As another NHL season begins tonight, in this post, I'm going to look ahead to the 2012-13 season, when the NHL has indicated it may significantly re-align its divisions. Like many hockey traditionalists, I believe that the universe is now a better place with the Winnipeg Jets back in it. Obviously, leaving them in the Atlanta Thrashers' spot in the Southeast Division is a 1-year stopgap measure. (I will now pause to honor the die-hard Thrashers fans. Having lost a team myself, my heart goes out to them... all 27 of them.)
Most reported re-alignment proposals have some version of the Detroit Red Wings and/or Columbus Blue Jackets moving to the Eastern Conference. The Red Wings, the Blue Jackets, and the Nashville Predators have been clamoring for an eastward move for some time now, and they have very good reasons. As members of the Western Conference and Central Division, these 3 teams play teams in the Pacific and Northwest Divisions 4 times per year-- twice at home and twice away. Currently, 5 NHL teams play in the Pacific time zone (Vancouver, San Jose, L.A., Anaheim, and Phoenix), and 3 more play in the Mountain time zone (Calgary, Edmonton, Colorado). Most NHL games start between 7 and 8 p.m. local time. That means the Wings, Jackets, and Predators each play up to 10 games per year that start after 10 p.m. Eastern time, and up to 6 more that start after 9 p.m. That's nearly 1/5 of the 82-game regular season finishing after most of their fans' bedtimes. And there must be a lot of bleary eyes in Michigan offices the day after playoff road games against a Pacific or Mountain team. Factor in the increased travel mileage, and this is a significant problem.
But moving the Red Wings to the eastern conference would break up one of the oldest and fiercest rivalries in the NHL and all of sports-- the Red Wings' rivalry with the Chicago Blackhawks. These two original 6 franchises have been in the same division (or same league when there were no divisions) for more than 80 years; and Detroit and Chicago teams play in the same division in the NBA, NFL, and MLB. Surely there must be a way to solve the travel and time zone problem without putting the Wings and Hawks in opposite conferences where they might not even face each other twice a year.
Meanwhile, proposals I've seen generally have the reborn Jets in a "Central" type division with Minnesota, Chicago, St. Louis, and others. I think most Winnipeggers would rather be re-united with their old Western Canadian rivals in Edmonton, Calgary, and Vancouver, even if it would mean staying up late to watch some of the road games.
Fortunately, I have devised a divisional alignment that would solve most travel and time problems while preserving most traditional rivalries. I say do away with conferences altogether. Divide the 30 NHL teams into 4 divisions of 7-8 teams. Every team would play 42 games against their division mates (7 games each in 7-team divisions, 6 games each in 8-team divisions). Then, they play twice per year against most of the rest of the league (1 home, 1 away) and only once against the other teams. Who you play once and who twice would rotate year-to-year, though some allowances could be made for extra "rivalry games" against teams who aren't in your division (e.g. Toronto-Montreal, Winnipeg-Minnesota, Boston-Buffalo). Best of all, we get to bring back the old divisional names-- Adams, Patrick, Norris, and Smythe! If there are no franchise relocations (a big if, I'll address this topic later), the divisions break down as follows:
Smythe Division (8 teams):
Winnipeg Jets
Edmonton Oilers
Calgary Flames
Vancouver Canucks
San Jose Sharks
Los Angeles Kings
Anaheim Ducks
Phoenix Coyotes
Norris Division (7 teams):
Ottawa Senators
Toronto Maple Leafs
Buffalo Sabres
Columbus Blue Jackets
Detroit Red Wings
Chicago Blackhawks
Minnesota Wild
Patrick Division (8 teams):
Montreal Canadiens
Boston Bruins
New York Rangers
New York Islanders
New Jersey Devils
Philadelphia Flyers
Pittsburgh Penguins
Washington Capitals
Adams Division (7 teams):
Carolina Hurricanes
Tampa Bay Lightning
Florida Panthers
Nashville Predators
St. Louis Blues
Dallas Stars
Colorado Avalanche
The playoff format would return to that used in the 21-team era of the 80s and early 90s. The top 4 teams in each division make the playoffs. 1st place plays 4th, and 2nd plays 3rd. The two winners in each division play each other in the 2nd round. Then, the 4 divisional winners are re-seeded based on regular season records for the Stanley Cup Semifinals, with those 2 winners obviously squaring off for the Cup.
Now, allow me to pre-emptively address some of your questions:
1. Are you crazy? How can you put the St. Louis Blues in the Adams Division with all those Southern teams? They belong back in the Norris!
