What do you think about the NHL suggestion?

Question

Sources tell TSN the proposal includes the following:

A reduction in the number of divisions from six to four. There would still be an Eastern Conference and a Western Conference, but there were would one eight-team division and one seven-team division in each conference.
The top two teams in each division would be guaranteed the top four playoff seeds within the conference with four wild card playoff berths going to the teams with the next highest point totals.
The four new divisions would be configured primarily along the lines of time zones. The theory is not only would this benefit teams in terms of travel, but could also boost TV ratings because game times in the same time zone would be more favorable.
The current Northeast Division (Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Buffalo and Boston) would remain intact and add two other teams to form a seven-team division. Sources say Pittsburgh is one of those teams that would join the Northeast teams.
The current Atlantic Division (the three New York area teams plus Philadelphia) would be melded together with four teams from the current Southeast Division (all but one of Washington, Carolina, Atlanta, Tampa Bay and Florida).
The eight-team division in the Western Conference would feature all teams in Pacific or Mountain time zones (Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Anaheim, Los Angeles, San Jose, Colorado and Phoenix).
The seven-team division in the Western Conference would feature teams that are in either the Central or Eastern time zones.
As for the schedule, it is said to be a little more complicated than it currently is, because of the uneven number of teams in the divisions, but each team will apparently play its division rivals six times each and its conference rivals either three or four times each and non-conference teams once each.

Answer 1

Makes sense to me, so probably won't happen..

Answer 2

Obviously Bettman wasnt in on this (it makes sense...no way anyone can associate him and making sense). It potentially is a great idea but still some of the alignments need to be tweaked. I think that Detroit and Chicago should have a say in returning to the Eastern conference, returning to the days of the Original 6 matchups should be part of any alignment talks. Currently the Red Wings play 32 games out west the way the schedule is now and those games start at 10:00 or 10:30 pm local time, it makes no sense to have that many games played that late when TV rating are needed( love my Wings but those tuesday night games in L.A. that end after 1:00 am really suck). Also they may need to factor in the Pittsburg situation. I am guessing they arent going anywhere, the city went through the same situations with both the Steelers and Pirates and made last minute deals to keep them in town. But if a deal cant be worked out then they may end up in KC (man that is hard to believe) or some other mid American city. If the NHL is serious about promoting the game then they need a more balanced schedule so fans can see each team, who could possibly be happy to not see the Wings play the Canadiens, Leafs, Bruins, Rangers etc. at home more than once every 3 years. That is how the schedule is now. Lets hope they can sit down and make changes for the good of the game and to be fair to the fans. they are blessed to have such dedicated fans after everything they have put us through. Its time to make things right with the paying customers!

Answer 3

I'm a season ticket holder for the Flames and I actually like the current format over the proposed one unless non-conference teams are going to play twice. I like the idea of 8 games between Calgary and Edmonton or Vancouver.
If anything change the playoff format to the top two from each division with two wild cards. Let the top two from each division play each other in the first round and let the winners of those series play each other with winner of the wildcard series as the fourth team for the second round.
If they expanded the schedule a bit so that the western teams could see Crosby, etc. play once a year in their rink I all for that as well.

Answer 4

I think the best way would be for each team to play the other teams an equal amount without having conferences or divisions get in the way. That way the best 16 teams would make the playoffs and hockey fans could dream of a Canadiens vs Maple Leafs / Edmonton vs Calgary/ Detroit vs Chicago, or Bruins vs Rangers Stanley Cup finals. If you want to make the rivalaries mean something imagine these battles for the Cup instead of during the regular season. I'm a Penguins fan and would love to see the Pens vs Philly or Washington for the cup but it will never happen.

Answer 5

I need to think about. my leafs would stay in the same division so i like that part. Putting most of the old Pa tick Division teams back together with the up and coming Southeast Division looks good in terms of revenue but it sounds like it will be too crowded with only the top two making the playoffs and the rest fighting it our for a wild card. That could be unfair if they all have around 90 points and the second place teams in other divisions have fewer points get in.

Answer 6

Sounds a little confusing, now when it gets straightened out and the teams are configured for sure it might sound like a good idea. Now the other problem will be not knowing where the Penguins would be when they do this reallignment. Although I say go with a 28 team league and have each division have 7 teams. Come on who doesn't think that the NHL would be fine with 28 teams?

Answer 7

Division realignment is what the NHL is concentrating on?

The Penguins are in flux, a handful of American teams are playing WAY below capacity and their TV contract is a joke. How about solving the BIG issues first? This is small potatoes.

What's not stated in the question is that this is a prelude to a "play-in" round of the playoffs, where the 7 thru 10-seeds "play in" to the actual playoffs, that is being suggested by the teams in the NHL that have a recent history of sucking. That's what we call a "money grab". Why reward teams and owners that can't build a winner?

Realign the divisions when ALL teams are making money and filling their buildings.

Answer 8

If hockey wants to do anything they can start by fixing this whacked scoring system of giving losing teams 50% of what the winner get's just for going in to overtime.

Prime example: Carolina, Calgary, Colorado, and Vancouver all have 17 wins and they all have different point totals? What?
Only in hockey can this happen.

Now they want to possibly tamper with the divisions and playoff format again. LEAVE IT ALONE!!!

Gart Bettman has to go!! If he wants to do something bring back the old school division names. Smythe, Patrick, Norris, and Adams. How cool where they?

Answer 9

As long as they change the present boring schedule, then anything is a good idea.
We basically use the 8 team conference system already for use of playoff seeds, so it is fine with me.

Answer 10

Brevity works better. Yeah, I love it despite the media's howsl. Fans out West here hate the sked and this may solve it. Plus go retro with Patrick, Adams, Snorris and Smythe divisions.

Answer 11

i just hope it works out cause playing teams in your own division 8 times is not good it actually makes the rivalries boring as hell. look at the Leafs and Sens they played each other 4 times from the start of the regular season to the end of October boring.
there's seven months in a NHL season make them play once a month.


GO HABS GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1