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My own NHL or hockey league realignment


Chioster

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All of this is based on my own opinion so feel free to criticize or debate about it.

2vd5ons.png

This map was created using Google Earth and Paint so sorry for any ugliness it possesses. I got bored during the lockout and decided to just fool around with my own version of what my NHL would look like.

I decided on using the older divisional names and tried to best use them in their geographical location as previously used.

The new teams such as Charlotte, Indianapolis, Portland, Seattle were chosen due to their geographical location as well as their population relative to metropolitan area. I tried to make each conference as geographically tight as possible in relative to time zone but the Western cities are still pretty darn spread out.

I chose the trade deadline so late due to the current schedule for trade deadline being too early and not enough teams are sellers/buyers which results in a pretty darn boring trade deadline, in my opinion.

You may ask, why 76 game season? Well a lot of you hate it or a lot of you love an 82 game season. I for one think it may just be a bit too long. Ending the season early gives it less competition against the other sports starting up such as MLB and the NBA playoffs. It also gives an earlier summer.

Lastly, why are there so little southern teams? Well, the only team that is more southern than Nashville are Charlotte, LA, and Dallas and those 3 cities are pretty darn big for a market to draw from.

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Or we can do this. Top 2 teams in each division, swap divisional playoffs. So say

First round, Canucks vs Flames, Edmonton vs Winnipeg

Canucks and Winnipeg advance (Canucks higher place obviously)

And in the other division, Denver and Chicago advance with Denver higher position

For round 2, it can be Canucks vs Chicago, and Winnipeg vs Denver.

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I wish the leauge would abolish those teams that are playing in non-hockey markets and losing massive amounts of money with no fans around to care...and seriously look at european expansion.

Imagine having teams playing out of Helsinki, or Stockholm, or Prague, or Copenhagen, or Zurich, or half a dozen russian cities. The travel would be more difficult, make no mistake, but there are ways it could be done. We could have 2 North American divisions and a European one and each team could go on a couple massive road trips in a season to hit all the teams in the other division. A home game and an away game against each team in opposing divisions and a healthy number of games within your own division to keep rivalries strong.

Europe already has a built-in hockey fanbase (one which would only get stronger with the NHL). They've also got the infrastructure already in place. It might be a little tougher on the players but as far as fans, intrigue and revenue goes, it beats the crap out of having teams in places like Florida, Columbus and Phoenix. In one fell swoop, we could eliminate the "problem teams" of the league (you know, the ones that are the reason for this 3rd lockout in 20 years), add huge sources of revenue, and create a massive amount of exposure and excitement for the game.

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I wish the leauge would abolish those teams that are playing in non-hockey markets and losing massive amounts of money with no fans around to care...and seriously look at european expansion.

Imagine having teams playing out of Helsinki, or Stockholm, or Prague, or Copenhagen, or Zurich, or half a dozen russian cities. The travel would be more difficult, make no mistake, but there are ways it could be done. We could have 2 North American divisions and a European one and each team could go on a couple massive road trips in a season to hit all the teams in the other division. A home game and an away game against each team in opposing divisions and a healthy number of games within your own division to keep rivalries strong.

Europe already has a built-in hockey fanbase (one which would only get stronger with the NHL). They've also got the infrastructure already in place. It might be a little tougher on the players but as far as fans, intrigue and revenue goes, it beats the crap out of having teams in places like Florida, Columbus and Phoenix. In one fell swoop, we could eliminate the "problem teams" of the league (you know, the ones that are the reason for this 3rd lockout in 20 years), add huge sources of revenue, and create a massive amount of exposure and excitement for the game.

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I'm curious what the Canucks-specific angle is to this is, since it's in Canucks Talk. Anything in particular or should it have gone to General Hockey?

Anyway, no way the European expansion idea would work. The OP is pretty bold to think all those places would be up for expansion/relocation, considering some are still years away from having arenas that would make them capable of hosting an NHL franchise.

