The Pointless Realignment Outpost

[DarkJourney]

If Phoenix moves to Quebec

EASTERN CONFERENCE

Atlantic

Carolina, Florida, New Jersey, NY Islanders, NY Rangers, Philadelphia, Tampa Bay, Washington

Northeast

Boston, Buffalo, Montreal, Ottawa, Pittsburgh, Quebec, Toronto

WESTERN CONFERENCE

Central Division

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

Pacific Division

Anaheim, Calgary, Colorado, Edmonton, Los Angeles, San Jose, Vancouver

[max]

EASTERN CONFERENCE

ATLANTIC DIVISION

Florida

Tampa Bay

Boston

NY Islanders

Carolina

NY Rangers

New Jersey

Philadelphia

(the most crowded geographic cluster of teams join the remnants of the Southeastern Conference, South Florida already has a few major sports rivalries with teams from NY/NJ area and are often put in the same conference as teams from New England in other sports)

EAST DIVISION

Washington

Montreal

Pittsburgh

Ottawa

Buffalo

Nashville

Columbus

(essentially the "Midwest Division" of the Eastern Conference, Capitals-Penguins, Blue Jackets-Penguins rivalries, 7-team division including MTL and OTT provides space for Quebec City franchise)

WESTERN CONFERENCE

CENTRAL DIVISION

Toronto

Detroit

St. Louis

Chicago

Dallas

Minnesota

Winnipeg

(Maple Leafs played in the Western Conference with Wings, Blackhawks, and Blues before NHL moved to 6-divisions; Wild and Stars compete in same division with Jets, 7-team division including STL provides space for Kansas City franchise)

WEST DIVISION

Colorado

Phoenix

Los Angeles

Anaheim

San Jose

Calgary

Edmonton

Vancouver

("the real western conference," Minnesota and Winnipeg should be included in this division, other than that, a pretty easy job with this one)

I hope the Red Wings will like this plan. They'll be upset playing in the West, but I gave them the Maple Leafs, Stars, Jets, Wild, all of their divisional foes from the Central Conference and banished the Blue Jackets and Predators. Detroit isn't in the Eastern Division/Conference of any major sport. The NHL has a geographic center for its franchises the farthest east of all of the major sports. Detroit has 15 teams to its east and 14 teams to its west. However, Columbus practically shares the same 83rd longitudinal degree with Detroit, but I think the Red Wings would be happier playing their old foes in the Western Conference than deal with the Senators, Sabres, Predators, Blue Jackets, Capitals, Canadiens, and Penguins on a regular basis. Any Red Wings fans on here?

[Magnus]

Detroit isn't in the Eastern Division/Conference of any major sport.

The Pistons beg to differ.

[BrySmalls]

The Blue Jackets and Penguins are a legitimate rivalry?

[crashcarson15]

The best solution IMO, if they really want to shake things up, is to do away with division all together. Play two conferences of 15, East/West. 4 games vs. every other team in conference(2 home/2 away) for 56 games. 2 games vs. the other conference(1 home/1 away) for a grand total of 86 games. Only four more games on the schedule and you get a more balanced regular season, and therefore a more accurate seeding.

EAST: Florida, Tampa Bay, Carolina, Washington, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, New Jersey, NY Islanders, NY Rangers, Boston, Montréal, Toronto, Ottawa, Columbus, Buffalo

WEST: Dallas, St. Louis, Detroit, Chicago, Minnesota, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Calgary, Vancouver, San Jose, Los Angeles, Colorado, Phoenix, Anaheim, Nashville

As far as rivalries go, 4 games a year(not counting playoffs) is plenty. Most soccer leagues around the world play perfectly balanced schedules with only 2 games a year vs. every other team, and those rivalries seem to do just fine(and they don't have playoffs).

Same reason this wouldn't work in baseball; who's gonna want to go watch a 15th place team? A number of teams would be out of contention a lot earlier in the season. Divisions allow teams to be competitive, or at least feel like they have a shot, deeper into the season. 7 or 8 team divisions are still kind if high numbered, especially for a 30 team league, but they're still much better than a single 15 team conference/division.

I wasn't any more excited about the Blue Jackets' season this past year because they finished 4th in the division. Divisions are dumb.

The Blue Jackets and Penguins are a legitimate rivalry?

Well, we kinda like to think so.

