I don’t have that much of an issue with Division/Conference A and B. It’s basically what the West wanted (other than for Detroit to go to the East) so their players can tell the Players Union that they agree to the new alignment (provided they don’t lock-out next year as the current CBA expires when the last game for this year’s Stanley Cup is played). As a follower of the Panthers, I’d have to say they and Tampa got screwed. Out of all 30 teams now, Florida and Tampa have the longest distances to travel for their “local”/”regional” conference/divisional games. Carolina should have been in Conference C and one of the Canadian teams could have been moved to Conference D (pick one, there is 3 to choose from).
I would not be shocked if the “new North East” division/conference ends up winning next year’s cup simply on the basis of the ease of travel. Considering that NJ, NY Islanders, NY Rangers, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Washington all are within a connected boarder state of each other (the odd man out being the Carolina Hurricanes) they should play 82 games back to back; they will have plenty of time to rest and have no jet lag at all.
Too bad it will never happen.
I expect this (division/conference) to be the toughest division to be the top 4 in because of the locality of the teams. To me, this is a joke disguised as a “convenience to the West Conference” players. Even they have to (for the most part) travel further than division/conference D and everyone in their division/conference is in the same time zone. TV controlled most of this decision since the GM’s couldn’t agree over the Summer break how to re-align the league. Not surprised.
This almost reeks of the NHL brass wanting to “ease” Florida hockey teams out of the NHL for good.
Think I’m nuts?
Google the US map and identify all 30 team cities……I can wait……………
(twiddling thumbs)
(checking e-mail on phone)
(trying to figure out what’s taking so long…)
Ok, I can’t wait any longer.
Look where the largest cluster of cities/teams is on the map and then look in Florida’s area. It looks pretty empty, doesen’t it?
People are hinting at the idea of another 2 teams expanding the NHL thus making it an even 8 teams in every division/conference; I’m thinking this is the NHL’s non-forceable way of contracting 2 really good franchises (Tampa was and is still trying to make a good name for themselves and Florida digging themselves out of a 10 year hole) that they seriously do not care for and other than the NY brass and everyone North of the 49th (now pretty much North of the Carolinas), no one seems to have that much of an issue about it.
I do like the idea of playoff teams playing to win their division/conference but I’m not currently comfortable with the “re-seeding” the teams for the 3rd round of the playoffs. Maybe it will grow on me but it seems like 2 eastern teams (or 2 Western teams) would play each other for the Cup in this format.
Nothing new about how many teams make the cut; there is still 16 teams but this is supposed to drive up the local rivalries by playing each other a minimum of 6 times. Don’t think they do that in the NBA (someone please correct/verify me on this).
Have you noticed I don’t like calling this “conferences” but rather “divisions” like it was before? Either way, there will be 4 new trophies that players won’t touch because they believe it will wreck their chances of winning the Cup.
Thoughts?
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