Re-Alignment with Seattle

[CaliforniaBlues310]

I’d go with four divisions in each conference

Western Conference:
Northwest-
Calgary
Edmonton
Seattle
Vancouver

Pacific-
Anaheim
Los Angeles
San Jose
Vegas

Central-
Chicago
Minnesota
St. Louis
Winnipeg

South-
Arizona
Colorado
Dallas
Nashville

Eastern Conference:
Metropolitan-
Boston
New Jersey
NY Islanders
NY Rangers

Northeast-
Buffalo
Montreal
Ottawa
Toronto

Atlantic-
Columbus
Detroit
Philadelphia
Pittsburgh

Southeast-
Carolina
Florida
Tampa Bay
Washington

Each division winner makes it, then the next four best teams in each conference fill the other spots.

6 games against main divisional rival, and 4 games against other divisional teams(14)

3 games against inter-conference division team(36)

2 games against each other Conference team(32)

 

[Critical13]

The issue with the Atlantic division is that it becomes super weak. You take out the Panthers and the lighting and your down to 2 playoff teams of the 8. Obviously a 3rd team makes it under the rules but a lot of those teams are rebuilding/retooling so it harms the divisions talent and competitive level

Short term thinking. Teams are good in cycles. In 3 years this would be a non issue.

 

[Critical13]

I’d go with four divisions in each conference

Western Conference:
Northwest-
Calgary
Edmonton
Seattle
Vancouver

Pacific-
Anaheim
Los Angeles
San Jose
Vegas

Central-
Chicago
Minnesota
St. Louis
Winnipeg

South-
Arizona
Colorado
Dallas
Nashville

Eastern Conference:
Metropolitan-
Boston
New Jersey
NY Islanders
NY Rangers

Northeast-
Buffalo
Montreal
Ottawa
Toronto

Atlantic-
Columbus
Detroit
Philadelphia
Pittsburgh

Southeast-
Carolina
Florida
Tampa Bay
Washington

Each division winner makes it, then the next four best teams in each conference fill the other spots.

6 games against main divisional rival, and 4 games against other divisional teams(14)

3 games against inter-conference division team(36)

2 games against each other Conference team(32)

I kind of like it, but I feel like you need to have Boston in the Northeast. Habs-Bos and Bos-Leafs are prime time games.

 

[Go Wings]

Cause in the west, there would be 7 PST, 3 MST and 6 CST zone teams for playoffs. Expect them to go with divisional style playoffs rather than a few CST vs PST match ups.

The divisional playoffs are stupid. In the 90s it was top seed vs bottom seed regardless of time zone and it worked fine. The top seed should always play the 8th seed and then on down the line.

 

[BrockLobster]

@DrSanchez but I want to make this complicated... The owners have said they want more teams in the playoffs. What about having two conferences with four 4-team divisions in them?

Top 2 from each 4-team division make the playoffs. 2 wild card teams play a one game wild card play-in series. Top 3 from each conference get a first round bye.

ANA
LAK
SJS
ARI

VAN
SEA
CGY
EDM

MIN
WPG
CHI
DET

STL
COL
DAL
VGK

NYR
NJD
NYI
BUF

WSH
PIT
PHI
CBJ

TOR
BOS
MTL
OTT

TBL
FLA
CAR
NSH

If a representative from the league would like to get in touch regarding a job offering at the NHL you can reach me via PM on here.

I like the 4 team setup. Put philly with NYR NYI NJD

 

[BLNY]

What if you move Calgary and Edmonton to the Central so you keep the "rivalry" and then move Colorado to the Pacific?

Because they're both west of Denver?

 

[BHD]

Moving the Coyotes to the Central would be an option if they want 8 teams in each division.

 

[HugginThePost]

Chris Johnston was on the fan 960 radio station in Calgary and said Arizona would move to central for geographical reasons plus the chance they are moved to Houston in the coming years.

Don't tease people like that.....

......it's just not fair!!!

 

[KingsFan7824]

The divisional playoffs are stupid. In the 90s it was top seed vs bottom seed regardless of time zone and it worked fine. The top seed should always play the 8th seed and then on down the line.

It clearly didn't work fine. Toronto got out of the West as soon as they could after the 1-8 switch, and we see how hard Detroit and Columbus fought to not have to be linked to the west coast.

1-8 can be done. The Wings won many Cups while potentially playing 3 teams 3 time zones away before the Final. We didn't see any other eastern teams volunteering to take their place in the West to have the 15/15 split prior to Vegas though. Time zones matter. They matter for eastern teams. They like their geographically cozy conference. They still matter for western teams too, despite Detroit and Columbus no longer being there. The CTZ teams don't want to have to be linked to the west coast either.

 

[Echo Roku]

Nah. Edmonton and Alberta to Central, Colorado to Pacific.

Seems silly to move Arizona to the Central.

Seems silly to move Colorado to the Pacific

 

[TLEH]

Because they're both west of Denver?

Point being is that Phoenix is closer to LA teams and then Colorado is also closer and same time zone as Arizona. It just doesn’t make any sense to put Arizona in the central. Maybe doesn’t make sense for Colorado to be west but it certainly doesn’t make sense for Arizona in the central

 

[DEVILS130]

Seems silly to move Colorado to the Pacific

Agreed. I did the math and overall Colorado is closer to Central division teams. Interestingly, the two closest NHL cities to Denver are Las Vegas (749 miles) and Glendale AZ (786 miles), both Pacific teams. But that's negated by how far away San Jose, Seattle and Vancouver are. Also goes to show how terrible the Avs travel is compared to other teams...they are truly isolated

 

[Goldenshark]

Seems silly to move Colorado to the Pacific

 

[New Jersey]

The Coyotes' quandary with time zones is an interesting one considering Arizona doesn't observe DST.

