Magnus

Eh, it's what had to be done. I thought preserving the Wings and Hawks was more important. As far as the Southern division being absolutely screwed for travel, I get where you are coming from - as well as the late starts. For that reason, I think that proposals #1 and #3 help even out the total travel that every team would have to endure, as I placed one Eastern time division with a westerly division, a la NFL, into two conferences. Perhaps the Southern's divisional games could be staged on weekends, though - say Friday night, and Saturday/Sunday 3 PM starts (Pacific Time), airing at 6 PM on the east coast. Just a thought. Actually, my real preference would be 10 pods of 3 teams - but I don't know if that would seem too drastic for the NHL. PODS:

Sounds like the same kind of math that Canada's federal government is using in their budget. [/end political rant]

Respectfully submitted to the NHL Board of Governors: I believe that the realignment plans outlined herein present a more suitable list of possibilities than the current realignment that was agreed to upon the negotiation of the current contract between the NHLPA and NHL Board of Governors. The realignments herein are more suitable because they all allow for the maintenance of two conferences of 15 teams each. Further to this proposal, I submit that qualification for the playoffs have the following stipulation: Division winners would be allowed a playoff seed, however, it would fall in the appropriate standing relative to the other 7 teams that qualify for the playoffs in that conference. (i.e. if the Southern Division winner has fewer points than the 4th-best team in the other division of its conference, it would be seeded 5th.) Please note: The rendering of the franchise currently known at the Phoenix Coyotes has been changed to Quebec Coyotes in this model, but could also suitably be replaced with their current location, and placed into the appropriate division henceforth.

From reading that last big shpeel, it sounds like the team in Phoenix is acting as a "loss leader" for the rest of the league. *(a product sold at a low price, at or below its market cost[2] to stimulate other sales of more profitable goods or services) Am I right?

Funny, how I'm reading the article, they are seeking a non-Coyotes consultant to run the arena, which would indicate to me that that money would not be going to the hockey team itself, but to these new consultants, whomever they would be. http://www.azcentral.com/community/glendale/articles/20130410glendale-pursuing-jobing-arena-management-deal.html

I'm somewhat glad that there will only be 4 divisions in the NHL next season. Goodbye Southleast! By the by:

I find it interesting what Samoa did, although it bears no relevance to the Coyotes... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_in_Samoa

If Detroit changed its time zone to Central, Windsor would likely want to as well. I don't see that as a viable option. Anywhere from Kenora west in Ontario might want to consider becoming part of Manitoba and changing to Central time, but not Windsor-Detroit.

Yeah. A little off-topic, but in my city's downtown core, the parking rates are also ridiculous. I usually bus to work because it's a helluva lot cheaper than having to either buy a parking pass or shell out $8 a day to park a car somewhere downtown. The downtown core is expected (by city council at least) to be revitalized by a pending casino project, but I work downtown, and I think if the casino gets built down there it will just make conditions even worse. I work with the most disadvantaged people in the city. It's really kind of depressing. Okay, end of off-topicness. Sorry. When are the Yotes dissolving or moving again?

I counter with this: 5 division winners and the next best 3 from the conference make the playoffs. Also, seed them 1-8 based ON THEIR RECORD - don't reward them with a higher seed for winning a weak division. Also, here is MLB's new scheduling formula: 19 games × 4 opponents in own division (76 games), 6 or 7 games × 10 opponents in other divisions within league (66 games), 20 inter-league games Now, why didn't they just go with something simpler? 9 games vs each team in your league (126) 9 games vs natural rival (9, 135) 3 games vs natural rival's division opponents (12, 147) 3 games vs one of the other two divisions (15, 162). The difference is 36 inter-league games in my plan vs 20 in the current plan. It's almost double the number, but considering 36/162 games is less than a quarter of the season, I don't think the impact on pennant races will matter all that much.

Fixed that for you, Cap. Phoenix is the "undeserved" market.

I love how the Kings logo is the NBA Kings with hockey sticks.

Holy , guys - is this a last-ditch effort to keep an NHL team in Arizona? http://guyism.com/sports/accenture-match-play-suspended-due-to-bizarre-arizona-blizzard.html

Perhaps we shouldn't feed the trolls?

http://prohockeytalk.nbcsports.com/2013/01/06/report-jamison-on-verge-of-announcing-coyotes-purchase/

This, I have to admit that I like, as it would allow for the upcoming 4-team playoff to actually give a (theoretical) chance for any team that wins its conference to have a shot at a true national title.

http://www.torontosun.com/2012/11/05/ohls-battalion-on-move-to-north-bay

So...uh...not that this has anything to do with the Coyotes, but it did happen in Glendale...so maybe that's the reason he upchucked. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/story/2012/09/30/justin-beiber-sick-on-stage.html

Having Sudbury and the Soo so much further north than the other 18 teams makes any alignment unfair for some teams. That's what we get for living in Northern Ontario. But that's also why I think those two teams should at least be in the same division with each other. Comparatively, the 307 km between Sudbury and Sault Ste. Marie is shorter than any other trip those two teams have to take.

I have never liked that the Soo Greyhounds are in a different division than the Sudbury Wolves, so... Teams will play an unbalanced schedule, with a home-and-away against the 15 non-divisional teams (30), and ten games each against divisional rivals(40), for a 70-game schedule, two more than the current 68-game one. This geographic arrangement should (in theory) cut down on travel costs, although Sudbury and the Soo will likely have the most travel whatever division they get placed in.The top 4 teams in each division would make the playoffs. I also worked out the breakdown of the season and playoff schedules, which can be seen here. I didn't really fit in an OHL All-Star Game, but I think it could be fit in one of the off-weeks I put into the schedule, or the time between the end of the OHL Final and Memorial Cup.

Not a realignment of teams, but of the schedule. Under the impression that the current 6-division, 5-team-per structure stays put, I would like to address the breakdown of games. This is to allow every team to see every other team at least once in their own building, as well as once away, because of the likely increase in TV exposure and ticket sales that the high-demand teams might bring to some of the lower-demand teams. The Columbus/Phoenix/Islanders crowds would be guaranteed to see Washington, Pittsburgh, Detroit etc. at least once in their building every season. It will also allow for the Original Six matchups to happen every season for all 6 of those teams, which I think is a good idea.

That's a frighteningly sleazy prediction. I wouldn't put it past a lawyer like Gary to do that.

Why? I think the issue that may be going on here is one of semantics. The notion of a 'division' needing to have a certain number of teams seems to indicate that the minimum need be 4 or 5, based on your argument. That's why I (and the guy I borrowed the idea from) referred to the groupings as 'pods', meant to indicate a smaller numbered grouping than a 'division' would be. He rationalized it based on teams having more focused rivalries with only a couple of teams each, rather than 4 to 7 others in larger division formats. In his words: "Everyone loves home-and-home series which mean to 120+ minutes of game-time against ?those same bastards? in very few days (PIMs galore!)" I'll show you the link here.

Heh. I presented a similar 3-team pod format earlier in the thread. McCall, don't you mean to say that 3-team divisions in a 30-team league is too MANY divisions, in your view?

"Here. This is a petition to sign for a referendum on whether or not a big rich business guy can basically milk the city dry just to manage our arena so that the Phoenix Coyotes can play there." "Who are the Phoenix Coyotes? A sports team?" "Yeah, they play hockey." "Why do they need an arena to play field hockey?" "Ice hockey, actually." "And wait, the city is PAYING him to own this 'ice hockey' team?" "Yes." "Taking my money to do so?" "Yes." "I wish I could give you 100 signatures."