Re-Alignment with Seattle

[Whalers Fan]

Crap I thought Detroit was on CST, stupid Central America

What's so stupid about it -- Michigan has always been in the eastern time zone (except for a section of the western Upper Peninsula)? It's not hard to read a map.

BTW, "Central America" is a completely different place than you think. I guess we know who flunked geography in school -- assuming that is still taught, of course.

 

[BatVader]

My guess is when Seattle enters the league, the alignment could look like this:

Smythe Conference

Northwest Division

Calgary
Edmonton
Seattle
Vancouver

Pacific Division

Anaheim
Las Vegas
Los Angeles
San Jose


Norris Conference

Midwest Division

Arizona
Colorado
Dallas
Nashville

Central Division

Chicago
Minnesota
St. Louis
Winnipeg


Adams Conference

Great Lakes Division

Buffalo
Detroit
Ottawa
Toronto

Northeast Division

Boston
Florida
Montreal
Tampa Bay


Patrick Conference

Metropolitan Division

New Jersey
New York Islanders
New York Rangers
Philadelphia

Atlantic Division

Carolina
Columbus
Pittsburgh
Washington

The first and second place teams in each division will play each other for the division title. The division winners will then play for the conference title. For third round, the conference winners would be seeded Final Four style with the pairing involving the Smythe Conference winner playing the Campbell trophy while the other pairing play for the Wales trophy. The Stanley Cup finals will be held between the Campbell and Wales trophy winners.

Florida and Tampa in the “NORTH” east division???
Why does everyone want to jump these 2 teams into this area?? It’s stupid!
While I don’t like the 4 team division idea, if it was a must then why not go with...

North West: Calgary, Edmonton, Seattle, Vancouver
South West: Anaheim, LA, SAN Jose, Vegas

North Central: Detroit, Chicago, Minnesota, Winnipeg
South Central: Arizona, Colorado, Dallas, St. Louis

North East: Buffalo, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto
Center East: Columbus, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Washington

Atlantic North: Boston, Brooklyn, New Jersey, New York
Atlantic South: Carolina, Florida, Nashville, Tampa

 

[SjMilhouse]

Metro
- Carolina
- New Jersey
- Rangers
- Islanders
- Philly
- Pittsburgh
- Washington
- Columbus

Atlantic
- Boston
- Montreal
- Buffalo
- Toronto
- Ottawa
- Detroit
- Florida
- Tampa Bay

Central
- Colorado
- Chicago
- Dallas
- St.Louis
- Minnesota
- Nashville
- Winnipeg
- Arizona


Pacific
- Anaheim
- San Jose
- LA
- Seattle
- Vancouver
- Calgary
- Edmonton
- Las Vegas

It will be this...pretty sure LeBrun just wrote an article hinting as much (or I guess speculating). He also speculated Arizona could move to Houston via relocation if they don't get their arena figured out. Makes the most sense to me

They aren't going to add extra divisions or conferences, it makes no sense. It's as simple as moving one team out of the pacific to add Seattle. Why would they make it super complicated?

 

[Echo Roku]

I’m not sure I follow you here, I said the Coyotes NOT Colorado have been in the Pacific for over 20 years. The previous post I was responding to was acting like the Avs have this huge thing going in the Central which they’ve only been in for 3 years as opposed to the Coyotes who’ve been in the Pacific for more than 20.

It’s all about time zones with the new division alignment and the Coyotes are in the Pacific time zone for half the year and are much closer to Vegas and the Cali teams who will oppose any such move.

Oh my goodness. I wasn’t referring to the coyotes 20 comment. Read what I said without making that weird assumption

 

[Anisimovs AK]

I don't know about "not give that any thought at all", they were in the Western Conference just 4 years ago. Not saying it makes sense or is reasonable, just that the league has used this method despite your justification not to, just like many others arguing the same thing.

Because of a heavy geographical imbalance. Everything the league has done since 1991 basically has been about becoming more geographically sound. The realignment in 2014 was specifically dealing with crossing multiple time zones as little as possible

 

[BatVader]

How about every year on August 1st, the NHL holds an Alignment Lottary.
Have 8 divisions with 4 teams each. Then throw 32 balls, with a team logo on it, in a tumbler and as they come out they go into a division.
1st ball, division 1, 2nd ball division 2, etc... to 8 then start over until all teams are assigned.
Do it every year so divisions change constantly.
Maybe have the Cup Champs able to select their division after all teams are assigned. They would choose 1 team to replace and that team fills final slot in 8th division.

