IceAce
Strait Trippin'
Uneven divisions? For the love of God Bettman, don't wade into MLB territory
MLB has to do it that way otherwise you'd have interleague play every day of the season.
Uneven divisions? For the love of God Bettman, don't wade into MLB territory
Just a thought..
Maybe the unevenness of the divisions leaves the door open to expansion, something the NHL was seriously considering pre-recession.
There is no flipping way that the Leafs would ever agree to go to the west again.
To eliminate all this gripe with uneven divisions they could simply make it top 3 in each division make the palyoffs then the next 2 most points regardless of the division.
Just a thought..
Maybe the unevenness of the divisions leaves the door open to expansion, something the NHL was seriously considering pre-recession.
I suppose. But maybe if they sorted out the DH/No DH crap that wouldn't be a big problem wouldn't it?MLB has to do it that way otherwise you'd have interleague play every day of the season.
Pacific, Midwest, South, and the East are the 4 divisions.
I am going to map out what teams will most likely fit into each conference geographically, but I will leave out teams that could be in multiple conferences.
South:
Carolina
Florida
Tampa
Nashville
Pacific:
Vancouver
Calgary
Edmonton
San Jose
Anaheim
Pheonix
LA
Midwest:
Detroit
Columbus
Minnesota
Chicago
East:
NYR
NYI
NJD
Boston
Montreal
Any objections so far? So that leaves 10 teams that could be bouncing around.
Dallas: MW or S
St. Louis: MW or S
Washington: E or S
Winnepeg: MW or P
Colorado: MW or P or S
Pittsburgh: MW or E
Philly: MW or E
Buffalo: MW or E
Ottawa: MW or E
Toronto: MW or E
So obviously, the Mid West is the most versatile. The Pacific is the most set in stone.
I think the deciding factor will be who/where are the prospective cities for relocations/explansions. Divisions that are likely to gain a team would only have 7 teams to start out, and Divisions most likely to lose a team would have 8. If the NHL feels Phx is going to move, I suspect they start out with 8 teams in the Pacific.
I don't mind the 4 divisions idea, but I don't like the playoff format. There will be a lot of undeserving teams making the playoffs such as last season's St. Louis Rams, and a lot of deserving teams missing out. The divisional round sounds like fun, but it will be flawed. I think the current playoff format is best.
Yeah, the unevenness of the divisions definitely hints at expansion. So Quebec City and Houston/KC/Seattle, get ready!
Are you serious? Have you ever heard of the AL East? The A's haven't been good in 5 years, the Mariners have lost 100 2 of the past 3 years. So basically it comes down to the Angels and Rangers in the division.
Throw So. Ontario/Hamilton and Portland, OR into the mix. Of those who don't get Phoenix, 2 of them will get a team in 5 seasons.
Maybe even going away from the east / west monikers and really have four divisions with no true conferences. Pacific winner vs South winner (Campbell) and East vs Midwest (Wales) in the Stanley Cup semi-finals after 2 rounds of Divisional playoffs. Every few years flip the south and mid-west playing for the Wales and Campbell trophies.
From a geographical standpoint, we are the Central Division," Leipold said. "The natural rivalries are not against western Canadian teams but Chicago and Detroit, St. Louis and maybe Columbus, maybe Nashville. Those are the kind of rivalries we'd like to see come back."
That's completely false!
The AL West is often the toughest division the game. People like to look at it as in the AL West you have a 1/4th shot to win the division and in the NL Central you have a 1/6th, and that's a really bad way to look at it. More teams in a division means MORE GAMES AGAINST BAD TEAMS in your division. The NL Central is usually the easiest division to win because the Pirates and at least 1 of the Cubs, Reds, Brewers, and Astros are always terrible. The Angels, A's, Mariners, and Rangers would all KILL to be swapped with an NL Central team.
Any objections so far? So that leaves 10 teams that could be bouncing around.
Dallas: MW or S
St. Louis: MW or S
Washington: E or S
Winnepeg: MW or P
Colorado: MW or P or S
Pittsburgh: MW or E
Philly: MW or E
Buffalo: MW or E
Ottawa: MW or E
Toronto: MW or E
Yeah, the unevenness of the divisions definitely hints at expansion. So Quebec City and Houston/KC/Seattle, get ready!
Winnipeg > Pacific > No
Colorado > South > No
Philadelphia > Midwest > No
The rest is possible, though in some cases still stretching it.
????
1/4 is always better than 1/6 odds at winning a division. There is no guarantee as to who will always be bad.
I like this... but scrap the conferences. Then, when we get down to 8 teams, have it be ranked on points 1 to 8, where 1st meets 8th, 2nd vs 7th etc.
Let's do this...
The impetus for this appears three-fold:
1) Creating home-and-home for teams outside the division, so every team plays twice, and
2) Forcing the first round of playoffs to be divisional play
3) keeping most game in-division means less travel.
Pacific:
Vancouver
Calgary
Edmonton
Los Angeles
Anaheim
San Jose
Winnipeg
Phoenix
Midwest:
Detroit
Chicago
Minnesota
St. Louis
Dallas
Nashville
Colorado
Northeast:
Boston
Montreal
Ottawa
Toronto
Buffalo
Rangers
Islanders
Devils
South:
Philadelphia
Pittsburgh
Washington
Carolina
Florida
Tampa Bay
Columbus