New Tentative Alignment For Next Season

[DL44]

I love it...

So hyped... hope it happens.

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=416887

West

Pac: Cal, Edm, Van, LA, Ana, SJ, Pho

MidW: Chi, Col, Dal, Min, Nas, St.L, Wpg

East

Cen: Bos, Buf, Det, Mon, Tor, Ott, TB, Fla

Atl: NJ, NYR, NYI, Pit, Phi, Car, CBJ

Playoff format... top 3 in each div make it.. then next best 2 from in the conf.

MY guess on the how the schedule breaks down based on a little tidbit in the article...

The divisions with 7 teams (West):

i.e. Calgary will play, 6 vs division (36), home and home with the other 3 divisions (46).

The East: 5 vs the div (35), home and home with the rest of the league (44).. Plus 3 additional games - likely vs the div.

[sandman8610]

Not 100% sure what I think about that yet. If nothing else at least things are aligned in some semblance of order now so I might have a chance of joining FF when the Flames play in Winnipeg ( being from Brandon)

[DL44]

Its not quite the pure return to the divisional playoff format.. but it is pretty close. The 2vs3 matchup every yr will be intra-divisional, with a decent chance of 1vs4 being one as well.

After a few yrs, you guys will see the hate just fester within the division like a slowly boiling pot of stew... well maybe you guys won't, but for fans of playoff teams, definitely. Sorry, too easy, heh heh.

Vancouver since the lockout has played:

Dal, Ana, SJ, LA X2, Nash, Chi X3.

Series vs the NW: Zero.

SO this format will be exciting for the true ramp up in rivalries... LA - Van, which was already budding nicely, will likely now explode for example. 2 teams that just don't like each other. Will replace the Van-Chi rivalry.

Who in the present Pacific does Calgary have a thing going with? anyone?

LA for the Sutter thing? I know anything based on a coach is a lil boring... OH about Giordano making Brown his biatch?? that was awesome...

[The_People1]

First thought is, WTF?? Why is there 2 more teams in the Eastern Conference than the Western Conference? That means it's more probable to make the playoffs in the West. One team from the Central division needs to slide into the MidWest.

[DL44]

First thought is, WTF?? Why is there 2 more teams in the Eastern Conference than the Western Conference? That means it's more probable to make the playoffs in the West. One team from the Central division needs to slide into the MidWest.

A couple potential theories from me...

With the league and the players coming up with this over 3 weeks, you have to assume it was a compromise of sorts... I'm thinking it may be a way of appeasing a number of Western clubs (all of them) for losing Detroit?

Marque power of the Eastern teams is fairly stronger now as we will see Det-Bos, Det-Tor, Det-Mon at LEAST 5 times a yr each. I would imagine that the ratings would see a nice bump...

Also as we see a balance of superstars in the East, maybe due to travel and so forth, this is designed to ease life in the West?

I don't have much issue with it.. yet.

This combined with further salary cap restrictions, increased parity, and revenue growth... This league going to be goood. Not quite as drastic as pre and post 04-05... but i think the next big step.

Too bad they couldn't get their sheet together this lockout to work this into this season.

West : 6 gms vs their div -2 (34), homenhome vs the other div (14) - 48 gms.

East : 5 gms vs their div -3 (32), homenhome vs the other div (16) - 48 gms.

This PLUS the significant drop in the salary cap next yr = a very interesting yr ahead.

[C_worthy]

I love this and hope it goes through.

Division rivalries, but also some wildcards.

Also, I think having less teams int eh West is fair, to offset the travel.

The only thing that doesn't make sense is to do the re-alignment prior to expansion - doesn't make sense if the new teams are in teh East and moves would be required back t the West. Why not wait until the expansion, then do it right?

[DL44]

I love this and hope it goes through.

Division rivalries, but also some wildcards.

Also, I think having less teams int eh West is fair, to offset the travel.

The only thing that doesn't make sense is to do the re-alignment prior to expansion - doesn't make sense if the new teams are in teh East and moves would be required back t the West. Why not wait until the expansion, then do it right?

I'm thinking ongoing pressure from Dallas and Detroit/CBJ.

Dallas is in a brutal position playing in the Pacific. Imagine a big chunk of Flames away games beginning at 9:30pm? And that's within your division?

This will have a huge impact on their local TV ratings and revenue in a positive way.

Same with Det and CBJ... the only 2 Eastern time zone teams in the West - Det and CBJ had 10 away games starting at 10 or 10:30 pm.. They now get to cut that number in half...

And let's face it... you don't wanna leave Wpg sitting in the SE till a expansion MIGHT happen...

