Magnus

My dad would be mortified if the Raptors disappeared from Toronto. I would be okay with this fix.

The boards won't allow me to put this picture in my link, even though it is within the size requirements. http://everbuildingfilms.webs.com/sigponies.PNG

Six teams need to be shifted. Winnipeg to Northwest, Vancouver to Pacific, Dallas to Central. Detroit to Northeast, Boston to Atlantic, Pittsburgh to Southeast. 32 divisional games, play everyone else twice. No complaining about long trips out west/east. Intra-divisional play would be a series of 5-game road trips and 5-game homestands. The Northeast plays 16 divisional games, the Atlantic plays the Southeast home and away 10 games. The Northwest plays 16 divisional, while the Central and Pacific play home and away 10 games. Then the Northeast plays the Southeast home and away while the Atlantic plays 16 divisional. Northwest-Pacific 10, Central 16. Then the Northeast plays the Atlantic, and the Southeast plays their divisional slate of 16. (36) Northwest-Central 10, Pacific 16. ------------So that's 36 per team so far.--------- Then the Western and Eastern conferences do similar trading of home-and-away 5-game stands. (5x2x3=30) ---------That's 66 so far.------ All divisions then finish their divisional slates. (16) ---------And that's 82 games.--------- As far as the playoffs go, the automatic 1-2-3 seeds for the division winners should go away. The divisions only exist for ease of scheduling/making of rivalries. Top 8 teams in each conference should qualify. As a final change, the W-L-OL-SOL and points nonsense all disappears, and the standings simply go W-L. Tiebreakers are GF-GA differential, record vs. common opponents played an equal number of times, etc.

OHL - Sudbury Wolves - hometown team. CFL - Toronto Argonauts - closest team to me. Met Pinball after attending a game in 2008. NBA - Phoenix Suns - Steve Nash NHL - Philadelphia Flyers - I have family connections to the area, and I enjoy their style of play. NFL - Green Bay Packers - being a shining example of how a small-market team can survive (and thrive) in a league of large-market teams, I applaud them for all of their success. I wish Sudbury had enough committment to follow suit with the NHL, but that's a pipe dream for now. Also, they beat the Steelers in Dallas in February, and I have hated the Steelers since they were handed won SuperBowl 40 against the team I was cheering for at the time. I also hate the Patriots for the most common reasons people say they hate them. MLB - I guess you could say I'm a Blue Jays fan, although honestly, I normally can't watch a full game in its entirety any more. The pace seems too slow. But I do have semi-vivid memories of watching their World Series triumphs with my dad back in '92 and '93. Pretty much as long as the Yankees fail to win the World Series, though, I'm a happy camper. NLL - although I don't watch it nearly as much as I did during their dynasty years, the Toronto Rock. I went to a game back in 2007 for my birthday. It was the only time I have seen a regular season match of any kind at the Air Canada Centre, and since it's impossible to get Leafs tickets and unlikely I'll want Raptors tickets, might be the only reason I'll ever go there.

Okay, I need to smack myself in the head because my first thought after reading DarkJourney's post was: "Because that's where most of the black people live anyway?" Besides, I totally forgot about Atlanta and Detroit.

Surprised nobody posted what was talked about on the latest Hotstove on Saturday night. a. PHI NYR NYI NJD | WSH CAR TBL FLA b. TOR OTT MTL (DET/CBJ) PIT BUF BOS ------------------------------------------------- c. WPG MIN CHI (DET/CBJ) DAL NSH STL d. VAN EDM CGY COL | ANA LAK SJS PHX So I took that and figured out the math for it, based on an 82-game schedule. 8-team divisions play 44 games out-of-division. In-division, 38 games: 4 teams 5 times, 3 teams 6 times. 7-team divisions play 46 games out-of-division. In division, 36 games (6 per opponent).

There have probably been at least six "final and ultimate" deadlines to secure ownership since this whole debacle started. And yet, here we sit. If the NHL doesn't get their owner by early '12, they'll set a new deadline for, say, June of '12. This is known in American slang as "kicking the can down the road." raising the debt ceiling.

MLB: 15 teams per league, 5 per division. Play 14 league opponents 9x apiece; also play one designated interleague rival 9x. (135 total) Featured interleague series marketed as "Interleague Series of the Week". Play the rest of the designated interleague rival's division 3x each, as well as one of the other two divisions 3x each. (27 total) Result is a 162-game schedule, with each team getting to play each other team over the course of 2 seasons. NHL/NBA: 6 divisions; 5 teams each. Play division rivals 8x; everyone else twice. (82 games total)

I'd say if it helps the Devils out of existence, then it's fine by me. I've been wondering for a long time though, why someone like Paul Allen hasn't offered to buy the Yotes and move them to Seattle (Tacoma Dome being the temporary venue) or Portland.

Yeah, damn. I guess I sacrificed them to the travel gods.

2012-13 season: Pacific: VAN SJS PHX LA ANA Northwest: EDM CGY WPG MIN COL Central: DAL CLB NSH CHI STL Northeast: DET TOR OTT MTL BUF Atlantic: BOS NYR NYI PHI NJD Southeast: PIT WSH CAR FLA TBL Reasons for moves: Vancouver goes to the right time zone. Central teams all in same time zone, even though travel from Dallas to Columbus will be a trip. Winnipeg gets in with some geographically appropriate buddies. Detroit gets to move back to the East, and terrorize a different conference. Boston, a city on the Atlantic, can be in the Atlantic division. The Pens and Caps can enjoy 8 games against each other in this season. Division 32 games; 50 games for other 25 teams. Easy-peasy.

