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NHL realignment


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i don't care about realignment. i care about expansion. right now, my wife is actually excited and really starting to get in to hockey, mainly because i refuse to eat dinner upstairs on game nights (games come on at 5 or 5:30 out here--right when i get home from work). we've actually started eating downstairs as a family so we can all watch the games. my girls--5 and 7--know players by numbers. they know miller is 30 and enroth is 1. they know vanek. they know gaustad (for some reason ...). they're starting to "get it." we picnic in front of our 58" samsung plasma and watch the games in HD. yes--we're getting the MSG feeds. guess we're lucky. but i digress.

 

my wife actually said that she would really like an NHL team here in utah because she would love to go to the games rather than have to drive to denver, phoenix, SJ, or socal. i had to actually slap myself to make sure i heard her correctly.

 

i've been out of wny for over 16 years. i MISS living in a hockey-centric town. you all back in buffalo ... good smackeroonies you have no idea how good you have it until you move away. i'd give my left ball to move back and be a part of that culture. alas--i'm "stuck" here, so the only hope i have is to bring the nhl to my home state.

 

i know this has nothing specifically to do with realignment, but i had to vent. didn't feel like creating a new post cuz i've already done that. after watching these first 6 sabres games, my whole house is on hockey fire, and ... GAH!!! i *never* thought i'd see the day where my WIFE is excited for hockey. never. good crap, patience pays off. :)

 

sorry ... i'll shut up now. i'm just so freakin' stoked. 76 more games to go until the playoffs, and i'm already starting my beard. yah--i'm THAT confident.

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here's my simple idea....

 

TWO Conferences of 15 teams each , no divisions.

 

play each team from the other conference twice (1 home & 1 away) 30 games.

 

play each team from the same conference four times (2 home & 2 away) 56 games.

 

 

fans get to see every team at least once each year.

 

owners get more revenue with four additional games.

 

competition wise a much more balance strength of schedule.

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here's my simple idea....

 

TWO Conferences of 15 teams each , no divisions.

 

play each team from the other conference twice (1 home & 1 away) 30 games.

 

play each team from the same conference four times (2 home & 2 away) 56 games.

 

 

fans get to see every team at least once each year.

 

owners get more revenue with four additional games.

 

competition wise a much more balance strength of schedule.

 

While I like the idea, that will probably get turned down by the players union. That would take some $$$ negotiations...

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here's my simple idea....

 

TWO Conferences of 15 teams each , no divisions.

 

play each team from the other conference twice (1 home & 1 away) 30 games.

 

play each team from the same conference four times (2 home & 2 away) 56 games.

 

fans get to see every team at least once each year.

 

owners get more revenue with four additional games.

 

competition wise a much more balance strength of schedule.

 

 

While I like the idea, that will probably get turned down by the players union. That would take some $$ negotiations...

 

WJAG is right, and it also really doesn't solve the problem ... unless these Conferences are both a mix of east and west teams. A 15-team Western Conference still leaves means only one out of Detroit or Columbus can move east and still leaves the other (plus Nashville or Dallas) with the problem of so many games in the Pacific time zone.

 

The most significant change would be the playoff seeding with no division weak champs mucking up the pecking order.

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i like my two conference idea best......

 

but for absolute total league wide balance and strength of schedule have each team play every other team 3 times per year.

 

29 X 3 = 87 games.

 

again, more revenue with 5 additional games.

 

top 16 teams make playoffs irregardless of old division or conference.

 

could see some interesting matchups in the stanley cup finals with teams that otherwise would never meet in finals.