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I have a few opinions on this map:

1. I completely agree Portland and Seattle need teams and it would creat alot of balance in the west as far as travel goes.

2. I agree that Phx, Anh, Flo, and CBJ need to be relocated.

3. NYI will not be moving anywhere but brooklyn

4. Two other markets you moved I don't see moving: Buffalo (which baffles me that you moved and not Nashville). and TB who has been becoming a viable team in florida as apposed to there rivals.

5. I think Milwaukee deserves a chance at a team; Baltimore/Charlotte/Cinn/Indiana. not so much

6. Denver should remain in the same division with Van/Cal/Edm; Minn and Winnipeg are so close and could create a great rivalry. (plus more canadian teams possible in playoffs.)

So proposed realignment would be:

1. Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, SJ, LA, Portland, Seattle, Denver

2. Winnipeg, Milwaukee, Chicago, Minnisota, St louis, Kansas City, Nashville, Dallas

3.Tampa, Carolina, Washington, Pitts, Philly, NYI, NYR, NJ

4. Detroit, Toronto, hamilton, ottawa, QC, Montreal, Buffalo, Boston

Proposed schedule of games:

4 vs division

2 vs non-division

1 home/home against 1 team in each non-division

*** Division finalists in playoffs automotically match up against eachother for Home/homes in following season

So lets say Vancouver, Chicago, Boston, and NYR are the four final teams in the SC playoffs in 2013, in 2014 Vancouver would play 4 games against chicago, boston and nyr instead of 2. the remaining 7 teams in each division would be matched up with other non-division opponents by draw.

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It is also a problem with visas and work permits. Free Agency might become a problem as players will try as much as possible, North American players that is to stay in North America. Also, it will be tougher to manage as all the different currencies like the mid 90s when the Canadian Dollar was 0.67 USD which really hurt a lot of Canadian teams.

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This is an old post I made in a previous Realignment thread, I came up with this in the basis of trying to make travel a easy as possible, and reduce it as much as possible, aswell as keep the times zones in order.

I like the way the divisions are setup now. I would much rather have 5 team divisions than 4 big divisions/confrence's.

We just need to move the teams into the Correct Divisions.

Here's a map of the team placement:

Map-Original.png

Here's what I propose (I'll use current division names, but they can be changed):

Western Conference

North West Division:

Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Colorado

Pacific Division:

Anahiem, LA, San Jose, Phoenix, Dallas

Central Division:

Chicago, Minnesota, St.Louis, Nashville, Columbus

Eastern Conference

North East Division:

Toronto, Montreal, Boston, Ottawa, Detriot

Atlantic:

NY Rangers, NY Islanders, New Jersey, Washington, Buffalo

South East:

Carolina, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Tampa Bay, Florida

Possible new Rivalries:

- PIT vs TB (Crosby vs Stamkos)

- WSH vs NYR (Could build off alot of recent playoff meetings)

- BUF vs NYR or/and NYI (New York team vs New York team)

- WPG vs VAN/CGY/EDM (Canadian team vs Canadian team)

- DET vs TOR (Winter Classic could help build original six rivalry)

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Milwaukee isn't nearly the "hockey" city some of you might think it is. Sure Madison supports the Badgers in NCAA... but that's only because their hockey team usually does better than the basketball team (overall.) Leave Wisconsin out of the discussion.

And I know a lot of you want to put Detroit in the East... but they are much better off staying with MN, Chi and St.Louis (the old Norris) due to the heated rivalries that once was in the 80s.

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Campbell Conference

Smythe

Vancouver

Calgary

Edmonton

Winnipeg

Saskatoon

Seattle

Norris

Detroit

St Louis

Chicago

St Paul

Minneapolis

Fargo

Wales Conference

Adams

Toronto

Ottawa

Montreal

Quebec

Halifax

Boston

Patrick

Philadelphia

Pittsburgh

NY Rangers

New Jersey

Washington

Buffalo

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