Re-aligning the NHL: An experiment in time-wasting

by Peter Raaymakers on Sep 25, 2009 7:00 AM EDT

Yesterday on ESPN, four of the network's chief hockey analysts--John Buccigross, Scott Burnside, Pierre LeBrun, and Barry Melrose--all offered their plans for re-aligning the National Hockey League's team team and divisional geography. It brought to to mind the massive undertaking over at Icethetics.info, where they've invented the IceHL--a redesign of the NHL from the ground up, including cities, team names, and logo designs submitted from fans of the blog.

On ESPN, the most interesting plan might have come from LeBrun, who made an entire division out of Western European cities (and also established the Memphis Grizzlies of the NHL, the 'Toronto Islanders'). Is it a complete waste of time? Absolutely, but that doesn't make it any less fun to play around with it.

So, without further ado, here is what my NHL would look like:

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Eastern Conference
Orr Division	Richard Division	Lemieux Division
New York Rangers	Ottawa Senators	Pittsburgh Penguins
Boston Bruins	Montreal Canadiens	Philadelphia Flyers
New Jersey Devils	Quebec Nordiques	Carolina Hurricanes
Buffalo Sabres	Toronto Maple Leafs	Florida Panthers
Washington Capitals	Hamilton Blackberries	Nashville Predators
Western Conference
Yzerman Division	Gretzky Division	Sakic Division
Detroit Red Wings	Los Angeles Kings	Winnipeg Jets
Chicago Blackhawks	Portland Marines	Vancouver Canucks
Minnesota Wild	Dallas Stars	Saskatoon Wheaties
St. Louis Blues	Colorado Avalanche	Edmonton Oilers
Columbus Blue Jackets	Anaheim Hadrosaurs	Calgary Flames

A few things to note about my league:

Two all-Canadian divisions, ten Canadian teams. Is this better for the league? Maybe not, but it's better for Canadian fans, if you ask me.
No offence is meant towards fans of the New York Islanders, Phoenix Coyotes, San Jose Sharks, Tampa Bay Lightning, or Atlanta Thrashers, but I took your teams away. I just wanted more teams in Canada, and a couple other US cities.
No offence is meant to Saskatooners for naming their team the Wheaties.
I gave a team to Portland, but it could really be anywhere in the US Northwest.
I changed the Anaheim Ducks to the Hadrosaurs for no reason, really.
The Nashville Predators remain, and moved to the Eastern Conference. I just like that team. Same with the Carolina Hurricanes, they're still around even if they're not 'traditional' hockey markets.
I was going to go with one team in California, but the market's too big for that. And I couldn't figure someone else to fit into that division.

So, anyone else have ideas for an NHL redesign? A couple guidelines: Keep it to 30 teams. Try and maintain the Original Six, because they're not likely going anywhere.

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Comments

first break the rules

“Keep it to 30 teams.” nah… 8 new teams.

Trim existing rosters down from 20 on ice to 16 (2 goaltenders, 9 forwards, 4 defence, 1 extra D or F). Teams can carry 23 players today, trim that to 19.

At the same time create 8 new franchises.

Total league player numbers go from max 690 (23*30) to 722 (38*19). So the NHLPA should be on side with this kind of change, since there will be up to 32 new jobs. Players would also become more important to their team and get more ice time.

The owners should like it, since it may reduce payroll (depends on the cap).

This move should also increase scoring. Why? Players will be more tired since they have to play more of the game. Tired players make mistakes. Mistakes lead to goals.

What to do with the 8 new franchises? anything you want. instant Euro division? bunch of new Canadian teams? Store the southern US… I’ll let someone else dicide where these teams should go.

by Ron in Kanata on Sep 25, 2009 11:03 AM EDT reply actions

EIGHT new teams?

That’s bold. But still, very cool. Your suggestion is out-of-the-box thinking, but it’s pretty cool.

www.silversevensens.com

by Peter Raaymakers on Sep 25, 2009 11:19 AM EDT up reply actions

Hamilton Blackberries. Nice.

