TSN: NHL Realigment

[Ghost of Ethan Hunt]

https://www.bardown.com/gary-bettma...TjQU0XTl_od5-YB728DcQFosC09uzufdJNtg5qrS8y1Lo

Other comments on link.

If the NHL is so worried about being fair/travel/rivalries etc...they should realign the East:

ATL: Det, Buf, Bos, NYI, NYR, Ott, Mtl, Tor

MET: TB, Fl, Car, Wsh, Clb, Phi, Pit, NJ...Jersey would lose the NYR/NYI rivalry, but this division makes more sense.

Currently: ATL division is screwed with TBL & FLA. Do the Devils even have to fly to Philly? They don't fly to NY or Long Island & vice versa. I guess Det is still better off than being in the West like the good 'ole days when we'd fly more than any other team. HM to SJ. Hopefully 32 teams doesn't water down the league anymore.

Click to read more...

 

[AttilaTheFun]

I know travel is tiring but if you gotta travel from Detroit to somewhere, it may as well be Florida.

 

[chances14]

meh. I think it's more the constant time zone changes that affects players more than the actual miles traveled.

 

[KJoe88]

Boy Arizona is going to have a hard time cracking the division.

Winnipeg, Nashville, Colorado? Who knows how’s much better St Louis or Dallas will be, but they’ll both better in the long run I think. Chicago is really the only team on the steep decline

They’re in trouble imo

 

[Oddbob]

Boy Arizona is going to have a hard time cracking the division.

Winnipeg, Nashville, Colorado? Who knows how’s much better St Louis or Dallas will be, but they’ll both better in the long run I think. Chicago is really the only team on the steep decline

They’re in trouble imo

They would be in trouble regardless the division, they just are never very good, and have an owner that likes it that way, apparently, as they never spend to compete, just like the current Senators.

 

[Henkka]

I think it's more the constant time zone changes that affects players more than the actual miles traveled.

Yep.

Also idea was to fill those empty seats at Florida with big market travelling fans (for a beach holiday etc.).

And those real big travelling fan bases are Toronto, Montreal, Boston, Detroit. Atlantic is "f***ed up" geographically mostly because of business reasons.

 

[Bench]

I've got a solution.

 

[GBFP]

It's partly about getting hockey hotbed teams to hot climate cities. I think AZ will benefit joining the Central and adding traditional hockey markets like Chicago, STL, Minnesota, Colorado, Winnipeg. They might lose regional location rivalries with Cali-based teams and Vegas, but I think they're much better off - and can pick up regional rivalries with Colorado and Dallas.

Florida and TB should be in the Metropolitan - I'd move Boston there as well. And then put Columbus, Philly and Pittsburgh in the Atlantic.

And the "Metropolitan" should be switched to the "Atlantic" because all teams would be coastal Atlantic (or nearest to it) - Boston, Rangers, Islanders, New Jersey, Capitals, Carolina Lightning, Panthers.

Current "Atlantic" could be renamed something completely different - but would have - Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Detroit, Buffalo, Columbus, Pittsburgh and Philly.