Assuming the NHL expands to 36 teams, what will schedule look like?

[PistolPete]

Nah:
Phoenix
Houston
Atlanta
Brooklin (Ontario)

And then call them the Dodgers? Surely Brooklin has horrible drivers that pedestrians need to dodge to avoid getting hit

 

[PistolPete]

Youd have to actually expand to 42 teams for 2 games against everybody 82 game schedule. Because a team cant play itself.

Cool, per Deanyoungblood I'm going to have someone joining me in kindergarten

 

[jimmysheva]

Pacific:
Kings, Ducks, Sharks, Knights, Mammoths, Phoenix

Central:
Avalanche, Stars, Hawks, Blues, Preds, Houston

North:
Canucks, Oilers, Flames, Kraken, Jets, Wild

Southeast:
Lightning, Panthers, Hurricanes, Capitals, Flyers, Atlanta

Northeast:
Devils, Isles, Rangers, Bruins, Habs, Quebec

Metro:
Wings, Jackets, Leafs, Sens, Sabres, Penguins

 

[PistolPete]

Ridiculous. They should be downsizing. The talent at the NHL is diluted enough. f***ing Barclay Goodrow was on a roster last year!

How is talent determibed to be "diluted"?

What's the measuring stick used?

 

[jimmysheva]

Pacific:
Kings, Ducks, Sharks, Knights, Mammoths, Phoenix
Central:
Avalanche, Stars, Hawks, Blues, Preds, Houston
North:
Canucks, Oilers, Flames, Kraken, Jets, Wild

Southeast:
Lightning, Panthers, Hurricanes, Capitals, Flyers, Atlanta
Northeast:
Devils, Isles, Rangers, Bruins, Habs, Quebec
Metro:
Wings, Jackets, Leafs, Sens, Sabres, Penguins

 

[PistolPete]

Those three cities also slot in perfectly into every existing division:

Pacific: Phoenix. But absolutely can’t go back to the Coyotes brand when they come back (and they will).

Central: Houston

Metro: Atlanta — putting them with the big market NY and Penn state teams is critical imo.

Atlantic: Geographically QC would be perfect. I know it’s not exactly at the top of the NHL’s list but keep in mind from 1996-2011 Manitobans clamouring for the return of the Jets were seen as idealistic dreamers too.

If not this would be a decent reason to justify a 2nd Toronto team. I’ve long been a proponent of another Toronto franchise, there are a LOT hockey fans in Toronto who want to cheer for a local team but not the Leafs. According to some Leafs fans who know Toronto’s traffic and populations patterns, Markham would be the best choice for their arena.

The question that always pops up to me when someone mentions Quebec is why would the NHL want to bring in a market whose revenue potential is guaranteed to max out at the bottom if the league- like Winnipeg, which Quebec is of the same market size?

Why not - on a market size basis alone- Charlotte, Austin, San Diego, Sacramento, Portland...? Where rhe potential exists to become a midrange revenue-generating team.

 

[Toby91ca]

It seems to be a given that the NHL will expand to 36 teams, so how do people see the structure and schedule?

4 divisions of 9? 6 divisions of 6? 12 divisions of 3?

And will they be able to ensure all teams play each other at least twice? That would account for 70 games right there. If they had a division of 6 it'd add another 10 games but then they only have 80 and need to come up with something for the other 2 games.

And the playoffs- they stick to 16? Go with a play in? Or revert to the 70s and grant a bye for the higher seeded team while allowing 24 teams in?

Or maybe they go completely crazy and revert to the 80s and allow 32 of 36 teams, add a whole other round of best of 3? best of 5? Sports leagues are all about making as much money as possible after all.

Maybe I've missed something, but why is it a given the NHL will expand to 36 teams? I wouldn't bet against it eventually, but just asking in case of missed something that makes it more obvious.