 

[rfournier103]

I’d go with four divisions in each conference

...

Eastern Conference:
Metropolitan-
Boston
New Jersey
NY Islanders
NY Rangers

Northeast-
Buffalo
Montreal
Ottawa
Toronto

...

Each division winner makes it, then the next four best teams in each conference fill the other spots.

6 games against main divisional rival, and 4 games against other divisional teams(14)

3 games against inter-conference division team(36)

2 games against each other Conference team(32)

First of all, the NHL will NEVER separate the Bruins and Canadiens. Otherwise, the divisions look good.

I like the playoff selection, too. The only change I would make to scheduling would be rotating the 6-game division slate. Every three years you’ll have six games against a divisional opponent, and four games against that same opponent the other two.

 

[jumb0]

Zona to the central makes the most sense.

Keeps the Pacific Canadian teams together and it's a little closer to Nashville travel wise

 

[chet1926]

Not sure why this so difficult for people to understand. I'd say there is a 98% chance that Arizona is moved to the central.

First of all the NHL already said, that they are going to try and do at little movement as possible. If Arizona is moved to the central division, that's one team moving. Every other scenario had at least two teams moving.

Second for all the Edmonton and Calgary to the central, Colorado to the pacific people, the NHL stated last alignment that they wanted the western Canadian teams which includes Vancouver to stay together. Why would they change their mind 3 years later? Not to mention this scenario involves 3 teams changing divisions which is way more complex than 1 team moving. NHL also stated they want to promote rivalries. Colorado has already started some nice rivalries with Nashville and Minnesota. Doubt the NHL wants to just throw that away. Why make Colorado throw those away and start fresh, when Edmonton and Calgary already have their rivalry set it doesn't matter what division they play in.

Lastly there is a high likelihood that within a few years Arizona is relocated. Some of the top contenders for that would probably be Houston or Kansas City. Both of which would fit nicely into the central division.

 

[tony d]

I was hoping for 8 4 Team Divisions myself. Same as the NFL did when they went to 32 teams in 2002.

 

[Soundgarden]

There's always someone, about once every eight weeks or so... the league has a simple problem, involving a change for at most three existing teams... so let's blow up the league instead!

They aren't going to do that. Why? Because in the East, the travel is too good. None of the Metropolitan teams will see the division blown up, and the Atlantic teams are mostly OK with it as well. That's enough votes.

They won't create eight divisions of four teams, and they won't try to make travel equally sucky for everyone.

So what are we looking at? Seattle obviously gets added to the Pacific Division, being a Pacific Coast team.

There are probably just two choices. Move 1) Arizona from the Pacific to the Central Division and call it a day, or else 2) move Colorado to the Pacific and the Alberta teams to the Central division. I expect it will be the simplest route, impacting the fewest number of teams (Arizona to the Central, Seattle to the Pacific). Four divisions of eight teams each.

Thank you.

 

[Spock]

I was hoping for 8 4 Team Divisions myself. Same as the NFL did when they went to 32 teams in 2002.

In that case, Four division winners and four "wild card" teams per conference would be the most logical playoff format. Seeding would be a topic up for debate. Would division winners get home-ice?

 

[Strakanator]

East 16 Teams
West 16 Teams

16 Team Playoff Bracket

Done.

 

[LakeLivin]

Team and Division strength are dynamic. Regardless of the alignment, in order to make playoff qualification as fair as possible I'd like to see less "fixed" playoff spots and more wild card spots. In a 4 team Division structure, top team in each Division and then the next 4 best records. In a 8 team Division structure, top 2 teams in each Division and then next 4 best records.

 

[StreetHawk]

Because they're both west of Denver?

Cal and Edm have to remain together. So it’s about filling out 1 final spot in the Pacific if AZ is deemed to remain there rather than move a team that will be PsT come playoff time to the central. So with 1 spot left can’t break up the Alberta teams. So Colorado whonis also MST as the oilers and flames get shifted to the pacific.

 

[Buffalo Preds]

Get rid of Eastern/Western Conferences altogether. Historical artifact.

82 game schedule:

1. 42 games in home division: 3 home, 3 away vs 7 home conference opponents
2. 16 games vs outside division A: 1 home and 1 away vs 8 division A opponents
   
3. 16 games vs outside division B: 1 home and 1 away vs 8 division B opponents
   
4. 8 games vs outside division C: 4 home games vs 4 division C opponents; 4 away games vs 4 division C opponents

Divisions A, B, and C rotate from year to year.

Playoffs: Top four from each division seeded 1-16 based on points. 1 vs 16, 2 vs 15, etc. Stanley Cup final matches top two teams after three knockout rounds.

 

[westc2]

Probably Edmonton/Calgary to the Central, Seattle to the Pacific.

82 game schedule.
Play at least every team twice = 62 games
Play all teams in your conference another time = 15 games
Play the extra 5 games within your own division. (rotating every season).

Get rid of the divisional playoff format.
-Top 2 in each division automatically qualify for playoffs. (wouldn't usually matter since it would be rare that a 2nd place team in one division would have a worse record than a 7th place team in the other division.)
-Division Winners are seeded #1 and #2.
-2nd place teams thrown into "Wild Card Pool", but not guaranteed a particular seed.
-Out of the remaining teams in the conference, the 4 with the best records are also thrown into the Wild Card Pool.
-The 6 Wild Card teams are seeded #3 through #8.

-1st Round = 1v8, 2v7, 3v6, 4v5
-2nd Round = reseed highest vs lowest.