Division Realignment

[BrettRocker95]

I think the NHL should completely re-do the way the divisions are aligned. Mostly because it makes no sense how the two Florida teams are in a division with all north teams, geographically it doesn’t make sense. So I am proposing an 8 division set up, composed a 4 teams each. The playoffs would be the 4 division winners and 4 wildcards from any division, and then it would be seeded like how the NHL playoffs used to be. 1 vs 8, 2 vs 7, 3 vs 6, 4 vs 5. The top 4 would be the division winners placed according to their points, the remaining 4 would be those 4 wildcards also placed according to points. Here is the proposed divisions:

Western Conference

North West
- Calgary Flames
- Edmonton Oilers
- Seattle Kraken
- Vancouver Canucks

Pacific
- Anaheim Ducks
- Los Angeles King
- San Jose Sharks
- Vegas Golden Knights

South Central
- Arizona Coyotes
- Colorado Avalanche
- Dallas Stars
- Nashville Predators

North Central
- Chicago Blackhawks
- Minnesota Wild
- St. Louis Blues
- Winnipeg Jets

Eastern Conference

South East
- Carolina Hurricanes
- Florida Panthers
- Washington Capitals
- Tampa Bay Lightning

Metropolitan
- Buffalo Sabres
- Columbus Blue Jackets
- Pittsburgh Penguins
- Detroit Red Wings

Atlantic
- New Jersey Devils
- New York Islanders
- New York Rangers
- Philadelphia Flyers

North East
- Boston Bruins
- Montreal Canadiens
- Ottawa Senators
- Toronto Maple Leafs

Yes, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia are in different divisions, but if you look at a map, this does make sense, as Pitt is pretty far inland as opposed to Philly being right by the ocean. We do lose the Pittsburgh-Washington division rivalry, but I’m not sure who else could fit in that South East slot unless you change up things majorly.

Love it? Hate it? Think I’m an idiot? Let me know? Lol

 

[Ivan eht Demidov]

*cracks knuckles*

It's not necessarily a bad idea to do 8 division of 4 teams each, in theory. You could then intensify rivalries by doing a simpler schedule matrix where each team plays their division rivals 6 times (18 games) + 4 vs another division (16 games), and 2 vs everyone else (48 games, for 82 total).

But, I keep saying this, even though the NHL certainly seems against it, the unique geographic arrangement and rivalries of the league make an 8x4 or 4x8 setup really not ideal, or at least not equally fair to all teams, despite how nicely it fits a 32 team league. The reason is because there are now 7 teams in the Pacific time zone (you have to include Arizona, because their state doesn't shift to daylight savings time, which is in place throughout the playoffs), so the only way to prevent at least one team from being in a division filled with teams that are 2 time zones away (awful for travel AND TV start times) is to break VAN away from EDM and CGY, since they are Mountain teams:

Pacific: VAN, SEA, SJS, LAK, ANA, VGK, ARZ, COL
Central: CGY, EDM, WPG, MIN, CHI, STL, NSH, DAL

Or, if you go with 4-team divisions:

Northwest: VAN, SEA, SJS, VGK
Southwest: ANA, LAK, ARZ, COL
Midwest: CGY, EDM, WPG, MIN
Central: CHI, STL, NSH, DAL

But, this obviously stinks for VAN/CGY/EDM, even though VAN has SEA and EDM/CGY have WPG in this scenario. COL also loses MIN/DAL. But, the alternative (what we have now, or what you proposed here) is forcing ARZ away from 4 of the 5 closest teams to them geographically, ruining their time zone travel, and avoiding a potentially great rivalry for them in the future (with VGK, due to the geography).

Personally, I would do a three-conference setup, dividing the league into conferences of 10 (all the Pacific/Mountain teams), 11 (central/east mix), and 11 (all east):

West: VAN, CGY, EDM, SEA, SJS, VGK, ANA, LAK, ARZ, COL
Central: WPG, MIN, CHI, STL, DET, CBJ, NSH, DAL, CAR, TBL, FLA
East: TOR, BUF, OTT, MTL, BOS, NJD, NYI, NYR, PHI, PIT, WSH

This might look really bad for TBL/FLA/CAR, but it actually is less travel overall (since the difference in going to WPG/MIN/CHI vs TOR/MTL/OTT/etc is not enough to offset having closer teams like each other, NSH, and DAL), so it's down to whether they would benefit from CHI/DET and the WPG/MIN snowbirds vs TOR/BOS/MTL and the BUF/OTT snowbirds...

