NHL realignment

[Ivan eht Demidov]

Had that format before, wasn’t liked and NHL switched to the current one, as fans voiced their opinion, they wanted to see all teams each year.

You're thinking of back when there were 8 games vs division rivals, and only 10 games (1 each vs. 2 of the 3 non-conference divisions) against the other conference.

I think 6 games vs. 3-4 teams is ideal, 6 vs. 7 teams is pushing it a bit. That would mean 42/82 games per year vs division rivals, though not going overly heavy on games vs any one of them.

If they adopted a schedule matrix with the 6 games vs. division rivals, that would leave 2 games vs. 16 teams, and 1 game vs. 8. You could make the 8 teams always be 1 of the divisions in the opposite conference, but one interesting idea would be to eliminate the conferences and make the 8 teams rotate between all 3 other divisions instead.

This would be awkward once every 3 years, since you would have teams playing 1 game vs. teams who were once conference rivals (especially the 2 Eastern divisions, combos like BOS/PHI, NYR/MTL, TOR/PIT), but it would allow every team to play in every building 5 out of every 6 years (because 1 of the every-three-years-one-game schedule would be at home), instead of every year for the Western/Eastern conference rivals and only once every 2 years for the opposite conference. Could work, but not sure about this...

Edit: this would also, of course, annihilate the Coyotes, unless they move to a Central TZ city, so bear that in mind...

 

[Golden_Jet]

You're thinking of back when there were 8 games vs division rivals, and only 10 games (1 each vs. 2 of the 3 non-conference divisions) against the other conference.

I think 6 games vs. 3-4 teams is ideal, 6 vs. 7 teams is pushing it a bit. That would mean 42/82 games per year vs division rivals, though not going overly heavy on games vs any one of them.

If they adopted a schedule matrix with the 6 games vs. division rivals, that would leave 2 games vs. 16 teams, and 1 game vs. 8. You could make the 8 teams always be 1 of the divisions in the opposite conference, but one interesting idea would be to eliminate the conferences and make the 8 teams rotate between all 3 other divisions instead.

This would be awkward once every 3 years, since you would have teams playing 1 game vs. teams who were once conference rivals (especially the 2 Eastern divisions, combos like BOS/PHI, NYR/MTL, TOR/PIT), but it would allow every team to play in every building 5 out of every 6 years (because 1 of the every-three-years-one-game schedule would be at home), instead of every year for the Western/Eastern conference rivals and only once every 2 years for the opposite conference. Could work, but not sure about this...

Edit: this would also, of course, annihilate the Coyotes, unless they move to a Central TZ city, so bear that in mind...

Went from 8 to 6 to current format

 

[coolboarder]

It's fine right now

I do not really like the way the schedule matrix is set up for current realignment. I am not a fan of fewer divisional games which is 3 or 4 divisional games. If you scrap from 3 games to 2 games within the conference, you would get up to 4 or 5 divisional games. I would also scrap the conference format so that in the Stanley Cup playoffs would give more possible match-up combinations for 4 teams left in the playoffs.

 

[Ivan eht Demidov]

Went from 8 to 6 to current format

Yes, and when it went back down to 6, the number of inter-conference games was increased back to almost reach the point of every team in every building every year. Then, the realignment to 4 divisions reduced the number of division games to 5 or 4, and eventually 4 or 3 once expansion happened.

Here's another interesting thought experiment: since it's actually not necessary to align the league into conferences / divisions that all have an equal number of teams or is divisible by 4 or 8 (just need to adjust number of games and follow a playoff format that allows equal odds of making them), what if the NHL kept its 6 division format, but shook up the alignment of said 6 divisions?

I'd say you would have had the following:

Pre-VGK expansion:

Northwest: VAN, CGY, EDM, WPG, MIN (not ideal at all for VAN/WPG/MIN, but better than MIN being the only Central team)
Pacific: SJS, ANA, LAK, ARZ, COL
Central: CHI, CBJ, STL, DAL, NSH (DET gets priority to move East, knowing CBJ will follow in a few years)
Northeast: BOS, BUF, MTL, OTT, TOR
Atlantic: NJD, NYI, NYR, PHI, PIT
Metro: DET, WSH, TBL, FLA, CAR (DET here only because no team from any of the other 2 divisions can be split off yet - adds an original 6 rival to the Southeast Division, which was badly needed)

Post-VGK expansion:

Northwest: VAN, CGY, EDM, COL, WPG
Pacific: SJS, ANA, LAK, ARZ, VGK
Central: CHI, STL, DAL, NSH, MIN
Northeast: BOS, MTL, CAR, TBL, FLA (not ideal to split TOR/OTT from MTL/BOS, but flex schedule might be possible to bump up the games)
Atlantic: NJD, NYI, NYR, PHI, PIT, WSH
Metro: TOR, DET, BUF, OTT, CBJ

