New Re-Alignment Proposal

[killgod]

I like it. Obvious expansion to 32 will happen. Phoenix is possibly fought for by Bettman because they need to maintain as many Western teams as they can?


What could even happen is expanding beyond 32. The CHL alone can support 3x10, with the US it really doesn't seem that far fetched to have a 4 conference 10 team each setup one day.

[leaffan]

Still dislike the two conferences of 8. Unless expansion is happening this next season that idea needs to be scraped.

[Ravin]

There is a huge drop off in talent though in juniors when you start going down the lines. Plus you have to figure, only a handful of players per team make the NHL. Your 3rd and 4th line players are basically guys who fill the lines and after junior A they will either go to Europe, or go to senior leagues or just stop playing.

I do like the alignment that is above, and think it works perfectly. There is talk about a wild card for some reason in the 8 team division, but I see no point in it. Top 2 conference winners go 1-2 in playoffs, the other 6 spots are filled by order of finish. Hell you could just say fuck four conferences and just go two of them and top 8 make the playoffs. Won't matter if you are in a 14 or 16 conference, you need to finish in the top 8.

I wouldn't mind 32 teams, but no more. The talent pool will start to water down and you'll just have shit teams. I don't think also the draft is good enough yet to support more teams, as IMO, it can't support 30 right now. You figure only like 5 guys a year out of 200+ make the NHL out of the draft, so it just goes to show the talent the CHL is producing. Look at a sport like the NFL where everyone in the first round normally plays. NHL needs to get there first, but I guess with more teams it would eventually because you couldn't leave good players in the CHL or AHL.

[Ravin]

So the playoff format is suppose to have a wild card system. Top 3 from each conference will make the playoffs, while the other spot per conference will be by wild card so teams in 8 team conferences have the same chance to make the playoffs. This way they will do the 1v4 2v3 in each "conference" like they use to do in the old days.

[ssags11]

The re-alignment is good, I like. Especially like having the Wings back in the same division with the Bruins, making it 4 O6 teams in one division. Now if they would only go back to naming them; Adams, Symthe, Patrick and Norris things would perfect again.

However, I really hope you are wrong about expansion, gut feeling is you are right but what a freaking mistake it would be. NHL has 6 teams too many as it is. I don't give a fuck about 1/2 the league anyhow like most of us don't. The Floridas, Texases, Arizonas, and any other Sun Belt team can go to hell as far as I am concerned. Contract most of them and put at least one team in Quebec where it belongs. The league is too watered down as it is, with some of (and I mean some) of the talent being siphoned all to the KHL, we don't need more teams.

[Ravin]

Division names should be Gretzky (4), Orr (2), Howe (3) and Lemieux (1).

By the graphic above it would almost work perfect in putting each with their respected teams. You can switch Orr and Howe around.

[Hasselbeck]

Where is NHL expansion happening? I know Seattle is likely getting a team with their new arena coming.. where else?

[ssags11]

Where is NHL expansion happening? I know Seattle is likely getting a team with their new arena coming.. where else?

Not necessarily, Portland would be the better NW city IMO. There's no grass roots hockey here, the grass roots support for hockey in the northwest was/is way better in Portland. I hope the NHL doesn't make the Seattle mistake. In fact,there is news today that the Kings might not be coming to Seattle after all.

[Ravin]

Where is NHL expansion happening? I know Seattle is likely getting a team with their new arena coming.. where else?

There has been growing speculation that with this conference realignment, Seattle might become a front runner should Phoenix need to move. Every team in the "East" side is all eastern time zone, so moving any of them over cause the same issue which Columbus and Detroit had. Phoenix moving to Ontario or Quebec creates a huge unbalance for the NHL.

Issue is, there isn't many cities on the west side of things that could host an NHL team. Just off the top of my head, you figure Seattle, Portland (they have a WHL team in the Winterhawks), Las Vegas (a stretch), and Kansas City. When you take those four cities and then add in Quebec City and Toronto, those last three cities start to get pushed down.

Vegas I tossed in, and I doubt they ever get any kind of team. KC has built an NHL rink that seats 18,000 people, so they already have the building in place, which is ahead of every other city I have mentioned. But put it this way, you know if the NHL ever thinks of expanding to 32 teams, there is no way Bettman is going to come out of that without being destroyed by fans and media for "his choice" (BofG choice really) for new spots. And I also don't see two teams dropping off as much as people think they should. The league is 30 teams, it isn't going back to 28. They will relocate a team well before they just up and fold a team.

[ssags11]

For sure if a team is moved, it is staying on the West Coast or West anyhow, n other words Mountain or Pacific time zones to keep the balance. However, if they chose to leave Phoenix in place, I am betting Quebec and rather Portland,OR or Seattle will be the new cities with teams.

[wr50l]

Christ they aren't really considering expansion are they? I mean really, half the current teams aren't profitable. Never mind that, there is not enough talent to keep up such a high standard of play with two extra teams.

[ssags11]

Division names should be Gretzky (4), Orr (2), Howe (3) and Lemieux (1).

By the graphic above it would almost work perfect in putting each with their respected teams. You can switch Orr and Howe around.

Well, this is going to get you going. I don't like changing the names to this at all. For one, Adams, Norris, Smythe and Patrick are named after the founders of the league which to me seems more fitting.

This is where you have your meltdown. The top three are the top three, 95% of fans/experts/journalists/hockey minds are going to pick those three as the top three players. However, your guy Mario is not always the consensus number 4 guy. I see anywhere from Jean Believeau, Doug Harvey, Bobby Hull down to 4 time Hart trophy winner Eddie Shore. And choosing any one of the 5 players for number 4 would not be wrong.

Before you kill me, I take Mario at 4 and I liked the way Mario played over Wayne. Give me 1 Mario to 3 Waynes any day.

[Fappin Raptor]

I love this proposal. I'm for any proposal that puts us with eastern teams.

It's funny seeing people on my Facebook feed complaining about how we aren't in the same division as Chicago or St. Louis and how we won't be playing Colorado as much. So many people around here still hold onto this Colorado "rivalry".

[Ravin]

Well, this is going to get you going. I don't like changing the names to this at all. For one, Adams, Norris, Smythe and Patrick are named after the founders of the league which to me seems more fitting.

This is where you have your meltdown. The top three are the top three, 95% of fans/experts/journalists/hockey minds are going to pick those three as the top three players. However, your guy Mario is not always the consensus number 4 guy. I see anywhere from Jean Believeau, Doug Harvey, Bobby Hull down to 4 time Hart trophy winner Eddie Shore. And choosing any one of the 5 players for number 4 would not be wrong.

Before you kill me, I take Mario at 4 and I liked the way Mario played over Wayne. Give me 1 Mario to 3 Waynes any day.

I'd have no issue with the old Adams division coming back or any of that. It is just a name anyway. Anything is better then "Conference 1". I just have the feeling if they were going to go this kind of name route, those are the four they would pick. Mario is one of those "could have been" things, and I think people realize if he played a full career, he probably would be an easy lock for #2.

[Ravin]

In a perfect world, Columbus will die in a horrible fire, and Florida will just spend its self out. Phoenix can just move to Seattle or Portland, and then everything is fine in the world of hockey with 28 teams.