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Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Thoughts on Realignment.

Yesterday, big news came out from the Board of Governors meetings. The governors approved a radical new plan for realignment that would see major changes to the hockey landscape. Before I get into my thoughts, I think I should first tell you what teams are in each conference/division and how the conferences will work

There will be 4 conferences in the NHL all based on geographical location to other teams (for the most part). There are two divisions with eight teams  and there are two, seven team divisions. In the eight team conferences, each team  will play each teams from their conference five to six times a year on a rotating basis for 38 inter-conference games. The seven team conferences will play teams from their conference six times (three at home, three away) for 36 inter-conference games. The eight team divisions will have 44 out of conference games, split evenly between home and away, and the seven team divisions will have 46 out of conference games, again, split evenly between home and away. Essentially, every team will see each other once, home and away. The first two rounds of the playoffs will be played in the conferences. The four best teams in each conference will compete with the usual "top seed v. last seed." Once a conference champion is crowned, the 4 remaining teams will be reseed and will then complete for the Stanley Cup. So, that is basically how it will work, now lets see who will be in each respective conference.

The conferences are as follows:

Conference A: Anaheim, Calgary, Colorado, Edmonton, San Jose, Phoenix, Los Angeles, Vancouver.

Conference B: Detroit, Columbus, Nashville, Chicago, Winnipeg, Dallas, Minnesota, St. Louis.

Conference C: Boston, Tampa Bay, Florida, Ottawa, Toronto, Montreal, Buffalo.

Conference D: Washington, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, New Jersey, New York Rangers, New York Islanders

Here is a good geographical look at each conference. Looking at this makes the teams look so much farther apart in the west, hmmm.



First I want to address the names. A lot of people are saying that they should re-adopt the old Patrick, Norris, Smythe, and Adams, divisions and honestly I wouldn't mind it. My guess, as well as many others, is that they will be named the Pacific (A), Central (B), Northeast (C), and Atlantic (D) divisions.

I am mostly in favor of the plan, although I was never against the East and West conferences with 3 divisions each. Almost every team is benefited at least a little bit by the plan. The two biggest teams that were snubbed were the Florida teams. The Tampa Bay Lightning and Florida Panthers were put in a division with Buffalo, Boston, Ottawa, Toronto, and Montreal. They are located no where NEAR there conference "rivals." Remember though that Florida is in a seven team conference so those teams I listed also have to make the trek down to Florida three times each.  Other than that, I think each conference has a good balance of bad and good teams. It will be interesting to see what rivalries spawn from this new system.

As an Avs fan, I feel that Colorado's move to a "Pacific" division is fine. I wouldn't mind seeing San Jose, LA, and Anaheim more often. Plus I think some good rivalries could spring between Colorado, LA, and Colorado, San Jose. I feel it is an opportunity for the Avs to play against very good teams, learn, and become a better team because of it. The only problem I might have is if every game that starts in Phoenix, LA, San Jose, Anaheim, and Vancouver is an 8:00pm MST start. That could make for a lot of long nights. Although with that said, there will be a lot more early games for us MST and PSTers so the is pretty awesome.  Hopefully, they will make games start at 6:00pm PST, or 7:00pm MST for those of you not well versed in time zones.

Well, that is my brief look at the proposed conference system for next year, remember though, that the players association will have to approve this as well before this becomes a reality. Up next, I will be taking a look at my personal top 10 goalies over the past couple of years. Keep an eye out for that.

-Colorado Cross Checker.

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