[crashcarson15]

Anyways, here's my realignment idea, based on the NHL's idea of 4 divisions. The typical PA teams and south gives you Pittsburgh, Philly, Tampa Bay, and Washington all in the same division. I'm not so sure the NHL would really want 4 of its top 9 teams in a division, especially when you're looking at having a couple struggling markets in that division. So, what I've done, is pieced together a realignment that splits up the elite 8 teams in the league (taking Tampa out as #9) but still keeps strong geographic ties.

EASTERN CONFERENCE

Boston Bruins

Buffalo Sabres

Columbus Blue Jackets

Montreal Canadiens

Ottawa Senators

Pittsburgh Penguins

Toronto Maple Leafs

--------------------

Carolina Hurricanes

Florida Panthers

New Jersey Devils

New York Islanders

New York Rangers

Philadelphia Flyers

Tampa Bay Lightning

Washington Capitals

WESTERN CONFERENCE

Chicago Blackhawks

Dallas Stars

Detroit Red Wings

Minnesota Wild

Nashville Predators

St. Louis Blues

Winnipeg Jets

--------------------

Anaheim Ducks

Calgary Flames

Colorado Avalanche

Edmonton Oilers

Los Angeles Kings

Phoenix Coyotes

San Jose Sharks

Vancouver Canucks

Obviously, this separates the top teams into pairs (BOS-PIT, PHI-WAS, CHI-DET, VAN-SJ) and also separates the league's stars (Crosby/Malkin, Ovechkin, Kane/Toews/Daytsuk/etc, Sedin/Sedin) into separate divisions to keep the same number of stars coming to each city each year around the same. Thoughts?

[McCall]

I wasn't any more excited about the Blue Jackets' season this past year because they finished 4th in the division. Divisions are dumb.

Well that settles it then. That's all that needs to be known. End of discussion.

Well, we kinda like to think so.

Sorry, but Columbus has not been around long enough to get any type of preference in the league. If Detroit wants to go to the East, then they should have priority over Columbus. I mean we don't even really know how much longer they'll even be in Columbus.

[McCall]

Anyways, here's my realignment idea, based on the NHL's idea of 4 divisions. The typical PA teams and south gives you Pittsburgh, Philly, Tampa Bay, and Washington all in the same division. I'm not so sure the NHL would really want 4 of its top 9 teams in a division, especially when you're looking at having a couple struggling markets in that division. So, what I've done, is pieced together a realignment that splits up the elite 8 teams in the league (taking Tampa out as #9) but still keeps strong geographic ties.

EASTERN CONFERENCE

Boston Bruins

Buffalo Sabres

Columbus Blue Jackets

Montreal Canadiens

Ottawa Senators

Pittsburgh Penguins

Toronto Maple Leafs

--------------------

Carolina Hurricanes

Florida Panthers

New Jersey Devils

New York Islanders

New York Rangers

Philadelphia Flyers

Tampa Bay Lightning

Washington Capitals

WESTERN CONFERENCE

Chicago Blackhawks

Dallas Stars

Detroit Red Wings

Minnesota Wild

Nashville Predators

St. Louis Blues

Winnipeg Jets

--------------------

Anaheim Ducks

Calgary Flames

Colorado Avalanche

Edmonton Oilers

Los Angeles Kings

Phoenix Coyotes

San Jose Sharks

Vancouver Canucks

Obviously, this separates the top teams into pairs (BOS-PIT, PHI-WAS, CHI-DET, VAN-SJ) and also separates the league's stars (Crosby/Malkin, Ovechkin, Kane/Toews/Daytsuk/etc, Sedin/Sedin) into separate divisions to keep the same number of stars coming to each city each year around the same. Thoughts?

Ok, this same plan seems to keep repeating over and over, the only difference here is Columbus in the East and Detroit in the West.

[pmoehrin]

BTW still have the excel data sheet that gives you distances between teams for the MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL NCAAF and a few minor leagues if anyone is interested.

[Magnus]

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

[McCall]

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

Divisions that stretch from Vancouver to St. Louis and the pacific coast to Nashville?

[Magnus]

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

[rams80]

Nearly every fan wants the wings in the east. Everyone is tired of playing the pacific division during the playoffs. Games starting at 10:30 terrible! The wings are on the eastern time zone! They need to be in the east.

Yeah! Think of all those scheduling losses!

