NHL realignment on the table again.

[tnt118]

My first thought is that we will never have another Stanley Cup Final against Detroit, and to be honest that makes me a little sad. (On the positive side, that should save a couple of my hairs from going gray early, too.)

I think the overall division structure and split of teams is pretty good. I personally don't worry too much about 8 teams in the east vs 7 in the west, it just doesn't get to me (but I understand those who do have that concern). At the same time I raged pretty hard against the current conference structure back when it was new, and now I'm finally used to it and feel some trepidation going back to the 4 divisions. Even if it's not the official name for each division, I hope they could each have the semi-unofficial old names as nicknames.

As for the playoffs, I just can't pick a side. I play out a bunch of scenarios in my head and I can't really decide if I like it or not. I start to wonder if 2 seeds getting automatic bids, or even 1 (so very similar to now) wouldn't be better. I really can't decide if I like conference or divisional playoffs better -- and forced to choose right now I'd probably say conference.

The OCD in me doesn't really like the unbalanced number of games within some of the intra- matchups, but in the long run that doesn't make a lick of difference.

Question, apart from the PR, do the rival matchups actually mean anything?

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Edit: If my figuring is right (and I think it is), and the playoffs were held today under the new structure, Detroit as a 5 seed in the Central would bump out the Rangers (4th in Atlantic) and play against the Pens in the first round. There's something cosmic in that, no doubt.

[canaan]

BOG approve realignment

http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=6601 ... L|NHL|home

Here is a breakdown of the new schedule matrix created for the new alignment plan:

Western Conference (7-team divisions)

Within Conference (Division): 29 games

* 5 games vs. five teams (3 Home/2 Away vs. two teams, 2 Home/3 Away vs. three teams) AND 4 games vs. one team (2 Home/2 Away). Teams rotated on a yearly basis.

* 5 X 5 =25 games

* 1 X 4 = 4 games

Within Conference (Non-Division): 21 games

* 3 games vs. each team (2 Home/1 Away vs. four teams, 1 Home/2 Away vs. three teams). Teams rotated on a yearly basis.

* 3 X 7 = 21 games

Non-Conference: 32 games

* 2 games vs. each team (1 Home/1 Away)

* 2 X 16 = 32 games

(Exception: one team from each division plays one less game inside Division and one more game inside Conference outside Division)

Eastern Conference (8-team divisions)

Within Conference (Division): 30 games

* 5 games vs. two teams (3 Home/2 Away vs. one team, 2 Home/3 Away vs. one team) AND 4 games vs. five teams (2 Home/2 Away). Teams rotated on a yearly basis.

* 5 X 2 =10 games

* 4 X 5 = 20 games

Within Conference (Non-Division): 24 games

* 3 games vs. each team (2 Home/1 Away vs. four teams, 1 Home/2 Away vs. four teams). Teams rotated on a yearly basis.

* 3 X 8 = 24 games

Non-Conference: 28 games

* 2 games vs. each team (1 Home/1 Away)

* 2 X 14 = 28 games

[DelPen]

I'd still throw the three NY teams to the NE and take Detroit and Florida to make the Atlantic division but this works if the plan is to have all the teams play in single timezones. And when I was in Utah I seem to recall most TV in mountain time goes off the central time zone anyways meaning prime-time started at 7pm. Of course that was 20 years ago...

[shmenguin]

booooooooooo


edit...ok, so it's possible for 5 teams to make the playoffs from our super division. i guess that's not awful.

[slappybrown]

booooooooooo

yesssssssssssss

[DelPen]

Looking how they will schedule this, the Florida teams aren't really going to be going north much more than they would have anyways going to NY.

Right now they will fly to all teams in their division twice and one team three times. But they will also still be going to NY and Pittsburgh. those flights are 2 hours. Montreal and Ottawa are 3 hours. almost half of the time on the planes will be taxing, take off and landing.

And they are still closer to Montreal and Ottawa at three hours than Dallas is to Winnipeg and Minneapolis or LA is to Alberta. Not a big deal at all.

Besides, the Dolphins play in the AFC East with northeast teams

[Froggy]

AFC East

[slappybrown]

I'm also happy for the return of a home and home with every Western Conf. city.

[helmespc]

So does the western conference send 57% teams to the playoffs and the east send 50%?

[DelPen]

So if I have the playoff seeding correct, applying it to current standings with *=conference leaders:

EAST
Montreal (1st*) -Detroit (2nd WC)
Boston (2nd) - Ottawa (3rd)

Pittsburgh(1st) -Toronto(1st WC)
Carolina (2nd) - NJ (3rd)

WEST
Chicago(1st*) -San Jose(2nd WC)
St. Louis(2nd) - Minnesota (3rd)

Anaheim (1st)- Phoenix (1st WC)
Vancouver (2nd) - LA (3rd)

[DelPen]

So does the western conference send 57% teams to the playoffs and the east send 50%?