 

[Anisimovs AK]

This is it in a nutshell, it’s going to be one of these two choices. The OP should create a poll.

I believe the Alberta teams will be leaving and Colorado will be coming back to the Pacific along with Seattle for a couple reasons.

Arizona is in the Pacific time zone for half the year which is the beginning and end of the season along with the playoffs. I don’t think Chicago or Nashville fans want to watch Pacific start times if their teams meet the Coyotes in the playoffs.

Also Arizona is Vegas’s closest geographic team without a rival we know how the league wants to build rivalries and not split them up.

Im guessing the Knights playoff victories over LA and San Jose have made them rivals much moreso than Arizona being close

 

[Anisimovs AK]

It just seems strange to move Arizona to the Central given how close they are to Vegas and California, plus they are a PST time zone team for part of the year (including playoffs).

You have to keep Edmonton and Calgary together so it makes sense to move them both to the Central and Colorado to the Pacific.

So what if the Coyotes are in PST for the part of the year including the playoffs? Theyve made the playoffs 3 times since 2003, its not gonna be a detriment that often

 

[KingBran]

I think its as simple as AZ or VGK go to the Central and SEA will be in Pacific.

Will be surprised if its anything different. But VGK/COL could have a great rivalry

 

[Paperbagofglory]

The rumors are the Oilers and Flames moving to the central. What does everyone think?

 

[No Fun Shogun]

The rumors are the Oilers and Flames moving to the central. What does everyone think?

What rumors? Although literally exactly what I expected assuming that the rumor also implies that the Avs would be bounced back to the Pacific.

 

[Hennessy]

Arizona is the easiest team to move. There are questions surrounding them, anyway, and never really got a rivalry going on in the Pacific. Even with a second "desert" team, Vegas is just too close to LA.
Moving Colorado to the Pacific and the Alberta teams to the Central is a lot more shuffling, not to mention it stacks the deck a bit in the Central with two more higher-profile teams. I mean, personally, other than timezone stuff, as an Avs fan I'd love to see them in the Pacific over the next handful of seasons, especially with Edmonton out. But it just makes more sense to uproot the Coyotes.

 

[Jamin]

So I'm not 100% sure on this but don't Edmonton and Calgary have 2 of the highest travel distances in the whole NHL. Would the central be better or be adding more travel. Can't imagine the owners would want more travel time and costs.

Second point is the schedule. It seems like literally every time a team plays Calgary they play Edmonton and Vancouver as well. The western canadian road trip is a part of every teams schedule. Would the schedule makers want to make it harder on themselves and have to start planning a separate Vancouver trip now for every team

 

[kvladimir]

The best divisional alignment is no divisional alignment!

But actually, I know the NHL says it won't do a radical re-alignment, but I have had an idea for a while that I think works extremely well, but is radically different than anything any pro sports league uses: No divisions or conferences, just a set of "Rivals" that each team plays more games against. Each team would get 3 teams they play 6 times a year, and 4 teams they play 4 times a year (I call these "A-Rivals" and "B-Rivals"). But these teams would not be restricted to groups, so it maximizes the schedule's relevance for every team in the league.

For example, here's what I would do for a few teams' A-Rivals:

VAN: SEA, CGY, EDM
CGY/EDM: EDM/CGY, VAN, WPG
SEA: VAN, SJ, VGK
WPG: EDM, CGY, MIN
MIN: WPG, CHI, DAL
DET: CHI, CBJ, NSH
CBJ: DET, PIT, WSH
PIT: CBJ, PHI, WSH

And so on, so forth. Same deal with B-Rivals, they are not set groups, but relevant to each team.

Then, to supercharge these "A-Rivalries" like crazy, have playoff qualification go like this:

-Each team who finishes 1st amongst its A-Rivals clinches a playoff spot regardless of overall record.
-Each team who finished last amongst its A-Rivals misses the playoffs regardless of overall record.
-Since the number of 1st place teams normally falls within a range of 5-10 teams, the remaining playoff spots are given to each 2nd place team (amongst its A-Rivals, remember) in order of overall record.
-If a 3rd place team has a better record than a 2nd place team that clinches a playoff spot, this team also clinches, but only in pairs with each lower 2nd place team that clinches. In other words, if it's down to 1 more spot (16th), the lower 2nd place team gets it. This make every spot you gain relative to your A-Rivals matter.

