Whoa, new team in the current Central Division! Minnesota North Stars! ...or was this just a test to make sure we were following along closely? Maybe the Retro throwback sweaters have taken a toll on our hero?!
I would be all for your 8 division proposal if it could keep the Penguins and Flyers together. The rivalry cooled a bit when Washington got good and the Flyers got bad, but it never burned out. The way you organized it makes perfect sense...but losing that would make it awfully tough to fully buy in.
The fact that the NHL seemingly didn’t have this conversation with itself is what gets me. If they really dug in and found that the 4 divisions were best, that’s fine and maybe they did and we just don’t know, but to an outside perspective, it really feels like they put zero thought into the upcoming “realignment” and that’s what sucks the most. It’s probably extra egregious because it hurts the team we root for but still, at least do the due diligence to find out what works for all teams.
I didn't start the article favoring the Masisak model, but I finished it that way (with your 8 division proposal a close second). I'm not looking forward to the Coyotes travel schedule next year, and I hope any new schedule includes multi-game series - those are a feature of this year's odd schedule, not a bug.
This sort of reminds me of the Dbacks schedule which includes two American League teams a year and plays a team on successive days.
Anything is fine with me but I do want to see as many Canadian teams come to the arena as possible. I enjoy the genuine excitement that brings and playing teams multiple nights , I don’t like. Playing San Jose two successive ights dose t appeal to me. I always preferred The YOTES schedule to the way the Dbacks ran their schedule. It’s great to see different teams on multiple nights from the west, east and far north. Lets go back to the old schedule. I’m getting my second shot Saturday and as Florida has shown, it’s time to get back to normal. Thanks Craig, great article.
A euro style table would be insane! I'm here for that chaos. Have no idea how to work the schedule...but maybe create a set of distance zones...each distance zone dictates number of games against each other? Don't think that would work cause of the northeast though.
Agree with your 8 divisions of 4, though I think swap the Blue Jackets and Capitals. Washington used to play those Southeast teams divisionally, and Columbus ought to be closer to Pittsburgh and Detroit. As an added bonus, this can increase competitiveness and viewership for poor teams when they happen to be grouped into the bottom feeder division à la the old Southeast.
The 5 division model is interesting at the expense of divisions really mattering, but I think the league will want divisional matchups to matter more, hence why it's sticking with the 8.
Good article, please revisit this again next season, and bonus points for proper usage of intra and inter.
I have to say of all these options, the worst one is that which the league is stubbornly sticking to. How do 8-team divisions breed rivalries when it's only one more game per season than you play against the rest of the conference? The current playoff system may foster rivalries, but it does so at the cost of true competitive balance and the beloved 8v1 upset. If the 4-team division plan could produce an undeserving division winner, couldn't the current playoff system produce 3 undeserving playoff teams, at least in theory? I find this alignment plan simply lazy on the part of the league and as a geography buff I don't think I could hate it more.
Craig, if you could, has anybody suggested a 5 to 6 team, six division alignment? If we could tolerate slightly unbalanced divisions, a la the Masisak model you discussed, I think six divisions would improve on this idea by keeping things more geographically balanced while maintaining the evenly divided conferences.
With two 5-team divisions and one 6-team division per conference, the schedule could be very similar to Corey's proposal, with 6 intradivision games, 2-3 intraconference games, and 2 interconference games. The biggest benefit to this would, of course, be the reduction in travel, as I think the map breaks down into 5 and 6 team groups quite nicely if you look at it.
Best part of the current division alignment is that it's the first season since 09-10 that the Coyotes haven't lost to the Boston Bruins. (only played them once and won)
If you want to go down the Euro soccer route, how about blending Craig's 8 division format with the Champions League, which bears similar geographical concerns? A lottery at the start of the season where all 32 teams are put into Conference A or Conference B, then each Conference is divided into Division 1, 2, 3 or 4 (again via lottery). You could seed it so that the playoff teams from the previous year are drawn first and split evenly across the Conferences/Divisions. After that, run it like Craig's idea, with baseball-style series to cut down travel. Bring on the chaos!
The Coyotes would never see anything but the cellar in an alignment with Colorado, Vegas and Dallas. Other than that, I like your eight four-team concept.
Personally - I’m liking the Covid alignment & schedule.
Builds more rivalry and essentially every game is a “4-pointer”. Sooner develop a “hate-on” for certain players in multiple back-to-back 2 game series than to see Crosby or McDavid once a year.
Guess the Seattle Kraken gets added to our Covid division - I’m alright with that.
Anything but four divisions that have the Coyotes in the Central. (Tell Cat to eat another hot dog.)
Since when do Winnipeg and Edmonton actually have anything to do with the Pacific Ocean? Send them to the Central and have Arizona and Colorado in the Pacific.
Whoa, new team in the current Central Division! Minnesota North Stars! ...or was this just a test to make sure we were following along closely? Maybe the Retro throwback sweaters have taken a toll on our hero?!
I would be all for your 8 division proposal if it could keep the Penguins and Flyers together. The rivalry cooled a bit when Washington got good and the Flyers got bad, but it never burned out. The way you organized it makes perfect sense...but losing that would make it awfully tough to fully buy in.