The playoffs in this format can be made to be equal odds for every conference, with simple crossovers between conferences to even things out, including limiting the crossovers in the Central to the West for teams in the Central time zone, and East for those in the Eastern time zone, so no forcing DET or any others to play in California/Western Canada in the playoffs.

 

[x Tame Impala]

How would that work for the playoffs? The top 2 teams in each division make the playoffs and the bottom 2 do not? No wildcard. I’d be in favor of that.

Each division winner gets a guaranteed top 4 seed and each 2nd place winner gets seeded 5-8 by points

 

[BrettRocker95]

*cracks knuckles*

It's not necessarily a bad idea to do 8 division of 4 teams each, in theory. You could then intensify rivalries by doing a simpler schedule matrix where each team plays their division rivals 6 times (18 games) + 4 vs another division (16 games), and 2 vs everyone else (48 games, for 82 total).

But, I keep saying this, even though the NHL certainly seems against it, the unique geographic arrangement and rivalries of the league make an 8x4 or 4x8 setup really not ideal, or at least not equally fair to all teams, despite how nicely it fits a 32 team league. The reason is because there are now 7 teams in the Pacific time zone (you have to include Arizona, because their state doesn't shift to daylight savings time, which is in place throughout the playoffs), so the only way to prevent at least one team from being in a division filled with teams that are 2 time zones away (awful for travel AND TV start times) is to break VAN away from EDM and CGY, since they are Mountain teams:

Pacific: VAN, SEA, SJS, LAK, ANA, VGK, ARZ, COL
Central: CGY, EDM, WPG, MIN, CHI, STL, NSH, DAL

Or, if you go with 4-team divisions:

Northwest: VAN, SEA, SJS, VGK
Southwest: ANA, LAK, ARZ, COL
Midwest: CGY, EDM, WPG, MIN
Central: CHI, STL, NSH, DAL

But, this obviously stinks for VAN/CGY/EDM, even though VAN has SEA and EDM/CGY have WPG in this scenario. COL also loses MIN/DAL. But, the alternative (what we have now, or what you proposed here) is forcing ARZ away from 4 of the 5 closest teams to them geographically, ruining their time zone travel, and avoiding a potentially great rivalry for them in the future (with VGK, due to the geography).

Personally, I would do a three-conference setup, dividing the league into conferences of 10 (all the Pacific/Mountain teams), 11 (central/east mix), and 11 (all east):

West: VAN, CGY, EDM, SEA, SJS, VGK, ANA, LAK, ARZ, COL
Central: WPG, MIN, CHI, STL, DET, CBJ, NSH, DAL, CAR, TBL, FLA
East: TOR, BUF, OTT, MTL, BOS, NJD, NYI, NYR, PHI, PIT, WSH

This might look really bad for TBL/FLA/CAR, but it actually is less travel overall (since the difference in going to WPG/MIN/CHI vs TOR/MTL/OTT/etc is not enough to offset having closer teams like each other, NSH, and DAL), so it's down to whether they would benefit from CHI/DET and the WPG/MIN snowbirds vs TOR/BOS/MTL and the BUF/OTT snowbirds...

The playoffs in this format can be made to be equal odds for every conference, with simple crossovers between conferences to even things out, including limiting the crossovers in the Central to the West for teams in the Central time zone, and East for those in the Eastern time zone, so no forcing DET or any others to play in California/Western Canada in the playoffs.

All the more reason for Arizona to relocate, lol.

 

[JianYang]

The 4 team division has been talked about before by the NHL. I really think it's a matter of time before it happens.

 

[StreetHawk]

How would that work for the playoffs? The top 2 teams in each division make the playoffs and the bottom 2 do not? No wildcard. I’d be in favor of that.

Each division winner gets a guaranteed top 4 seed and each 2nd place winner gets seeded 5-8 by points

Regular season is regular season. But, the regular season needs to flow into the playoff structure. Calgary is playing Dallas which is a 3 hour flight. If they had gotten Nashville, that's 3.5 hours. Vancouver in 2011 played Chicago and Nashville in rounds 1&2. Not exactly ideal.

NBA and MLB have 30 teams and are doing 6 divisions of 5. NHL used to do that as well and there was always this complaining award Division winner and seeding.

You are playing an unbalanced schedule against your conference, so the division should mean something at the end of the day.