I would go with 2 divisions per conference, moving Nashville, Columbus, Detroit, Chicago east and relocating Atlanta, Florida west. East has 16 teams, West 14.

by red army line on Sep 25, 2009 11:39 AM EDT reply actions

I like your proposal a lot better that the ones at Espn or Icehl. I’d swap the San Jose Sharks for the Ducks/Hadrosaurs. The Sharks have great fan support, and the LA area already has a team.

Nice to see the Nordiques in your proposal. They deserve to be back. Those Nords-Habs games in the 80s were dynamite.

I’d try to find a place for the Islanders, even if they had to be relocated. It’s no good folding teams that have won the cup. You lose the league’s history.

by DW19 on Sep 25, 2009 12:10 PM EDT reply actions

go north south

I’ve always thought that if the NHL really cared about balancing the travel schedule then they’d realign the league into North and South conferences. They would even end up with an all Canadian division (minus Hamilton, but I’m sure that if he gets in Bettman will be looking for a way to punish him anyway). This way everyone will travel more or less the same and we won’t have to listen to Gillis moan about the poor Canucks travel.

by BurningOil on Sep 25, 2009 12:40 PM EDT reply actions

In my proposal, say goodbye to the Coyotes, Thrashers, Panthers and Hurricanes. New teams appear in Hartford, Quebec City, Toronto (number 2) and Winnipeg.

Smythe: Vancouver Canucks, Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oilers, San Jose Sharks, Anaheim Ducks, Los Angeles Kings
Unnamed Mid-Continent Division: Winnipeg Jets, Colorado Avalanche, Dallas Stars, Minnesota Wild, St. Louis Blues, Nashville Predators
Norris: Chicago Blackhawks, Columbus Blue Jackets, Detroit Red Wings, Pittsburgh Penguins, Toronto Maple Leafs, Toronto Clippers
Adams: Montreal Canadiens, Ottawa Senators, Quebec Nordiques, Boston Bruins, Buffalo Sabres, Hartford Whalers
Patrick: New York Rangers, New York Islanders, New Jersey Devils, Philadelphia Flyers, Washington Capitals, Tampa Bay Lightning

With an uneven number of divisions, the scheduling would have to be seriously rejigged. Teams would play each team in their divisions six times (three at home, three on the road) and each non-division opponent twice (home and home). That comes to 78 games. If the owners are really hurting for those extra four regular season games, we can throw some jokers into the mix for the schedule maker, but I think the players, at least, would benefit from a slightly shorter regular season.

Then, in the playoffs, things would get really wonky – there are a lot of different formats you could go with. Personally, I’d like to see more of a premium on the playoffs, so I’m going to say that the division winners go on automatically and get byes to the second-round. The first round consists of best-of-three series between the second-place finishers and one wild-card team – the third-place team with the most regular season points.

In the first round, you’d rank the second-place finishers #6-10 and put the third-place team in the 11 hole. So, you’d have series that look like: 6 vs 11, 7 vs 10 and 8 vs 9. You could have reseeding after each round if you wanted to, but for the sake of clarity I’ll say we won’t. The second round would look like one of the current conference playoffs: 1 (first-place finisher with the best record) vs 8/9, 4 (fourth first-place finisher) vs 5 (last first-place finisher), 3 vs 6/11 and 2 vs 7/10.

And then, obviously, the second and third rounds, as well as the final, would be the usual best-of-seven series we’re accustomed to.

It’s a little offbeat I know, but by my back-of-the-napkin calculations, this was the only way for me to get the divisions I wanted, and that was my primary concern. The playoff system will look like sacrilege to a lot of fans, but I think it has potential.

by dzuunmod on Sep 25, 2009 12:43 PM EDT reply actions

Oh, and the other part – if there’s still time left over, I’d have the Stanley Cup champion play a two game, home and home total goals series with the IIHF Champions League, er, champion.

It’s time for the NHL to acknowledge somewhat seriously that there is other pro hockey being played on this earth.

by dzuunmod on Sep 25, 2009 12:58 PM EDT reply actions