[JH42XCC]

This would be my realignment idea for the 2012-13 NHL season

EASTERN (PRINCE OF WALES) CONFERENCE

Atlantic (Patrick) Division

• Carolina Hurricanes
  
• Florida Panthers
  
• New Jersey Devils
  
• New York Islanders
  
• New York Rangers
  
• Philadelphia Flyers
  
• Tampa Bay Lightning
  
• Washington Capitals
  

Northeast (Adams) Division

• Boston Bruins
  
• Buffalo Sabres
  
• Columbus Blue Jackets OR Detroit Red Wings
  
• Montreal Canadiens
  
• Ottawa Senators
  
• Pittsburgh Penguins
  
• Toronto Maple Leafs
  

WESTERN (CLARENCE CAMPBELL) CONFERENCE

Central (Norris) Division

• Chicago Blackhawks
  
• Columbus Blue Jackets OR Detroit Red Wings
  
• Dallas Stars
  
• Minnesota Wild
  
• Nashville Predators
  
• St. Louis Blues
  
• Winnipeg Jets
  

Pacific (Smythe) Division

• Anaheim Ducks
  
• Calgary Flames
  
• Colorado Avalanche
  
• Edmonton Oilers
  
• Los Angeles Kings
  
• Phoenix Coyotes
  
• San Jose Sharks
  
• Vancouver Canucks
  

[max]

There is no way to keep even conferences of 15-teams in each and keep the farthest west teams from the eastern time zone in the "eastern" conference.

Eastern Time Zone (16)

FLA, TB, BOS, NYI,

CAR, NYR, NJ, PHI,

WDC, MTL, PIT, OTT,

BUF, CBJ, TOR, DET

Central Time Zone (6)

NSH, STL, CHI, DAL,

MIN, WPG

Mountain Time Zone (4)

COL, PHX, CGY, EDM

Pacific Time Zone (4)

LA, ANA, SJ, VAN

2 conferences of 15 teams will leave one team from the Eastern TZ to play in the Western Conference. Fact. Detroit should be that team, but the division should also include the Maple Leafs, which would allow the Predators to play in the Eastern Conference against teams in the Southeastern United States. This is a favor for Wings fans. A TOR-MTL Stanley Cup? This idea is unimaginable!

[Jnr78]

Hi! I'm new here. Here is my suggestion for realignment.

With Winnipeg moving to the Western Conference, only Columbus moves to the Eastern Conference and is placed in a division with Pittsburgh. Detroit stays in the Western Conference so it can be together with Chicago and St. Louis but still gets to play more Eastern Time Zone teams. This leaves two 15-team conferences.

The schedule is made up by playing five games against teams in your own division (total of 30 in a seven team division, 35 in a eight division). Two games are played against teams in the other three divisions (46 or 44 games). This leaves three extra games for a team in an eight team division and six extra games for a team in a seven team division to make a total of 82 games. No team plays another more than six times.

Winnipeg is placed in the Central Division as the only Canadian team but is compensated through its six extra games being played against the six other Canadian teams. This makes the number of games Winnipeg plays against other Canadian teams close to the number of games the other Canadian teams play eachother.

Extra games are played between any teams in the league (although mostly between rivals or geographically close teams) and could also be more than one game (but a maximum two) between two teams. I guess it could be unfair with extra games against different teams but the teams should be able to vote before the schedule is made up if it is fair or not. (In today's schedule every team plays three extra games already so not so much change anyway.)

Pittsburgh moves to the Northeast but is "compensated" with extra games against Philadelphia and Washington. Detroit gets to play three of its six extra games against Eastern Time Zone teams on the road. (Columbus plays extra games against Central Division teams for my little schedule to work out, could probably be made better)

Here is my alignment with the extra games I just made up (I know they are not all the best matchups but you kind of see what I mean).

Eastern Conference

Northeast Division

BOS (BUF, MTL, NYI, NYR, OTT, TOR)

BUF (BOS, DET, MTL, NYI, OTT, TOR)

CBJ (CHI, DAL, DET, MIN, NSH, STL)

MTL (BOS, BUF, OTT, PIT, TOR, WPG)

OTT (BOS, BUF, MTL, PIT, TOR, WPG)

PIT (MTL, OTT, PHIx2, WSHx2)

TOR (BOS, BUF, DET, MTL, OTT, WPG)

Atlantic Division

CAR (FLA, NSH, TB)

FLA (CAR, NSH, TB)

NJ (NYR, PHI, WSH)

NYI (BOS, BUF, NYR)

NYR (BOS, NJ, NYI)

PHI (NJ, PITx2)

TB (CAR, FLA, NSH)

WSH (NJ, PITx2)

Western Conference

Central Division

CHI (CBJ, COL, DAL, DET, MIN, STL)

DAL (CBJ, CHI, COL, MIN, NSH, STL)

DET (BUF, CBJ, CHI, MIN, STL, TOR)

MIN (CBJ, CHI, COL, DAL, DET, STL)

