Realignment Rubber Stamped
East-Division A - Carolina, Columbus, New Jersey, NY Islanders, NY Rangers, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Washington
East-Division B - Boston, Buffalo, Detroit, Florida, Montreal, Ottawa, Tampa Bay, Toronto
East-Division C - Chicago, Colorado, Dallas, Minnesota, Nashville, St. Louis, Winnipeg
East-Division D - Anaheim, Calgary, Edmonton, Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Jose, Vancouver.
Schedule: 4 or 5 games vs. divisional opponents, 3 games vs, teams in the other division inside the conference. 2 games (home and away) vs. teams in opposite conference.
(Love the fact we will see every team twice)
My biggest problem is the playoff setup: Top 3 in each division for a total of 6 plus two wildcards, regardless of division. HOWEVER, playoffs will be in division. The lowest wild card plays the best division winner, and the other wild card plays the other division winner. This will be ultimately confusing and frankly could be unfair to the team with the best record in the West.
Let's say the final standings next year look like this: Devils 105, Pittsburgh 103, Rangers 98, Carolina 90, Philadelphia 85.......Boston 110, Detroit 101, Montreal 98, Toronto 91, Ottawa 84.
Devils, Pitt, NYR, Boston, Detroit, Montreal would automatically qualify, Toronto and Carolina would be the wild cards, but since Carolina is the worst wild card, they would play Boston in the first round. Toronto would play the Devils.
So the "A' Division playoffs would be Devils-Toronto, Pittsburgh-Rangers, while the "B" Division playoffs would be Boston-Carolina, Detroit-Montreal. No reseeding. It is going to be extremely confusing.
In the West you could have Chicago as the 1 seed have to play L.A. and travel back and forth to the west coast while Nashville and St. Louis play in a series close to home.
Thoughts?