The Adams Division is the one division in my configuration that bears almost no resemblance to its earlier incarnation, although 2 teams from the Old Adams (the erstwhile Quebec Nordiques and Hartford Whalers, N.K.A. the Avalanche and Hurricanes) are in the New Adams. The core of this division are the Sun Belt teams, but some unfortunate soul who's a better fit in the Norris had to be its 7th team. I went back and forth several times on whether that team should be the Blues or the Blue Jackets (geographically, both cities are essentially on the border between Midwest and South) before deciding on St. Louis.
The Jackets are only 11 years old, and they've been wildly mismanaged most of their existence. Their fan support may be limited now, but it has the potential to be stronger if the team could ever start winning. What ultimately keeps the Jackets in the Norris Division is the potential rivalry between them and the Red Wings-- Ohio State vs. Michigan with the colors reversed.
Meanwhile, the St. Louis Blues might be the most nondescript franchise in all of professional sports. They've never won a Stanley Cup, and they've never really come close. The Blues made the Finals a few times in their earliest years of existence, but that was due to the NHL's odd divisional alignment at the time. When the NHL expanded from 6 to 12 teams in 1967, the 6 expansion teams were in one division, with the "Original 6" in the other. So, an expansion team was guaranteed a spot in the Finals every year... it was like playoff affirmative action. The franchise has no memorable moments or signature players. Every great player who's played for the Blues in the last 25 years-- Brett Hull, Adam Oates, Brendan Shanahan, Chris Pronger, Al MacInnis, Curtis Joseph-- has spent a significant portion of his career with other teams, and is generally better known as a player for someone else. To find "Mr. St. Louis Blues," you probably have to go back to Bernie Federko, a player who most St. Louisans have probably long forgotten. It's strange how a franchise can play in the NHL for 4 decades and leave such a small footprint, but that's why the Blues and not the Blue Jackets are severed from their Midwestern Brethren.
2. Didn't we try that whole "play lots of divisional games" thing and get rid of it?
After the lockout ended, the NHL played 2 or 3 seasons where each team played its divisional rivals 8 times, and only played 10 total games against the opposite conference-- 5 home, 5 away. So, this meant that if you're a fan in Vancouver, you only get to see Sidney Crosby or Alexander Ovechkin in your building once every 3 years. That was the real problem. Under the system I've devised, you'd see most of the teams outside your division once per year, with an occasional off year. As with the current NHL schedule, you're guaranteed to see every team at least once in 2 years.
3. What happens if the Coyotes / Islanders / etc. relocate?
The Islanders are tied to their lease in Nassau County through 2015 (though as we know from the Sonics' hijacking, that doesn't necessarily mean anything), while the Coyotes have had one foot out the door for several years now. The NHL owns the franchise, and it's hanging on in Arizona by the thin thread of a series of one-year agreements between the NHL and City of Glendale, where Glendale covers the league's operating losses. So, the 'Yotes seem more likely to leave sooner. Here are the possible destinations:
A. Southern Ontario (Toronto area or Hamilton): Easy alignment fix, the Coyotes would just hop into the Norris Division, giving the Norris 8 teams and the Smythe 7. Side note-- if I were in charge of these things, I'd endorse the team moving to metro Toronto, but not Hamilton. An NHL team in Hamilton would cut too much into the Sabres' already limited turf.
B. Houston or Kansas City: The Coyotes would join the Adams Division, allowing either St. Louis to move to the Norris or Colorado to the Smythe (to consolidate all the Pacific and Mountain Time Zone teams into one division).
C. Seattle: I want to believe, really I do, that a new arena really is in the works that could bring NHL hockey to my hometown for the first time, and bring back the Sonics. I've seen occasional chatter about Steve Ballmer and this or that business mogul "looking into" the possibility of building an arena in Bellevue. But as yet it's all rumor. Maybe it'd become a reality in time to grab the Islanders in 2015, maybe not. Either way, a Seattle NHL team would play in the Smythe Division.
D. Quebec City: As thrilled as I am to see the Jets back, I'm not buying the Nordiques' return to the NHL just yet. In addition to being a small market, Quebec City had problems in its last NHL go-around by being a hotbed of Quebec Separatist extremism (a sharp contrast with more cosmopolitan Montreal, where most people speak English and Separatist support was tepid). The political climate is changing, though. The Separatist Bloc Quebecois Party lost most of its seats in Parliament in the last national election, so maybe things are different now.
If the Coyotes moved to Quebec, they'd have to be in the same division as Montreal. So, that'd require moving Montreal to the Norris and kicking someone (maybe Buffalo or Columbus) to the Patrick. Or, the New Nordiques would join the Patrick, and someone (Boston or Pittsburgh most likely) shifts to the Norris. Or Washington gets exiled back to the Southern Tier / Adams Division.
Unless the Islanders moved too. Then the Nordiques would just take their spot, and the Isles would probably move to one of the above places. Lather, rinse, repeat.
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