Analysis of the NHL's new realignment
In December, the NHL's Board
of Governors approved the realignment
of the league's conferences,
beginning with the 2012/13 season.
I had discussed the potential of this
happening a couple months back in
this newspaper, and it's come to
fruition. It's probably the biggest
news story coming out of the first
part of this year's season, perhaps
aside from the return of Sidney
Crosby.
The plan is still tentative, but the idea is that beginning next season the league will have four conferences. Currently it has two, with three divisions in each. There won't be any divisions within the conferences. It seems very similar to what the NHL did for years throughout the 1970s and 1980s, with four large divisions. The only real difference is that these new divisions are being referred to as conferences, for whatever reason.
Here's what each will look like. The first conference will have Boston, Buffalo, Florida, Montreal, Ottawa, Tampa and Toronto. It's basically the current Northeast Division, but with Florida and Tampa added. The next conference has Carolina, New Jersey, N.Y. Islanders, N.Y. Rangers, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Washington. So that's basically the Atlantic Division with Carolina and Washington added. We can finally all say goodbye to the sad sack Southeast Division. The third conference includes Chicago, Columbus, Dallas, Detroit, Minnesota, Nashville, St. Louis and Winnipeg. So this is most of the current Central Division with a few new teams. The fourth conference has Anaheim, Calgary, Colorado, Edmonton, L.A., Phoenix, San Jose and Vancouver. The conferences seem to be unnamed at this point.
In regards to scheduling, each team will play teams from outside their home conference twice per year, one game at home and one on the road. I'm not sure how that works when you consider that two of the four conferences only have seven teams, while the other two have eight. This seems to indicate that the teams that are in conferences with seven teams (which are all the former Eastern Conference teams) will play more games against teams from outside their own conferences.
So, for example, if you're in a conference with eight teams and you play two games against the 22 teams that are outside your conference, that's 44 games total. That leaves 38 games for conference rivals, playing each team five or six times during the season. If you're in a seven-team conference, you're playing 46 games against teams outside your conference and 36 against conference rivals, six against each team (three home, three away).
The biggest change, really, is the playoffs. Again, the NHL is going a bit retro with their playoff format, as we're seeing something similar to the way things worked back in the 1980s. The top four teams in each conference make the playoffs, with the first place team playing the fourth and the third playing the second. The winners of those two series then meet. The four conference champions would then play, with the winners playing for the Cup. It seems that the playoff structure isn't set in stone quite yet, as a lot of questions remain unanswered — for example, in the final four, how will it determine which teams play each other? These questions will likely be answered as 2012 progresses.
The plan is still tentative, but the idea is that beginning next season the league will have four conferences. Currently it has two, with three divisions in each. There won't be any divisions within the conferences. It seems very similar to what the NHL did for years throughout the 1970s and 1980s, with four large divisions. The only real difference is that these new divisions are being referred to as conferences, for whatever reason.
Here's what each will look like. The first conference will have Boston, Buffalo, Florida, Montreal, Ottawa, Tampa and Toronto. It's basically the current Northeast Division, but with Florida and Tampa added. The next conference has Carolina, New Jersey, N.Y. Islanders, N.Y. Rangers, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Washington. So that's basically the Atlantic Division with Carolina and Washington added. We can finally all say goodbye to the sad sack Southeast Division. The third conference includes Chicago, Columbus, Dallas, Detroit, Minnesota, Nashville, St. Louis and Winnipeg. So this is most of the current Central Division with a few new teams. The fourth conference has Anaheim, Calgary, Colorado, Edmonton, L.A., Phoenix, San Jose and Vancouver. The conferences seem to be unnamed at this point.
In regards to scheduling, each team will play teams from outside their home conference twice per year, one game at home and one on the road. I'm not sure how that works when you consider that two of the four conferences only have seven teams, while the other two have eight. This seems to indicate that the teams that are in conferences with seven teams (which are all the former Eastern Conference teams) will play more games against teams from outside their own conferences.
So, for example, if you're in a conference with eight teams and you play two games against the 22 teams that are outside your conference, that's 44 games total. That leaves 38 games for conference rivals, playing each team five or six times during the season. If you're in a seven-team conference, you're playing 46 games against teams outside your conference and 36 against conference rivals, six against each team (three home, three away).
The biggest change, really, is the playoffs. Again, the NHL is going a bit retro with their playoff format, as we're seeing something similar to the way things worked back in the 1980s. The top four teams in each conference make the playoffs, with the first place team playing the fourth and the third playing the second. The winners of those two series then meet. The four conference champions would then play, with the winners playing for the Cup. It seems that the playoff structure isn't set in stone quite yet, as a lot of questions remain unanswered — for example, in the final four, how will it determine which teams play each other? These questions will likely be answered as 2012 progresses.
