NHL Modifies Realignment Proposal
Monday · Feb 25 · 2013 | 11:49 AM PST
CBC's Elliotte Friedman reports new plan being considered
Over the weekend, Elliotte Freidman reported a new NHL realignment proposal is on the table. He talked about modifications made to last year's proposal on Hockey Night in Canada's Hoststove Tonight segment.
For those of us who are more visual, I've put together the map above to show you what the new proposal would look like. The big takeaways from this report:
- Detroit and Columbus would now get to play more road games in the eastern time zone.
- Should the Coyotes end up moving to Seattle, there'd be no need for realignment.
- However, there's no room in the east for any expansion to Quebec or Toronto.
- The majority of the Original 6 is reunited in Conference 2 with Detroit, Toronto, Montreal and Boston all grouped together.
- Of course, Tampa Bay and Florida are still lumped into the Canadian conference for some reason.
- Poor Columbus. From a division with Chicago and Detroit to one with the Penguins, Flyers and Rangers. These guys can't win. I mean, literally, they cannot win hockey games. Why?
Friedman also said the league is exploring a wild card format for the 8-team divisions. This is because teams in the larger conferences are at a slight disadvantage when it comes to making the playoffs. So we might see a situation where the No. 4 and 5 seeds in Conferences 1 and 2 square off for that fourth playoff spot.
I'm curious to see everyone's take on the new proposal. Here's a question, though. How should the conferences be named? Certainly not by names or letters. Should the league stick with its geographical names or go back to naming them after key people in NHL history?
Reader Comments (51)
This whole uneven division thing is ridiculous. Either contract by two or expand by two so you'll have four even divisions.
I like any re-alignment that goes with this four conference idea. Divisional playoffs (while possibly "not fair") create great rivalries. Ahh the old Chuck Norris division.
As a CBJ fan, I don't care that they're going from the frying pan to the fryer. They always seem to play better against the East, the 7pm starts are going to work wonders for the TV side, and the constant visits from Pittsburgh and Washington are going to help attendance numbers.
Uneven numbers are stupid, there has to be a better way! And they totally should go back to key figures for the names - but they most certainly will not. They're going to continue to pander to people who don't know the history of the sport, rather than take an opportunity to teach new fans some of the incredible history of the game.
Conference 2 makes for a great regular season, but terrible playoffs. You're going to have major markets, and highly talented teams missing the playoffs every year solely due to number restrictions. I think this is terrible.
This plan is completely short-sighted. If (or more likely when) the Coyotes relocate to Quebec City another realignment will be necessary. Add in an expansion team to the Toronto area and all of a sudden Columbus and Detroit are going to be shipped back to the West. All this is to placate Detroit at the expense of common sense
Forget east/west, move to 5 divisions, focus on rivalries, playoffs go 1vs16 2vs15
Division A – Anaheim, Colorado, LA, Phoenix, San Jose, Vancouver
Division B – Calgary, Dallas, Edmonton, Minnesota, St Louis, Winnipeg
Division C – Chicago, Columbus, Detroit, Nashville, Ottawa, Toronto
Division D – Carolina, Florida, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Tampa Bay, Washington
Division E – Boston, Buffalo, Montreal, New Jersey, New York, New York
I just don't like the proposed playoff format. Where basically all of the teams are in one bracket...thus eiminating east/west champs.
ANYTHING (almost) that has my Wings playing fewer games that start at 10:30 local (Eastern) is a win in my book. I might swap the Panthers and Islanders though. Give people in Florida a little more exposure to more teams. That removes the potential in-state rivalry though...
Not really a fan of Columbus and Carolina being in, what is essentially, the old Patrick Division. Still think instead of 4 conferences it should be 2 conferences (East/West) with two divisions each. That still allows for standard 1-8 seeding and prevents the issue with the #3 seed division winner getting home ice, as well as preventing a #5 seed in one division missing the playoffs just because the rest of the division is stacked. Also think that if you're truly going to be geographically accurate, Pittsburgh and Columbus should be in Conference 2 and the Florida teams should be in Conference 1, but of course you can't really break up Pitts/Philly into separate divisions.
This whole realignment is flawed. Why are the two Florida teams in division 2 when there's 2 other divisions in between them. That's ridiculous.
Blue = East
Yellow = West
Green = Central
Red = Atlantic
In this set up we could see the Detroit Red Wings play the Tampa Bay Blue Wings
This is still no better than it was before. Unfortunately, the NHL really can't seem to get this right, and they won't be able to unless they expand to 32 teams, which people have a very negative reaction to.
