Toronto and Detroit in the West

[thaman8765678]

Toronto could play in the Siberia division, and they still wouldn't win the cup with their collection of chokers.

 

[barkovcanfinnish]

Tbh if anything Chicago and Nashville are probably moving east before anyone else would move west.

Unless the timezones change then that’s how it’ll be

 

[BruinsFan37]

If anything Nashville and Chicago need to move east. Nothing west about either city. Maybe they will by the time we hit 36 teams.

Chicago and Nashville would fight moving east for the same reason Detroit and Toronto fought to move east -- early/late starts suck.

That being said, depending upon expansion, one or both of them might end up in the east. (Nashville most likely if it's only one).

 

[SheldonJPlankton]

Toronto could play in the Siberia division, and they still wouldn't win the cup with their collection of chokers.

This.

The NHL created the North division out of fluff and nonsense and the Leafs were pimp-slapped by the Habs after taking a 3-1 series lead.

 

[Whalers Fan]

OP has never looked at a map, and doesn't know the meaning of "east" and "west".

OP doesn't understand time zones, either, evidently.

 

[Ulysses31]

prefer wings in west for sure but dont have to rise for work early either

 

[cowboy82nd]

Chicago got 3 immediate Cups after Detroit moved east. Point proved.

Atlantic division is total nonsense. 2 cap circumvention teams in Florida.

Montreal Detroit Ottawa Toronto Buffalo.

Then Boston. Makes no sense. There’s one rivalry in there Boston Montreal. Toronto and Detroit were Western teams we played once per year. Toronto has more of a rivalry with LA Kings than the Bruins historically.


Chicago got 3 immediate Cups after Detroit moved east. Point proved.

Atlantic division is total nonsense. 2 cap circumvention teams in Florida.

Montreal Detroit Ottawa Toronto Buffalo.

Then Boston. Makes no sense. There’s one rivalry in there Boston Montreal. Toronto and Detroit were Western teams we played once per year. Toronto has more of a rivalry with LA Kings than the Bruins historically.

I don't understand.

 

[BruinLVGA]

I like the annual Boston beating Toronto in the 7 th game of the 1 st round of the playoffs…

Boston vs Toronto in the playoffs is much watch tv.

So do I

 

[NYRfan85]

Detroit, Columbus, and Toronto absolutely did NOT have it good when they were in the West. Why do you think they wanted out? It all comes down to time zones/travel. As it stands right now, all of the EST teams are in the Eastern Conference, and the West has the remaining time zones. No reason to change that.

However, when the NHL last realigned, they should have swapped Florida/Tampa with Columbus/Pittsburgh. It's so dumb that the Florida teams are with Canada because of snowbirds.

This makes way more sense to me geographically, and yes, I'm splitting up PIT/PHI. They played in different divisions prior to 1999, and being in-division only means one more game anyway.

Northeast: MTL, TOR, OTT, BUF, BOS, DET, CBJ, PIT
Atlantic: NYR, NYI, NJ, PHI, WSH, CAR, TB, FLA

 

[Sasha Orlov]

God that’s funny, well done OP

 

[AvroArrow]

Probably because they're located on the East Coast, weird post

 

[Strangle]

Should just bring back the old Norris division

Chicago
Toronto
Minnesota
Detroit
St. Louis

 

[dirtydanglez]

no one wants to move west. the travel sucks and right now the competition is way harder in the west.

 

[kvladimir]

Would love if NHL divisions were NFL style: 2 conferences with 4 divisions of 4 teams with an emphasis on divisional play, but seeing as the league is talking expansion again, wouldn’t work for too much longer

ANA/LA/SJ/VGK
SEA/VAN/CGY/EDM
CHI/WPG/MIN/STL
UTA/NSH/DAL/COL

NYR/NYI/NJ/BOS
TOR/MTL/OTT/BUF
CAR/FLA/TB/WSH
PIT/PHI/CBJ/DET

I see so many of these proposals jump right to Boston in a division with the Rangers/Devils/Islanders, and it's like... yeah geographically that makes sense, but:

A) you split them from MTL by doing that, unless your plan is for that BOS/NY division to play the TOR/MTL division more than the PIT/PHI and WSH divisions, which... is bad (for rivalry reasons, and a little bit geographical ones too), and

B) you are also making the classic mistake that folks who overly focus on geography do, and that is making the balance of bigger markets to smaller ones totally uneven - in this case, that WSH/CAR/TBL/FLA division has no especially big markets (original 6 + PHI), while each of the others has 2. The current format made into 8 divisions would probably be best looking like this:

W:
1 - VAN, SEA, CGY, EDM (3/4 self-sustaining Canadian markets)
2 - SJS, LAK, ANA, VGK (1 big market (LA) and several large-ish developing ones)
3 - WPG, MIN, UTH, COL (1 new market + 3 self-sustaining mid-sized ones)
4 - CHI, STL, DAL, NSH (1 big market + 1 small but solid)

E:
1 - TOR, DET, BUF, OTT (2 big markets, 2 small ones)
2 - MTL, BOS, TBL, FLA (2 big markets, 2 small ones)
3 - NJD, NYI, NYR, CAR (1 big market, 1 small, 2 self-sustaining)
4 - PIT, PHI, WSH, CBJ (1 big market, 1 small, 2 self-sustaining)

With the divisions of 4 playing each other 6 times per year, and divisions 1+2 and 3+4 respectively playing 4 times per year.