The fact that the NHL seemingly didn’t have this conversation with itself is what gets me. If they really dug in and found that the 4 divisions were best, that’s fine and maybe they did and we just don’t know, but to an outside perspective, it really feels like they put zero thought into the upcoming “realignment” and that’s what sucks the most. It’s probably extra egregious because it hurts the team we root for but still, at least do the due diligence to find out what works for all teams.
I didn't start the article favoring the Masisak model, but I finished it that way (with your 8 division proposal a close second). I'm not looking forward to the Coyotes travel schedule next year, and I hope any new schedule includes multi-game series - those are a feature of this year's odd schedule, not a bug.
This sort of reminds me of the Dbacks schedule which includes two American League teams a year and plays a team on successive days.
Anything is fine with me but I do want to see as many Canadian teams come to the arena as possible. I enjoy the genuine excitement that brings and playing teams multiple nights , I don’t like. Playing San Jose two successive ights dose t appeal to me. I always preferred The YOTES schedule to the way the Dbacks ran their schedule. It’s great to see different teams on multiple nights from the west, east and far north. Lets go back to the old schedule. I’m getting my second shot Saturday and as Florida has shown, it’s time to get back to normal. Thanks Craig, great article.
A euro style table would be insane! I'm here for that chaos. Have no idea how to work the schedule...but maybe create a set of distance zones...each distance zone dictates number of games against each other? Don't think that would work cause of the northeast though.
Interesting thought experiment. But, as we all know, once Bettman makes up his mind, heaven and earth can't change it. We will get the NHL model.
West
Northwest
Edmonton - Calgary - Vancouver - Seattle - San Jose
Southwest
LA - Anaheim - Vegas - Arizona - Colorado
Midwest
Winnipeg - Minnesota - Chicago - Detroit - Columbus
East
Southeast
Dallas - St. Louis - Nashville - Tampa - Florida - Carolina
Something snappy
Pittsburgh - Washington - Philadelphia - Buffalo - Toronto - Ottawa
Metropolitan
Boston - New Jersey - NYR - NYI - Montreal
Agree with your 8 divisions of 4, though I think swap the Blue Jackets and Capitals. Washington used to play those Southeast teams divisionally, and Columbus ought to be closer to Pittsburgh and Detroit. As an added bonus, this can increase competitiveness and viewership for poor teams when they happen to be grouped into the bottom feeder division à la the old Southeast.
The 5 division model is interesting at the expense of divisions really mattering, but I think the league will want divisional matchups to matter more, hence why it's sticking with the 8.
Good article, please revisit this again next season, and bonus points for proper usage of intra and inter.
I have to say of all these options, the worst one is that which the league is stubbornly sticking to. How do 8-team divisions breed rivalries when it's only one more game per season than you play against the rest of the conference? The current playoff system may foster rivalries, but it does so at the cost of true competitive balance and the beloved 8v1 upset. If the 4-team division plan could produce an undeserving division winner, couldn't the current playoff system produce 3 undeserving playoff teams, at least in theory? I find this alignment plan simply lazy on the part of the league and as a geography buff I don't think I could hate it more.
Craig, if you could, has anybody suggested a 5 to 6 team, six division alignment? If we could tolerate slightly unbalanced divisions, a la the Masisak model you discussed, I think six divisions would improve on this idea by keeping things more geographically balanced while maintaining the evenly divided conferences.
With two 5-team divisions and one 6-team division per conference, the schedule could be very similar to Corey's proposal, with 6 intradivision games, 2-3 intraconference games, and 2 interconference games. The biggest benefit to this would, of course, be the reduction in travel, as I think the map breaks down into 5 and 6 team groups quite nicely if you look at it.
Best part of the current division alignment is that it's the first season since 09-10 that the Coyotes haven't lost to the Boston Bruins. (only played them once and won)
If you want to go down the Euro soccer route, how about blending Craig's 8 division format with the Champions League, which bears similar geographical concerns? A lottery at the start of the season where all 32 teams are put into Conference A or Conference B, then each Conference is divided into Division 1, 2, 3 or 4 (again via lottery). You could seed it so that the playoff teams from the previous year are drawn first and split evenly across the Conferences/Divisions. After that, run it like Craig's idea, with baseball-style series to cut down travel. Bring on the chaos!
The Coyotes would never see anything but the cellar in an alignment with Colorado, Vegas and Dallas. Other than that, I like your eight four-team concept.
Personally - I’m liking the Covid alignment & schedule.
Builds more rivalry and essentially every game is a “4-pointer”. Sooner develop a “hate-on” for certain players in multiple back-to-back 2 game series than to see Crosby or McDavid once a year.
Guess the Seattle Kraken gets added to our Covid division - I’m alright with that.
Craig, Under your divisional alignment the Columbus Blue Jackets no longer exist or have you demoted the franchise to the AHL?
Anything but four divisions that have the Coyotes in the Central. (Tell Cat to eat another hot dog.)
Since when do Winnipeg and Edmonton actually have anything to do with the Pacific Ocean? Send them to the Central and have Arizona and Colorado in the Pacific.