Until they do that, the most logical option, IMO, is to scrap divisions entirely, and just have 2 15-team conferences. I'd put Columbus back in the West, in this plan, and leave everything else as above, with the East and West looking much as it did before. If and when they expand to 32 teams, then you can go to four eight-team divisions (which I prefer to the NFL's 8 divisions of four, for any league that plays more than 16 games.)
The main problem with this, as pointed out, is it would suck for Columbus to come East, then in two years find out that Phoenix needs to move to Quebec City, necessitating a return to the West for CMB.
If the NHL's serious about this uneven four-conference plan, though, I'd prefer to see Phoenix move to Seattle, Florida move to Quebec City, Tampa put in with the Southeast/Atlantic, and Columbus moved to the Canadian Division, so:
QUE/MTL/OTT/TOR/DET/BOS/BUF/CMB
NYI/NYR/NJD/PHI/PIT/WAS/CAR/TB
That might be the best way to make the East work.
The Reason that Florida Teams are lumped in with Montreal and Toronto is that there are thousands of Retires' from Southern Ontario and Eastern Canada. Besides those living in Florida for the Winter, there are Thousands more that are visitors. If they had more games against the Leafs and Habs, you have more people at those games at least, especially since it's nearly impossible to get tickets in Tor or Mon.
PS. I also think because Toronto have sucked for ages, 1967, going to be 50 years pretty soon) and they need a couple of bottom feeder teams to beat on a regular basis.
Really surprised no one has talked about how easily the NHL will be able to expand in the West. Kansas City will easily fit into the "Midwest" conference, while Seattle will perfectly fit into the "Pacific". The NHL is looking to solve the problems of tomorrow, not the problems they are having today.
The way I see it, there are three ways to name the conferences:
1) Atlantic, Northeast, Central and Pacific
2) Patrick, Adams, Norris and Smythe
3) Lemieux, Orr, Howe and Gretzky
I'm not a big fan of the first option. The geographic divisional names have become a symbol of the Bettman era, and I suspect many hockey fans will be glad to see them go. I like the second option a lot, but I also really think honouring the legends of the game is a great idea too. With that said, WAIT UNTIL THEY'RE DEAD. I'm sorry, but that seems like the best option. Once they die, you can name whatever you want after them, but not while they're still alive. Let's stick with Patrick, Adams, Norris and Smythe, at least for now.
(By the way, I realize this is about as likely to happen as Movie 43 winning the best picture Oscar next year, but have they ever considered repurposing the Patrick, Adams, Norris and Smythe trophies to go to the winners of the respective divisions? That'd be really neat and I think it'd be a good way to help fans learn about the game's history. And they can always make new trophies for the other honours.)
I say expand to make it equal. Why can't the state of Wisconsin support a team? Quebec or Seattle will also be getting a team.
Also, does Carolina and Nashville have any big-time rivalries? Why not lump them with Florida and Tampa bay so you have a more true south division? You can throw Dallas in with them and maybe Washington or Columbus (since Columbus has just started, they won't care). Another option might be St Louis.
Anyways you would end up with a true "South" division, you could keep the proposed "West" division, take the most "Central" teams to make up the next division, then whats left is a "East" division
I would be the happiest hockey fan on Earth is they went back to Prince of Wales Conference and Clarence Campbell Conference. Maybe name the other two Lester Patrick Conference and Frank Calder Conference.
Future alignment after expansion to Quebec City and a second Toronto team plus Phoenix to Seattle move will be:
Conference 1: CAR/CLB/NJ/NYI/NYR/PHI/PIT/WASH (Remains the same) - All Eastern time zone teams
Conference 2: BOS/BUF/DET/MON/OTT/QUE/TOR/TOR2 (FLA & TB out, QUE & TOR2 in) - All Eastern time zone teams
Conference 3: CHI/DAL/FLA/MIN/NASH/STL/TB/WPG (COL out, FLA & TB in) - 6 Central & 2 Eastern time zone teams
Conference 4: ANA/CAL/COL/EDM/LA/SJ/SEA/VAN (PHX to SEA, COL in) - 5 Pacific & 3 Mountain time zone teams
This is what I believe the NHL ultimately has in mind. Some might question Florida and Tampa in the Central Conference, but the travel would actually be slightly less for these two teams than being in Conference 2 (I did the math). Dal, Nash & STL are all closer to TB & FLA than any of the teams in the rest of the proposed Conf 2. CHI is as close as any of those teams which leaves just MIN and WPG. Overall the travel in this Conference would be slightly less and only 1 time zone over works also.