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Northern Conference

Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Winnipeg, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Minnesota, Chicago, Detroit, Buffalo, Columbus, Pittsburg, New Jersey, Boston

 

Southern Conference 

Phoenix, Los Angeles, Anaheim, San Jose, Colorado, St. Louis, Dallas, Nashville, Tampa Bay, Florida, Carolina, Washington,  Philadelphia, NY Rangers, NY Islanders

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Northern Conference

Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Winnipeg, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Minnesota, Chicago, Detroit, Buffalo, Columbus, Pittsburg, New Jersey, Boston

 

Southern Conference 

Phoenix, Los Angeles, Anaheim, San Jose, Colorado, St. Louis, Dallas, Nashville, Tampa Bay, Florida, Carolina, Washington,  Philadelphia, NY Rangers, NY Islanders

 

 

hmmm interesting but will never fly because of the travel

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i like my two conference idea best......

 

but for absolute total league wide balance and strength of schedule have each team play every other team 3 times per year.

 

29 X 3 = 87 games.

 

again, more revenue with 5 additional games.

 

top 16 teams make playoffs irregardless of old division or conference.

 

could see some interesting matchups in the stanley cup finals with teams that otherwise would never meet in finals.

 

So how exactly do you balance things out when all teams play an odd number of games?

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162-game season. Two leagues. Each league has three divisions. 18 games against each divisional opponent. During June or July we can have Interleaque Play where teams play against teams in the other league. Also, at the All-Star game, we should have a Home Run Derby. Thoughts?????

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Northern Conference

Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Winnipeg, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Minnesota, Chicago, Detroit, Buffalo, Columbus, Pittsburg, New Jersey, Boston

 

Southern Conference 

Phoenix, Los Angeles, Anaheim, San Jose, Colorado, St. Louis, Dallas, Nashville, Tampa Bay, Florida, Carolina, Washington,  Philadelphia, NY Rangers, NY Islanders

 

 

people say it won't fly because of travel but this balances out travel amongst the two conferences.

 

I'd love to see the dropping of divisions and going with conferences instead but scheduling becomes an issue. 2x4 interconference and 2x2 out-of-conference = too many games (56+30) / 2x3 interconference and 2x2 out-of conference = too few games (42+30) but 4 unbalanced division does that same exact thing.

 

under this plan you could keep scheduling the same as now: Division names would create debate but it's an outside the box idea

Messier Division:

Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Winnipeg, and Minnesota

LeFluer Division:

Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Boston, and New Jersey

Howe Division:

Chicago, Detroit, Columbus, Pittsburgh, and Buffalo

 

Gretzky Division

Phoenix, Los Angeles, Anaheim, San Jose, and Colorado

Hull Division

St. Louis, Dallas, Nashville, Tampa Bay, and Florida

Clark Division

Carolina, Washington, Philadelphia, NY Rangers, and NY Islanders

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  • 1 month later...

I am hoping they don't go back to the 1st two playoff rounds within your division.

 

I hope they do go back to starting the playoff in division. Nothing breeds emotion like playing a team many times in the regular season after a hard fought playoff series. I miss the tension of Boston-Buffalo, Montreal-Buffalo games.

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I hope they do go back to starting the playoff in division. Nothing breeds emotion like playing a team many times in the regular season after a hard fought playoff series. I miss the tension of Boston-Buffalo, Montreal-Buffalo games.

 

I guess I am still shell shocked from getting beat in the playoffs by Boston, Montreal and Quebec in the 80's and early 90's until they dropped this format.

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Taking a micro look at how this affects the Sabres, I don't mind the four division format that is believed to be proposed as it has the Sabres as a 7 team division. All that would be added is Florida and Tampa Bay. I like competitive hockey but it keeps some of the perennial powerhouses out of the division (Detroit, Philly, Pit) but keeps several diehard original 6's in T.O., Montreal and Boston. I still think it's incredibly unfair to the two divisions with 8 teams though.

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http://tracking.si.com/2011/12/06/nhl-approves-four-conference-realignment-plan/

 

Looks like 4 conferences....

conferences will be

1. Washington, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, both New York teams (Islanders and Rangers), New Jersey and Carolina.

2. Columbus, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Minnesota, Nashville, St. Louis and Winnipeg.

3. Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, Boston, Buffalo, Florida and Tampa Bay and the final conference

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

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