'll put them in the east" thing? I mean, is that the ONLY thing stopping the most logical move?

As for the new alignment, I don't think it effects us much other than it looks unbalanced on paper (14 team conference vs 16 team conference). Once less team we get to see a decent amount per year.

 

[BeardyCanuck03]

This is more of a general question, but can someone please explain to me why the NHL couldn't just have WPG and CBJ swap places? Is it still the "We promised DET that the next time we have a realignment, we'll put them in the east" thing? I mean, is that the ONLY thing stopping the most logical move?

As for the new alignment, I don't think it effects us much other than it looks unbalanced on paper (14 team conference vs 16 team conference). Once less team we get to see a decent amount per year.

Short answer... Yes.

 

[coolboarder]

NHL proposal shows that it could have a top ranked division winner Chicago playing lower ranked wildcard from pacific team such as L.A. while Pacific top seeded Vancouver plays the higher ranked wildcard from Nashville while the 2nd seeded and 3rd seeded divisional opponents get easier travel. This is a flawed format even 4 teams from each conference made it. If you apply this with 5 teams from a division and 3 other teams from other division then it would make sense. I would have the top seed division whose division of 3 teams made the playoffs makes the choice for the travel purpose, 1 v 3 or wildcard team.

That is what it means, more travel if wildcard happens regardless of divisional playoffs.