We've all seen the online proposals... move Wpg to the NW, move Van to the Pac, move Dal to the Cen, move Det/CBJ to the SE.. there that solves everything! (expect rivalries.)

This seems to make the most sense by appeasing the most teams, and keeping rivalries in tact for the most part.. expect for destroying all the ones CBJ had estab.. err.. nevermind. The major cons (breaking Det vs *) are greatly outweighed by the pros it seems.

[Crzydrvr]

I actually liked having the current playoff format....seeing the same teams play each other every year gets stale after a while. Not to hate on the inter-divisional rivalry group but there's 30 teams for a reason, and this isn't the NFL. Seeing the Penguins/Bruins/Flyers take on Calgary just 1 or 2 times a year maximum barring a Finals appearance from both teams is pretty depressing to me.

I don't hate change, it's just that I like a different kind of change. Like a "new thing every day" sort of change. Shove Columbus wherever, move Winnipeg to the West and do a little more re-arranging for teams like the Stars and Wild. Hell, we could always take out divisions and just have conferences, if we're looking for radical change to the NHL structure.

 

EDIT: I know people out there who say "The NHL needs to get rid of some of its franchises" would be baffled by the idea, but the easiest way to solve the issues I have with the current and proposed alignment schemes would be to add two more teams, 1 in the West and 1 in the East. 32 teams, 16 team conferences, 4-team divisions.

 

Scheduling could be 6 games against inter-division (18 games), 4 games each against another division within the same conference which would change each year (16 + 18 = 34) and then 2 games each against the rest of the league (24 x 2 = 48 = 34 = 82). Could roll with the current 8-team playoff format no problem (maybe a wildcard for the Charles Wang fans out there), and instead of having the top team in each division guaranteed home ice advantage, make it so that they're only guaranteed a (non-wildcard if they run with that idea) playoff berth and seed them according to their point totals against fellow playoff teams.

 

Say Seattle and Quebec got franchises, we could roll with something like this, based on the apparent need for TV scheduling and time zone constraints:

 

West:

 

Northwest:

Calgary Flames

Edmonton Oilers

Seattle Caffeine-highs (or whatever)

Vancouver Canucks

 

Pacific:

Anaheim Ducks

Los Angeles Kings

Phoenix Coyotes

San Jose Sharks

 

Midwest:

Colorado Avalanche

Dallas Stars

Minnesota Wild

Winnipeg Jets

 

Central:

Chicago Blackhawks

Detroit Red Wings

Nashville Predators

St. Louis Blues

 

East:

 

Northwest:

Boston Bruins

Montreal Canadiens

Ottawa Senators

Quebec Poutines (or whatever)

 

Southeast:

Carolina Hurricanes

Florida Panthers

Tampa Bay Lightning

Washington Capitals

 

Atlantic:

New Jersey Devils

New York Islanders

New York Rangers

Philadelphia Flyers

 

Mideast:

Buffalo Sabres

Columbus Blue Jackets

Pittsburgh Penguins

Toronto Maple Leafs

 

It would f*ck up rivalries like the Battle of Ontario, Leafs/Habs, Pens/Flyers, but the way I see it is that they're still playing at least 1 home and 1 away game with each other, and it would just make a home game against a rival that much more important and special. Plus, the team affected the most (the Leafs) will sell out even if they're the worst team in the league so I don't think that a little scheduling conflict would take that away from them. The Flyers are plenty wealthy, the Pens have Sidney frickin' Crosby so they'll be fine for the next 15 years at least, and nobody gave a care about the rivalries that Columbus or Buffalo had anyways.

[DL44]

Speculation on potential playoff format...

 

People who like simplicity will not like it...

I like it so far...

 

I'll outline some of it...

 

So to review, West, two 7 team divisions, East two 8 team divisions.

 

West:

- top 3 teams in each division auto in and seeded 1-3.

- the next best 2 teams (i'll call em 4 and 5) get the wildcard. better 1 seed  gets 5, the other gets 4. (crossover possible)

- Round 2 -  divisional champs determined

 

East:

- top 3 teams in each division auto in and seeded 1-3.

- the 4th and 5th seed in each division play a 'play in' game/mini-series (TBD) to determine who plays the 1 seed.

- Round 2 - divisional champs determined

 

Round 3 - The Final 4. ( this is the part i really love)

- the final 4 get reseeded, 1vs 4, 2vs3..  So you could end up with all sorts of SCF's combos. Van-Chi, NY-Bos.. umm.. Cal-Min etc, etc..

The East vs West dynamic is minimized... which makes sense since you play the other 3 divisions equally in the new schedule.  The only reason to keep it is for fairness to crossover so the stronger 5 seed in one div gets in over the weak 4 seed in the other div.