Yes but look at the NHL divisions in 1991:

http://www.databasehockey.com/leagues/l ... tm?yr=1990

Patrick = 6, all other had 5. 67% chance vs 80% chance. Patrick Division was getting screwed since 1982 and before that it was the Norris. Actually, historically the Pens seem to be in divisions with less chances to make the playoffs than other teams.

http://www.databasehockey.com/leagues/l ... g=&yr=1978

What crazy divisions

[sil]

Keep in mind that the locations of some teams (cough-couch, Florida, Phoenix, Dallas, cough-cough) may not be the same in a few years.

[slappybrown]

Dallas may move?

[slappybrown]

Leads me to believe they will rename the divisions after NHL legends, though more current than the prior Patrick/Adams/Norris/Smythe era.

Division A = Gretzky Division (EDM/LA being there fits)

Division B/C = Howe/Orr. Either way, one of Boston or Detroit will be unhappy they aren't playing in the other division.

Division D = Lemieux Division. Added bonus of driving PHI/NYR/NJ/WAS up the wall.

Also lots of crying from MTL because no Rocket Richard, but he has the top goal scorer trophy now so shut it Habs.

[tfrizz]

Leads me to believe they will rename the divisions after NHL legends, though more current than the prior Patrick/Adams/Norris/Smythe era.

Division A = Gretzky Division (EDM/LA being there fits)

Division B/C = Howe/Orr. Either way, one of Boston or Detroit will be unhappy they aren't playing in the other division.

Division D = Lemieux Division. Added bonus of driving PHI/NYR/NJ/WAS up the wall.

Also lots of crying from MTL because no Rocket Richard, but he has the top goal scorer trophy now so shut it Habs.

My thoughts:

A = Gretzky Division
B = Hull Division
C = Orr Division (with all due respect to Howe)
D = Lemieux Division

[slappybrown]

Well screw DET on the naming thing, they got what they wanted in a move East they can deal with playing in the Orr division.

[Dan H]

Here's a peripherally relevant bit of trivia that I noticed:

"With this change, it brings some rationality in terms of our schedule and our divisional opponents. I mean, people don't realize this, but Winnipeg is closer to Dallas than Phoenix geographically. So our travel schedule has certainly improved overall with this realignment. The Dallas Stars are very happy," said Dallas Stars President and CEO Jim Lites (see http://espn.go.com/nhl/story/_/id/90521 ... ealignment).

Hmm. Although I understand Texas takes a day to drive across, I was suspicious of Mr. Lites's geography. Sure enough (using Google Earth):

Dallas to Phoenix: about 900 miles
Dallas to Winnipeg: about 1200 miles

So unless he meant that Winnipeg-to-Dallas is a shorter trip than Winnipeg-to-Phoenix, which doesn't make sense in context, his facts or his math are wrong.

Perhaps he's just right for crafting budget proposals for either of the parties in U.S. Congress....

[Kovy27]

I would not be surprised if Lemieux is NOT on the list. Active owner in the league.

[slappybrown]

Yes, that is a negative. There is plenty of "BUTTMAN LOVES MARIO AND THE PENS HERP DERP" to begin with, so they may elect to avoid that. But, to that I say, doing things because of what idiots want or don't want is no way to run the NHL (ignoring the past 30 years for the moment).

[Kovy27]

Yes, that is a negative. There is plenty of "BUTTMAN LOVES MARIO AND THE PENS HERP DERP" to begin with, so they may elect to avoid that. But, to that I say, doing things because of what idiots want or don't want is no way to run the NHL (ignoring the past 30 years for the moment).

It will be NE - Atlantic - Central - Pac12.

[DelPen]

Here's a peripherally relevant bit of trivia that I noticed:

"With this change, it brings some rationality in terms of our schedule and our divisional opponents. I mean, people don't realize this, but Winnipeg is closer to Dallas than Phoenix geographically. So our travel schedule has certainly improved overall with this realignment. The Dallas Stars are very happy," said Dallas Stars President and CEO Jim Lites (see http://espn.go.com/nhl/story/_/id/90521 ... ealignment).

Hmm. Although I understand Texas takes a day to drive across, I was suspicious of Mr. Lites's geography. Sure enough (using Google Earth):

Dallas to Phoenix: about 900 miles
Dallas to Winnipeg: about 1200 miles

So unless he meant that Winnipeg-to-Dallas is a shorter trip than Winnipeg-to-Phoenix, which doesn't make sense in context, his facts or his math are wrong.

Perhaps he's just right for crafting budget proposals for either of the parties in U.S. Congress....

Not sure what he's thinking, but it takes 2:52 to get to Winnipeg and 2:16 to get to Phoenix.

[DudeMan2766]

Yeah theres no way they name a division after Mario with him owning a team.

A-Melrose
B-Pang
C-Guerin
D-McGuire

Each named for a legend that either played or coached for a team in that division

[slappybrown]

Yeah theres no way they name a division after Mario with him owning a team.

A-Melrose
B-Pang
C-Guerin
D-McGuire

Each named for a legend that either played or coached for a team in that division

Genuinely not sure if serious

[Spum]

A - Smythe
B - Norris
C - Adams
D - Patrick

Easy

[shafnutz05]

I could be wrong, but with trying to make hockey relevant to a larger audience, I don't see them going with the traditional division names of people that have been dead since long before most of us have been alive.