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NHL mulls major realignment (upd: FINALIZED); see most recent post
Topic Started: Thursday Jun 23 2011, 01:33 PM (916 Views)
Brokemon
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Crash Bandicooter
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The NHL continues it's Eastern favoritism... but this new alignment will inevitably create some great new rivalries, which is enough for me to approve. I envision some excellent playoff series between the Avs and Oilers in the near future.

Adding the Florida teams to a mainly Canadian conference makes little sense, though.
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famicommander
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I don't really see how this constitutes Eastern favoritism. If anything, Eastern teams will now get a taste of what it was like for many Western teams (namely Columbus, Detroit, and Nashville). Virtually every team in the East will have to travel a lot more next year than this year.

And I think putting the Florida teams in there with the Canadians+Buffalo and Boston was more out of necessity than anything. There's no way they were breaking up the three NYC area teams, there's no way they were breaking up Philly/Pittsburgh, and there's no way they were breaking up Philly/NY.

We know they weren't going to break up Tampa and Florida, so that leaves Carolina and Washington as an item. Either Tampa/Florida goes in with the Canadians and Carolina/Washington goes to the NYC division or vice-versa. Considering the geographic situation, they pretty much had to stick the Florida teams in with the Canadians to balance travel costs. Buffalo, Boston, Ottawa, Toronto, and Montreal are all pretty close together. I understand that the NYC teams and Philly are just as close (if not closer), but Carolina and Pittsburgh help stretch that a little.

In the West going from Anaheim to Edmonton is certainly no picnic, but there just aren't enough Western cities to support a more concentrated alignment.

At least there are no Central Time Zone teams playing in the same division as Pacific Time Zone teams anymore. Dallas was getting hosed pretty hardcore.
Denver Broncos: defending champs, 8-6, next game 12/25 @ Kansas City Chiefs
Colorado Rockies: 75-87, missed playoffs
Colorado Avalanche: 11-18-1, next game 12/20 @ Minnesota Wild
Denver Nuggets: 12-16, next game 12/20 @ Los Angeles Clippers
Colorado Mammoth: first game 12/30 @ Buffalo Bandits
Denver Outlaws: defending champs, first game 4/22 @ Charlotte Hounds
Colorado State Rams football: 7-5, next game Idaho Bowl 12/22 vs Idaho Vandals
Colorado State Rams basketball: 8-4, next game 12/22 vs Long Beach State 49ers
Winnipeg Blue Bombers: 11-7, lost West Division Semifinal
Denver Pioneers Lacrosse: first game 1/24 vs Johns Hopkins Blue Jays
#2 Denver Pioneers Hockey: 12-3-3, next game 12/30 @ Providence College Friars
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Cube_of_MooN
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Teh Cube
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Yeah, I don't know how much they can do about the Western Conference teams. The teams are just too spread out to have any perfect solution, at least when compared to the Eastern teams.
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famicommander
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They should share travel costs. It's the only reasonable thing to do. It's crazy that Eastern teams can basically drive to half of their road games and in the West you almost always need a plane.
Denver Broncos: defending champs, 8-6, next game 12/25 @ Kansas City Chiefs
Colorado Rockies: 75-87, missed playoffs
Colorado Avalanche: 11-18-1, next game 12/20 @ Minnesota Wild
Denver Nuggets: 12-16, next game 12/20 @ Los Angeles Clippers
Colorado Mammoth: first game 12/30 @ Buffalo Bandits
Denver Outlaws: defending champs, first game 4/22 @ Charlotte Hounds
Colorado State Rams football: 7-5, next game Idaho Bowl 12/22 vs Idaho Vandals
Colorado State Rams basketball: 8-4, next game 12/22 vs Long Beach State 49ers
Winnipeg Blue Bombers: 11-7, lost West Division Semifinal
Denver Pioneers Lacrosse: first game 1/24 vs Johns Hopkins Blue Jays
#2 Denver Pioneers Hockey: 12-3-3, next game 12/30 @ Providence College Friars
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Brokemon
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Crash Bandicooter
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Eastern teams will have a 57% chance to make the playoffs, while only 50% of western teams will. I understand this will be remedied by an eventual expansion, but this is a professional sports league where all teams should have an equal shot at succeeding. And obviously fans are going to bitch and moan once a team with a lesser amount of points than their team makes the playoffs just because they're in a different conference.
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famicommander
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I think it is folly to assume that teams in smaller divisions have a larger chance to make the playoffs, because in order for that to be true the league would have to be competitively balanced to begin with. Losing teams make the playoffs in the NBA Eastern Conference all the time while Western teams miss the playoffs with winning records. For years MLB had 16 teams in the AL and 14 in the NL. It's just the nature of the beast. Does anyone think the Angels had it easier in the AL West than the Rockies did in the NL West because the AL division had fewer teams? I don't think so.

The Yotes are going to the Toronto/Montreal division next year anyway, so the former East will be split into a 7/8 setup just like the former West.

It's about being one of the top four in your division, period. The seven team divisions have fewer teams to compete with, but they compensate for that by playing their remaining division rivals more times.
Denver Broncos: defending champs, 8-6, next game 12/25 @ Kansas City Chiefs
Colorado Rockies: 75-87, missed playoffs
Colorado Avalanche: 11-18-1, next game 12/20 @ Minnesota Wild
Denver Nuggets: 12-16, next game 12/20 @ Los Angeles Clippers
Colorado Mammoth: first game 12/30 @ Buffalo Bandits
Denver Outlaws: defending champs, first game 4/22 @ Charlotte Hounds
Colorado State Rams football: 7-5, next game Idaho Bowl 12/22 vs Idaho Vandals
Colorado State Rams basketball: 8-4, next game 12/22 vs Long Beach State 49ers
Winnipeg Blue Bombers: 11-7, lost West Division Semifinal
Denver Pioneers Lacrosse: first game 1/24 vs Johns Hopkins Blue Jays
#2 Denver Pioneers Hockey: 12-3-3, next game 12/30 @ Providence College Friars
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famicommander
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Wipe that face off your head, bitch.
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Forgot to mention that the NHL itself had unbalanced divisions for the majority of the 1980s and nobody seemed to mind. The old Colorado Rockies played in a six-team division while the rest of the league played in five-team divisions.
Denver Broncos: defending champs, 8-6, next game 12/25 @ Kansas City Chiefs
Colorado Rockies: 75-87, missed playoffs
Colorado Avalanche: 11-18-1, next game 12/20 @ Minnesota Wild
Denver Nuggets: 12-16, next game 12/20 @ Los Angeles Clippers
Colorado Mammoth: first game 12/30 @ Buffalo Bandits
Denver Outlaws: defending champs, first game 4/22 @ Charlotte Hounds
Colorado State Rams football: 7-5, next game Idaho Bowl 12/22 vs Idaho Vandals
Colorado State Rams basketball: 8-4, next game 12/22 vs Long Beach State 49ers
Winnipeg Blue Bombers: 11-7, lost West Division Semifinal
Denver Pioneers Lacrosse: first game 1/24 vs Johns Hopkins Blue Jays
#2 Denver Pioneers Hockey: 12-3-3, next game 12/30 @ Providence College Friars
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