***NHL To Have Four Conferences Starting Next Season: Try 2

[WEFFPIM]

ESPNChiHawks Jesse Rogers
BTW, people reporting re-alignment is done...8 team conference/division/whatever for hawks...add minny, wpg, dallas...

DarrenDreger Darren Dreger
Discussion and vote to approve 4 conf realignment took an hour.

Details still trickling out.

[WEFFPIM]

TSNBobMcKenzie Bob McKenzie
ANA, LAK, SJS, PHX, COL, VAN, CGY, EDM in one 8-team conference. DAL, STL, CHI, MIN, WPG, NSH, DET, CBJ in other 8-team conference.

TSNBobMcKenzie Bob McKenzie
TOR, MTL, OTT, BUF, BOS, FLA, TB in one 7-team conference. NYR, NYI, NJD, PHI, PIT, WSH, CAR in other 7-team conference.

Well the Eastern Conference split is...odd, and the fact the West just pretty much adds a team is unfair, especially since it's easily the tougher conference.

[Crowned]

The Eastern Conference with the Rangers will be a tough one...really tough.

[trwi7]

Hate this. Top 4 teams in each conference make the playoffs. Especially hate that. So if the Kings have 95 points but are in 5th place but Dallas has 91 points and is in 4th place that means Dallas makes the playoffs while the Kings are left out. Garbage.

[ajaX82]

Yeah not sure I'm digging this.

Still get the awesome rivalries with Columbus and Nashville. But hey we got Dallas!!!!!!!!!!!

edit: looks like travel is better under this. thank god

[ajaX82]

Every team in the NHL will play home-and-home; the Stanley Cup Playoffs will begin inside each conference, with the top four teams squaring off in divisional playoffs.

In the seven-team conferences, teams would play six times -- three home, three away. In the eight-team Conferences, teams would play either five or six times in a season on a rotating basis; three teams would play each other six times and four teams would play each other five times. This process would reverse each season: An eight-team Conference member that plays an opponent six times in one season would play it five times the following season.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/blog/puck_daddy

[Bank Shot]

The NHL tries WAY, WAY, WAY too hard to create rivalries. I don't like this 4 teams per conference get in the playoffs situation at all. I hope they drop the idea of having the teams play in-conference for the first two rounds as well. I'd rather see different match ups each year.

[WEFFPIM]

It makes sense financially for most teams, but a can of worms is primed to be open when a situation like what twirl describes happens. And it surely will happen.

I think there's more pros than cons to this, though. Although not sure how the "Northeast" conference all of a sudden gains two Florida teams.

[ajaX82]

pretty radical chart showing travel in conference under the new format



http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/blog/puck_d ... hl-wp19087

[ajaX82]

and uh what happens when the conference winners are determined in the playoffs? Does the East and West still technically exist? Reseed by point total?

[OldNo7]

I don't hate it. There is no perfect way to get everyone to agree on. The surprising part to me was that they say it only took an hour and 26 teams voted yes. The main selling point for me, the fan, is that there is going to be a more balanced schedule with home and away games with every team in the league - I think that is incredibly important to make the schedule more fair league-wide.

[Parataxis]

I love it. Actually makes divisions matter again - although I really hope that they bring back the old conference names (Wales, Campbell, etc...) as well - sport needs a sense of history, and the geographic names are just boring as ****.

Very curious that the Florida teams are with Ontario, and they split up New York. Would make more sense to switch the NYR/NYI with the Panthers and the Lightning.

[WEFFPIM]

I love it. Actually makes divisions matter again - although I really hope that they bring back the old conference names (Wales, Campbell, etc...) as well - sport needs a sense of history, and the geographic names are just boring as ****.

Very curious that the Florida teams are with Ontario, and they split up New York. Would make more sense to switch the NYR/NYI with the Panthers and the Lightning.

I think you can thank the Penguins and Flyers for that. They're the ones that made a huge fuss about being split up, and now they stay together with the New York trio.

On the bright side for the Florida teams, they're in a conference with a bunch of teams that travel well, so I'm sure both ownership groups will like that a lot, as opposed to relying on the Hurricanes to bring fans with them. But it's odd that two teams that are somewhat struggling financially are the ones that actually add travel to their schedule.

[Mr Swagtastic]

I still think the top 8 teams for wins and points should be making the playoff's not this new shuffle method to me it's kinda dumb. I am not digging it at all also what happened to The Wings going to The East?

[darth_federer]

This eliminates an all Canadian Stanley Cup Final so I guess the NHL breathes a sigh of relief there. It will definitely help the Western Conference teams and teams that are financially struggling so good move. More travel for the Leafs but I ll take it.

[_venom_]

I understand the need for the scheduling changes in order to help some of the western teams (Dallas, Nashville, Detroit, Columbus) but eliminating the West and East conferences is a mistake imo. You could have made the change into 4 divisions (2 in each conference) and have the top 8 teams make the playoffs in each conference just like now. Completely eliminating this and having the top 4 in each conference make the playoffs is over the top.

[_venom_]

This eliminates an all Canadian Stanley Cup Final so I guess the NHL breathes a sigh of relief there. It will definitely help the Western Conference teams and teams that are financially struggling so good move. More travel for the Leafs but I ll take it.

It doesn't eliminate an all Canadian final. The conference winners will re-seed 1-4 and play each other. You can still get a Vancouver v Montreal final for example. In addition now you can potentially see a Boston v Pittsburgh final or a San Jose v Chicago final.

[Nolan]

I'm still not quite sure how I feel about this. On one hand it does address some serious travel issues that some teams hac. But on the other hand it could potentially screw some teams over when the playoffs roll around.

I guess we'll have to wait till next year to see how it all works out.

[OldNo7]

Another bonus: should Phoenix relocate next year, it will be easy to move them into one of the two 7-team conferences without anyone else having to move.

Also could allow for future expansion to create four 8-team conferences (another story altogether, and probably far into the future).

[ajaX82]

Not so fast kids

NEW YORK -- The NHL said Friday that it won't go forward with its realignment plan and modified playoff format next season after the players' association refused to agree to the changes.

The changes were recently approved by the NHL's board of governors. The league said it will maintain its current alignment and playoff format next season.

"It is unfortunate that the NHLPA has unreasonably refused to approve a plan that an overwhelming majority of our clubs voted to support, and that has received such widespread support from our fans and other members of the hockey community, including players," NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said.

http://espn.go.com/nhl/story/_/id/74340 ... ffs-format