Penguins Get Arena Deal Done

[NJTank]

If the Pens move to KC the only swap should be Columbus to the East KC to the West.

With the Caps joining the Atlantic and the Jackets in the Southeast, while KC joins the Central and starts a nice rivalry with the Blues.

I would say Preds are an option to move too but for me Columbus seems more of an Eastern team then Nashville since Ohio is in the Eastern Time Zone, while Detroit is locked in the West because they have to rich of history against the Blackhawks.

[Lee.]

If the Pens move to KC the only swap should be Columbus to the East KC to the West.

With the Caps joining the Atlantic and the Jackets in the Southeast, while KC joins the Central and starts a nice rivalry with the Blues.

I would say Preds are an option to move too but for me Columbus seems more of an Eastern team then Nashville since Ohio is in the Eastern Time Zone, while Detroit is locked in the West because they have to rich of history against the Blackhawks.

THe problem there is, the 'Hawks have a great history with all of the other original 5 teams. THe easy solution is to move them both into the East, yes?

But wait, you can't. THen another team has to come west, and there's no one left. The alignments already don't make any sense.

My solution? Do away with conferences altogether. Put in 4 divisions, separated roughly by geography (NW/NE/SE/SW), put Nashville in the southeast where they belong, and let the top 16 teams overall make the playoffs. Do away with this meaningless East v West nonsense, and put in a schedule in which each team plays the other 29 teams at least once on the road as well as at home.

All the kinks aren't out of it yet, but I mean well.

[Luigi74]

I also like the ditch the conference idea for the NHL, I would go with 5 divisions with 6 teams in each and cut the playoff teams down to 12.

Original 6 Division

Boston

Chicago

Detroit

Montreal

New York

Toronto

Eastern Division

Buffalo

New Jersey

NY Islanders

Ottawa

Philadelphia

Washington

Southern Division

Atlanta

Carolina

Columbus

Florida

Nashville

Tampa Bay

Midwestern Division

Calgary

Dallas

Edmonton

Kansas City

St. Louis

Minnesota

Western Division

Anaheim

Colorado

Los Angeles

Phoenix

San Jose

Vancouver

[Fred T. Jane]

Midwestern Division

Calgary

Dallas

Edmonton

Kansas City

St. Louis

Minnesota

Holy Travel Catastrophe, Batman!

[jkrdevil]

I also like the ditch the conference idea for the NHL, I would go with 5 divisions with 6 teams in each and cut the playoff teams down to 12.

Original 6 Division

Boston

Chicago

Detroit

Montreal

New York

Toronto

No offense I don't think the Rangers would like that considering they are more rivals with NJ, the Islanders, and the Flyers. Montreal and Toronto also might want Ottawa in their division. It has been so long since the Original 6 that the teams have developed deeper rivalries with other teams.

Best idea is to go back to 4 divisions with divisional playoffs, reseed the division playoff winners for the final 2 rounds.

[HedleyLamarr]

Detroit may be first in line to move to the Eastern Conference, but I think the NHL will do everything in it's power to keep Chicago with Detroit, so that Chicago isn't left out of the "Original Six" mix.

It would probably make the most sense to just have Columbus and Pittsburgh/Kansas City switch divisions. If not, there could be a 3-team move, with Pittsburgh/KC moving to the Central, Washington taking the Penguins spot in the Atlantic, and Nashville taking Washington's place in the Southeast.

[HedleyLamarr]

Detroit may be first in line to move to the Eastern Conference, but I think the NHL will do everything in it's power to keep Chicago with Detroit, so that Chicago isn't left out of the "Original Six" mix.

It would probably make the most sense to just have Columbus and Pittsburgh/Kansas City switch divisions. If not, there could be a 3-team move, with Pittsburgh/KC moving to the Central, Washington taking the Penguins spot in the Atlantic, and Nashville taking Washington's place in the Southeast.

[Roger Clemente]

How about:

Pittsburgh moves to Kansas City, Central Division.

Detroit moves in Northeast Division

Boston moves into Atlantic Division.

As far as Original 6 in the Northeast goes, you get one, you lose one.

NYR and BOS get to renew their rivalry. Chicago is left to go :censored: itself like Wirtz intended to all along.

--Roger "Time?" Clemente.

[NJTank]

But the Wings have been in the West/Campbell forever now and I think they are used to it.

[CJR]

But the Wings have been in the West/Campbell forever now and I think they are used to it.

Then why would they petition the league to move to the East as soon as a spot opened up?

