Solving the Realignment issue

[WNDUP FX]

1 year into the future and without a new arena deal, the New York Islanders are sold off to the Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) and relocated to Kansas City where they play in the Sprint Center (a multi sports arena that holds 17,500 for hockey) and move into the Central Division with cross state rivals the St. Louis Blues. Now in 2014, finally with an arena in place, the Florida Panthers are sold off to Quebecor Inc. and play at the start of that season as a reincarnated version of the Quebec Nordiques. Fast forward to 2015 and with even less stability than they have now and a largely unresponsive ownership group in Glendale, the Phoenix Coyotes are moved to Seattle where a new arena is built and part financed by San Francisco hedge fund manager Christopher Hansen prompting the NHL to scrap it's current alignment for a new divisional structure created not only to cut down on travel time, but to also build up existing rivalries.

I present to you, the NHL Realignment Project, which will hopefully become a project over the coming months to revamp and redesign some of the more stagnant franchises in this storied league.

As you can see from the map outlined below, I've attempted to recreate the historical divisions used in the 80's as well as kept two regional divisions. My hope in this project is that it builds new and exciting sports teams where the previous ones have failed. For the most part the team names are unchanged with the exception of the Seattle based team, which has been left open to debate.

First off, I've outlined a change for Minnesota, that their team be moved out of the Smythe Division (Pacific) and into a division aligned with more geographically located teams to include both Missouri based teams as well as the Wings and Black Hawks. Given this vacancy, I've adjusted to allow the Seattle based team to move into that division which now houses both Alberta based teams, the Jets and border rivals the Vancouver Canucks. The Jennings Division sees the Avalanche moving to allocate space for a renewed rivalry with the Stars and Sharks, with the remaining teams unchanged.

The addition of a Quebec City based team in 2014 and the revisited rivalry of both a Battle of Ontario and an additional team in La Belle Province goes a long way to bringing back those famed matches of the early 90's, while reinvigorating a much maligned hatred between the Bruins and Les Habitant.

With those moves in mind, I've relocated the Buffalo Sabres to the Patrick Division (Atlantic) to give new life to strengthening the dislike between Empire state rival the New York Rangers and to build rivalry with the New Jersey Devils. Closing out the league is the newly formed SouthEast division featuring again more geographically suitable locations as well as perennial favourites the Lightning and Predators to help beef up what was otherwise a much weaker division.

My proposed 30 team realignment not only solves the issue with uneven numbers proposed in other alignments, but also allows the league to cut down on money spent on unnecessary out of market travel.

Western Conference

Smythe Division (Northwest)

Calgary Flames

Edmonton Oilers

Seattle Totems (relocated to Seattle from Phoenix, Arizona in 2015)

Vancouver Canucks

Winnipeg Jets

Jennings Division (Pacific)

Anaheim Ducks

Colorado Avalanche

Dallas Stars

Los Angeles Kings

San Jose Sharks

Norris Division (Central)

Chicago Blackhawks

Detroit Red Wings

Kansas City Scouts (Kansas City relocated from Long Island, New York in 2013)

Minnesota Wild

St. Louis Blues

Eastern Conference

Adams Division (NorthEast)

Boston Bruins

Montreal Canadiens

Ottawa Senators

Quebec Nordiques (relocated to Quebec City from Miami, Florida in 2014)

Toronto Maple Leafs

Patrick Division (Atlantic)

Buffalo Sabres

New Jersey Devils

New York Rangers

Philadelphia Flyers

Pittsburgh Penguins

Selke Division (SouthEast)

Carolina Hurricanes

Columbus Blue Jackets

Nashville Predators

Tampa Bay Lightning

Washington Capitals

[tigerslionspistonshabs]

cross town rivals the St. Louis Blues.

Cross state.

[WNDUP FX]

Goes to show I shouldn't post a write up at 3am. Thanks.

[BrySmalls]

I apologize in advance for the cartographic nitpicking and I like the idea of your project; however, you will need to refine your map as several locations: Vancouver, Winnipeg, Calgary, Washington, Montreal, Buffalo, New York City, Boston, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, New Jersey, Anaheim, and St. Louis (those are all the ones I can tell are glaring); are out of place.

[tigerslionspistonshabs]

I love that you've got Quebec and Seattle; but I just don't see KC ever getting a team. They've had several exhibition games and had horrible turnouts. Just not a hockey market I guess. I think the NBA may land there soon. I would put NYI in a brand new facility in Queens, next to Citi Field. (I bet that's what actually happens too).

On a side note, if the Coyotes go to the Cup finals, or even *wait for it*....win the Cup ...what would it do to their situation? Has any team in as much crisis ever gone on to win the cup? I remember the Devils back in '95 were tossing around the idea of relocation.

[WNDUP FX]

I apologize in advance for the cartographic nitpicking and I like the idea of your project; however, you will need to refine your map as several locations: Vancouver, Winnipeg, Calgary, Washington, Montreal, Buffalo, New York City, Boston, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, New Jersey, Anaheim, and St. Louis (those are all the ones I can tell are glaring); are out of place.

Apologies to anyone living in or from any of those cities for misplaced markers. As for Montreal, Winnipeg and Calgary, having been to and lived in all three of those cities, it's pretty close to where most maps designate city Centre.

I love that you've got Quebec and Seattle; but I just don't see KC ever getting a team. They've had several exhibition games and had horrible turnouts. Just not a hockey market I guess. I think the NBA may land there soon. I would put NYI in a brand new facility in Queens, next to Citi Field. (I bet that's what actually happens too).

