NHL talks realignment
In September, the NHL Board of
Governors held formal discussions
about the possibility of divisional
realignment of the league beginning
with the 2012/13 season.
Since those discussions, rumours
about reshaping the NHL have
increased as we are getting close to
the Board's self-imposed deadline
of December for a decision on
realignment, a deadline decided
upon at the September meeting.
Realignment of the NHL means moving of teams from one division to another, and likely one conference to another, and possibly restructuring the league altogether, including its schedule and playoffs. Right now the NHL has six divisions, three in each of two conferences. Each division has five teams, for a total of 30. Realignment wasn't a serious issue until this year when the Atlanta Thrashers relocated to Winnipeg. The Winnipeg Jets are now playing in the Southeast Division for the 2011/12 season with other teams such as Florida, Tampa and Carolina. Perhaps they should have been rebranded as the Winnipeg Snowbirds.
Winnipeg has already been guaranteed a spot in the Western Conference for 2012/13, but in which division? And will any other teams move? Those are the two big questions. Lots of rumours abound, far too many to print here. A popular one has Detroit relocating to the Eastern Conference, and Winnipeg moving into Detroit's spot in the West's Central Division. It makes sense in terms of time zones, since Detroit is on Eastern time and Winnipeg on Central time.
But in which division in the Eastern Conference will Detroit land? I'd love to see them in the Northeast because of all the natural original six rivalries, but that would unbalance the divisions in the Eastern Conference with six teams in the Northeast and four in the Southeast. I don't think that's such a bad thing because the Northeast is the most exciting division in the NHL and the Southeast the least exciting, but some may argue it will present problems for the current playoff format.
A number of other scenarios have been suggested by the NHL, including scrapping the six division format and returning to four divisions in two conferences. Each conference would have one division of eight teams and one of seven teams. That would be an extreme makeover and, again, some would argue that the playoff format would have to change drastically with such a change to the league's divisional layout, which may have a negative impact on the way the playoffs are played.
I don't think the playoffs would be adversely affected, though, as even with two divisions in each conference rather than three, the NHL can still have the top eight teams make the playoffs, perhaps with the first-place teams in each division capturing the first and second seeds. It's also possible the league could return to the interdivisional playoff format from decades past, where the top four teams from each division made the playoffs, and in the first round team one played team four, team two played team three, etc.. This worked in the NHL for years, so there are options available for reformatting the playoffs should the league see such a drastic realignment.
It wouldn't surprise me if, assuming a drastic overhaul of the league does occur, there will be some minor tweaks here and there for a couple of seasons afterwards to get things right. Me, I'm just hoping to see some more regular season Toronto-Detroit games.
Realignment of the NHL means moving of teams from one division to another, and likely one conference to another, and possibly restructuring the league altogether, including its schedule and playoffs. Right now the NHL has six divisions, three in each of two conferences. Each division has five teams, for a total of 30. Realignment wasn't a serious issue until this year when the Atlanta Thrashers relocated to Winnipeg. The Winnipeg Jets are now playing in the Southeast Division for the 2011/12 season with other teams such as Florida, Tampa and Carolina. Perhaps they should have been rebranded as the Winnipeg Snowbirds.
Winnipeg has already been guaranteed a spot in the Western Conference for 2012/13, but in which division? And will any other teams move? Those are the two big questions. Lots of rumours abound, far too many to print here. A popular one has Detroit relocating to the Eastern Conference, and Winnipeg moving into Detroit's spot in the West's Central Division. It makes sense in terms of time zones, since Detroit is on Eastern time and Winnipeg on Central time.
But in which division in the Eastern Conference will Detroit land? I'd love to see them in the Northeast because of all the natural original six rivalries, but that would unbalance the divisions in the Eastern Conference with six teams in the Northeast and four in the Southeast. I don't think that's such a bad thing because the Northeast is the most exciting division in the NHL and the Southeast the least exciting, but some may argue it will present problems for the current playoff format.
A number of other scenarios have been suggested by the NHL, including scrapping the six division format and returning to four divisions in two conferences. Each conference would have one division of eight teams and one of seven teams. That would be an extreme makeover and, again, some would argue that the playoff format would have to change drastically with such a change to the league's divisional layout, which may have a negative impact on the way the playoffs are played.
I don't think the playoffs would be adversely affected, though, as even with two divisions in each conference rather than three, the NHL can still have the top eight teams make the playoffs, perhaps with the first-place teams in each division capturing the first and second seeds. It's also possible the league could return to the interdivisional playoff format from decades past, where the top four teams from each division made the playoffs, and in the first round team one played team four, team two played team three, etc.. This worked in the NHL for years, so there are options available for reformatting the playoffs should the league see such a drastic realignment.
It wouldn't surprise me if, assuming a drastic overhaul of the league does occur, there will be some minor tweaks here and there for a couple of seasons afterwards to get things right. Me, I'm just hoping to see some more regular season Toronto-Detroit games.