All conferences will have 8 teams and be aligned by time zones.
I, for one, believes this is a very positive thing. Brings back divisional playoffs, which will create more intense rivalries. The argument that good teams will be left out is a flawed one. If they're that good, why didn't they finish in the top of their respective division? I don't like the idea that the divisions are unequal, but it allows for easier expansion. Looks like Seattle is closer to getting a team, since they would slide right into the Smythe Division (that's what I'm calling it so get over it). This also allows for 31 teams, although I don't know how a schedule would work. The argument that there is a competitive unbalance is also flawed. Professional sport is cyclical, especially with a salary cap. The teams that are good today, will not necessarily be good in ten years.
One thing is for certain, people need to realize that change is coming and need to get over it. Be open to something outside the box. Time zones have to be factored into this decision. This is the second best format for that. Second to last year's proposal. No matter what happens, people will be mad, so the NHL should just do it.
Agree with most of you, the uneven numbers suck. Just proves to me they are planning to expand no matter how much they deny it. And there is in fact room for Toronto 2 and Quebec City to be those expansion teams....Phoenix will move to Seattle.....Then you will see the Florida teams moved to conference 3, Colorado and Winnipeg move to conference 4. Stupid now but will make a lot of sense in 4 or 5 years. I'd bet money on it. The Panthers and Lightning don't fit anywhere in this scenario, but would fit nicely in conference 3 once this all happens. By the way - how about the Lemieux (1), Orr (2), Howe (3) and Gretzky (4) divisions? I know Howe's Wings are in 2, but how could you leave him (or Orr) out in favour of anyone from a 3 city?
Knowing how corportate all the major sports are becoming, they'll probably do something stupid like have sponsors pay for the division names. Oh no....the Geico and Bridgestone division....
I don't understand all the hostility toward this realignment, I love it, yeah there are a couple flaws, mainly FLA & TB in Conf 2, but I get it, you cant break up NYI NJ & NYR or PHI & PIT, now you could switch out the 2 Penn teamns for the 2 Florida teams but that makes one Conf really strong and the other a lot weaker. Overall it evens out the travel that has always been tougher on the Western teams, especially my Wings, than the Eastern teams, now its even and love the new playoff format, and the uneven Conf. are not that big of a deal, the AHL did it for years, u either have a very entertaining wildcard or do what the AHL did, if the 5th place teams in the 2 Conf. with 8 teams have more points than the 4th place teams in the 7 team Confs. then they swap over. Overall this is a win
This is what I'd like to see for the names of the Conferences.
Conference 1 - Wales Conference - CAR, CBJ, NJ, NYI, NYR, PHI, PIT, WAS
Conference 2 - Norris Conference - BOS, BUF, DET, FLA, MON, OTT, TBY, TOR
Conference 3 - Adams Conference - CHI, COL, DAL, MIN, NAS, STL, WIN
Conference 4 - Campbell Conference - ANA, CAL, EDM, LA, PHX, SJ, VAN
-Prince of Wales trophy awarded to the Wales Conference Champions
-Clarence S. Campbell Bowl awarded to the Campbell Conference champions
-2 new trophies introduced for the Norris and Adams Conferences Champions
4 conferences: John, Paul, George, and Ringo
Sadly, the old names aren't coming back. Newer player-based names sound "Leaders/legends" level tacky, and are unfair: Find a name that everyone in the MTL/TOR/BOS/DET division can agree on. West/Midwest/Atlantic/Eastern works.
I still think Detroit should be in the Midwest division, especially with the more equalized travel and STL/CHI being there. I echo a poster above me who thinks that the league's putting too many big markets in one basket.
Glad the southern division is breaking up. Trapping those teams away from the rest of the league hurt their reception, I think. Make them a part of the conversation in the Northeast, and their reputation will increase.
At the very least, winning a division will mean something again.
I can't stand this. It's basically Detroit's fear of going to the West Coast.
It's so simple. Send Colorado to the Pacific, Dallas to the Central, Nashville to the Southeast and Winnipeg to the Northwest. That's it!
Adams
Patrick
Norris
Smythe
Just get it done.
With this look I hope that Milwaukee and Seattle get teams, that would fit in perfectly for everyone.