The playoff format for this idea is a whole other animal, but I do have a cool idea for that, might explain later if anyone wants to know.

Also, yes, I have mapped out every A and B-Rivalry in the league. If you want to know what it looks like for your team, ask!

 

[DudeWhereIsMakar]

There are two ways to settling it.

1. Arizona moves to the Central
2. Calgary and Edmonton move to the Central and Colorado moves to the Pacific division
2b. One of Edmonton/Calgary move to the Central.

In the big picture option one is the better bet.

 

[BigBadBruins7708]

Florida and Tampa in the “NORTH” east division???
Why does everyone want to jump these 2 teams into this area?? It’s stupid!
While I don’t like the 4 team division idea, if it was a must then why not go with...

North West: Calgary, Edmonton, Seattle, Vancouver
South West: Anaheim, LA, SAN Jose, Vegas

North Central: Detroit, Chicago, Minnesota, Winnipeg
South Central: Arizona, Colorado, Dallas, St. Louis

North East: Buffalo, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto
Center East: Columbus, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Washington

Atlantic North: Boston, Brooklyn, New Jersey, New York
Atlantic South: Carolina, Florida, Nashville, Tampa

0.0% chance the league breaks up Boston-Montreal-Toronto

 

[Foppberg]

I doubt they're going to shake things up very much. Arizona/Vegas to Central, Seattle in the Pacific.

 

[Frank the Tank]

I think you'll see the NHL attempt to revisit the 4 conferences proposal from 2013 that the NHLPA shelved because of the East-West team imbalance. Adding Vegas and now Seattle resolves the main issue of contention. One could even sub-divide each conference into two divisions of four to create a clean schedule of 82 games.

• 6 games against division foes (18)
• 4 games against conference teams (16)
• 2 games against non-conference teams (48)

The only issue would be dividing certain teams out East and preserving rivalries. One could have:

P1: EDM, CGY, VAN, SEA
P2: LA, SJ, ANA, VGK

C1: CHI, STL, MIN, WPG
C2: ARI, DAL, NSH, COL

A1: TOR, MON, BUF, OTT
A2: BOS, NYR, NYI, NJ

M1: DET, PIT, CBJ, PHI
M2: CAR, WSH, TB, FLA

Like I said, fans may gripe about a loss of certain Eastern rivalries (e.g., Philly vs. NY area teams), but you'll never make everyone happy.

 

[DavidBL]

There are two ways to settling it.

1. Arizona moves to the Central
2. Calgary and Edmonton move to the Central and Colorado moves to the Pacific division
2b. One of Edmonton/Calgary move to the Central.

In the big picture option one is the better bet.

The bolded is what I would hope for. I think they want to keep the EDM CGY rivalry. They're also the 2 teams furthest away from most of the Pac teams. Arz is much closer to all 3 Cali teams. The simplest move is Arz to Central so I think it will be 1 of the 2. I imagine the determining factor would be mileage for Cgy and Edm. Their managements probably wont want to add a ton of miles of travel to their schedule.
Honestly they NHL may want to consider a full re-alignment.
NW:
Seatle
Vancouver
Edmonton
Calgary,
Winnipeg
Chicago
St Louis
Minnesota

SW
Anaheim
Arizona
Colorado
Dallas
Los Angeles
San Jose
Nashville

NE
Ottawa
Montreal
Toronto
Boston
Detroit
Buffalo
NYR
NYI

SE
Pittsburgh
Washington
Tampa
Florida
Carolina
Philadelphia
Columbus
New Jersey

 

[kvladimir]

I think you'll see the NHL attempt to revisit the 4 conferences proposal from 2013 that the NHLPA shelved because of the East-West team imbalance. Adding Vegas and now Seattle resolves the main issue of contention. One could even sub-divide each conference into two divisions of four to create a clean schedule of 82 games.

