NHL realignment

[Buffalo Wings]

NHL is supposedly making to different schedules. One includes Winnipeg, one includes Atlanta.

 

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/True-North-negotiating-for-Thrashers-report-121898789.html

I'm wondering if they're discussing a re-alignment of the divisions, too. Things could get hairy if they keep them in the Southeast and make Washington, Tampa, etc. travel up there a lot.

[X. Benedict]

I'm wondering if they're discussing a re-alignment of the divisions, too. Things could get hairy if they keep them in the Southeast and make Washington, Tampa, etc. travel up there a lot.

I would bet Nashville would love to play in the SE.

[Marvelo]

There might be some sort of shakeup of the divisions...there might be a vacancy in the Southeast Division. What if the Sabres could move from the Northeast to the Southeast? I think it might be easier.

[BuffaloSoldier2010]

there won't be a real shakeup IMO, nashville would be ideal for the southeast division, its east of the mississippi river for crying out loud, and would move into the gap that atlanta leaves. And for those of you who don't know your canadian geography.... winnipeg is actually pretty close to michigan geographically speaking. i could see the two teams simply swapping divisions.

 

No messy.

[Two or less]

if atlanta moves my guess would be that nashville moves to the SE division as that would make the most sense. Then dallas shifts to the central and Vancouver moves to the pacific with winnipeg going in the northwest, that makes the most sense and it should keep detroit happy

 

Nashville to Southeast.

Minnesota to Central.

Winnipeg to Northwest.

 

OR

 

Winnipeg to Northwest

Colorado to Pacific

Dallas to Central

Columbus to SE

 

This is all assuming there is no agreement with the league that the next team to move divisions would be Detroit. Apparently Detroit wants to move to the Atlantic or Northeast.

[SwampD]

Nashville to Southeast.

Minnesota to Central.

Winnipeg to Northwest.

 

OR

 

Winnipeg to Northwest

Colorado to Pacific

Dallas to Central

Columbus to SE

 

This is all assuming there is no agreement with the league that the next team to move divisions would be Detroit. Apparently Detroit wants to move to the Atlantic or Northeast.

I've always thought that would be cool. They need to make a "Rust Belt" division.

 

It's interesting that Atlanta is actually further west than both Columbus and Detroit.

[nucci]

There might be some sort of shakeup of the divisions...there might be a vacancy in the Southeast Division. What if the Sabres could move from the Northeast to the Southeast? I think it might be easier.

Easier than what? Would rather stay in a division with Boston, Toronto, Montreal....than move to Southeast Division.

[spndnchz]

They should really re-vamp the league and it's divisions. I'd go with 4 divisions instead of five. A few would have eight teams instead of seven. You would still have East and West conferences. Top 4 teams in each division make the playoffs, you have division winners playing for conference titles and then the Cup.

[bunomatic]

They should really re-vamp the league and it's divisions. I'd go with 4 divisions instead of five. A few would have eight teams instead of seven. You would still have East and West conferences. Top 4 teams in each division make the playoffs, you have division winners playing for conference titles and then the Cup.

Word on tsn this morning is that Buttman is set to announce going to four divisions with detroit and columbus moving to the east and winnipeg moving to the west.

 

Oops,my bad. It wasn't TSN it was actually on sportnet. :blush:

[Taro T]

Word on tsn this morning is that Buttman is set to announce going to four divisions with detroit and columbus moving to the east and winnipeg moving to the west.

So then the Sabres would be in an 8 team division:

 

Buffalo

Baahston

Detroit

TO

Moe-ray-all

Otterland

Columbus

Pittsburgh

 

And the other division would be

NYCx3

Filly

Carolina

DC

Flax2

 

I don't think Columbus will particularily like getting what they wished for, as that will be a tough division. Though it should help attendance as most of the teams' fans in that division travel well. Maybe w/ Carolina renaming their rink the Pillage North Carolina Center, they can rename theirs the PO Arena (Pillage Ohio).

 

I'd expect the other side to be

Chicago

Minny

St. Louis

Nashville

Calgary

Edmonton

Manitoba

 

and

 

LA

Anaheim

SJ

Phoenix (for now)

Dallas

Colorado

Vancouver

 

Or would they let Vancouver stay in the "Canadian" division and give Nashville the travel from hell?

 

Unbalanced conferences don't tend to stay unbalanced too long (MLB, w/ unbalanced LEAGUES being an obvious exception). If they do go that way, it just strengthens my belief that they'll go to 32 teams w/in the next decade.

[spndnchz]

Word on tsn this morning is that Buttman is set to announce going to four divisions with detroit and columbus moving to the east and winnipeg moving to the west.

 

That's eerie.

[shrader]

Taro, I think they'd flop Minnesota and Vancouver. Either way, Nashville gets the worst of the travel bills.

[Eleven]

Taro--I think they'll try to keep Filly and Pitt together this time. (And I hope so; I don't want the Pens in the division again.) Plus, that way, they could also keep the rather new Pitt-DC rivalry going.

 

And I also see the four Canadian teams out west in one division, with Nashville (not Minnesota, which is close to Winnipeg, Chicago, etc.) going into the other division.

 

I hope they rename the divisions: Adams, Patrick, Norris, Smythe.

 

But actually, what I really hope is that they keep it as is. I hated the six-division idea when it happened, but I've come to like it. And eight teams--or even seven--is too many for a division.

[Taro T]

Taro--I think they'll try to keep Filly and Pitt together this time. (And I hope so; I don't want the Pens in the division again.) Plus, that way, they could also keep the rather new Pitt-DC rivalry going.

