With Winnipeg enter the NHL, realignment has been a hot topic in NHL circles – and now it appears a drastic overhaul of divisions and conferences will change course for next season.
As first reported Eliott Friedman in the Hot Stove segment of CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada, the plan would create two conferences with two divisions each. The programming under debate looks like this:
Eastern Conference
Division 1
Carolina Hurricanes
Florida Panthers
New Jersey Devils
New York Islanders
New York Rangers
Philadelphia Flyers
Tampa Bay Lightning
Washington Capitals
Division 2
Detroit Red Wings or Columbus Blue Jackets
Boston Bruins
Buffalo swords
Montreal Canadiens
Ottawa Senators
Pittsburgh Penguins
Toronto Maple Leafs
Western Conference
Division 1
Detroit Red Wings or Columbus Blue Jackets
Chicago Black Hawks
Dallas Stars
Minnesota Wild
Nashville Predators
St. Louis Blues
Winnipeg Jets
Division 2
Anaheim Ducks
Calgary Flames
Colorado Avalanche
Edmonton Oilers
Los Angeles Kings
Phoenix Coyotes
San Jose Sharks
Vancouver Canucks
The overarching goal: keep teams relatively close to their own time zone. Currently Columbus And Minnesota play most of their road games outside of their time zone, leading to lower media audiences. This leads to a simpler schedule: each team would play each team in its division only twice (home and away), with the rest of the games taking place within the division. The first round of the playoffs would take place exclusively within the division.
This makes sense on many levels, although more adjustments are undoubtedly on the way. The owners of the Pittsburgh Penguins And Philadelphia Flyers are not happy with being placed in different divisions and limited to two games per season. While the management of Detroit Red Wings likes the idea of more Eastern games, it appears they will push for placement in the Western Conference to maintain their rivalries with Chicago and St. Louis.
Of course, this could all fall apart: 20 of 30 governors must approve the plan, and there are certainly some owners who don’t want to see this drastic change. The alternative would be to swap Winnipeg and Detroit, but that doesn’t address the many complaints coming from Wild fans who are tired of tuning in at 9 p.m. for many games. And there is still some sentiment in favor of a pan-Canadian division, travel costs be damned.
It will be interesting to see how this all plays out. In reality, most of the opposition will come from Eastern teams eager to maintain their rivalries. But rivalries are fluid in the NHL: given their proximity, we can predict a great Columbus/Pittsburgh rivalry once the two teams are tied. And the re-emergence of Minnesota/Chicago and Minnesota/St. Louis’ rivalries should also carry some weight.
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