Division Realignment Idea

[Mr Positive]

The logic of the current alignment is all about time zones and travel time. Having a Northern division is a no go.

 

[BB79]

Eliminate divisions altogether.

2 conferences. Seed by overall points. 1v8 format.

I'd be fine with eliminating divisions if it also meant eliminating interconference play. If not, go back to 3 divisions in each conference. Still weird to me that FLA and TB are in the same division as Montreal and Ottawa instead of the mid-Atlantic teams

I miss the old Northeast divison. Three original 6 teams in one division. We were spoiled

Eastern Conference Teams crying about Travel. Welcome to the Reality the Oilers have ALWAYS faced.

Not our fault you live on the north pole

 

[BKarchitect]

It’s either keep it the way it is or just do away with divisions.

People keep wanting to tinker with something that isn’t broken and doesn’t have a viable alternative that makes any more sense. Swapping SLC for Phoenix is about as clean as it gets, why would that change make any difference at all? If anything the Central is now slightly even more sensible because it is all Central and Mountain time zone teams (with daylight savings) - as opposed to Phoenix being an hour “off” (Pacific equivalent with daylight savings) in March and April of the hockey season.

 

[coolboarder]

I thought it was a new thread idea but I didn't realize that this thread is a year old and I posted in this topic. The fact of matter is I still don't like the Metropolitan Division is having their life a lot easier. I would suggest do away with division and go with different schedule matrix: 8-2. 2 games outside the division would be a lot better and eliminate the conference and go with 4 teams division set-up and the total of games being played at 80 games. I always have felt that the playoff format should always have been divisional with short distance travel for all teams for first round.

Second round is where all the fun begins with best non-divisional match-up record being seeded from 1-8 and ALL divisional records from regular season is thrown out since divisional playoffs has been completed after first round so therefore all non-divisional games will matter a lot when determining the round 2 seeding with all remaining rounds being 2-3-2.

That is to me a balanced schedule and its a lot easier for NHL to schedule that way on month by month themes: first month being a divisional match-up then after 6 games, they schedule next 8 games on a match-up between division at the same time, home and away with maximum number of consecutive games being on the road is 5 games for all teams during non-divisional schedule block.. Then around Christmas break or around All-star break and end of season being divisional focused. So balanced that one certain teams do not get disadvantaged of being overload with long road trip.

To give you some idea of what schedule block looks like:

6 games Season opening divisional match-up (3 home and 3 away)
8 games: Division 1 Vs Division 2 ( 4 home and 4 away)
8 games: Division 1 Vs Davison 3 ( 4 away and 4 home)
6 games divisional games (possible around Thanksgiving weekend)?
8 games: Division 1 Vs Davison 4 ( 4 away and 4 home)
8 games: Division 1 Vs Division 5 (4 home and 4 away)
6 games: divisional games Around Christmas break?
8 games: Division 1 Vs Division 6 (4 home and 4 away)
8 games: Division 1 Vs Division 7 ( 4 away and 4 home)
All-Star break
8 games: Division 1 Vs Division 8 (4 away and 4 home) (This match-up from the same time zone) Northwest Pacific could have been Division 1 and Division 8 could have been Southwest Pacific teams for example.
Trade Deadline.
6 games: End of season Divisional match-up

Of notes:
Let's say if Division 1 are Pacific northwest and all teams could have been on the road for 8 games with 4 away games and starting a new block at the same time for example: Division 2 and Division 3 could have been Northeast Atlantic and Metropolitan New York division for example without a certain team gaining advantage in term of standing at any point of the year and they still could travel extremely light all at once.

This is what I have in mind for 4 teams divisional realignment with no conference format. No back to back games. I would exempt the back to back only if there are a home and home series for a divisional play without a team gaining a tired team in their schedule. Plenty of opportunities to schedule a home and home series with this realignment something we rarely see home and home series anymore in the league.

Total games played 80 games. If the owner is concerned about loss of an extra home gate revenue with just one measly home game, they could easily schedule one extra game of any team of their choice or having first round of playoffs being best of 9 games easily.

 

[John Mandalorian]

I thought it was a new thread idea but I didn't realize that this thread is a year old and I posted in this topic. The fact of matter is I still don't like the Metropolitan Division is having their life a lot easier. I would suggest do away with division and go with different schedule matrix: 8-2. 2 games outside the division would be a lot better and eliminate the conference and go with 4 teams division set-up and the total of games being played at 80 games. I always have felt that the playoff format should always have been divisional with short distance travel for all teams for first round.

Second round is where all the fun begins with best non-divisional match-up record being seeded from 1-8 and ALL divisional records from regular season is thrown out since divisional playoffs has been completed after first round so therefore all non-divisional games will matter a lot when determining the round 2 seeding with all remaining rounds being 2-3-2.

That is to me a balanced schedule and its a lot easier for NHL to schedule that way on month by month themes: first month being a divisional match-up then after 6 games, they schedule next 8 games on a match-up between division at the same time, home and away with maximum number of consecutive games being on the road is 5 games for all teams during non-divisional schedule block.. Then around Christmas break or around All-star break and end of season being divisional focused. So balanced that one certain teams do not get disadvantaged of being overload with long road trip.

To give you some idea of what schedule block looks like:

6 games Season opening divisional match-up (3 home and 3 away)
8 games: Division 1 Vs Division 2 ( 4 home and 4 away)
8 games: Division 1 Vs Davison 3 ( 4 away and 4 home)
6 games divisional games (possible around Thanksgiving weekend)?
8 games: Division 1 Vs Davison 4 ( 4 away and 4 home)
8 games: Division 1 Vs Division 5 (4 home and 4 away)
6 games: divisional games Around Christmas break?
8 games: Division 1 Vs Division 6 (4 home and 4 away)
8 games: Division 1 Vs Division 7 ( 4 away and 4 home)
All-Star break
8 games: Division 1 Vs Division 8 (4 away and 4 home) (This match-up from the same time zone) Northwest Pacific could have been Division 1 and Division 8 could have been Southwest Pacific teams for example.
Trade Deadline.
6 games: End of season Divisional match-up

Of notes:
Let's say if Division 1 are Pacific northwest and all teams could have been on the road for 8 games with 4 away games and starting a new block at the same time for example: Division 2 and Division 3 could have been Northeast Atlantic and Metropolitan New York division for example without a certain team gaining advantage in term of standing at any point of the year and they still could travel extremely light all at once.

This is what I have in mind for 4 teams divisional realignment with no conference format. No back to back games. I would exempt the back to back only if there are a home and home series for a divisional play without a team gaining a tired team in their schedule. Plenty of opportunities to schedule a home and home series with this realignment something we rarely see home and home series anymore in the league.

Total games played 80 games. If the owner is concerned about loss of an extra home gate revenue with just one measly home game, they could easily schedule one extra game of any team of their choice or having first round of playoffs being best of 9 games easily.

Meh.

 

[BLNY]

This is a misalignment.

 

[kingsholygrail]

Friendly reminder that Detroit hasn't won since moving to the Eastern Conference.