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NHL Approves Radical 4 conference Alignment Plan

tbone413

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Aug 8, 2011
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1,588
http://espn.go.com/nhl/story/_/id/7321214/nhl-approves-radical-four-conference-alignment-plan

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. -- NHL officials have approved a radical realignment plan that will give the league four conferences instead of six divisions.

The Board of Governors approved the move Monday at the first day of their meeting. The realignment won't be implemented until NHL commissioner Gary Bettman discusses the new plan with the NHL Players' Association.

The league needed to make changes to accommodate Atlanta's move to Winnipeg this past summer. They could have switched one team from the Western Conference with the Jets but opted for a more dramatic plan.

There will be two conferences with eight teams and two with seven teams instead of the current format of six five-team divisions. Teams will play five or six intraconference games and home-and-home series with nonconference teams.
 
Here are the Conferences:

East 1: New York Rangers, New York Islanders, New Jersey, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Carolina and Washington

East II: Florida, Tampa, Montreal, Toronto, Buffalo, Ottawa and Boston.

Central: Columbus, Detroit, Winnipeg, Nashville, Dallas, Minnesota, St. Louis and Chicago

West: Phoenix, Anaheim, Los Angeles, San Jose, Vancouver, Colorado, Edmonton and Calgary

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Detroit accepted not going to the Eastern Conf because there is no longer an "Eastern Conf"
 
The top four teams in each Conference qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The first-place team would play the fourth-place team; the second-place team would play the third-place team. The four respective Conference champions would meet in the third round of the Playoffs, with the survivors playing for the Stanley Cup.

So Technically two teams from the same conference (Or current West/East Conf - as there will be 4 conferences from now on) could meet in the Stanley Cup Finals..
 
More Holland: "More road games in our time zone or one hour difference, home and home with every team"

Ken Holland on new NHL: "We like it ... less travel, less travel in playoffs, every team comes to our arena ...
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I like this realignment - it really helps the wings cut down on travel.

I have a feeling we will be seeing lots of CHI vs DET playoff matches though. Should be entertaining
 
Good deal for the Wings, even with the extra team in their conference.
 
I think its kind of bush league how the eastern conferences have 7 teams each when there are the most teams in those time zones...each team now has a 7% better chance of making the playoffs in those conferences.

But whatever...I think with any realignment plan there are going to be "flaws"
 
I don't like the top 4 setup for the playoffs. You just know conferences are going to have down years where 2-3 teams are well behind the 4th team in another conference. It's going to become an issue pretty quickly I bet.
 
This is idiotic. The NHL is struggling and here they want to further confuse fans by switching things up completely and then making the playoffs a different format than every single other sport in the US has had for forever.

It's going to turn off the fans that the NHL is vying for.
 
everyoneneedsasmil said:
I don't like the top 4 setup for the playoffs. You just know conferences are going to have down years where 2-3 teams are well behind the 4th team in another conference. It's going to become an issue pretty quickly I bet.

It's the old Adams, Smythe, Norris and Patrick divisions. It was noted then and was considered part of the landscape.

But in this current age of Whining and Justice, someone will make an issue of it.
 
smayschmouthfootball said:
everyoneneedsasmil said:
I don't like the top 4 setup for the playoffs. You just know conferences are going to have down years where 2-3 teams are well behind the 4th team in another conference. It's going to become an issue pretty quickly I bet.

It's the old Adams, Smythe, Norris and Patrick divisions. It was noted then and was considered part of the landscape.

But in this current age of Whining and Justice, someone will make an issue of it.

Over half the teams make the playoffs. I have no sympathy for any team that feels robbed by the format. It might just make the long regular season a bit more meaningful.
 
Currently 6 of the top 8 teams in the west right now are in the the same 'conference' from next year. Teams 9 and 10 in the current western conference would be in and teams 6 and 8 would be out.

I agree, if you don't make the top 4 in your conference you don't have much room to complain, but there will certainly be undeserving teams making it over those that do deserve it to a much greater extent than in the current system. Over the long term it will even out. Some years a team that shouldn't make the playoff will, and another the same team should make the playoffs but won't.

I do like the new system , I just wish they would re-seed the playoffs after the first round. Then the Wings might actually have a chance to play Boston, New York, Pittsburgh, Washington, or Montreal semi-regularly. (I was going to include Toronto, but why kid ourselves).
 
tsbilly said:
Currently 6 of the top 8 teams in the west right now are in the the same 'conference' from next year. Teams 9 and 10 in the current western conference would be in and teams 6 and 8 would be out.

I agree, if you don't make the top 4 in your conference you don't have much room to complain, but there will certainly be undeserving teams making it over those that do deserve it to a much greater extent than in the current system. Over the long term it will even out. Some years a team that shouldn't make the playoff will, and another the same team should make the playoffs but won't.

I do like the new system , I just wish they would re-seed the playoffs after the first round. Then the Wings might actually have a chance to play Boston, New York, Pittsburgh, Washington, or Montreal semi-regularly. (I was going to include Toronto, but why kid ourselves).


I disagree with your last point. It would be nice for the Wings to play some other original or close to original teams, it would also create some boring match ups. You may get Wings-Bruins, but you may also get Tampa-LA or NJ-Phoe, or any number of "who cares" match ups. I like the old school, get out of your conference, playoffs. There will be some good rivalries established.
 
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