NHL Realignment

[Govbarney]

Looks like it is finally happening , just in time for next season, and the CBJs rebirth.

The New conferences are as follows:

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

There are a few things that still need to be ironed out, such as a special wild card game for the conferences with 8 teams. But all signs point to this being accepted next week at the owners meeting in Toronto, and the Players are on board as well.

I dont want to look a gift horse in the mouth , and very happy that this is happening, but I will say as a CBJ fan they are moving into a juggernaut of a conference, its going to be the AL East of the NHL.

[skatingtripods]

There's no easy route to the playoffs in any of those divisions, though, at first glance, the other Eastern Division is the weakest. Not sure that I understand the alignment of the second Eastern Division, but whatever. Anything they do is better than Columbus and Detroit playing in the West. Not sure I like having imbalanced conference numbers (16 E, 14 W), but it is what it is.

The AHL used to have an imbalanced conference. The top four in each division made the playoffs, except if the 5th place team in one of the Western Conference divisions had more points than the 4th place team in the other, they would make the playoffs. They scrapped that and went to the more conventional NHL blueprint last season. Seems like that would be a fair way to do it in the NHL.

Next step is to make regulation wins worth three points.

[Govbarney]

It will be interesting to see what happens when the 2 team expansion that everyone says is going to take place happens. If its Seattle and KC , perfect equals out the 4 conferences , but if its Quebec City, and say Hamilton or Toronto, we are back to being in a world of shit.

[Cerebral_DownTime]

The people who run the NHL really are the dumbest assholes on the planet.

[skatingtripods]

Play each Western Conference team twice, once home, once away. Play the other teams in your conference, but not division, three times each. That's 28 + 24, so 52. Remaining 30 against your own division.

Jackets better get good in a hurry.

[kman_holla8]

It will be interesting to see what happens when the 2 team expansion that everyone says is going to take place happens. If its Seattle and KC , perfect equals out the 4 conferences , but if its Quebec City, and say Hamilton or Toronto, we are back to being in a world of shit.

My guess is the NHL wants SEA and KC. That would be the senseable thing to do, but we know that rational thinking is beyond Bettman. Wild Card is PHX. If they move to any of those other places you listed, my fear is CBJ could be fucked into moving back in the west.