NHL Alignment Finalized!!!!!!!!!!!!

**Kessel_fan_87** · 03-07-2013, 06:57 PM

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=417615

Columbus and Detroit move East

**Wickabee** · 03-07-2013, 07:56 PM

Next step is expansion.

**RGM81** · 03-07-2013, 09:25 PM

I still don't understand why they're going with imbalanced conferences - granted, they could just make it so that one western/central conference crosses over and plays an eastern conference at some point, but it just looks weird on paper. Of course, it's not like anybody wants Columbus, so what can you do, right?

I would have just traded Detroit & Winnipeg, but oh well.

I'm psyched for more Habs/Wings games!

**Estovia** · 03-07-2013, 09:31 PM

This pretty much assures that we'll see expansion to Seattle and Kansas City within a handful of years.

Quebec, Hamilton, Hartford.... sorry :(

**whbonney014** · 03-07-2013, 10:49 PM

So happy for this. Being in MN, the Wild are one of the teams that have to travel the most. Not only having to clear customs for 3 out of 4 divisional games, the other 4 teams aren't even in the same time zone. Traveling to divisional games in Van, Edm, and Cal is approx. 1700-1200-1100 miles and all road division games start at 8:00 or 9:00 here. A lot of people don't even stay up for games that are too late. Having teams in a division spread that far apart is equivalent to having a team from the northeast playing COL-MIN-TB all in your division. The imbalanced conference sucks, but still a happy day here. The Wild will now actually play teams in there own time zone...WOW

**JVW** · 03-07-2013, 10:52 PM

Originally Posted by Estovia

This pretty much assures that we'll see expansion to Seattle and Kansas City within a handful of years.

Quebec, Hamilton, Hartford.... sorry :(

Quebec or even Markham are not definitely out. The article states that the expansion will be re-evaluated after the 2014-15 season. By then Markham will have a new rink built and maybe columbus will get moved back to the west.

**GVKelly** · 03-08-2013, 01:47 AM

This agreement is only for the next 3 years, the NHLPA can open it up again after that period. It still could be Detroit and Blue Jackets back in the west after that period if they add teams in Quebec and Markham.

**30ranfordfan** · 03-08-2013, 10:10 AM

Originally Posted by RGM81

I still don't understand why they're going with imbalanced conferences - granted, they could just make it so that one western/central conference crosses over and plays an eastern conference at some point, but it just looks weird on paper. Of course, it's not like anybody wants Columbus, so what can you do, right?

I would have just traded Detroit & Winnipeg, but oh well.

I'm psyched for more Habs/Wings games!

If they could have done that with a straight face, they probably would have..... except that
Columbus is (slightly) further East than Detroit. If you were only going to move one.... the Jackets, based on geography, would be it!

IMO - if you were only going to move one team over..... Nashville would have made more sense. They're close to FLA / TB / CAR than anyone else (even if they're not in the same time zone). Would have made more sense a few years ago, when ATL was still in the league.... Carolina not even in the same division as TB / FLA anymore.

Originally Posted by Estovia

This pretty much assures that we'll see expansion to Seattle and Kansas City within a handful of years.

Quebec, Hamilton, Hartford.... sorry :(

Originally Posted by GVKelly

This agreement is only for the next 3 years, the NHLPA can open it up again after that period. It still could be Detroit and Blue Jackets back in the west after that period if they add teams in Quebec and Markham.

I think calling this a "three year agreement" (or however it was worded) tells me that expansion is around the corner...... but I would think the Quebec & Toronto (Markem) will be the two "new" spots.

At that time, it means either DET / CLB will have to go back to the west.... or behind closed doors, the NHL may have accepted the fact that a couple of their teams are going to be moving. The Panthers leaving for Seattle or KC wouldn't shock me. I don't know who the other Eastern team would be though. Phoenix is the obvious candidate, but moving Phoenix to another western city doesn't help the allignment thing.

Regardless, I'm looking at this new allignemnt as a temporary one. It's going to be a 32 team league in a couple of years.

**ravens_creed** · 03-08-2013, 01:10 PM

I still hate this. Uneven conferences, and I hate the wild card playoff set up as well. Why can't the best teams make the playoffs? Why does the league insist on giving teams from each region a chance, when bad teams are going through while better teams watch from home? Stupid.