Realignment Approved by BoG

[Jersey Man]

NHL realignment...approved.

Click to read more...

 

[Capt Nico Poo]

There must be 2 more expansion teams incoming. I mean it cannot be that on the other side you have 14 teams battling for 8 spots in playoffs and in the other conference you have 16 teams gunning after the same amount of spots. Just not fair, imo. Though we got cbj in our division, free points for everyone.

 

[NJDevs26]

http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=660138&navid=DL|NHL|home

Actually, the map doesn't look too bad with that model except for the lol that is the Florida teams all by themselves.

I thought it was going to wind up being two games against other conference teams and six-five against division teams. Maybe they didn't want to OD regular season division games since they're forcing matchups in the first two rounds.

 

[CerebralGenesis]

Definitely going to be 2 teams expanding into the league in the next few years.

You most likely have Quebec City and Seattle coming down the road but also Phoenix heading out the door. Where to next? And it'll be funny when Detroit finally gets to be out East and gets bounced back out once we get QBC.

And the playoffs are almost divisional except for the final 2 spots. So interdivision matchups of 2-3 are guaranteed to be a divisional matchup.

 

[Rob Nieds work ethic]

nhl realignment...approved.

fml.

 

[Richer's Ghost]

It's silly actually. Detroit should still be in the West imo and the Florida teams shouldn't be flying over an entire division to get to their games.

 

[New Jersey Devils]

Wonder what they'll name the divisions?

A- Pacific
B- Central
C- Northeast? Having the two Florida teams sort of screws it up.
D- Atlantic

For reference:

 

[Getzo5]

We can`t do anything about it so I`ve just decided to accept it as it is.

Who gives a ****.

 

[Emperoreddy]

The NHL's own graphic and map clearly shows how dumb this is.

 

[Rob Nieds work ethic]

So they're actually doing the divisional playoffs instead of what we have now?

 

[devlzfan]

Realignment Rubber Stamped

East-Division A - Carolina, Columbus, New Jersey, NY Islanders, NY Rangers, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Washington
East-Division B - Boston, Buffalo, Detroit, Florida, Montreal, Ottawa, Tampa Bay, Toronto
East-Division C - Chicago, Colorado, Dallas, Minnesota, Nashville, St. Louis, Winnipeg
East-Division D - Anaheim, Calgary, Edmonton, Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Jose, Vancouver.

Schedule: 4 or 5 games vs. divisional opponents, 3 games vs, teams in the other division inside the conference. 2 games (home and away) vs. teams in opposite conference.
(Love the fact we will see every team twice)

My biggest problem is the playoff setup: Top 3 in each division for a total of 6 plus two wildcards, regardless of division. HOWEVER, playoffs will be in division. The lowest wild card plays the best division winner, and the other wild card plays the other division winner. This will be ultimately confusing and frankly could be unfair to the team with the best record in the West.

Let's say the final standings next year look like this: Devils 105, Pittsburgh 103, Rangers 98, Carolina 90, Philadelphia 85.......Boston 110, Detroit 101, Montreal 98, Toronto 91, Ottawa 84.

Devils, Pitt, NYR, Boston, Detroit, Montreal would automatically qualify, Toronto and Carolina would be the wild cards, but since Carolina is the worst wild card, they would play Boston in the first round. Toronto would play the Devils.

So the "A' Division playoffs would be Devils-Toronto, Pittsburgh-Rangers, while the "B" Division playoffs would be Boston-Carolina, Detroit-Montreal. No reseeding. It is going to be extremely confusing.

In the West you could have Chicago as the 1 seed have to play L.A. and travel back and forth to the west coast while Nashville and St. Louis play in a series close to home.

Thoughts?

 

[Rob Nieds work ethic]

It sucks, especially the playoff format, which is the most important thing. When I read "wild card" I wanted to poke my eyes out.

This league is so insecure in itself it has to model itself after, and ultimately, become the NFL.

 

[MountainGoat]

I like it just because we play every team twice

 

[Richer's Ghost]

Wonder what they'll name the divisions?

A- Pacific
B- Central
C- Northeast? Having the two Florida teams sort of screws it up.
D- Atlantic

Wales Conference
A-Norris
B-Smythe


Campbell Conference
C-Adams
D-Patrick

 

[RandoDoomer]

Me no likey. Wildcards? Are they serious?

 

[Classic Devil]

The "wildcard" bit isn't the real problem there. We basically have a system where every team but the division leaders is a "wildcard" by the definition they're using here. The problem I see is guaranteeing the top three teams from each division a playoff spot, and the divisional playoffs. Why do that?

 

[Sir Fenwick Corsi]

I'm seriously considering planning my exit strategy once Marty hangs them up. He's my favorite player and I grew up watching him play his career here. Seems like it would be the perfect time because I really don't like what this this league has become. This re-alignment is a ****ing joke. Wild cards?

 

[Classic Devil]

Wales Conference
A-Norris
B-Smythe


Campbell Conference
C-Adams
D-Patrick

I hope so, but I doubt it. The NHL doesn't want to confuse all the casual fans.

 

[Emperoreddy]

I hope so, but I doubt it. The NHL doesn't want to confuse all the casual fans.

NHL said the names would come later so maybe going back to the old names?

 

[Classic Devil]

I'm seriously considering planning my exit strategy once Marty hangs them up. He's my favorite player and I grew up watching him play his career here. Seems like it would be the perfect time because I really don't like what this this league has become. This re-alignment is a ****ing joke. Wild cards?

This realignment, or one very similar to it, has been long a foregone conclusion. The league had to deal with the time zone problem eventually, and this does that. The changes to the playoff format bother me, though, because there's no reason to go that route that I can see.

I do think this suggests the league is looking to expand with two teams in the West. At this point, Seattle/Portland feels like a foregone conclusion, the question is where the second team goes; adding Quebec City or a second Toronto team feels like it would cause a ton of problems.

 

[Wingman77]

They really couldn't have stuck both Florida teams in our division and Carolina and Columbus in the other to make it somewhat more reasonable for the Florida teams when it comes to travel?

 

[NJDevs26]

The cookiest thing about the playoff format is you could have four teams making the playoffs from each division but the fourth team in the Atlantic could wind up playing, say Boston if Boston has the best record and the wild card from our division has the worst record.

 

[Jack Griffin]

Everything about the realignment is awful.

 

[Richer's Ghost]

This realignment, or one very similar to it, has been long a foregone conclusion. The league had to deal with the time zone problem eventually, and this does that. The changes to the playoff format bother me, though, because there's no reason to go that route that I can see.

I do think this suggests the league is looking to expand with two teams in the West. At this point, Seattle/Portland feels like a foregone conclusion, the question is where the second team goes; adding Quebec City or a second Toronto team feels like it would cause a ton of problems.

Seattle and Las Vegas. Seattle to the A division, Vegas to the B to round them all out.

Jerry Bruckheimer could make it happen and get over the mythical voodoo about lack of attendance by tourists and betting being a big deal to put a pro sports team in Vegas. It would be an owner's dream with 80% of seats sold in luxury boxes and season tickets by the hotels and casinos to give as perks to their guests. Even Mark Cuban thinks pro sports would not be an issue - maybe he could go in with Jerry and get it done.

 

[VaxjoDevil]

I don't get why they had to complicate things with those wild cards but once I got how it worked it didn't feel that bad. But still, def. doesn't feel like anything other than a step backwards.