Post-SEA expansion:

Northwest: VAN, SEA, CGY, EDM, COL (boom - American rival for COL, all Mountain teams together for TV start time optimization)
Pacific: SJS, ANA, LAK, ARZ, VGK (boom - ARZ keeps all of its natural rivals)
Central: CHI, STL, DAL, NSH, MIN, WPG (boom - one 6 team division means all 6 Central teams can be together)
Northeast: BOS, MTL, CAR, TBL, FLA
Atlantic: NJD, NYI, NYR, PHI, PIT, WSH
Metro: TOR, DET, BUF, OTT, CBJ

This would be quite optimal, I think, other than the old Northeast being split, but depending on the schedule and playoff format, they could still see plenty of action vs one another. For example:

5-team Divisions: 5 games vs. 4 division rivals (20 games) + 3 games vs. 5-team division (15) + 3 games vs 6-team division (18) = 53 games + 29 non-conference games (so, home and home vs. all but 3 teams, rotates every year) or pare this down to 27 non-conference games to pair up whole divisions for 1 game on a rotating basis and add 2 intra-conference games for flex scheduling (i.e. MTL/TOR, CBJ/PIT, COL/MIN, WPG/CGY, etc get 4 games instead of 3)

6-team Divisions: 4 games vs. 5 division rivals (20 games) + 3 vs. the 2 5-team divisions (30) = 50 games + 32 non-conference games (so, the 6-team divisions can play home and homes vs. all the non-conference opponents, while the 20 teams from the 4 5-team divisions would only pair up against each other for seasons to play only 1 game on a rotating basis).

Then the playoff format could be a hybrid Conference/Division format. I'm thinking the old 1-8 Conference-based format, but either (i) the 3 Division winners get the top 4 seeds in order of record along with the top 2nd place team, rather than each of the top 3 seeds, or (ii) the top 2 teams in each of the 3 Divisions get auto-clinched playoff spots + next 2 teams by record, and are seeded entirely by record (so the 1st/2nd place teams can be seeded 6/7/8 if that's where they are in the standings).

Example of this using last year's playoffs (not the right schedule format, but use your imagination):

West:

(1)VGK* v. (8) WPG, (2) EDM* v. (7) SEA, (3) COL* v. (6) MIN*, (4) DAL* v. (5) LAK*

East:

(1) BOS* v. (8) BUF*, (2) CAR* v. (7) NYI, (3) NJD* v. (6) TBL, (4) TOR* v. (5) NYR*

*Top-2 in Division

So, in this example, it doesn't really affect seeding or which teams earn playoff spots, except for BUF making it over FLA because they are 2nd in their Division, while FLA is 4th.

Would be pretty interesting, and there are obviously alternatives to what I've laid out here for a 6-division format. Seems really, really good for the West at the very least, which is worth considering...

 

[Golden_Jet]

Only change I would make to current format is 1-8 playoffs, division winners ranked 1 and 2. No division changes.

 

[Strangle]

I apologize for the long winded post

I really hope the NHL takes a hard look realignment in the next GM meetings and bargaining with the NHLPA.

This is what I would like to see. I see benefits in this for the fans, as it creates more regional rivalries.

First off, I would start the season with a new starting weekend on the Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend in Canada. I am sick of pre-season hockey and there is nothing more I would want to see this weekend, then a Saturday night Habs vs Leafs game at 7 pm and a 10 pm Flames vs Oilers game, a Sunday filled with football and then Monday afternoon NHL action with Habs vs Boston at noon, Leafs vs Sens at 3 and westcoast games staggered in the afternoon before 830 NFL kickoff. Teams are ready to start anyways. We don't need any more pre-season action. Leftover turkey sandwiches and a day of sports is what I'm talking about. The season could still end where it does if we just started a few days earlier.

So on to the Divisions.

This would be the schedule for the Habs and shows their total games vs their Division, their Conference and the opposite conference. Substitute your team as necessary and follow the same format. In order to make the numbers work, teams play inter Division rivals the most, and then get matched up with another division within their conference for the second most games. I would match the Northeast/Metro, Southeast/Capital, Great Lakes/Midwest and Southwest/Northwest. Every team arena is visited by each team. Admittedly I struggled with Detroit moving over to Western Conference and away from Leafs and Habs as I see some rivalry history there, but decided this made the most sense for travel.

Another consideration was obviously travel. Poor NE and Metro teams don't get as many southern trips to the nice weather. But the limited travelling makes the most sense.

