NHL Realignment thoughts

[Chisweetness34]

Hey guys, just wondering what your thoughts are on this realignment idea?
Moving the Red Wings out of our conference just seems like something that should never be considered.

Thoughts?

[Boom!]

Moving the Red Wings to the East makes sense...unfortunately. Imagine trying to catch a west coast game at 10:30est...that would suck.

What sucks is the Blackhawks being the only original 6 team in their conference. That's a bummer.

[Assman22]

I really don't care for it, nor do I like the new playoff format. I don't see the NHLPA signing off on it right away. As proposed, Detroit and Columbus join the EC, in large part because they're in the east coast time zone. The EC then has two divisions of 8 teams each while the WC has two with 7 teams each. The top 3 teams in each division would get a playoff berth, then there's four wild card spots up for grabs, two for each conference. The new realignment also calls for each team to play a home and away games with every other team, meaning a lot more travel for players. Two issues here: There will undoubtedly be an issue with every EC owner and player given the postseason equity distribution with the extra team in each division and the added travel for every team. The players were already up in arms about travel concerns, this will only make it worse.

http://espn.go.com/nhl/story/_/id/89...ue-4-divisions

Don't expect a resolution any time soon and imo it's likely to be tabled until the offseason. Could be a slight adjustment for 2013 like Columbus to the EC and Winnipeg to the WC for the time being but nothing major like what's being proposed. Again, the last couple sentences are just my opinion.

[Assman22]

Moving the Red Wings to the East makes sense...unfortunately. Imagine trying to catch a west coast game at 10:30est...that would suck.

What sucks is the Blackhawks being the only original 6 team in their conference. That's a bummer.

Hawks would play in a division with by far the lowest tv ratings/crowds. Hawks sellout the UC every night anyway so it's really just a problem for Chicago with the tv ratings. Outside of Chicago and Colorado(Denver), the rest of the teams in the proposed Midwest Division would be considered small market clubs.

Taking Detroit out of the WC is going to drag out. That's taking away a storied franchise from a conference that already is lacking in that department. Red Wings fans, like Hawks fans, travel well so it helps out the small market clubs. To me, if there's going to be a quick resolution for the time being, it has to be Winnipeg for Columbus and then at least the conferences have equal amount of clubs and two teams get in a better scenario time zone wise. Poor Winnipeg has to play in the Atlantic right now, yikes!

[Boom!]

Hawks would play in a division with by far the lowest tv ratings/crowds. Hawks sellout the UC every night anyway so it's really just a problem for Chicago with the tv ratings. Outside of Chicago and Colorado(Denver), the rest of the teams in the proposed Midwest Division would be considered small market clubs.

Taking Detroit out of the WC is going to drag out. That's taking away a storied franchise from a conference that already is lacking in that department. Red Wings fans, like Hawks fans, travel well so it helps out the small market clubs. To me, if there's going to be a quick resolution for the time being, it has to be Winnipeg for Columbus and then at least the conferences have equal amount of clubs and two teams get in a better scenario time zone wise. Poor Winnipeg has to play in the Atlantic right now, yikes!

Nice point - something I overlooked and didn't take into account.

[b1e9a8r5s]

The Hawks kind of get the short end of the straw on this one. It makes sense to put the Wings and Jackets East but the Hawks lose their biggest rival as well as the only other original 6 in the conference.

I can't help but think that the NHL will expand in the not two distant future. Everything will work better with four conferences of 8 than 2 with 8 and 2 with 7.

[Assman22]

The Hawks kind of get the short end of the straw on this one. It makes sense to put the Wings and Jackets East but the Hawks lose their biggest rival as well as the only other original 6 in the conference.

I can't help but think that the NHL will expand in the not two distant future. Everything will work better with four conferences of 8 than 2 with 8 and 2 with 7.

I don't see any expansion anytime soon. Already have a lot of clubs in financial trouble and they need to get the fan base back plus some new tv deals first. Not really a big market available right now for a hockey team either. Quebec is just too small of a market it seems.

[blams1989]

Not a fan. I love your username assman

[Jack the Ripper]

Will TV networks even care about the Western Conference if Detroit moves out? With regular games against Montreal, Toronto, and Boston and a few against New York, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh. Not good. Not good at all. Losing Toronto was a big enough blow. Losing Detroit will kill any interest in Western Conference hockey.