However, when the NHL last realigned, they should have swapped Florida/Tampa with Columbus/Pittsburgh. It's so dumb that the Florida teams are with Canada because of snowbirds.

This makes way more sense to me geographically, and yes, I'm splitting up PIT/PHI. They played in different divisions prior to 1999, and being in-division only means one more game anyway.

Northeast: MTL, TOR, OTT, BUF, BOS, DET, CBJ, PIT
Atlantic: NYR, NYI, NJ, PHI, WSH, CAR, TB, FLA

Again, geographically? Sure, split the PA teams. But it would harm what is normally a fierce and interesting rivalry that puts butts in seats and eyeballs on screens. Also, if the alignment is 8 divisions (and I assume 4 conferences), then the games played would switch to a 6/4/2 matrix, so PIT/CBJ would be playing 2 of MTL, TOR, OTT, BUF, BOS, DET 6 times a year, and NYR/PHI/WSH only twice, so yes, it is a big difference.

I think what you really mean here is that when the difference between division rival and conference rival is just one game (4 vs 3), that's stupid and should be changed, or there just shouldn't be divisions (which is stupid, because the West exists).

 

[Beukeboom Fan]

How? The 1993 Gretzky- Gilmour series is probably the most significant playoff series off the modern era. Last epic year of NHL before dead puck. Last time the Leafs didn't suck. Toronto dipped to the East so they don't play anymore but if they didn't they would play LAK more than Montreal or Boston.

Peak NHL too the league went in the shitter quick after that year.

So one play-off series from half a lifetime ago? How many times have the Bruins booted the Leafs since the internet was discovered? When was the last time that there was a meaningful LA/TOR game?

 

[NyQuil]

E:
1 - TOR, DET, BUF, OTT (2 big markets, 2 small ones)
2 - MTL, BOS, TBL, FLA (2 big markets, 2 small ones)

This is the worst of both worlds.

 

[RogerRoger]

Tbh if anything Chicago and Nashville are probably moving east before anyone else would move west.

Unless the timezones change then that’s how it’ll be

Plus more new teams in the West/Central than Eastern.

 

[Cursed Lemon]

Nobody viewed Detroit as Cup contenders in 2014. What’s this all about?

Hell we were pretenders even in 2013 when we took the Cup champs to seven.

I don't even know how you do that but we managed it.

 

[HisIceness]

It's bad enough we have in college football, cross-country conference members. Do we really need geographic imbalance in the NHL?

 

[x Tame Impala]

What year are the Leafs winning a Cup if they moved out West? The Wings haven't been competitive since 2014, it has nothing to do with what Conference they're in

 

[Starbuds]

Baffling thread.

 

[jackjohnson]

Surely each has a Cup if they don’t demand to play in their time zone?

As a Bruins fan it’s still a weird division we don’t play the Rangers and barely see the Habs. Ottawa and Buffalo are nothing teams and 2 southern squads.

Why the f*** were Toronto and Detroit so desperate to leave the West? They had the best of all worlds and it’s what 15-20 road games a year that start late?

Uhhh no, because in terms of geography both Detroit and TO are more closer to east coast than west coast

Chicago and Nashville would fight moving east for the same reason Detroit and Toronto fought to move east -- early/late starts suck.

That being said, depending upon expansion, one or both of them might end up in the east. (Nashville most likely if it's only one).

Add a team to Arizona and another in Houston and both Nashville and Chicago would move East

 

[Melrose Munch]

What year are the Leafs winning a Cup if they moved out West? The Wings haven't been competitive since 2014, it has nothing to do with what Conference they're in

I would give them the Caps Cup and the Blues Cup if they were out west, maybe. With 2 rings, the core doesn't look so hapless.

Being in the east has only been good for start times. They lost Carolina, (old) Buffalo, and Philadelphia, 10 years of nothing, and they have been crushed by the Bruins since, or not as good as Tampa in the clutch moments. Maybe @BigGoalBrad has a point.

 

[Maple Leaf]

F off with this bullshit. We are not moving to the West. Period. Ever. End of story.

Why not

 

[Whalers Fan]

How? The 1993 Gretzky- Gilmour series is probably the most significant playoff series off the modern era.

How can a playoff series between two teams that failed to win the Cup possibly be the most significant series of the modern era? It may be significant in Toronto, since it's the only time since the Original Six that the Leafs made the conference finals. However, the rest of the league doesn't really care.