Eastern Conference

Northeast Division
Habs
Leafs - 6 games
Sens - 6 games
Bruins - 6 games

Southeast Division
Lightning - 2 games
Panthers - 2 games
Carolina - 2 games
Nashville - 2 games

Capital Division
Philly - 2 games
Pitts - 2 games
Columbus - 2 games
Washington - 2 games

Metro Division
Rangers - 4 games
Isles - 4 games
Jersey - 4 games
Sabres - 4 games

Western Conference

Great Lakes Division
Chicago - 2 games
Detroit - 2 games
Minnesota - 2 games
Winnipeg - 2 games

Midwest Division
St Louis - 2 games
Colorado - 2 games
Arizona/Houston - 2 games
Dallas - 2 games

***Sorry writing is on the wall for Arizona at this point. If they end up in Atlanta, Nashville stays in Midwest Division and Atlanta goes over to Southeast.....I like Detroit being matched up with Chicago for rivalry purpose. They also get Colorado for 4 games****

Southwest Division
San Jose - 2 games
LA - 2 games
Anaheim - 2 games
Vegas - 2 games

Northwest Division
Edmonton - 2 games
Calgary - 2 games
Vancouver - 2 games
Seattle - 2 games


Playoffs

Only 2 teams per division make the playoffs and they are ranked within their conference 1-8 based off points. Tie breakers starts with head to head and in case of further tie, goes to Division total points.

Bottom line for me. 3 games against the Laffs truly sucks this year as a Habs fan. The NHL needs to promote the current rivalries that exist within the sport.

Have at it everyone. Rip it apart.
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I honestly think the ‘play each team at home once’ scheduling is really stupid.

I think teams should play almost exclusively in their own conferences, maybe 10-15 inter-conference games per year, and possibly try to schedule each team playing each other team at home once every 5 years or so.

There are too many teams in the NHL to have to play everyone, every singe year.

I don’t mind the mystery of “what is Eastern team X going to look like matched up against western team Y in the finals?” Kind of discussion.

It helps having some hypotheticals to discuss to take the focus off the salary cap constantly.

Keeping things mostly inter-conference promotes rivalries, leads to possibly wildly different conference strategies and leads to a lot of chirping about which conference has better hockey, better teams, and more conference pride in the Stanley cup winner.

Even if you have one weak conference and one stacked conference, having to go through a gauntlet of fantastic teams and worn out by the finals could still lead to intense upsets.

I just think at some point, the league needs to abandon their schedule and start tightening things up within conferences. It helps with scheduling and travel as well.

I just can’t get too excited for an oilers v sabres mid-week game no matter how badly the league wants to use Mcdavid to sell tickets in buffalo

 

[westc2]

They really need to go back to 1-8. But if they insist on keeping "divisional playoffs", they need to move to 4 conferences, meaning there's no longer East/West.

-Play each team outside of your conference twice = 48 games

-Play teams within your "conference" (formerly division) = 34 games.
4 games vs each = 28 games.
6 bonus games against 6 of the 7 teams, rotating each season = 6 games

No wild cards. Top 4 in each "conference" make it, and play "divisional playoffs" like it is now.

The 4 winners of those "divisional playoffs" are then reseeded and play the final 4.

 

[Ivan eht Demidov]

They really need to go back to 1-8. But if they insist on keeping "divisional playoffs", they need to move to 4 conferences, meaning there's no longer East/West.

-Play each team outside of your conference twice = 48 games

-Play teams within your "conference" (formerly division) = 34 games.
4 games vs each = 28 games.
6 bonus games against 6 of the 7 teams, rotating each season = 6 games

No wild cards. Top 4 in each "conference" make it, and play "divisional playoffs" like it is now.

The 4 winners of those "divisional playoffs" are then reseeded and play the final 4.

This, plus I would be in favour of (as I have said a few times before) of reducing the regular season to 76 games (4 games v. divisional, 2 games v. non-divisional), then after this point:

(i) 4th and 5th place teams in each division play a best-of-5 qualifying series to earn the 4 seed

(ii) The top 3 teams in each Division are guaranteed playoff spots and play 3 games each against each other (6 total) under regular season rules, which will add to their point totals and make seeding potentially up for grabs (and keep them fresh during the qualifying period)

Another interesting idea would be to do the 6/4/2 matrix, via 4 conferences of 8 teams, each with 2 divisions of 4 (6 games vs. division, 4 vs. conference, 2 vs. all others).

Then, have each division winner seed 1 and 2, that way it's rewarding to win over the 3 other teams you play 18 games a year against, and when 1 division is weak, their winner would always play the other (presumably much stronger) divisions #2 team, just with home ice advantage...

Divisions in this format could look a few different ways, but my suggestion would be:

Conf A:

Div. 1: VAN, CGY, EDM, SEA
Div. 2: LAK, ANA, SJS, VGK

Conf. B:

Div. 1: ARZ, COL, DAL, STL
Div. 2: WPG, MIN, CHI, NSH

Conf. C:

Div. 1: DET, TOR, BUF, OTT
Div. 2: MTL, BOS, TBL, FLA

Conf. D:

Div. 1: NJD, NYI, NYR, CAR
Div. 2: PIT, PHI, WSH, CBJ