Comments on: Major NHL realignment plan “gaining steam”

By: tark44

tark44 — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 21:24:49 +0000

I don’t think that you’ll ever please everybody. I think the best solution is to make it geographically sensible, at least as close as you can. Trying to keep teams in divisions that make sense, as far as closeness in proximity, lessens the travel burden. I don’t know if anybody would pay attention to someone writing their first comment ever. However, I love hockey and want it to be the example of how all sports leagues should think of aligning their leagues. Regionalizing the divisions makes for better rivalries. The closeness of teams to each other, lends itself to being a much more intense rivalry. Anyway, here is my NHL Realignment;
Eastern Conference/ Wales Conference
NORTHEAST / BOS BUF MON OTT TOR
EAST / NJ NYI NYR PHI PIT
SOUTH / CAR FLA NSH T.B. WASH
Western Conference/ Campbell Conference
MIDWEST / CBJ CHI DET MIN STL
WEST / ANA COL DAL LA PHX
NORTH / CGY EDM SJ VAN WPG
I just think that over time, making the ability to travel to division rivals easier would benefit the teams and the league. This alignment tries to keep most present day rivals together. Again, we can’t please everybody, but for the most part I think that this makes the most sense. Thanks for reading, I’ll try to respond to any/all comments soon. Gotta Go,Later

By: rca26

rca26 — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 14:49:34 +0000

Traditionalists don’t respond well to facts.

By: greynraney

greynraney — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 23:39:24 +0000

West Pacific – ANA LA SJ PHX COL
West Central – DET DAL CHI NAS STL
West North – VAN WIN CAL EDM MIN

East Atlantic – WAS FL TB CAR ISL
East Northeast – TOR OTT BUF MON BOS
East Central – PIT PHI NYR NJD CBJ

Take Colombus and move them to the east leaving Detroit in the West
Take the Islanders and move them to the SE allowing Pittsburg and Philly to stay in the same division.

By: blkeskimo1785

blkeskimo1785 — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 17:46:47 +0000

Suppose they could consider an expansion in 3-4 years, when they figure out the situations with the Islanders and the Coyotes?

By: comeonnowguys

comeonnowguys — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 17:39:02 +0000

Honestly, I wouldn’t mind that at all for the next couple years and go to four divisions once the team-relocation dust has settled.

By: 8man

8man — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 15:03:52 +0000

I think Detroit stays in the west. Having five Original Six teams in the Eastern Conference seems imbalanced to me. Then again, I’d love to see the Bruins and Wings tangle five or six times a year. Well, whatever works.

By: comeonnowguys

comeonnowguys — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 14:39:38 +0000

Expansion simply can’t happen with teams like PHX and NYI having stadium/attendance issues as it is.

By: comeonnowguys

comeonnowguys — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 14:38:12 +0000

It’s not perfect by any means. As mentioned, if it’s Columbus, you can at least bring the Devils over with the NY teams.

It’s tricky to build a conference around not breaking up the Rangers, Islanders, Devils, Flyers and Penguins, when you have to figure Boston, Montreal and Toronto into the mix.

Whatever they choose, they need to have backup plans for when Phoenix or any other team on the verge of jumping actually jumps.

This hurts my head.

By: comeonnowguys

comeonnowguys — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 14:32:42 +0000

I hate late games as much as the next guy. This will significantly reduce them for RW fans.

By: selldannysell

selldannysell — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 12:23:10 +0000

Here’s how it should go:

Wales Conference

ADAMS DIVISION
Boston Bruins
Buffalo Sabres
Columbus Blue Jackets
Montreal Canadiens
New York Islanders
New York Rangers
Ottawa Senators
Toronto Maple Leafs

PATRICK DIVISION
Carolina Hurricanes
Florida Panthers
New Jersey Devils
Tampa Bay Lightning
Philadelphia Flyers
Pittsburgh Penguins
Washington Capitals

Campbell Conference

NORRIS DIVISION
Chicago Blackhawks
Dallas Stars
Detroit Red Wings
Minnesota Wild
Nashville Predators
St. Louis Blues
Winnipeg Jets

SMYTHE DIVISION
Anaheim Ducks
Calgary Flames
Colorado Avalanche
Edmonton Oilers
Los Angeles Kings
Phoenix Coyotes
San Jose Sharks
Vancouver Canucks

By: bdrapeau

bdrapeau — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 05:26:45 +0000

sorry, but the Adams Division is Boston and Montreal. They are the heart of that division, can’t be changed. After fixing that, the rest looks great.

By: balewsquare

balewsquare — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 05:26:41 +0000

Can’t we just keep is the way it is now, swap WPG and CBJ and call it a day?

By: buclight

buclight — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 05:10:39 +0000

@chobes68

Not sure where you got your numbers from saying TB doesn’t support hockey at the gate currently we are 8th in the league in attendance. Well above other northern teams
http://espn.go.com/nhl/attendance

By: hockeyfan9170

hockeyfan9170 — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 01:55:29 +0000

My point exactly.

