Which teams will benefit or be hurt by a division realignment

[Oddbob]

To be fair the Leafs had 1 NHL goalie last year, now they have 3

They have 2, Dell is below average.

 

[Oddbob]

an 886 save% is not a defense problem that's just not being able to get a save, I'm not saying Toronto had a great defense they did not.

But I have a hard time blaming 886 save% on the defense even the #1 defense in the NHL needs a save once in a while.

A 3.66 GAA and 886 save % That means you don't have an NHL backup

Save percentage can definitely be affected by bad defence. Not saying the backup wasn't horrible, he was, but Toronto's problem is their defence and everyone outside TO and many within it, know this.

 

[Oddbob]

Jack Campbell has 4 more losses than wins in his NHL career. Dell has more losses than wins over his last two NHL seasons.

Good luck with the notion that either is likely to step up and provide the Leafs with quality goaltending.

Campbell is a competent NHL backup, however Dell is not.

 

[TOGuy14]

Leafs vs Atlantic division
Habs: 0-1-2
Wings: 3-0
Sabres: 2-2
Bruins: 1-2
Senators: 3-0
Lightning: 2-1
Panthers: 1-2


Leafs vs Pacific division
Oilers: 1-1
Kings: 1-0-1
Knights: 1-1
Ducks: 1-1
Sharks: 1-1
Yotes: 2-0
Canucks: 2-0
Flames: 0-1-1

Just looking at this, the leafs were bullies and feasted on the weak teams. The Habs, panthers and sabres were more of a threat to your season than the Bruins and Lightning. Even by feasting on the Wings and sens, the leafs didn’t even make the playoffs. While every season is different, we can only go by what we saw last season. Leafs were stagnant this off season while the Oilers, Habs, Canucks, Senators and Flames got better.

Basically none of this makes any sense

1. The play in round counts as the playoffs, and regardless the Leafs were positioned for a regular playoff spot prior to the shut down

2. The Leafs should be significantly better this year:

We added a top 2/3 D, one of our biggest weaknesses
We added Simmonds, Bogo and Thornton to add some grit and veteran leadership
We now have Campbell as a backup instead of Hutch (who tossed a way a dozen or so games)
We have a full season of Keefe (27-15 .628 P%) vs Babcock (9-10 .478 P%)

 

[Oilers Propagandist]

Basically none of this makes any sense

1. The play in round counts as the playoffs, and regardless the Leafs were positioned for a regular playoff spot prior to the shut down

2. The Leafs should be significantly better this year:

We added a top 2/3 D, one of our biggest weaknesses
We added Simmonds, Bogo and Thornton to add some grit and veteran leadership
We now have Campbell as a backup instead of Hutch (who tossed a way a dozen or so games)
We have a full season of Keefe (27-15 .628 P%) vs Babcock (9-10 .478 P%)

All facts, no exaggerations.
1. Nah mate, it wasn’t playoffs.
2. Brodie was carried by Giordano. Simmonds, Bogo and Thornton are slow and over the hill which is nothing to be proud of. I would argue the Tavares contract screwed you guys badly. You would have Matthews and Kadri as your #1 and #2 and Pietrangelo.
2.5. Jumbo Joe brings bad juju to your team (like the leafs needed any more).
3. Below .500 campbell? Response below.

4. Keefe also had the same results as Babcock in the playoffs.

In an all Canadian Division, everyone got better except the leafs so I wouldn’t be surprised if they struggle to make the post season.

 

[Golden_Jet]

So it sounds like the all Canadian division is all but a sure thing, that means every division is getting changed.

So who will benefit and who will struggle because of the change?

Toronto will have a harder time in a all Canadian division then in the Atlantic, 6 equal teams in Canadian division,
Atlantic has Tampa, Boston is on a decline.

 

[voxel]

A competent backup cost the leafs probably 10 points each of the last 2 seasons.

4-10-1 2 seasons ago, and 10-12-1 last year.

That’s just not a recipe for success.

and for the record, I’m not an Andersen hater, I also don’t understand why they would want to trade him unless they know his ask is crazy for his next contract

Leafs D needs to improve too. Way too many odd man rushes against.

I suspect when the Leafs play more defensive... individual player stats will drop by 5-10%

 

[The90]

Leafs D needs to improve too. Way too many odd man rushes against.

I suspect when the Leafs play more defensive... individual player stats will drop by 5-10%

I agree. The leafs defensive problems are much less personnel related than play style related. Once (If) they find that balancing act, they’ll take the next step.

Brodie should be a step in the right direction. The rest is tbd. Muzzin and Holl were very good as a second pair when healthy, and lehtonen seems to be promising. We’ll see though.

 

[robertmac43]

The rivalries coming out of Canada are going to be wild!

 

[Julien LG]

Just by avoiding Detroit and New Jersey, Montreal is back in the playoffs race.

And Detroit just lost just a tad over 20% of the points they earned last year.

 

[Essenege]

I would say Habs and Leafs. Atlantic was shaping up to be a very improved division this year with BUF improving, TB and BOS still top teams, FLA still a threat.

can’t say for the leafs but in my opinion Habs matches up very well against Winnipeg (slower team) and Edmonton (lack of depth against MTL’s 3 2nd line a 1 3rd line). Time will tell!

 

[57special]

Having four 6 team US divisions makes more sense than three 8 team divisions from a travel POV. A MN, CHI, DET, BUF, NSH, STL/CBJ division...