NSH (CAR, CBJ, DAL, FLA, STL, TB)

STL (CBJ, CHI, DAL, DET, MIN, NSH)

WPG (CGY, EDM, MTL, OTT, TOR, VAN)

Pacific Division

ANA (LA, PHX, SJ)

CGY (EDM, VAN, WPG)

COL (CHI, DAL, MIN)

EDM (CGY, VAN, WPG)

LA (ANA, PHX, SJ)

PHX (ANA, LA, PHX)

SJ (ANA, LA, PHX)

VAN (CGY, EDM, WPG)

[McCall]

There is no way to keep even conferences of 15-teams in each and keep the farthest west teams from the eastern time zone in the "eastern" conference.

Eastern Time Zone (16)

FLA, TB, BOS, NYI,

CAR, NYR, NJ, PHI,

WDC, MTL, PIT, OTT,

BUF, CBJ, TOR, DET

Central Time Zone (6)

NSH, STL, CHI, DAL,

MIN, WPG

Mountain Time Zone (4)

COL, PHX, CGY, EDM

Pacific Time Zone (4)

LA, ANA, SJ, VAN

2 conferences of 15 teams will leave one team from the Eastern TZ to play in the Western Conference. Fact. Detroit should be that team, but the division should also include the Maple Leafs, which would allow the Predators to play in the Eastern Conference against teams in the Southeastern United States. This is a favor for Wings fans. A TOR-MTL Stanley Cup? This idea is unimaginable!

Ok other than the geographical fact that an eastern TZ team would have to be in the west, which is an obvious thing stated multiple times, everything else you say is strictly opinion that you acted like is fact. From what I've seen, I think Detroit fans favor going east, an an older team, they should get preference over Nashville and Columbus, who going to the East and pushing Toronto out west makes no sense. Columbus should be the only east team in the west.

[DaRadniz29]

I've spent hours working and reworking the scenarios of who goes where, how many divisions, etc. I don't think I've posted them on this thread, as by the time I'm done I have a major headache.

I think though any realignment there will be one or more teams/fans unhappy with something. I once had Philly and NJ in different division, and was told it was a fail, but Philly and Pit in the same division. So I moved NJ back into the same division as Philly, but put Pit in a different division and the same group on that thread said I failed b/c Pit and Philly were in different divisions. The I moved NYR and NYI instead and the same group said I failed b/c the the teams weren't in the same division as Philly. So I kind of gave up posting alignment possibilities.

People have to realized you can't keep all rivalry teams in the same division and move divisions and conferences around. And rivalries can stay despite being in a different division. SJ/DET, DET/COL, PHI/BOS, WAS/PIT, etc.

Anyway, who knows how the division will be realigned, but hopefully the NHL won't get screwed too badly.

[DaytonBlue]

NHL 2013

Pacific Midwest Northeast Atlantic

CAL WIN TOR NYR

EDM MIN MON NYI

VAN CHI OTT NJ

SJ DET BUF PHI

LA STL BOS WAS

ANA DAL PIT CAR

PHX NAS CLB TB

COL FLA

Top 4 in each division make playoffs.

If Phoenix moves to Quebec

Columbus to Midwest and Pacific is 7 team and MW is 8 team.

Play everyone outside of your division 2x. Division foes are 5 or 6 times depending on division size.

First two rounds of playoffs in division only to reduce travel. Then division banners mean something. The Blues won the division in 99-00 and raised a banner though they didn't win a playoff round. In 2000-01, they made the 3rd round but no banner because they didn't win the division. This would resolve that.

[McCall]

NHL 2013

Pacific Midwest Northeast Atlantic

CAL WIN TOR NYR

EDM MIN MON NYI

VAN CHI OTT NJ

SJ DET BUF PHI

LA STL BOS WAS

ANA DAL PIT CAR

PHX NAS CLB TB

COL FLA

Top 4 in each division make playoffs.

If Phoenix moves to Quebec

Columbus to Midwest and Pacific is 7 team and MW is 8 team.

Play everyone outside of your division 2x. Division foes are 5 or 6 times depending on division size.

First two rounds of playoffs in division only to reduce travel. Then division banners mean something. The Blues won the division in 99-00 and raised a banner though they didn't win a playoff round. In 2000-01, they made the 3rd round but no banner because they didn't win the division. This would resolve that.

Why is Florida in the Midwest? Why not put them in the Atlantic? You're gonna have 2 8-team divisions anyway. Why make both of them in the "west" by putting a team on the Atlantic coast in that division?