New proposal for new divisions

Another proposal has been put forward which is fairly similar to the previous one with a few changes to address some of the concerns. The NHL reckon they have addressed issues put forward by each team. The build will have a Western conference with 16 teams and an Eastern conference with 14 teams and the divisions as follows...

Los Angeles	Detroit
Anaheim	Chicago
San Jose	St Louis
Vancouver	Minnesota
Calgary	Nashville
Edmonton	Columbus
Colorado	Winnipeg
Phoenix	Dallas

Montreal	Philadelphia
Toronto	Pittsburgh
Ottawa	NY Rangers
Boston	NY Islanders
Buffalo	New Jersey
Florida	Washington
Tampa Bay	Carolina

Again, as a Stars fan I love it as it puts us in a central division meaning less stupid timed games.

I like that a lot, although it looks a bit odd having Tampa and Florida in with the north eastern teams!

Yeah that is a bit strange but I think any proposals gonna have some oddities. Overall I think this is the best proposal put forward so far.

mc_homer wrote:Yeah that is a bit strange but I think any proposals gonna have some oddities. Overall I think this is the best proposal put forward so far.

Oh I dunno. I think Homer's random names out of a hat was much better. Bruins v Wild, Kings v Flyers, Bolts v Blues..... Some epic and historic match-ups there.

Well thank you CJ, I knew someone would appreciate the awesomeness of that

For anyone who wants to see the talk about the changes it is here...

http://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockeynightincanada/hotstove/video/#id=2173372548&tab=1

Beef does that link involve Don Cherry because if so it should come with an appropriate warning

NYR_UK_Marc wrote:Beef does that link involve Don Cherry because if so it should come with an appropriate warning

The links good, there's no Cherry on that cake

Don't worry Marcy. If it included Cherry then I would have warned against it....saying that I am sure Melrose is found in some of those videos so I dropped the ball there a little....

http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=382065

The league have approved this now.

Beat me to it! I can't explain how excited I am for this

Pete/Beef, Tampa/Florida in with the NE makes sense since there are plenty of Canadians down there for holidays/retirement etc. allows them to keep their local rivalry too.

Some initial thought:

I still don't like the principal of uneven conferences. It is one of the things that really irritates me about MLB. When qualification for the play-offs is by divisional standing you have to have the same ratio of teams to places available otherwise it is not a fair competition.

I like the home and home with every team in the league which is definitely worth the extra travel. Will help smaller teams pull in fans to I reckon.

Play-offs to be played within the division for the first two rounds is nice in helping develop rivalries but I really want to play my rivals for the Stanley Cup itself. The fact that there can never be a Habs Leafs Cup Final really disappoints me. Now we have done away with the competition of East vs West I see no reason why two teams from the same conference should not be able to pay each other for the Cup.

BuffonIdol wrote:Pete/Beef, Tampa/Florida in with the NE makes sense since there are plenty of Canadians down there for holidays/retirement etc. allows them to keep their local rivalry too.

Some initial thought:

I still don't like the principal of uneven conferences. It is one of the things that really irritates me about MLB. When qualification for the play-offs is by divisional standing you have to have the same ratio of teams to places available otherwise it is not a fair competition.

I like the home and home with every team in the league which is definitely worth the extra travel. Will help smaller teams pull in fans to I reckon.

Play-offs to be played within the division for the first two rounds is nice in helping develop rivalries but I really want to play my rivals for the Stanley Cup itself. The fact that there can never be a Habs Leafs Cup Final really disappoints me. Now we have done away with the competition of East vs West I see no reason why two teams from the same conference should not be able to pay each other for the Cup.

At last, a way for the Leafs to win Lord Stanleys pot again! Buff sir, thou ist a genius.

Why a thank you
We can afford to do it as well...

Some good points, Buff. Yup I see no reason why the cup finalists should be restricted. If they're the best two teams then why not have the possibility of say a Habs v Leafs or Rangers v Isles match up? Any combination should be achievable.

Personally I don't really care for these changes but then I've been over this before.

I suppose the best thing about this, is after the last few years of trying to grab 8th place in the confrence, the Flames are now gaurenteed to be at least 8th.

Even though I don't like the way the playoffs seem to be lining up, no chance of a division rivalry semi final, it does look like there is the chance of having any cup final match ups, not just east vs west which would be cool!

sportsportsport wrote: it does look like there is the chance of having any cup final match ups

No there isn't. You can play anyone in the Cup final except any team in your division, you know, your real rivals. It's a real shame.

I see, that is rubbish

Dislike.

New alignment idea:

You think this is bad, wait until Bettmans protege realigns the 606HL!

I can see it now. 29 teams fight for the chance to play blindfolded against the beef for the cup...

Plans of a realignment of the 606HL are top secret how did you gain knowledge of it's existence. I am gonna have to fire that helper monkey I think.....

As for the NHL. As I have said before, I actually really like the unbalance of Conferences (they are no longer divisions ). I also like the playoff plans as Buff said it does help build rivalries as you are more likely to face a team multiple times in the playoffs. Playing a real rival for the cup is a nice idea but aside from the really REALLY old days this has never been the case and with the current format you have more teams you could potentially meet. The current format there are only 15 possible teams you could face in a cup final while under the new one there are 22/23 teams you could face.

Also the point of seeing a Leafs/Habs final is moot anyways because lets face it.......it's never gonna happen anyways

mc_homer wrote:Plans of a realignment of the 606HL are top secret how did you gain knowledge of it's existence. I am gonna have to fire that helper monkey I think.....

?

mc_homer wrote:As for the NHL. As I have said before, I actually really like the unbalance of Conferences (they are no longer divisions ).

That's because you're unbalanced. (Yes this is getting school yard)

mc_homer wrote:I also like the playoff plans as Buff said it does help build rivalries as you are more likely to face a team multiple times in the playoffs. Playing a real rival for the cup is a nice idea but aside from the really REALLY old days this has never been the case and with the current format you have more teams you could potentially meet. The current format there are only 15 possible teams you could face in a cup final while under the new one there are 22/23 teams you could face.

But why not have 29/30? It is very possible and easy to do. The good old days are called just that because they are GOOD.

mc_homer wrote:Also the point of seeing a Leafs/Habs final is moot anyways because lets face it.......it's never gonna happen anyways

The last time it was possible for the Habs and Leafs to meet in the final was 1993. In that year the Habs and Leafs met in the final. So I would say it is very likely