2012-13 NHL and Other Hockey Thread [2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs]

[KDawg]

Realignment talk is interesting...

BUF/BOS/TOR/MON/OTT/DET/FLA/TB is an interesting division. Rough group.

[DC9]

Realignment talk is interesting...

BUF/BOS/TOR/MON/OTT/DET/FLA/TB is an interesting division. Rough group.

I read an article about it, but is there still going to be an Easter and Western Conference? It was hard to determine.

I am all for heading back to as much of the old was of doing things as possible, but to me it would just be easier to to switch Winepeg with Nashville. Problem solved.

This will definitely make things interesting though.

[Maxito]

Realignment talk is interesting...

BUF/BOS/TOR/MON/OTT/DET/FLA/TB is an interesting division. Rough group.

Don't know why FL and TB would be in that division. The players union rejected the last realignment plan due to over travel. I see FL and Tampa being in the same division with Dallas, Columbus, Nashville, and probably some other team in their vicinity.

[skinsfan_1215]

Yeah.. Dont understand why the heck the Florida teams are in that group.

[DC9]

Don't know why FL and TB would be in that division. The players union rejected the last realignment plan due to over travel. I see FL and Tampa being in the same division with Dallas, Columbus, Nashville, and probably some other team in their vicinity.

My best guess would be that FLA and TB play in half empty arenas.

Give them Det, Mon, Bos, Tor... and for KD's sake, Buffalo ( ) and you're looking at more traditional power teams to drive up ticket sales. Obviously Car, Caps, and Winipeg aren't getting it done.

[KDawg]

My best guess would be that FLA and TB play in half empty arenas.

Give them Det, Mon, Bos, Tor... and for KD's sake, Buffalo ( ) and you're looking at more traditional power teams to drive up ticket sales. Obviously Car, Caps, and Winipeg aren't getting it done.

I think another reason is they're all eastern time zone. They also don't want too many rivalries to be affected.

And all four groups would be conferences, apparently. Four of each make playoffs. They haven't said much about what happens in the playoffs after you get out of your conference as far as matchups are concerned.

[pjfootballer]

I read an article about it, but is there still going to be an Easter and Western Conference? It was hard to determine.

I am all for heading back to as much of the old was of doing things as possible, but to me it would just be easier to to switch Winepeg with Nashville. Problem solved.

This will definitely make things interesting though.

Actually, I'd send Minnesota to the Central to reunite them with the old Norris division foes., Nashville to the SE and put Winnipeg in the NW.

[DC9]

And all four groups would be conferences, apparently. Four of each make playoffs. They haven't said much about what happens in the playoffs after you get out of your conference as far as matchups are concerned.

Well that's going to be interesting. I'm sure it will go by seeding, but they are going to have to draw a line somewhere, I'm not sure how fair it's going to be if one season an East Coast team has to play 7 games against Vancouver to get into the Stanley Cup and then the next season the semifinals feature two east coast teams.

And hopefully they come up with cooler names for the divisions/conferences and they aren't numbered. I'm sure that's already in the works and decided. I'm fine with Patrick Division myself

---------- Post added February-25th-2013 at 08:10 AM ----------

Actually, I'd send Minnesota to the Central to reunite them with the old Norris division foes., Nashville to the SE and put Winnipeg in the NW.

Wouldn't that be for the fans only though? I thought the old Minnesota North Stars moved to Dallas? Good point though.

[KDawg]

For the record, here are the groupings:

I: Carolina, Columbus, New Jersey, New York Islanders, New York Rangers, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Washington

II: Boston, Buffalo, Detroit, Florida, Montreal, Ottawa, Tampa Bay, Toronto

III: Chicago, Colorado, Dallas, Minnesota, Nashville, St. Louis, Winnipeg

IV: Anaheim, Calgary, Edmonton, Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Jose, Vancouver

I would almost change things up even more.

Here's what I would do:

Northeast: Boston, Buffalo, Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa, Islanders, Rangers, New Jersey
Atlantic: Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Washington, Carolina, Tampa, Florida, Nashville
Central: Winnipeg, Chicago, Minnesota, Dallas, St. Louis, Colorado, Detroit, Columbus
Pacific: Anaheim, San Jose, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver


From there, I'd do the playoff format as follows:

Round 1: Conference Qualifier(1v4, 2v3 within YOUR regular season grouping)
Round 2: Conference Championship (It's NO longer decided in the regular season, you win a conference title in the playoffs)

That brings you to the "final four". From that point, reseed based on regular season record.

Round 3: Conference Champions: Semi Finals: 1v4, 2v3 of the teams remaining.
Round 4: Stanley Cup

One of the complaints that I've seen is that the teams in seven team divisions have an easier chance to make the playoffs and in turn win the Cup. So if that's an issue you do this:

-Conference Champions decided in regular season
-Top three in each conference make the playoffs (seedings to be determined)
-Four wild card teams can make the playoffs. It's the best four point totals in the league who didn't finish in the top three in their conference.
-Of the wild card teams, you insert one into each of the conferences brackets. Whichever conference with the highest point total with the three teams that made the playoffs gets the last wild card team. The team with the lowest point total gets the top wild card team.
-Follow through with the same format as above, except renaming the rounds.