Just trade Nashville for Winnipeg. Nashville goes to southeast conference (there actually located right in the SE) and winnipeg goes to the central division (there actually located in centeral Canada. Simple fix that keeps pretty much everything the same. Plus Nashville would make the SE division alot better
For now, I'm calling the conferences the "St. Lawrence" (Toronto, Florida, etc.), "Atlantic" (Pittsburgh, Philly, etc.), "Midwest" (Chicago, St. Louis, etc.) and "Pacific" (LA, Vancouver, etc.). I prefer the conferences being named like they were in the 80s, though.
I think a 10 team playoff would be better for this alignment. It would start with a play-in round for the "St. Lawrence" and "Atlantic" conferences since they have 8 teams, preferably a best of three rather than a one and done. (A round of 4 teams.) The secound round would be the wildcard round, where the play-in winners face off against their conference regular season champion, and the second place teams in the "Midwest" and "Pacific" conferences would face off against their conference champion as the wildcard team. The winner would move on to the conference finals where the four conference playoff champions would be seeded by regular season record, not an east-west alignment. The winners of the "final four" would go onto the Stanley Cup final and the team with the best regular season record would have home ice.
My take
Conference A = Montreal, Boston, Toronto, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Detroit and Ottawa (7 teams)
Conference B = Rangers, Islanders, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Washington, Carolina, Tampa Bay and Florida (8 teams)
Conference C = Columbus, Chicago, St-Louis, Minnesota, Colorado, Winnipeg, Dallas and Nashville (8 teams)
Conference D = Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, San Jose, Los Angeles, Phoenix and Anaheim (7 teams)
I just can't stand the Florida teams being in the Northeast
Pittsburgh has been in the Northeast from 92-98 so I think it's plausible. I don't think they HAVE to be with Philly.
Spots open for Seattle (D) and Quebec/Toronto (A)
In my dreams, those conference are named Norris, Adams, Patrick and Smythe but I don't think the NHL will go that way. It's gonna be geographical, something like Northeast, Atlantic, Central and Pacific
JIH in post from above has this thing just about perfect ....2 conferences,4 divisions,keep the current 1-8 playoff seeding.Swap TB/FLA with CBS/PIT...yes you can split PIT and PHIL. It's been done before..Nobody has a problem with DET and CHI being split,but we don't dare split PIT and PHIL?? Actually DET should stay in WEST also, so there will be 15/15,When there is a new team out west than you can move DET to East. Of course the NHL WILL screw this up!!
I like the 4-conference format a lot. For those of you suggesting easier is better, I strongly disagree. 4 conferences solves issues for Winnipeg, Detroit, Columbus, Dallas, and Minnesota all in one fell swoop, in addition to creating an overall better time zone scenario and allows home-and-home with every team in the league.
I don't think you should read too much into this in terms of potential relocations/expansions into the Northeast. If they NHL wants a team in Quebec and/or Toronto (and I would bet good money the Nordiques will be revived soon), they will make it happen, and simply shift Columbus and/or Detroit back to the Central.
Some have complained about the Atlantic having too many competitive teams; you are wrong. Firstly, you shouldn't base long-term realignment plans on short term competitive balance; these things change unpredictably. Secondly, if we look at the top 8 teams in points currently out of the 16 in the proposed Northeast and Atlantic divisions, only 3 of them are from the Atlantic while 5 are from the Northeast! Note: this includes Detroit, which bumps Tampa out of 8th.
Con 1 BUF-CHI-TOR-DET-OTT (great lakes)
Con 2 NYR-BOS-NJD-NYI-MON (North east)
Con 3 WAS-PIT-PHI-CAR-CLB (atlantic)
Con 4 TBL-DAL-NAS-FLA-STL (south central)
Con 5 ANA-VAN-LAK-SJS-PHX (western)
Con 6 EDM-CAL-WIN-MIN-COL (mountain)
IMPORTANT REGARDING PLAYOFFS: As discussed on TSN last night, the proposed playoff structure would likely involve top 4 in each division playing out the first 2 rounds to crown a division championship. However, the proposed wild card is not about 4th and 5th place teams playing each other to make it into the top 16 (which would not actually even the odds of making top 16 for the 2 larger conferences, as people seem to be suggesting), but would rather involve the top 3 in each division automatically making the playoffs while the top 4 remaining 18 teams leaguewide would also make it in as wild cards. Almost like a crossover-style thing where teams from other conferences have the ability to play in another teams's divisional playoffs. I love this, as it balances the enhanced rivalries of divisional playoffs, while still being fair about the odds of making the playoffs.
if i were a betting man, I bet that tampa and the panthers are likely the next teams to move to Canada. I don't want to say that is def. going to happen, but to me that looks like the logic behind putting them with the original six and buffalo. Southern Ontario and Quebec City are pretty close to the original six cities and Buffalo. The 7 out west leaves room for expansion to Seatle (conference 4) and KC (conference 3). This is all just speculation from looking at a color coded realignment but that seems to make the most sense.