Playoffs is an interesting question though. You bring up the 70s and they weren't afraid to make some changes there. After initial expansion in 67, the league was at 12 teams, 8 made the playoffs and they had 2 divisions where the 1st place team played the 3rd place team and 2nd played 4th in each division in round 1. That stayed the same until 1972 where they still had 8 teams in the playoffs, now 14 in the league and they switched it up to 1v4 and 2v3....which stayed for a few years. Then in 1975....I guess they must have been thinking, we have 18 teams, we used to have 75% make the playoffs....let's get back to that so they had the 4 division winners get a bye and then they went 1v8, 2v7, etc. By 1980 they had expanded to the 16 team playoff format that we have today (not the same way of determining matchups but 16 teams, 4 rounds)...in the 21 team league. They've left it like that since......now with 32 teams, less than 50% get it, probably because they like the tradition of 16 teams and 4 rounds....but there was a time the league like to maintain that 2/3 to 3/4 getting in and adjusting as league grew. I doubt they'll want to make changes though.

 

[westc2]

If it goes to 36 then they would need to just get rid of divisions and have it be 2 conferences...

If it's still an 82 game schedule and you play every team twice, that means for 70 out of 82 games, every team would have the same schedule. Those 12 extra games wouldn't be enough to justify different playoff seeding across more divisions.

Then each conference would seed 1-8. No wildcards unless you wanted to bring in cross-conference wildcards where if the 9th place team in either conference has more points than the 8th place team in the other conference, they take their spot in the playoffs. (2025 SCP example: Montreal out, Calgary in)

 

[PistolPete]

Maybe I've missed something, but why is it a given the NHL will expand to 36 teams? I wouldn't bet against it eventually, but just asking in case of missed something that makes it more obvious.

Talk about it in the media, Bettman meeting potential applicants, the fact that the NHL desperately needs Houston and Atlanta back in the fold since they are top 10- if not top 5- of market sizes (and Texas, especially particularly the Texas Triaangle is growing like crazy with over 20M already and drawing a lot of corporate HQ to the area)

Playoffs is an interesting question though. You bring up the 70s and they weren't afraid to make some changes there. After initial expansion in 67, the league was at 12 teams, 8 made the playoffs and they had 2 divisions where the 1st place team played the 3rd place team and 2nd played 4th in each division in round 1. That stayed the same until 1972 where they still had 8 teams in the playoffs, now 14 in the league and they switched it up to 1v4 and 2v3....which stayed for a few years. Then in 1975....I guess they must have been thinking, we have 18 teams, we used to have 75% make the playoffs....let's get back to that so they had the 4 division winners get a bye and then they went 1v8, 2v7, etc. By 1980 they had expanded to the 16 team playoff format that we have today (not the same way of determining matchups but 16 teams, 4 rounds)...in the 21 team league. They've left it like that since......now with 32 teams, less than 50% get it, probably because they like the tradition of 16 teams and 4 rounds....but there was a time the league like to maintain that 2/3 to 3/4 getting in and adjusting as league grew. I doubt they'll want to make changes though.

Bring a bye back will allow for extra games though and they love extra playoff games.

 

[PistolPete]

If it goes to 36 then they would need to just get rid of divisions and have it be 2 conferences...

If it's still an 82 game schedule and you play every team twice, that means for 70 out of 82 games, every team would have the same schedule. Those 12 extra games wouldn't be enough to justify different playoff seeding across more divisions.

Then each conference would seed 1-8. No wildcards unless you wanted to bring in cross-conference wildcards where if the 9th place team in either conference has more points than the 8th place team in the other conference, they take their spot in the playoffs. (2025 SCP example: Montreal out, Calgary in)

What about having a qualifying round where groups are comprised of interconference matches? Say three from each conference for 2 games each for a total of 10 games? And these games could be priced like PO games- or at least higher than RS games perhaps making the liaa of 2 games acceptable?

 

[Golden_Jet]

Going to 36 teams is dumb, imagine losing 4 players off your team, and thinking it’s not being diluted.

 

[PistolPete]

Going to 36 teams is dumb, imagine losing 4 players off your team, and thinking it’s not being diluted.

Bit after a certain point, talent is relative rather than absolute, no?

The distribution of individual scoring stays the same when the league goes from 6 to 12, and then to 18, then to 21 etc

 

[Homelander]

How is talent determibed to be "diluted"?

What's the measuring stick used?

Subjective, I suppose, and logic

 

[Tawnos]

If it goes to 36 then they would need to just get rid of divisions and have it be 2 conferences...

If it's still an 82 game schedule and you play every team twice, that means for 70 out of 82 games, every team would have the same schedule. Those 12 extra games wouldn't be enough to justify different playoff seeding across more divisions.

