NHL Realignment Announced

[jdoggivjc]

Four-conference realignment plan - Cross Checks Blog - ESPN

NHL is realigning into four "conferences". Teams will play each team in it's conference 5 or 6 times (depending on the conference, as half have 6 teams and the other half have 7), and will play everyone else twice (home and away).

The Breakdown:

Conference A
Anaheim
Calgary
Colorado
Edmonton
Los Angeles
Phoenix
San Jose
Vancouver

Conference B
Chicago
Columbus
Dallas
Detroit
Minnesota
Nashville
St. Louis
Winnipeg

Conference C
Boston
Buffalo
Florida
Montreal
Ottawa
Tampa Bay
Toronto

Conference D
Carolina
New Jersey
N.Y. Islanders
N.Y. Rangers
Philadelphia
Pittsburgh
Washington

[ItsCyence]

I like it.

[CYcoFan]

absolutely love it. It is a disgrace that every team doesn't get every other team in the League at home. For instance this year Sid the Kid never comes to Chicago. Absolutely ridiculous plus this gets the old divisional style playoff feel back which builds rivalry. Always a good thing in Hockey.

Building rivalry and assuring that you get every team at home was important.

[YIP]

I like it too and it seems to make a little more geographical sense than some of the former divisions. Looks like a West, Central, and 2 Eastern Conferences.
Can't wait for the All Star Game with 4 teams on the ice at once.

[CYcoFan]

I like it too and it seems to make a little more geographical sense than some of the former divisions. Looks like a West, Central, and 2 Eastern Conferences.
Can't wait for the All Star Game with 4 teams on the ice at once.

Actually with the new fantasy style all star wont matter. 2 captains are selected and then they pick Fantasy draft style who they want on their team. Fans vote on the pool, but the captains pick the teams.

Appreciate good sarcasm, but this shows ignorance. Also shows NHL hasn't branded their product

[jdoggivjc]

Actually with the new fantasy style all star wont matter. 2 captains are selected and then they pick Fantasy draft style who they want on their team. Fans vote on the pool, but the captains pick the teams.

Appreciate good sarcasm, but this shows ignorance. Also shows NHL hasn't branded their product

Bettman has been too busy spending the better part of the last decade being the Iron Fist of the NHL that he hasn't had much time to do much of anything productive in terms of advancing the sport. Okay, he did do this realignment thing. But he's getting absolutely lucky with his deal with Versus - had it not become part of the NBC Sports conglomerate that's attempting to take ESPN down a peg it would have absolutely no visibility.

[BBHMagic]

I like it too and it seems to make a little more geographical sense than some of the former divisions. Looks like a West, Central, and 2 Eastern Conferences.
Can't wait for the All Star Game with 4 teams on the ice at once.

Definitely. Look at conference D. Those teams hardly have to travel at all to play each other.

[Broodwich]

Conference B has the top 4 teams in the NHL right now.

Toughest division hands down.

Go Blues.

[Clonefan94]

Conference B has the top 4 teams in the NHL right now.

Toughest division hands down.

Go Blues.

How are they doing the play-offs on this? (getting in) Is it strictly by division or is there a wild card type thing with how many points you accumulate?

[Al_4_State]

Conference B is a god damn hornet's nest.

I root for Chicago AND Minnesota, so I was hoping they would possibly be separated, but I knew it was highly unlikely. They're poised for some epic battles against each other. I'll probably lean Chicago, as I've been rooting for them since before the Wild even existed, but it's going to be entertaining hockey. Plus, throw in the fact that I have a ton of family in Manitoba, who were involved in the initial push to save the Jets back in '97(?), and this will be interesting.

[Broodwich]

How are they doing the play-offs on this? (getting in) Is it strictly by division or is there a wild card type thing with how many points you accumulate?

Top four teams in each conference make the playoffs. 1 seed plays 4 seed. 2 seed plays 3 seed.

Four becomes, two becomes conference champ.

Conference A Champ plays Conference D Champ.
Conference B Champ plays Conference C Champ.

A-D Champ plays B-C Champ in Stanley Cup.

Gonna suck because some divisions will require almost all teams to be over 100 pts to make the playoffs.

[YIP]

Actually with the new fantasy style all star wont matter. 2 captains are selected and then they pick Fantasy draft style who they want on their team. Fans vote on the pool, but the captains pick the teams.

Appreciate good sarcasm, but this shows ignorance. Also shows NHL hasn't branded their product

I'm well aware of the new all star game format. I was trying to make a joke. I'm new here but I thought that is what this little guy symbolizes.

[Chizit]

It'll be interesting. B and C look like the toughest. The 1st team out in both of them could be a real good team.