I like the idea of a four conference league, even if there is some unbalance (looking at last year's regular season standings, the Caps wouldn't have gotten into the playoffs and the Stars would have, under the proposed realignment). It makes the NHL unique amongst the other major sports leagues and I think it makes ups for bulk of the teams being in the eastern time zone.
As far as team relocation, the only thing worth putting any stock into in the Coyotes going up to Seattle, since the town is trying to get a new arena (possibly multipurpose) and get the NBA's Kings to leave Sacramento.
According to my local radio station, the conference names would be Pacific (4), MidWest (3), Central (2) and Atlantic (1)
Will be weird to have my Montreal Canadiens in the Central though...
That's what I was going to say. The two duds in Florida move to Quebec City and Markham and then the division makes sense. But please - no more expansion. We need fewer teams, not more teams. There are too many players in the NHL now that aren't even qualified to play in the CHL.
That is really awesome Chris. Thanks for doing this. It is way better to see it in picture.
*****I decided to do a Google search of the NHL realignment and your picture is everywhere on all major sites!
Nashville>Southeast
Minnesota>Central
Winnipeg>Northwest
Easy fix. There's no reason to rearrange the whole league structure, especially in an uneven way. Tampa Bay and Florida will have to spend a lot of money on divisional games. It isn't fair to them since there are closer teams that could be in their division. Why is the NHL so stupid?
This is ridiculous, it's all being done to appease Detroit. They're the furthest west, unfortunately there is a larger concentration of teams in the east, someone has to bite the bullet and go west. I think they should keep the current divisional alignment, and move Winnipeg into the Northwest, Colorado into the Pacific, Dallas into the Central, Nashville into the Southeast. Problem solved. Second option, switch Detroit and Winnipeg. If it's so important for them to be in the East then they have to play in the Southeast division.
Why can't they just swap Winnipeg and Columbus? Columbus plays in the South East division and Winnipeg in the Central Division. I need a Detroit - Anaheim playoffs series once in a while.
The NHL is overly complicating things...it can really boil down to this formula:
EAST / WEST CONF (no divisions).,
TOP 8 in each conference goes to playoffs.
how hard is that? too much for the NHL since they are giving this coded message of "wild cards" and TOP 3 in each division...stop rewarding the mediocre and let the best play for it all.
Also, get rid of the loser point for OT...make it to a shoot out, fine, get a point...but in theory, you could lose all 82 games, and STILL have enough points to be an 8th seed...
Dear people who think the Lightning are moving to Canada: You're wrong. 100% wrong. They have an owner who has sunk millions of his own money into the rink, and they have quite a few sellouts this year.
Please actually research stuff before posting it.
Expand to Quebec and Toronto into Conference 3 (joining Winnipeg) and move the Avs to Conference 4. I'm fine with this as long as there are plans to expand in the relatively-near future. Also, anything but a return to the proper Division/Conference names would be a major failure for the NHL.
I also think it's worth noting that Major League Baseball has had "unfair" playoffs for over a decade (until now), but it was rarely unfair in the way things appeared. The AL West had 4 teams and the NL Central had 6. But in very few seasons was the NL Central deeper than any of the 5-team divisions (and was, in many seasons, the weakest division thanks to the Cubs, Pirates, Reds, Brewers and Astros) and the AL West was rarely weaker than any of the 5-team divisions (thanks to runs of dominance by Anaheim, Oakland and Texas).
The point of which is that just because a division has more teams - even if they are traditionally-better teams - doesn't always equate to those teams being held out of the playoffs unfairly. MLB's solution (which, I would imagine, came after 10 years of looking at things) was to add a play-in game for the final playoff spot in each Conference. If the NHL wants to implement a 4v5 play-in game (or best-of-3) for the two divisions with an extra team, that's okay, but only if there are no plans for expansion in the near-future. It would be dumb (for lack of a better word) to overhaul the playoff format twice in a short stretch.