Despite their storied franchise, I don't see the Islanders surviving beyond 2013. They've been bottom of the league in attendance for the past few seasons. I also don't think preseason attendance is the be all and end all of gauging whether a team can survive. Missouri is a fantastic sports state and Kansas City has a brand new arena just waiting for an NHL team. For those reasons, I think Kansas City is a much better fit.

[BrySmalls]

I apologize in advance for the cartographic nitpicking and I like the idea of your project; however, you will need to refine your map as several locations: Vancouver, Winnipeg, Calgary, Washington, Montreal, Buffalo, New York City, Boston, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, New Jersey, Anaheim, and St. Louis (those are all the ones I can tell are glaring); are out of place.

Apologies to anyone living in or from any of those cities for misplaced markers. As for Montreal, Winnipeg and Calgary, having been to and lived in all three of those cities, it's pretty close to where most maps designate city Centre.

Apology accepted. I'm just trying to help you create a better map!

[dgnmrwrw]

Dang! You've completely stolen my thunder on this one: I'm working on a very similar project, even down to which teams relocate where and the map file you're using....

Besides fixing some of those city locations on the map, why not name the Central and Southeast divisions after people, like the others? Maybe Howe for the Central and Francis for the Southeast? Just a thought.

Regardless, I look forward to this.

[Maz]

Switching St. Louis and Columbus wouldn't be such a bad idea. Geographically, you could go either way, but it also evens out the talent between those two divisions (assuming it stays at current levels in the future). The appeal of cross-state rivalry in Missouri is appealing, though. Other than that, this makes sense, and makes for some great hockey keeping a lot of rivalries together, so it covers all the bases of a good realignment.

[Cody21]

The only place i don't get is nashville. why southeast for the preds?

[WNDUP FX]

The only place i don't get is nashville. why southeast for the preds?

They're just as South as Carolina and almost as far East as Columbus. As I mentioned above, I added Nashville to strengthen the division.

[WNDUP FX]

Dang! You've completely stolen my thunder on this one: I'm working on a very similar project, even down to which teams relocate where and the map file you're using....

Besides fixing some of those city locations on the map, why not name the Central and Southeast divisions after people, like the others? Maybe Howe for the Central and Francis for the Southeast? Just a thought.

Regardless, I look forward to this.

The problem I found in researching names for the divisions is that most teams probably wouldn't want a banner hanging from the rafters named after someone who has no historical relevance to their team history. Could you imagine a Mario Lemieux Divisional Championship banner hanging in the Verizon Center or a Joe Sakic banner hanging in Joe Louis Arena?

[Brian in Boston]

1 year into the future and without a new arena deal, the New York Islanders are sold off to the Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) and relocated to Kansas City...

While it can be said that AEG currently technically owns both the Los Angeles Kings and 1/30th of the Phoenix Coyotes, I don't envision a scenario where the NHL would allow the company to hold controlling interest in both the Kings and a Kansas City-based franchise.

[WNDUP FX]

Yeah, I knew that would pop up eventually. In reading a few articles on WIkipedia and some other sources it did state that special circumstances (such as the league running the club prior to it being relocate) could be agreed upon.

Potential National Hockey League expansion (Wikipedia): As AEG already owns the Los Angeles Kings, it would not be allowed to own another NHL team under NHL rules, although the rule has been circumvented in the past.

That said, let's assume for future reference that previous to AEG relocating a club to Kansas City an agreement is worked out where they sell off majority ownership rights of the Los Angeles Kings.

[illwauk]

No Milwaukee? Boooooo!!!

[GMW79]

This is an interesting project, but on the topic of division names, I question a Norris Division that excludes Detroit, Chicago, St. Louis, and Minnesota.

[WNDUP FX]

In 2015 the league decides to adapt a hybrid of the CCM/EDGE systems, also reverting back to the white home/dark away, much to the delight of players and fans alike. With this new jersey system, many teams begin toying with pre Reebok designs.

Anaheim Ducks

With this design theme in mind, I've gone back to the Mighty Duck mask and shoulder patches used prior to the Reebok switch. The teal colour from the previous jerseys has become a kelly green, with the addition of a darker eggplant. The original white and grey colour scheme has also been adopted.

Edit: Updated with a recoloured version of the 3rd jersey shoulder patch

[dgnmrwrw]

The problem I found in researching names for the divisions is, that most teams probably wouldn't want a banner hanging from the rafters named after someone who has no historical relevance to their team history. Could you imagine a Mario Lemieux Divisional Championship banner hanging in the Verizon Center or a Joe Sakic banner hanging in Joe Louis Arena?

This is a good point. But upon more research, the Norris, Adams, and Smythe Divisions are all named after former team owners (Norris apparently had ownership stakes in the Wings, Hawks, and Rangers). Patrick was a player and coach, but also helped build leagues and rewrite the rulebooks. So instead of naming them after former players, why not owners or executives that have some association with their respective franchises/areas? (In fact, it seems like the Central should be the "Norris", based on his association with Detroit and Chicago.) I'd recommend "Jennings" for the Pacific; William M. Jennings was instrumental to the 1967 NHL expansion that shifted the league more westwardly and added franchises in the LA and Bay areas. And perhaps (gulp!) the "Bettman" division for the Southeast; he came into power just after the Tampa Bay expansion and did oversee the creation of Nashville, Carolina (sorta), and Columbus. Just a thought.

The Anaheim concept looks good. While I'm personally against going back to the Disney-tastic "Mighty Ducks" name, the colors and uniforms you presented are solid. I do hope to see some original logos during the series, though.

[tigerslionspistonshabs]

Solid, although in my perfect world the purple would be dark green and the teal would be orange. Solid color combo that they should have gone with when they rebranded.

[tigerslionspistonshabs]

I also give you kudos for sticking with a realistic scenario and not including places like Saskatoon and Halifax as viable NHL cities. They never will be.