What does it truly matter to do to divisions of 4 or divisions of 8?

You have 28 non division teams. So, you are doing what? Playing home and away against each of them to get to 56 games. Leaving 26 left to play your 3 division rivals 9 times each basically?

8 team divisions would set up with 24 non division teams so 48 games. Leaving 34 games against the 7 teams in division. S0, 5 games vs 6 of them and 4 games vs 1 of them.

 

[Colezuki]

I don’t hate the idea, I’d honestly prefer it though if the 4 division winners each made the playoffs and then the next 4 best teams from the conference make it as. A wild card. Division winners get home ice

 

[King'sPawn]

I'd be for this, depending on how the playoffs are set up.

 

[Emerica]

I would much rather 8 x 4 team divisions than the setup they have now.

 

[mr figgles]

How does a division featuring Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Detroit, and Columbus get the name Metropolitan?

 

[Ezekial]

I'm not entirely opposed to a 4 team division format, I do hate the idea of being in a division with CBJ, Pitt, and Buffalo. I hate Pitt, but they seem like such an odd divisional opponent. Give me a 4 team division but put Chicago in it.

 

[Big Z Man 1990]

I think the NHL will stay at four divisions, it will just one day add two more Central Time teams so that Arizona can one day move back to the Pacific, especially considering the proposal to make Daylight Savings Time permanent in the US, which would effectively put most of Arizona in the Pacific Time Zone full-time since it would continue to observe Mountain Standard Time which is the same as Pacific Daylight Time.

 

[gstommylee]

NHL won't go 8 divisions. It actually eliminates rivalries.

 

[haseoke39]

How does a division featuring Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Detroit, and Columbus get the name Metropolitan?

Rust Belt Division.

 

[Ducks in a row]

8 Divisions is too many I don't want to see that.

If NHL decided on 8 divisions I would hope only division winners are guaranteed to make the playoffs.

 

[kingsholygrail]

How would that work for the playoffs? The top 2 teams in each division make the playoffs and the bottom 2 do not? No wildcard. I’d be in favor of that.

Each division winner gets a guaranteed top 4 seed and each 2nd place winner gets seeded 5-8 by points

In before one division has a 105pt 3rd place team that fails to make the playoffs

 

[FunkySeeFunkyDo]

What if I told you @Ezekial that the Wings already were in the same division as the Pens? Along with the Capitals. And the Habs. And, and…wait for it…the Kings.

 

[66-30-33]

That Pens division looks weird to me.

 

[mr figgles]

What if I told you that the Wings already were in the same division as the Pens? Along with the Capitals. And the Habs. And, and…wait for it…the Kings.

I would say… umm… cool story, bro.

 

[FunkySeeFunkyDo]

I would say… umm… cool story, bro.

sorry I aimed that at the wrong poster.

 

[mr figgles]

sorry I aimed that at the wrong poster.

Haha I was mildly confused

 

[Mr Positive]

Imo since divisions are mostly for travel and time zones they should go to the following system

Western conference: 2 divisions as they are now with 2 wildcards (also the same)

Eastern conference: No divisions. No wildcards. 1-8 playoff seeding

 

[King Karl]

Imo since divisions are mostly for travel and time zones they should go to the following system

Western conference: 2 divisions as they are now with 2 wildcards (also the same)

Eastern conference: No divisions. No wildcards. 1-8 playoff seeding

wat

 

[fsanford]

this is pallatable...

 

[Sgt Schultz]

Just spitballing here, but instead of two conferences, have four each with two four team divisions. The advantage to that is for scheduling. Each team plays the teams in their division six times, for 18 games. Then they play the four teams in the other division within their conference four times, for 16 games, 34 total. That leaves 48 for the other 24 teams, a home and home against each.

BrettRocker95’s division layout can be used, but put the Pacific and Northwest in the Western Conference, the South Central and North Central in the Midwest Conference, the Southeast and Metropolitan (rename that) in the Mideast Conference, and the Northeast and Atlantic in the Eastern Conference.

Playoffs start with the two division winners and next two best teams in each conference playing to crown four conference champions. At that point the conference champions can play either a static West vs. Midwest, Mideast vs. East, or seed the four champions by points and play 1 vs. 4 and 2 vs. 3. The latter risks a semi-final round where two teams 3 time zones apart could play, and then have to play somebody 2 or 3 time zones apart in the finals.

I don't know if the four conference idea is good, bad, or indifferent but it does solve some of the scheduling oddities.