[ixcuincle]

Damn the Blackhawks look good

[pjfootballer]

I'd keep the 6 division format, but since Detroit and Columbus are always complaining about west coast games, increase the number of divisional games. Play 8 (32 total) against each in your division (4 teams). Play a home and home against everyone else (30 total vs the other conference and 20 total games vs the other 2 divisions in the conference). Simple really. That way you get more divisional play and every team visits every team once and Detroit and Columbus wouldn't have to make so many west coast trips or late starts on TV.

My division setup would be:

Patrick- NYI, NYR, Pitt, NJ, Phi
Adams- Buf, Bos, Ott, Mon, Tor
Howe- Was, TB, Fla, Car, Nash

Norris- Minn, Det, St.L, Cbs, Chi
Gretzky- Win, Col, Cal, Dall, Edm (they would have to go here)
Smyth- LA, Ana, Pho, SJ, Van

I'd put Winnipeg and Dallas in the Gretzky, move Vancouver to the Smyth, Nashville to the Howe and Minnesota to the Norris.

Detroit would play St.L, Minn, Chi, Cbs- 8 times for a total of 32 games,
They would play NYI, NYR, Phi, Pitt, NJ, Ott, Buf, Bos, Mon, Tor, Was, TB, Fla, Car, Nash- 2 times for a total of 30 games,
and would play Win, Col, Cal, Dall, Edm, LA, Ana, Pho, SJ, Van- 2 times for a total of 20 games.

That is an 82 game season and the majority of their schedule would be EST or CST. Problem and realignment solved.

Booyah!!

[KDawg]

Right now they seem deadset on doing the four conference set up.

I think six divisions is a much better idea right now. But they're also thinking expansion to Quebec, Seattle, etc. They need places to put those teams so we don't have odd divisions and have to realign again.

[KDawg]

I am disappointed in this thread. For shame!

So, the Sabres have decided they actually want to play hockey in the last week.

Three wins and an overtime loss... 7 out of a possible 8 points.

And it started when Kevin Porter was called up. Rolston has done a very good job thus far. He's getting something out of a misfit group.

With the injury to Vanek the last two games, we called up Brian Flynn from Rochester as well. Rolston has two Amerks up and the team is playing with a ton of energy. And the best part is, a lot of Sabres fans were upset with the Flynn call up while we had other prospects in the minors. I like it. He plays a high energy game and looks fast as all hell out there. He was an undrafted player out of college, so a lot of fans kind of write him off. But he's been pretty good in ROC.

He's also scratched Marcus Foligno for poor play since he arrived. The players are being held accountable and it's refreshing to see. This team may actually be able to make a run for the playoffs. I'm not sure how far we'd get if we somehow managed to make it in. But theres a chance. I don't think we'll get there, we're talent deprived... But we finally see some heart in the form of Mikhail Grigorenko (two assists in last two games and a few good chances), Steve Ott, Patrick Kaleta (Stupid penalties, but plays with nothing but heart), Brian Flynn, and Ryan Miller. Pominville is starting to play much better as well.

I'm interested to see what happens when Vanek returns... Who gets sent down (Foligno, maybe?) and who stays and how the team performs with Vanek. If we don't fair any better, I might be open to moving him. But we'll see.

[pjfootballer]

Interested to see what you guys thought of my divisions and the schedule. Increase the number of divisional games to 8 (32 games-4 teams) and you have a home and home against everyone else in the league (50 games-25 teams).

[KDawg]

Interested to see what you guys thought of my divisions and the schedule. Increase the number of divisional games to 8 (32 games-4 teams) and you have a home and home against everyone else in the league (50 games-25 teams).

Hate the named divisions. It's confusing for new fans and contributes to keeping them away.

I also dislike all the time zone differences in your divisions. Nashville in an EST division. Columbus/Detroit in a CTZ division.

Winnipeg/Dallas in a MTZ division.

Here is a breakdown of the NHL by time zone:

Pacific: Anaheim, Los Angeles, San Jose, Vancouver
Mountain: Calgary, Edmonton, Phoenix, Colorado
Central: Chicago, Dallas, Minnesota, Nashville, St. Louis, Winnipeg
Eastern: Boston, Buffalo, Detroit, Florida, Montreal, Ottawa, Tampa Bay, Toronto, Carolina, Columbus, New Jersey, New York Islanders, New York Rangers, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Washington

Again, I'd probably wait until relocations/expansion is completed before realigning anything. We've dealt with it for this long, may as well wait to do it right rather than change for the sake of change.