I believe the realignment is a simple fix. The Florida Panthers have been failing since the team debuted. It's time to start taking the steps toward relocating. I'm looking at Quebec. Columbus or Nashville goes to the East and Winnipeg comes back to the West.

[Assman22]

Will TV networks even care about the Western Conference if Detroit moves out? With regular games against Montreal, Toronto, and Boston and a few against New York, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh. Not good. Not good at all. Losing Toronto was a big enough blow. Losing Detroit will kill any interest in Western Conference hockey.

I believe the realignment is a simple fix. The Florida Panthers have been failing since the team debuted. It's time to start taking the steps toward relocating. I'm looking at Quebec. Columbus or Nashville goes to the East and Winnipeg comes back to the West.

Nashvegas isn't going to the EC, they're in CST zone. I'm all for keeping everything the same and just simply swap Columbus for Winnipeg. Can't justify moving Detroit and not Columbus nor can they find a way to send both clubs east. Swap BJ's for Jets and move on.

[Redwings 1926]

As a Wings fan, I really hope this happens because I certainly won't miss all of those 10:30 est starts. It's certainly helped screw us in the playoffs a number of times. During the playoffs, I find myself pulling for Chicago, St. Louie, and even Colorado and Dallas just so we can avoid having to go all the way out to California or Vancouver. It's draining.

The only downside to all of this is that the Redwings will be losing their rivalry with the Blackhawks. On the flip side, we'll have renewed rivalries with Toronto, which many Wings fans see as being much more significant than the one with Chicago.

[synister281]

As a Wings fan, I really hope this happens because I certainly won't miss all of those 10:30 est starts. It's certainly helped screw us in the playoffs a number of times. During the playoffs, I find myself pulling for Chicago, St. Louie, and even Colorado and Dallas just so we can avoid having to go all the way out to California or Vancouver. It's draining.

The only downside to all of this is that the Redwings will be losing their rivalry with the Blackhawks. On the flip side, we'll have renewed rivalries with Toronto, which many Wings fans see as being much more significant than the one with Chicago.

So you really think ditching the Chicago/Detroit rivalry for Detroit/Toronto would be more significant?

I hate Detroit, but respect the years and YEARS of battles between them and Chicago. Would be a shame to not have that. Its like losing the Bears vs Packer rivalry, or the Cubs vs Cardinals... Hawks vs Detroit just makes sense.

[Frozenred]

Some of the rivalries they are trying to preserve are being destroyed. It might make less sense but what if they proposed a realignment like the MLB? I guess these new conferences are ok, but I don't care for them. Especially during the playoffs, it may be confusing.

[Skaterdude]

I don't like the unevenness of the conferences. Either, the league has two expansion franchises (which I don't think the NHL could support) or relocate one of the eastern conference teams.

I think Seattle could and would support an NHL franchise. Personally, I'd like to see the Florida panthers relocated but I don't think they are going anywhere anytime soon. I think that would at least solve the balance issues of the conferences.

[Assman22]

The National Hockey League will present its proposed realignment plan to the Board of Governors after receiving consent from the National Hockey League Players' Association on Thursday.
If approved, the League's new realignment plan will go into effect starting with the 2013-14 season.

"The NHL Players' Association confirmed to us today that it has consented to a revised Plan for Realignment, effective for the 2013-14 season," NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said in a statement. "Our next step will be to bring the proposed Plan for Realignment to the NHL Board of Governors for its consideration. We will update the status of the process as future developments warrant."

The NHL worked in conjunction with the NHLPA to formulate this realignment plan.

"After discussions with the Executive Board, the NHLPA has given consent to realignment, to be re-evaluated following the 2014-15 season," NHLPA Executive Director Donald Fehr said in a statement.

Daly confirmed to NHL.com on Thursday that in the NHL's proposed plan the League will be broken into a two-conference, four-division set up with 16 teams in the Eastern Conference and 14 teams in the Western Conference. The Detroit Red Wings and Columbus Blue Jackets would move to the Eastern Conference and the Winnipeg Jets would move to the Western Conference.

And so it begins...Board of Governors will approve this asap. NHLPA was only remaining obstacle. Hard to believe.