NHL Realignment?

Question

Anyone else think that the NHL needs to realign with divisions and conferences being more like the MLB and NFL. Where there is no Eastern or Western conference, just and American and National per se?

The reason, first I am from Detroit and don't think its fair that the Wings and Blue Jackets have to play in the Western Conference and travel 100x farther for the year than any Eastern Conference team has too. Baseball and Football conferences work great, granted they only travel once a week in football. If they don't realign they definetly need to play between conferences more than once every 3 years. So, realign the league and place some west coast teams and east coast teams in the same conferences but make sure you put Detroit and Toronto in the same division.

So the people who live on the east coast think that its fair, say the Islanders, can take the bus to play the Rangers, Devils, Bruins, and Capitals? But Detroit and Columbus have to fly 3 times zones away to play the Kings, Ducks, Sharks, and Canouks. Hell, why doesn't Bettman just put a team in Hawaii then and Alaska, and possibly Cuba then just so the Eastern Conf. has to fly to games! I am sorry the NHL, till recently, has been a game played on the east coast and Canada and baseball and football have been been played all over the country.

There is no reason Detroit, Toronto, Minnesota, St. Louis, Dallas, Colorado can't make up the central. You know what, forget even having conferences, just put 8 teams into 4 divisions and everyone plays everyone and the top 16 teams make the playoffs. Forget the conferences.

Hell, look at the NFL the Dallas Cowboys are in the NFC East, explain that?

Answer 1

Gary Bettman, is that you?

Answer 2

MLB and the NFL gained their conferences as they were formed by the merger or acceptance of rival leagues. As such, there never were established local rivalries between the local teams in the different conferences. Granted, due to the expansion and relocations of the 90's, there may not be much tradition to many of the divisional matchups, but there is that local rivalry.

And what would happen to Detroit's division should the NHL split into two conferences? They'd likely lose two of their current division rivals and replace them with teams in the deep south. That may keep them in the same time zone, but may not be all that great for travel. And BTW, it would neither make geographic nor political sense to put either Toronto in a central division or Detroit in an eastern division. There's really not that many teams east of Toronto and there's no way Toronto gets split from Montreal.

Answer 3

the NHL schedule will be changed in after this season or the next i can't remember, but don't compare it to NFL as they play only 16 games a season and once a week so there schedule not that difficult. the reasons why schedules have changed is cause less travel equals less money and today there's more then just one sporting event in an Arena and also with music concerts and so on. just two years ago the Sens where i think in the second round and they took 2 nights off cause the Arena had Dora the Explorer concert. the schedule will be changed soon and they're thinking about making it 6 times playing in your own little division instead of 8.



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

Answer 4

No.

I have a problem when you say we should be more like football and baseball. This is hockey, we should be like hockey.

I have a problem when you want to mess with the whole system just to fix it for one team. What do you mean unfair to Detroit? Half the teams have a horrible travel schedule, not just Detroit. If anything Detroit is spoiled and benefiting from being in the weakest division.

Yes, the schedule needs to be changed. So let's concentrate on that getting done right and not try distract away from that issue.

Answer 5

Theres only one problem I have about the East and West and thats Detroit being in the west. Same with Columbus, but Detroits been here alot longer. Detroit last year, had to go to west canada/california and back to detroit around 9 times, for around 10,000 miles. While Buffalo didn't leave there state til game 3 of the ECF. Detroit has 6 west coast trips in the regular season.

Answer 6

I may live in the east but I understand your concerns. The problem is that there is nothing anyone can do about the geography. Detroit will always be in any "central" division and in the "midwest" in some cases.

No matter how anyone arranges the teams, the fact remains that any attempt to place Detroit in the east would require more teams being established or relocated to the west of the city, or a reduction of teams to the east.

Answer 7

Living in Michigan, it's tough when you have so many away games out west and have to stay up til 1 or 2 in the morning, tho I would do it regardless. It would just make more sense to have them playing more games in their own time zone. Also I liked the proposed 84 game season with less preseason games. but Bettman doesn't think so

Answer 8

If it's not broke, don't fix it. I fail to see the problem with the current system; it's simple, it's effective. Actually, I fail to see why you think there needs to be a "realignment" because you never bothered to mention it.

Moose: The league tried that before Bettman came in. I remember as a kid staying up late as hell watching the Leafs and Canucks fight it out in the conference finals so I sympathize with you. However, that's only two teams and two fanbases who has to suffer as opposed to, say, 15 of them. Better to have two fanbases who has a problem with it than 15, who can potentially be driven away from hockey.

Answer 9

Vancouver in the Pacific makes no sense. They're very close to Edmonton, Calgary and Winnipeg, and Minnesota is probably as far for them as Phoenix, Anaheim and LA. Also, Dallas in Central makes no sense either. Finally, your proposal would land 6 teams in the Pacific and 4 in the Northwest. I would think that the simplest solution is: -Nashville to SE -Minnesota to Central -Winnipeg to NW OR -Stars to SE -Avalanche to Pacific -Jets to NW Those are two much better options that are also simpler

Answer 10

If there is realignment, the Wild could be placed in the Central Division, rather than the Northwest.

Answer 11

No. It's great to have regionalism in the mix. Also, it saves on time, money, and energy to have divisional teams in close proximity to each other for travel purposes. It's similar to NCAA college athletics where frequently your biggest rivalries are in-state, as opposed to cross-country. The NHL team configuration should remain just like it is..............unless, of course, they add some teams! :-)