By: quizguy66

quizguy66 — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 01:54:59 +0000

ugh, meant that reply about the 91 stars series to be in the thread about the Bruins – somehow the threads got crossed up
-QG

By: quizguy66

quizguy66 — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 01:53:49 +0000

actually that 91 North Stars series was a classic example of one team getting way more penalties than the other. I was a neutral living in Illinois at the time and watched that whole series. It was comical how many power plays the North Stars got in that series. I thought Keenan was gonna have a stroke.

-QG

By: hockeyfan9170

hockeyfan9170 — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 01:53:37 +0000

Or add Seattle and KC for 32 teams.

By: quizguy66

quizguy66 — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 01:51:27 +0000

One thing I don’t understand about this plan is why you need to have only one of Detroit and Columbus move to the East.

No matter which conference you are in, your odds of making the playoffs are 4/8 if you are in an 8-team division and 4/7 if you’re in a 7-team division. The eastern teams get better travel and the western teams with their longer flights get thrown the bone of slightly more frequent playoff appearances. I’d probably swing Phoenix into the central to make it 7, especially given the odds that it may move sooner than later.

-QG

By: hockeyfan9170

hockeyfan9170 — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 01:49:00 +0000

Detroit fans would disagree when their games end around 1am.

By: quizguy66

quizguy66 — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 01:47:55 +0000

Split the Devils and Flyers up from the Rangers and Islanders? That is ridculous, dude. Maybe ya trade the Pens for the 2 Florida teams but break-up the 3 tri-state teams and the Flyers? Dumb.

-QG

By: atwatercrushesokoye

atwatercrushesokoye — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 01:32:02 +0000

First get rid of 6 teams, then split the league into 4 divisions with 6 teams each, using the “original 21″ as a blueprint for what ideal divisions would look like.

By: wethog66

wethog66 — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 01:25:58 +0000

PHI TOR
WSH MTL
CAR BOS
TB BUF
FLA OTT
PITT NYR
CBJ NYI
NJ

This makes way more sense. All the NY teams are in the same divison, PITT/PHI are in the same division, WASH/PITT are in the same division, and a rivalry between two teams close to each other geography wise in PITT/CBJ could take shape. And I have to think having a rivlary with PITT would go a long way in helping the CBJ franchise become more finacially viable.

And DET has no buisness in the easter conference no matter what anyone says. DET is the west conference, and being in a division where WPG is the farthest western team has to help them with their *****ing about timezones and playing late away games.

By: chobes68

chobes68 — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 00:15:52 +0000

If I was commish, I’d get rid of/move Phoenix, Dallas, Fla, and TB. They don’t support hockey well enough at the gate. Quebec, Hamilton, whomever else. Seattle has a reputation of supporting their teams, but not sure about KC and hockey.

ADAMS

Boston
NY Rangers
NY Islanders
Buffalo Sabres
Montreal
Toronto
Ottawa
NJ Devils

Patrick

Philly
Pittsburgh
Carolina
Washington
Tampa
Florida
Columbus
Detroit

Norris

Chicago
St Louis
Minnesota
Winnipeg
Dallas
Nashville
Colorado (only because no one else is a fit, unless they keep either Det or Col in Norris/Central)

Smythe

Vancouver
San Jose
Anaheim
LA
Phoenix
Calgary
Edmonton

By: hockeyfan9170

hockeyfan9170 — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 23:47:13 +0000

I split the Florida teams into two divisions. Southern teams benefit more selling tickets having northern teams visit.

By: hockeyfan9170

hockeyfan9170 — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 23:40:33 +0000

This is goofy. First put Columbus and Detroit in the east.

ADAMS DIVISION

Buffalo Sabres
Toronto Maple Leafs
Detroit Red Wings
Columbus Blue Jackets
Pittsburgh Penguins
Philadelphia Flyers
Carolina Hurricanes
Florida Panthers

PATRICK DIVISION

Ottawa Senators
Montreal Canadiens
Boston Bruins
New York Rangers
New York Islanders
New Jersey Devils
Washington Capitals
Tampa Bay Lightning

By: donttouchthedirtypenny

donttouchthedirtypenny — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 23:13:55 +0000

I like this for the most part but playoffs has to be top 8, intradivision.

By: icelovinbrotha215

icelovinbrotha215 — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 22:12:19 +0000

I agree. You can’t break up the Keystone State rivalry. It’s one of those must-see-tv match ups.

By: comeonnowguys

comeonnowguys — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 21:26:22 +0000

There’s no reason to break up PHI/PIT over this. Move the NY teams from Div #1 to Div #2, and move Pit to Div #1

Also, if it’s Columbus, you can move them to Div #1 and move the Devils to Div #2 with the NY teams.

It really should be Columbus. With more emphasis on divisional play, there will be a significant reduction of games with 10 p.m. start times.

By: comeonnowguys

comeonnowguys — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 21:06:47 +0000

91 North Stars over the Blackhawks another example.

By: bluesrawesome

bluesrawesome — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 20:51:23 +0000

I like this