[rfr3sh]

Conference A: Anaheim, Calgary, Colorado, Edmonton, LA, Phoenix, San Jose, Vancouver
Conference B: Chicago, Columbus, Dallas, Detroit, Minnesota, Nashville, St. Louis, Winnipeg
Conference C: Boston, Buffalo, Florida, Montreal, Ottawa, Tampa Bay, Toronto
Conference D: Carolina, New Jersey, New York Islanders, New York Rangers, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Washington

The NHL's Board of Governors on Monday approved a radical realignment plan, eliminating the current two-conference, six-division setup in favor of a configuration that features four conferences based primarily on geography. Two conferences will have eight teams and the other two conferences will have seven teams.

The top four teams in each Conference qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The first-place team would play the fourth-place team; the second-place team would play the third-place team. The four respective Conference champions would meet in the third round of the Playoffs, with the survivors playing for the Stanley Cup.

Here is the link: http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=604852

[dfberger23]

wtf

[rfr3sh]

Also the Chicago Phoenix game on TV right now is about 1000x more interesting than MNF

[Wrigley]

The first 2 rounds of the playoffs are in the conferences 1 plays 4 and 2 plays 3 and the winners play each other for the conference title.
That will make for some great rivals.

[rfr3sh]

You could have Leafs vs Boston, Leafs vs Montreal in the finals hypothetically

[THE_LOCKSMITH]

wow

[Wrigley]

also everybody will get to see every team at least one time in their home town building, you play a home and home every year against non conference foes and play teams in your conference 5 or 6 times a year

[MickeyMan]

The home and home with every team is a great idea, what a radical change to the playoff format tho

[k13]

Wow, is this for real? Next year?

Carolina and Islanders are never making the playoffs now...

[MickeyMan]

You could have Leafs vs Boston, Leafs vs Montreal in the finals hypothetically

How could this be possible, won't it be one team from each conference left in the last 4 teams?

[Optional]

...

[rfr3sh]

Mickey im not sure entirely I heard it in the leafs post game interviews and optional I think there are two conferences with 7 and two with 8 but I could have made a typo

[Rich Boy]

This makes it more likely that good teams will miss the playoffs and poor teams will make the playoffs because they play in certain divisions

This will weaken the playoff pool. Not a good idea.

[The Madcap]

I knew Bettman would find a way to fuk this up. Goddamit. This is fukking retarded.

It was so simple. So simple and easy. Here's what they should have done: you put Winnipeg in the Northwest (with their other Western Canadian brothers), you move Colorado to the Pacific where they are closer to their division foes, and move Dallas back to the Central where they belong. Then you can take Nashville and throw them in the Southeast. So it would look like this....



EASTERN CONFERENCE

Northeast (the same)
Boston
Toronto
Buffalo
Ottawa
Montreal

Atlantic (the same)
Pittsburgh
Philly
NY Rangers
NY Islanders
New Jersey

Southeast
Washington
Carolina
Nashville
Tampa
Florida

(yeah, I know that division doesn't scream HOCKEY!, but you got to admit, it makes sense in every other conceivable way. )

WESTERN CONFERENCE

Central
Chicago
Detroit
Dallas
St. Louis
Columbus

(now doesn't that division make a whole lot of sense?)

Northwest
Minnesota
Winnipeg
Calgary
Edmonton
Vancouver

(my God, that's beautiful)

Pacific
LA
Anaheim
San Jose
Colorado
Phoenix

(as good as the west coast is ever going to in the NHL.)


There are 30 teams in the NHL.
Divide that by 2= 15.
15 teams per conference.
15 doesn't divide evenly by 2, but it does by 3, so....

three divisions, with 5 teams per division.

Just like they had. The math speaks for itself. With a 30 team league that's how it has to be.


6 divisions, 5 teams per division. Simple. Easy. Math. Now the math isn't as symmetrically beautiful as say, the NFL, but if the NHL wants that kind of symmetry it needs to either cut two teams or add two more. Clearly they can't add anymore, they are struggling in the markets they are in now. But you could easily cut Phoenix or Columbus. And as painful as it would be, the Islanders. They suck and haven't had decent attendance numbers in well over a decade.