[NorthStar74]

How about:

Pittsburgh moves to Kansas City, Central Division.

Detroit moves in Northeast Division

Boston moves into Atlantic Division.

As far as Original 6 in the Northeast goes, you get one, you lose one.

NYR and BOS get to renew their rivalry. Chicago is left to go :censored: itself like Wirtz intended to all along.

--Roger "Time?" Clemente.

Yeah that what I was thinking if the Penguins would move as was rumored last year as well as now.. that makes sense at least..and I do hope Wirtz drop dead as he is crapping the Blackhawks out good... blah..

But the Wings have been in the West/Campbell forever now and I think they are used to it.

Then why would they petition the league to move to the East as soon as a spot opened up?

I have to wonder.. if Detroit wanted to move to the East, that would be in order to save money on travels as the games in the Eastern Conference are short and good and etc compared to the long travels all over the Western Conference... or maybe Detroit wanna play other teams good enough in the Eastern Conference and already is bored with the teams in the Western Conference?

[IceCap]

But the Wings have been in the West/Campbell forever now and I think they are used to it.

Then why would they petition the league to move to the East as soon as a spot opened up?

I have to wonder.. if Detroit wanted to move to the East, that would be in order to save money on travels as the games in the Eastern Conference are short and good and etc compared to the long travels all over the Western Conference... or maybe Detroit wanna play other teams good enough in the Eastern Conference and already is bored with the teams in the Western Conference?

They want to move east because that's where their traditional rivals are located.

[leedsunited]

OK, now Mario & Co. are visiting Las Vegas???? This is freakin' hilarious. Nevermind the fact that no NHL-caliber arena is there, nor is any ready to go anytime soon.

Come on, at least keep it believable. Go visit KC again, go check out Houston. But Vegas???

[Guest]

They want to move east because that's where their traditional rivals are located.

No, they probably just want to cut travel costs.

You know, the idea of an Original Six division is looking better and better.

[leedsunited]

Where's that guy with the NO REEL LINE MINT image?

[Ez Street]

Nice Avatar, Yale.

[yh]

Oh come now, Dave. Tell me you won't be the first in line for KC Maple Leafs tix, especially when they take on the Oklahoma City Canadiens and the Houston Canucks.

And let's not even think about the budding rivalry with the Cincinnati Flames, Los Senatores de Monterrey or the Hartford Oilers!

[STL FANATIC]

I think the Wings wanted to move East because they at the time were the only Western Conference team in the Eastern time zone, and because they were always stuck in the big four teams in the West with Colorado, Dallas, and St. Louis.

Now niether of those two things are true, and it makes more sense to move Columbus.

It makes NO sense to move Nashville since they still sneak into the Central time zone, and have already started to establish rivalries. A lot of folks say nobody cares about Nashville. That's not true, and their base and rival base is growing, but why move them somewhere that probably DOESN'T care about Nashville right now?

Columbus is the only team that you could move, it would make sense, and it would leave rivalries unharmed.

As for the scheduling issue. Let me once again say how much I LIKE the current schedule and actually would be in favor of the East never playing the West except in the finals (old MLB style) if I thought it would ever be an option.

[Ez Street]

Oh come now, Dave. Tell me you won't be the first in line for KC Maple Leafs tix, especially when they take on the Oklahoma City Canadiens and the Houston Canucks.

And let's not even think about the budding rivalry with the Cincinnati Flames, Los Senatores de Monterrey or the Hartford Oilers!

Sign me up. We don't need Canada!

[Luigi74]

OK, now Mario & Co. are visiting Las Vegas???? This is freakin' hilarious. Nevermind the fact that no NHL-caliber arena is there, nor is any ready to go anytime soon.

Come on, at least keep it believable. Go visit KC again, go check out Houston. But Vegas???

The Las Vegas visit is a negotiation tactic since the Pens ownership, local & state politicans and Bettman are going to meet tomorrow in Philadelphia in a last ditch effort to keep the team in Pittsburgh so the Las Vegas visit puts more pressure on the KC group to cut a better deal and for Ed "Slots" Rendell, Dan OnoRATo, and Pittsburgh's child mayor to get their heads out of their butts and cut a decent deal. The sad thing about this is the tax money that would be used for a new arena for Pittsburgh is sitting in the bank waiting to be used for Re-Development of area's of the state that need it and that section of Pittsburgh needs Re-Development badly. I'm sure Rendell & Onorato want to use that money for their useless tunnel under the river connecting the North Side and Downtown(which is already connected by something like 5 bridges).