 

[StreetHawk]

Having four 6 team US divisions makes more sense than three 8 team divisions from a travel POV. A MN, CHI, DET, BUF, NSH, STL division...

Everything would depend on the playoff setup. Barring Canada/USA border being opened, likely looking at Divisional playoffs for rounds 1&2. So, if that is the initial plan come the start of the season, then you're best served with 8 team divisions in the USA. Are the US teams playing games outside their division for the regular season?

 

[Mez]

So Canadian teams travel thousands of kilometres while eastern US division teams walk across the street for games.

 

[57special]

No use bitching about things you can't change. Vancouver is a long way away from Ott, MTL , and Toronto. They will be screwed the most next year, but the year after, as part of a new division including Seattle, will have their best schedule yet.

 

[Butch 19]

The NHL has a tendency to do some pretty stupid things in an effort to appease casual and\or part-time fans making it hard to make any concrete assertions at this juncture in time.

Where are these casual or part-time fans?

LOL

 

[MNNumbers]

Everything would depend on the playoff setup. Barring Canada/USA border being opened, likely looking at Divisional playoffs for rounds 1&2. So, if that is the initial plan come the start of the season, then you're best served with 8 team divisions in the USA. Are the US teams playing games outside their division for the regular season?

This is easy:
Western Division: San Jose, LA, Anaheim, Las Vegas, Colorado, Arizona
Midwest Division: Minnesota, Chicago, Dallas, St Louis, Nashville, +??
Northeast Division: Detroit, Buffalo, Boston, Rangers, Islanders, Devils, Jackets
Eastern Division: Washington, Carolina, Tampa Bay, Florida, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh

And, you have to move ONE of Detroit or Columbus to the Central.

Schedule:
8 games versus everyone in your division = 40
10 other games arranged in such a way as is possible for travel/COVID, etc. = 10
Canada: 8 games against everyone = 48
2 other games: eg: The western teams get 2 extra games, and the eastern teams play an extra round robin

For playoffs:
Top 2 in each division qualify, + the next 2 teams in the Western or Midwest and the next 2 teams in the Northeast or Eastern.
First Round of playoffs:
Western #1 v West WC2 (unless it's Det or Cmb)
Midwest #1 v West WC1 (if Det or Cmb is a WC, they must slot here)
Western #2 v Midwest #2
Eastern 2 division similar
That leaves 6 teams. Re-seed the 1 - 6 and play:
1 v 6; 2 v 5; 3 v 4
Coupled with your Canadian survivor, there's your final 4.

 

[Iapyi]

Where are these casual or part-time fans?

LOL

They are taking over!!!! It's atrocious but they are hiding in plain sight. lol

 

[Iapyi]

Schedule:
8 games versus everyone in your division = 40
10 other games arranged in such a way as is possible for travel/COVID, etc. = 10
Canada: 8 games against everyone = 48
2 other games: eg: The western teams get 2 extra games, and the eastern teams play an extra round robin

I feel this is an automatic non-starter.

What kind of professional league is going to have anything but the same amount of regular season games for each and every team.

I'm not sure even the casual/part time fans who are taking over could convince the NHL of this. If they do, it would be beyond stupid.

 

[Iapyi]

So Canadian teams travel thousands of kilometres while eastern US division teams walk across the street for games.

The NHL does not give a flying FiretrUCK about the Canadian teams until it comes time to cash the cheques that Canadian fans generate.

Let's just disband the NHL.

Each country can have its own league within its own borders with players from their own country. I know it won't happen but can't a guy dream for once in his life?

 

[Volica]

The Leafs also went through the Babcock drama and had injuries to several key players. You know, context.

Flames went through a racist coaching incident.
I mean. Every team has some f***ing weird shit going on these days in Canada.

 

[The Moose is Loose]

this.

adding Calgary Vancouver and Edmonton at the expense of Boston and TB is huge for us

It’s adding Calgary, Vancouver, Edmonton, and the Jets in exchange for Bruins, Lightning, Buffalo, Detroit and Florida.

All 4 of those Canadian teams are better than those latter 3 teams. So it’s definitely not as much of a advantage as simply losing Boston/Tampa.

Every team aside from Ottawa has a serious chance.

 

[Volica]

The rivalries coming out of Canada are going to be wild!

Can't wait for Toronto/Montreal/Ottawa fans to learn about the magic of the Matthew Tkachuk friendship tour 2021.

 

[The Moose is Loose]

I think Columbus benefits a lot. They get out of the metro which was shaping up to be brutal.

The southern division has Tampa. But aside from them they’re competing with the Canes for 2nd in the division. If the playoffs end up being the top 4 from each division, they’d have a hard time missing, where as if they stayed in the metro it would have been a very real possibility.

 

[MNNumbers]

I feel this is an automatic non-starter.

What kind of professional league is going to have anything but the same amount of regular season games for each and every team.

I'm not sure even the casual/part time fans who are taking over could convince the NHL of this. If they do, it would be beyond stupid.

You must be quite young.

The previous schedule matrix in the NHL had exactly this:
5 team divisions:
6 games against division = 24
4 games against conference = 40
1 game inter-conference =18
3 other games = 3

Very similar to my suggestion here.

Or, current schedule matrix:
Pacific teams:
2 games inter-conference = 32
3 games against Central Division = 21
4 games against Pacific Division = 28
PLUS 1 extra game.

Again, it's similar.

And, in this case, we are talking about a 1 year only arrangement.