• 6 games against division foes (18)
• 4 games against conference teams (16)
• 2 games against non-conference teams (48)

The only issue would be dividing certain teams out East and preserving rivalries. One could have:

P1: EDM, CGY, VAN, SEA
P2: LA, SJ, ANA, VGK

C1: CHI, STL, MIN, WPG
C2: ARI, DAL, NSH, COL

A1: TOR, MON, BUF, OTT
A2: BOS, NYR, NYI, NJ

M1: DET, PIT, CBJ, PHI
M2: CAR, WSH, TB, FLA

Like I said, fans may gripe about a loss of certain Eastern rivalries (e.g., Philly vs. NY area teams), but you'll never make everyone happy.

Same schedule matrix as my proposal, just with set divisions and conferences!

I love the 6/4/2 matrix, 4 games should not be the most times you play your biggest rivals, it should be 6.

 

[DEVILS130]

I think you'll see the NHL attempt to revisit the 4 conferences proposal from 2013 that the NHLPA shelved because of the East-West team imbalance. Adding Vegas and now Seattle resolves the main issue of contention. One could even sub-divide each conference into two divisions of four to create a clean schedule of 82 games.

• 6 games against division foes (18)
• 4 games against conference teams (16)
• 2 games against non-conference teams (48)

The only issue would be dividing certain teams out East and preserving rivalries. One could have:

P1: EDM, CGY, VAN, SEA
P2: LA, SJ, ANA, VGK

C1: CHI, STL, MIN, WPG
C2: ARI, DAL, NSH, COL

A1: TOR, MON, BUF, OTT
A2: BOS, NYR, NYI, NJ

M1: DET, PIT, CBJ, PHI
M2: CAR, WSH, TB, FLA

Like I said, fans may gripe about a loss of certain Eastern rivalries (e.g., Philly vs. NY area teams), but you'll never make everyone happy.

Big fan of this approach. Also, I think there's a way to tweak the Atlantic and Metro divisions to almost make everyone happy...

A1: TOR, BOS, MTL, OTT
A2: TBL, FLA, WSH, CAR

M1: NJD, NYR, NYI, BUF
M2: DET, CBJ, PIT, PHI

I guess only issues are breaking up WSH-PIT and leaving BUF without its traditional rivals. There's no perfect solution though and Buffalo is fairly close to Detroit, Columbus and Pittsburgh

 

[Kariya 9]

Eastern Conference

Atlantic Division
Boston Bruins
Buffalo Sabres
Detroit Red Wings
Florida Panthers
Montreal Canadiens
Ottawa Senators
Tampa Bay Lightning
Toronto Maple Leafs

Metropolitan Division
Carolina Hurricanes
Columbus Blue Jackets
New Jersey Devils
New York Islanders
New York Rangers
Philadelphia Flyers
Pittsburgh Penguins
Washington Capitals

Western Conference

Central Division
Calgary Flames
Chicago Blackhawks
Dallas Stars
Edmonton Oilers
Minnesota Wild
Nashville Predators
St. Louis Blues
Winnipeg Jets

Pacific Division
Anaheim Ducks
Arizona Coyotes
Colorado Avalanche
Los Angeles Kings
San Jose Sharks
Seattle
Vancouver Canucks
Vegas Golden Knights

This actually makes sense.

 

[Red Dread]

It's always difficult for me to stay grounded with these topics. The simplest answer is Arizona to the Central Division, but that's just not as fun as bringing back the Nordiques, adding Hamilton, Kansas City, Portland, etc. and getting the biggest headache.

 

[edog37]

Big fan of this approach. Also, I think there's a way to tweak the Atlantic and Metro divisions to almost make everyone happy...

A1: TOR, BOS, MTL, OTT
A2: TBL, FLA, WSH, CAR

M1: NJD, NYR, NYI, BUF
M2: DET, CBJ, PIT, PHI

I guess only issues are breaking up WSH-PIT and leaving BUF without its traditional rivals. There's no perfect solution though and Buffalo is fairly close to Detroit, Columbus and Pittsburgh

Pens fans have no issues with breaking up with the Caps, it's only the Flyers we won't be separated from & vice versa. The hate is just too powerful to end....

 

[Goldenshark]

Oh my goodness. I wasn’t referring to the coyotes 20 comment. Read what I said without making that weird assumption

Well what the hell are you referring to, I never mentioned Colorado would’ve been in the Pacific for 20 years. So what the heck are you talking about?