Comments on: “But you promised!” Mike Ilitch says Gary Bettman promised him Detroit would move East

By: nottheimpostergrizzlygriz

nottheimpostergrizzlygriz — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 15:29:07 +0000

The title of this article says it all. No matter whether or not the wings make the most sense as to moving conferences, they have been demanding it for years. Atlanta moving is the only good reason they’ve had, other than thinking that moving to the Eastern Conference would allow them a better position in the league, as they assume that all Eastern Conference teams are inferior, and by a long shot. The fact of the matter is, they had no defense last year and a lot of offense. That made them almost equivalent to the prior year’s Washington Capitals, but with not as good a record. They will find that it wasn’t greener on the other side of the fence. They will find that rivalries are lost and new ones won’t be as good. They will find themselves an also-ran among the Eastern Conference, much like they are now in the West.

By: comeonnowguys

comeonnowguys — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 14:05:56 +0000

You can’t have what basically looks like the old Norris without Detroit.

Columbus needs eastern rivalries like Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Philly, and Washington much more than Detroit right now.

By: greatminnesotasportsmind

greatminnesotasportsmind — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 20:07:57 +0000

For the good of the game, they need to go back to 2 divisions in each conference. The west is easy.

Calgary, Vancouver, Edmonton, San Jose, Los Angeles, Anaheim, Phoenix, and Colorado

The other

Winnipeg, Minnesota, Chicago, St Louis, Dallas, Columbus, and Nashville

By: greatminnesotasportsmind

greatminnesotasportsmind — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 20:04:28 +0000

Your not going to get that to happen. Heck the western conference spans all 4 times zones, even if Detroit does go east

By: quizguy66

quizguy66 — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 19:39:32 +0000

I think they are going to the 4 conference set-up anyway and you’ll have 3 essentially eastern conferences and 1 western conference with 8 teams (SJ-ANA-LA-PHX-VAN-COL-CGY-EDM)

-QG

By: sippindasyzurp

sippindasyzurp — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 16:36:11 +0000

I have gave this some thought for a while, and I think for the best interest of the game they should go to two split conferences like the NFL. ( IE; don’t use geographical location to determine the conferences, but within the conferences you can have divisions that are based around geographical location… I think this would add a nice little twist as you could have a West, East, South and North Division in each conference… Therefore you would get a more balanced exposure of some these teams from the east that don’t get to travel west as often and vice versa. I don’t know how viable this would be in the NHL but it would be interesting to see what a draft of this might look like… Any thoughts??

By: deadpooldx

deadpooldx — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 15:59:22 +0000

how about 2 conferences, 3 divisions in each conference like it is now, but have the conferences evenly balanced geographically.

By: comeonnowguys

comeonnowguys — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 14:42:46 +0000

two rounds*

For crying out loud. Time for a second round of caffeine.

By: comeonnowguys

comeonnowguys — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 14:41:47 +0000

geographically-arranged*

By: comeonnowguys

comeonnowguys — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 14:41:01 +0000

Bring back the four larger, geographically divisions, and divisional playoffs in the first four rounds. You can have a division similar to the old Norris that will cut down west coast games for teams in both the Great Lakes area and Mississippi River basin area. Not only will it lessen the impact on existing rivalries, but it can likely enhance them.