Then each conference would seed 1-8. No wildcards unless you wanted to bring in cross-conference wildcards where if the 9th place team in either conference has more points than the 8th place team in the other conference, they take their spot in the playoffs. (2025 SCP example: Montreal out, Calgary in)

From a competitive balance standpoint yes. But no one is expanding to bring more money into the league and then turning around and giving up 6 games of home revenue.

 

[PistolPete]

Subjective, I suppose, and logic

Left, no right.
Up, no down.

 

[the valiant effort]

Ridiculous. They should be downsizing. The talent at the NHL is diluted enough. f***ing Barclay Goodrow was on a roster last year!

Send Goodrow back to the ‘80s and he’d win 10 straight Harts. Hell, send Goodrow back to the 2000s and he’d break Chris Pronger over his knee like Bane

 

[NYRfan85]

Given the population shift going on in the U.S. I wouldn't be surprised to see teams in Charlotte and Austin- especially Austin since there's only ab MLS team there and it's far enough away from Houston to not be swallowed up by it

Unfortunately, Charlotte would never happen, the Canes have too strong of a hold on North and South Carolina. This would significantly cut into their fanbase. I think a lot of people in metro Charlotte would change allegiances to a new team, because of the "Charlotte vs. Raleigh" mentality.

Metro: Atlanta — putting them with the big market NY and Penn state teams is critical imo.

The key here is they'd be with Carolina for proximity and rivalry reasons. Across all sports, Atlanta is usually any Carolina team's biggest rival (Panthers-Falcons, Hornets-Hawks, Charlotte FC-Atlanta United). The Canes had a pretty good rivalry going with the Thrashers when they existed.

 

[Golden_Jet]

Send Goodrow back to the ‘80s and he’d win 10 straight Harts. Hell, send Goodrow back to the 2000s and he’d break Chris Pronger over his knee like Bane

lol that ridiculous

 

[Qurpiz]

6 teams 6 divisions and every team plays each other at least twice, home and away, 82 games regular season. Otherwise I'm calling shenanigans.

 

[kerrabria]

MLB is at 30, NBA is at 30, why is the NHL expanding to 36? What a bush league.

In all fairness, the NBA almost expanded to 32, and the MLB is dying.

 

[Son of Nogatco]

36 teams is a farce and cheapens the integrity of the playoffs. You’re just injecting more randomness into an already random game.

How does adding 4 teams “cheapen the integrity of the playoffs?”

Teams are going to go their entire histories without winning.

That already happens. In the NHL and in every other league.

 

[the valiant effort]

lol that ridiculous

Players today are a whole other species compared to the gnats of yesteryear

 

[Son of Nogatco]

MLB is at 30, NBA is at 30, why is the NHL expanding to 36? What a bush league.

They want to expand their footprint in the most lucrative market, the US. You’re counting the total number of franchises, when you need to be counting the number of American franchises.

The NFL has 32 American franchises.
The NBA has 29
MLB has 29
The NHL has 25

You might disagree with their strategy for other reasons, but there’s nothing “bush league” about it. I would actually argue it’s the opposite of “bush league.”

The demography of hockey fandom is radically different from football, baseball, and basketball, so it makes perfect sense that the league’s footprint and growth strategy would reflect that.

 

[kerrabria]

4 games against in-division opponents, 2 games against everybody else = 80 games total.

Playoff Format:
3 division winners in each conference do a round robin to determine their ultimate seeding.
3 safe WC spots get an extra few days of rest.
7-10 do an NBA style play-in tournament for the final seed.

 

[Tawnos]

Unfortunately, Charlotte would never happen, the Canes have too strong of a hold on North and South Carolina. This would significantly cut into their fanbase. I think a lot of people in metro Charlotte would change allegiances to a new team, because of the "Charlotte vs. Raleigh" mentality.

The key here is they'd be with Carolina for proximity and rivalry reasons. Across all sports, Atlanta is usually any Carolina team's biggest rival (Panthers-Falcons, Hornets-Hawks, Charlotte FC-Atlanta United). The Canes had a pretty good rivalry going with the Thrashers when they existed.

Even though I know plenty of Canes fans, the team has basically no hold here in Charlotte. The bigger issue is Charlotte supporting both NHL and NBA.