Now I knew they would screw this up somehow, I just didn't know they'd fuk it up so absurdly. That takes skill.

All they had to do was move 4 teams. 4. Winnipeg, Dallas, Colorado, and Nashville. 4 teams who currently stick out like a sore thumb in their divisions. 4 teams whose travel costs are immediately slashed.

Now, in order to reduce the rest for the whiners like the Redwings, here's what you do:

Give every team a home and home with the opposing conference.
That equals 30 games.
Leaves 52.

Then one home and home with the non-divisional members of your conference. That's another 20 games. Leaves 32.

Then you get four home and homes (8 games) against your division foes. It's so goddam simple.

Or if you don't like that balance, you could make it six games against division foes, and the other 8 remaining games rotate an extra home and home with 4 non-divisional conference opponents each season. Either way, rivalries stay intact, the geographical borders are restored, travel costs are cut, and you don't fuk up anything. So how did they find a way to fuk up everything?

[rfr3sh]

I agree the divisions right now are not bad just need a few minor changes but I guess well see how it pans out

[beermankirk]

poop

[DennisGreen]

Interesting but seems a bit too radical to me plus the 7 team conferences have it a lot easier.

My Nucks would make the playoffs every year til I die at least if they realign

[TomJSports]

The realignment is terrible.

First off, it is uneven and the 7 team conferences have it way easier than the 8 team conferences. Especially with playoff ramifications. If it was the 4 division winners and a free-for-all for the next 12 spots, then fine. Also the 8 team conferences get an added scheduling difficulty for intraconference games that as Bettman said: 'get evened out over a seven-year period'.

Second off, why not move Columbus and Detroit to the 'east' and have all 16 Eastern time zone teams play in two 8 team conferences? Move Columbus to build geographical rivalries with the Pennsylvania teams and Detroit into an Original Six heavy conference with Toronto, Boston, and the Habs?

Third off, they're back to playing too many of the same teams. A few years ago, fans hated the eight games per division opponent. Now they're back to six per divisional (aka conference) opponent, but now the first two rounds are only in the conference. So to play another team in the playoffs, it'll only happen to the division winners.

Fourth off, what if a conference flatout sucks? Do they get a bye to the semis, essentially? Think the Caps' southeast division in recent years.

Fifth off, back in the Smythe/Adams/Norris/Patrick days, this was tried and this failed. Seriously, why go back to an already failed system?


An example of how teams got screwed was in the 84/85 season. Edmonton won the Smythe but was second in the NHL. Winnipeg was second in the Smythe, but fourth in the NHL. Calgary was third in the Smythe, but fifth in the NHL. So only one of those top five overall teams even had a chance to make it to the semifinals. Pretty silly.

Seriously, I don't know why they can't do this like the NCAA tournament or well any tennis tournament. 1 and 2 get a half. 3 and 4 get a quarter. 5-8 get an eighth. Logically, the four division (“conference”) winners get a quarter, and the 5-16 best teams by points make the playoffs. Give the 5-8 best teams get an eighth (i.e. home ice for the first round). Make the positions in the bracket slightly based on geography a la the NCAA, but geography isn't the be-all-end-all. It is not difficult at all.

Even better, make five conferences of six teams to make an even playing field and even scheduling. The two worst conference winners are seeded against each other and go from there. Or keep the six divisions and have 3 v. 6 and 4 v. 5 of the division winners.

I just greatly dislike that the realignment put so much emphasis on intraconference playoffs. Let anyone play anyone and have the best two teams in the Finals. Who would complain about a Leafs-Habs final? Or Flames-Oilers? And we all know the Bettman jizzfest that would ensue with a Penguins-Capitals final. I have no problem if the best two teams are 'West' or 'East', just make the damn thing make sense. This simply does not make sense and has been tried before and failed before.

[k13]

The lamest part is the playoff format, same division teams playing against each other. So boring. Just do a 1-16 seed playoff format.

Bettman just wants to ruin hockey completely.