Yeah, I know. I don't really like it either, on second thought. I was just trying to work out a 7-8 split for both conferences. I much prefer the (3 divisions of 4) and (3 divisions of 6) that keep teams all in their own time zones for divisional play. PACIFIC DIVISION: Vancouver, San Jose, Los Angeles, Anaheim MOUNTAIN DIVISION: Colorado, Phoenix, Edmonton, Calgary CENTRAL DIVISION: Minnesota, Winnipeg, Dallas, Nashville, St. Louis, Chicago NORTHEAST DIVISION: Detroit, Columbus, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec (NYI) ATLANTIC DIVISION: Boston, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Philly, Rangers, Jersey SOUTHEAST DIVISION: Washington, Carolina, Tampa, Florida

Northwest - VAN EDM CGY WPG MIN CHI STL Northeast - DET CBJ PIT BUF BOS TOR OTT MTL South - SJS LAK ANA PHX* COL DAL NSH Atlantic - WSH CAR TBL FLA PHI NYR NYI NJD SCHEDULE FORMAT: 7-team divisions: 24 DIVISION, 8-DIVISIONS 2X (24->56), 7-DIV (4x3, 3x4) (80) 8-team divisions: 28 DIVISION, 7-DIVISIONS 2X (28->56), 8-DIV 3X (56->80) PLAYOFFS: 4 spots per division with a caveat; if the 5th-place team in an 8-team division has more points than the 4th-place team in the 7-team division, they get that #4 seed. Also - no conferences. In the third round, the remaining 4 teams are seeded 1-4. This leaves open the (albeit slim) possibilities of a Final with two Canadian teams, or matchups like Wings-Rangers, Pens-Flyers, Hawks-Bruins - maybe even Jets/Coyotes. LOL

The Pistons beg to differ.

So that would have to format out like this, methinks: 8-team divisions 22 opponents*2=44 Division: (3*6)+(4*5)=38 (82) 7-team divisions 23 opponents*2=46 Division: 6*6=36 (82)

Not to nitpick, but it's mileage. M-I-L-E-A-G-E.

I think my only qualm about that kind of alignment is that it's slightly more likely (57% vs. 50%) that a particular team in a 7-team division can make the playoffs than one in an 8-team division.

3 missed home games won't hurt revenue that much. They can schedule more divisional games if they really need to. I always thought 82 was the weirdest number to pick though.

West Division: Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, San Jose, Anaheim, LA, Phoenix, Colorado, Dallas, Winnipeg Central Division: Minnesota, St. Louis, Chicago, Bowling GreenNashville, Columbus, Detroit, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec. Atlantic Division: Buffalo, Rangers, Boston, Pittsburgh, Philly, Jersey, Washington, Carolina, Tampa, Florida. 36 divisional games, 40 non-divisional. Bracket-style playoff of top 16 teams. Have fun.

It's all the same to me.

I was contemplating the Winnipeg-Northeast scenario. Bump Boston to the Atlantic and Pittsburgh to the Southeast or something.

I pieced this together in the interest of keeping the teams in each division all in the same time zone, rather than worrying about travel distance disparities. PACIFIC: Vancouver, San Jose, Los Angeles, Anaheim MOUNTAIN: Colorado, Phoenix, Edmonton, Calgary CENTRAL: Minnesota, Winnipeg, Dallas, Nashville, St. Louis, Chicago NORTHEAST: Detroit, Columbus, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec (NYI) ATLANTIC: Boston, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Philly, Rangers, Jersey SOUTHEAST: Washington, Carolina, Tampa, Florida Now we have three divisions of 6 and three divisions of 4. Scheduling works this way: Divisional play can be 30 games for the divisions of 4 (3 opponents x 10) and 36 games for the divisions of 6 (5 opponents, 4x7, 1x8). (30) (36) 24 games are then played intradivisionally for the 4-team divisions against each other. (8x3) (54) The 6-team divisions do the same. (12x2) (60) The 4-team divisions play the three 6-team divisions once each. (18x1) | (12x1) (72) (72) -- Top 16 in the league make the playoffs, organized bracket-style. --

Yes, I think on a "similar state-wide cultures need to fit in the same division" basis, Nashville needs to be grouped with its Southern brethren. Columbus/Pitt/et al. should also stick together as much as is possible. It would be a little different if it were the Cincinnati Jackets, because I know they have strong ties to Kentucky sporting culture. I really think I should have just stuck the Preds in the Southeast, and Pitt in the Central just to screw with them.

Columbus' total: 2563 (average 641 mi) Nashville's total: 2191 (average 548 mi) But just looking at a map tells me that Nashville is closer. I've updated my latest to compensate for this.

Just a prediction for some time in the next couple of NHL seasons: WESTERN CONFERENCE PACIFIC: Vancouver(PAC) San Jose(PAC) Los Angeles(PAC) Anaheim(PAC) Phoenix (MTN) |4-1 split| NORTHWEST: Edmonton(MTN) Calgary(MTN) Colorado(MTN) Minnesota(CEN) Winnipeg(Thrash) (CEN) |2-3 split| CENTRAL: Dallas (CEN) Nashville* (CEN) St. Louis (CEN) Chicago (CEN) Detroit (EDT) |4-1 split| EASTERN CONFERENCE NORTHEAST: Quebec (or NY) Islanders*, Toronto, Montreal, Buffalo, Ottawa |All EDT| ATLANTIC: Columbus*, Boston, Philly, Rangers, Jersey |All EDT| SOUTHEAST: Pittsburgh*, Washington, Carolina, Tampa, Florida |All EDT| (*given the option to switch with any other starred one if they prefer*) 15 opposite conference opponents: 20 games (One division on the road (5), one division home (5), one division 2x (10)) [i.e. Northeast faces Northwest on the road, Central home and away, and Pacific home] The division that will be played for 10 games will rotate each season. 10 same conference teams: 30 games 4 divisional rivals: 32 games TOTAL 82