 

And I also see the four Canadian teams out west in one division, with Nashville (not Minnesota, which is close to Winnipeg, Chicago, etc.) going into the other division.

 

I hope they rename the divisions: Adams, Patrick, Norris, Smythe.

 

But actually, what I really hope is that they keep it as is. I hated the six-division idea when it happened, but I've come to like it. And eight teams--or even seven--is too many for a division.

If they do keep Filly & the Pens together, then which Florida team do you put in the Sabres' division (as for some reason I'd expect they'd keep Carolina and the Caps together)?

 

I would agree that if they go to 4 divisions that they should go back to the old names, but wouldn't be surprised if they didn't. (How could a 'casual fan' ever know what division a team was in if not having them labeled by geography? Because it is intuitively obvious that Vancouver would be in the 'Northwest' rather than 'Pacific' and it is also intuitively obvious that 'Dallas' would be in the 'Pacific'. :doh: )

[Eleven]

If they do keep Filly & the Pens together, then which Florida team do you put in the Sabres' division (as for some reason I'd expect they'd keep Carolina and the Caps together)?

 

I would agree that if they go to 4 divisions that they should go back to the old names, but wouldn't be surprised if they didn't. (How could a 'casual fan' ever know what division a team was in if not having them labeled by geography? Because it is intuitively obvious that Vancouver would be in the 'Northwest' rather than 'Pacific' and it is also intuitively obvious that 'Dallas' would be in the 'Pacific'. :doh: )

 

 

Good point. Maybe the two Penna. teams get split up after all. Or maybe Filly and Columbus switch spots, creating a really tough division and a really easy one.

[Taro T]

Good point. Maybe the two Penna. teams get split up after all. Or maybe Filly and Columbus switch spots, creating a really tough division and a really easy one.

Since '74, the Phlyers have always had the Strangers in their division. I don't see Snider giving that rivalry up for the Pens. They've split Pennsyltucky quite often in the past, so I just don't see that as being high up on the league's priority list.

[Eleven]

Since '74, the Phlyers have always had the Strangers in their division. I don't see Snider giving that rivalry up for the Pens. They've split Pennsyltucky quite often in the past, so I just don't see that as being high up on the league's priority list.

 

That probably is the way it will happen, upon more thought. Dammit, I really don't want the Sabres in an 8-team division and I really don't want Pitt in there.

[Taro T]

That probably is the way it will happen, upon more thought. Dammit, I really don't want the Sabres in an 8-team division and I really don't want Pitt in there.

I'm not overly thrilled at the prospect of an 8 team division either. My guess is they'd play each other 5 times (35 games), 3 each against the rest of the conference (24), and w/ 1 standard against the other conference (14), and 9 'wildcard' games w/ most of those likely against the other conference.

 

But then the teams out west would play 30, 21, 16, and 15 'wildcard' games.

 

If they do go to 4 divisions, I really expect that it's a precursor to expansion (LATE in the decade).

[shrader]

Taro--I think they'll try to keep Filly and Pitt together this time. (And I hope so; I don't want the Pens in the division again.) Plus, that way, they could also keep the rather new Pitt-DC rivalry going.

 

And I also see the four Canadian teams out west in one division, with Nashville (not Minnesota, which is close to Winnipeg, Chicago, etc.) going into the other division.

 

I hope they rename the divisions: Adams, Patrick, Norris, Smythe.

 

But actually, what I really hope is that they keep it as is. I hated the six-division idea when it happened, but I've come to like it. And eight teams--or even seven--is too many for a division.

 

Personally, I'd rather they just eliminate the divisions all together. Rivalries can still exist without them and the divisions really only exist for the purpose of scheduling. I'm sure they could make things work without them.

 

Oh, and as for bringing back the old names, I know there's a nostalgia thing there, but would you object to more modern names?

[Taro T]

More word on the realignment

 

 

cotsonika Nick Cotsonika

by wyshynski

NHL exec said to expect dramatic realignment in 2012-13. Four time-zone based divisions, two with eight teams, two with seven.

If they go by time zones, I stand by my guess at the Eastern Conference layout and update the West to

 

LA x2

Vancouver

SJ

Phoenix

Alberta x2

 

Avs

Dallas

Manitoba

Chicago

Minny

Nashville

St. Louis

[OverPowerYou]

I can see Bettman creating a team up north (Quebec) and a team in the West (Utah?) and re-configuring the divisions like he is planning on doing anyways.

 

OR

 

We could do what the NFL does and have 2 conferences, 8 divisions, and 4 teams in each division. It can work.

[BuffaloFansR_Crazy]

Reports: NHL to realign for 2012-13 :

 

Instead of swapping the Jets with Western Conference team, "the league will be divided into four divisions -- two with eight teams and two with seven teams. The plan will likely be finalized at December's Board of Governors meeting."

 

So does Detroit finally get its wish and move into the Eastern Conference.?

 

How will playoff seeding work?

[will]

i read the top 4 teams in each division go to the playoffs with the first round being divisional, followed by reseeding for the second.

 

and yeah, detroit will definitely be in the east.

[Sterling Archer]

So should we expect a contraction of 2 teams or an expansion of 2 teams?

[BuffaloFansR_Crazy]

i read the top 4 teams in each division go to the playoffs with the first round being divisional, followed by reseeding for the second.

 

and yeah, detroit will definitely be in the east.

 

So 5 of the original 6 in the same conference? Wouldn't it make more sense for the top 8 in each Conference to make the playoffs, not the top 4 in each division.