[PuckOff]

You could have Leafs vs Boston, Leafs vs Montreal in the finals hypothetically

????? how so? only one team comes out of each conference.

[PuckOff]

This makes it more likely that good teams will miss the playoffs and poor teams will make the playoffs because they play in certain divisions

This will weaken the playoff pool. Not a good idea.

I half agree Richie. Team will just have to adjust and become better at scouting, drafting, trading and signing UFA's/

[MickeyMan]

Mickey im not sure entirely I heard it in the leafs post game interviews and optional I think there are two conferences with 7 and two with 8 but I could have made a typo

Yeah I heard them say this on tsn too and couldnt figure out how it was possible lol

[PuckOff]

I'm almost for certain i heard the same thing and also couldn't figure it out.

[zandyman]

Shoulda just made an East & West, shipped Winny west & Columbus (or Detroit) east, and taken top 8 from each conference. It usually turns out that way anyhow (best 8 from each conf.).

[rfr3sh]

????? how so? only one team comes out of each conference.

it is top 4 teams in each conference
then they get re-seeded after the 2nd round

With teams being re-seeded after two rounds, the Canucks would play host to the Bruins one round earlier while the Capitals and Red Wings would meet in the other semifinal. The new conference alignment has the potential to breed matchups that would have been impossible otherwise.

[DennisGreen]

The more I read about this and find out the more I'm down for this. Imagine a Canucks/Hawks final. Epic! Would be great creating new rivalries and having playoff matches that haven't happened in 20+ years.

[PuckOff]

You could have Leafs vs Boston, Leafs vs Montreal in the finals hypothetically

Your wording has thrown me off. I thought you meant in the Stanley Cup final. What you mention is for the conference "final," but not for the actual Stanley Cup final.

[rfr3sh]

Your wording has thrown me off. I thought you meant in the Stanley Cup final. What you mention is for the conference "final," but not for the actual Stanley Cup final.

no, they can meet in the stanley cup final, meeting in the conference final is possible right now

[bink]

no, they can meet in the stanley cup final, meeting in the conference final is possible right now

No, they can't. They're in the same conference. 1st 2 rounds of playoffs are intra-conference. Conference winners go on to verse each other in the 3rd round. Last 2 conference winners remaining are the ones that meet in the Stanley Cup finals.

Reseeding doesn't happen until after the intra-conference matchups.

[PuckOff]

no, they can meet in the stanley cup final, meeting in the conference final is possible right now

OK you completely lost me. There is only 1 (ONLY ONE) winner from each new conference. there will be 4 new conferences. Boston, Montreal and Toronto will be in the same conference. How is it possible for 2 of these teams to face off for the Cup? It's IMPOSSIBLE!!!

Am I missing something?

[rfr3sh]

OK you completely lost me. There is only 1 (ONLY ONE) winner from each new conference. there will be 4 new conferences. Boston, Montreal and Toronto will be in the same conference. How is it possible for 2 of these teams to face off for the Cup? It's IMPOSSIBLE!!! Am I missing something?

http://video.mapleleafs.nhl.com/vide...40087&catid=-6

watch this . fast forward to 5 min and listen

[hydrosmak]

OK you completely lost me. There is only 1 (ONLY ONE) winner from each new conference. there will be 4 new conferences. Boston, Montreal and Toronto will be in the same conference. How is it possible for 2 of these teams to face off for the Cup? It's IMPOSSIBLE!!!

Am I missing something?

Nope, you are right.

[rfr3sh]

Nope, you are right.

did you watch the video or are you just making stuff up

[bink]

http://video.mapleleafs.nhl.com/vide...40087&catid=-6

watch this . fast forward to 5 min and listen

The reporter had to explain to him about the realignment. Ron Wilson didn't have a clue about it when he was doing that interview. His "Montreal-Toronto, Toronto-Boston" line came in as a reference to the old days because the reporter said "It's possible you could play an Eastern team in the final" (a conference C vs D final).

[rfr3sh]

hmm maybe thats what through me off I guess they could only play on of :
Conference D: Carolina, New Jersey, New York Islanders, New York Rangers, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Washington
in the final I have no idea