Shhhh....that's logical thinking. Nevermind that Winnipeg is both further North and West than Minny.
Does anyone really care about four Canadian teams in one division though? The Canadian teams won't.
That's the question I've been asking in the BoH thread. Why is it a problem being in an all Canadian division?
The concern does have merit, because it's based upon things that Leipold has said. However, not a single reporter has bothered to figure out even the least reason as to why that's an issue. They've all taken it at face value.
In regards to a team going to the central, Dallas is first in line on account of being closer to the Atlantic Ocean than the one their division is named after.
Shhhh....that's logical thinking. Nevermind that Winnipeg is both further North and West than Minny.
Does anyone really care about four Canadian teams in one division though? The Canadian teams won't.
Other than possibly Winnipeg, because it's fairly close to Minnesota, I'd rather play most of the American teams before the other Canadian teams in our division. It's just where I look based on all the other sports Twin Cities teams play; we look East rather than West.
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Blog: First Round Bust: A Cast of Thousands celebrating a rather dodgy track record of Minnesota Wild Drafting.
"Will beats skill when skill doesn't have enough will."
-Doug Woog
What I really wish the NHL would do is look at the NFL as a model for divisions, conferences, and schedules. One of the reasons the NFL is so successful is because it works to showcase every team in the league. Both conferences span the entire width of the North American continent, and each division is geographically relevant for the most part except in cases where old rivalries took precedent.
What I would like to see is an NHL division structure much like what the NFL and MLB have, and if we still have conferences, have both span the whole width of the continent.
Oh yes, the Eastern Conference would whine, but as far as I am concerned, they can suck it. A league in which every team is in a scheduling and traveling hell is a more balanced league than one where one half of the teams get a cushy travel schedule and the other half is in hell.
Also, I have an idea to mitigate timezone differences. Games in each timezone typically start at 7pm, local time, except in rare cases. What I propose is that when teams from different timezones meet, the game starts midway between each teams 7pm start time.
In that case, the start times would be like this (all times Central):
ET vs ET : 6 PM
ET vs CT : 6:30 PM
ET vs MT : 7 PM
ET vs PT : 7:30 PM
CT vs CT : 7 PM
CT vs MT : 7:30 PM
CT vs PT : 8 PM
MT vs MT : 8 PM
MT vs PT : 8:30 PM
PT vs PT : 9 PM
If this were implemented, no Eastern Time Zone team would play a game more than an hour and a half later than their home start time, which I think would put a sock in the pieholes of teams like detroit, which whine about diminished TV ratings from having late start times for away games. It would also give a huge benefit to teams in the Central Time Zone because those teams would only play an hour later, at most, or a half hour early, at earliest. It also benefits the Pacific teams because now, instead of a TV start time of 4 pm for an away game on the east coast, games would start no earlier than 5:30 PM local time allowing for more people to be home from work and after school activities to watch local teams when they're on a trip to the East Coast.
Note that this applies regardless of who is the home or away. If San Jose has a home and home with the New York Rangers, those games would always start at 7:30 PM Central Time (8:30 Eastern, 5:30 Pacific), regardless of if the venue was Madison Square Garden or the Shark Tank. About the only issue I can see is early start times on the West Coast, with some potential ticket holders being stuck at work or whatever, but I don't think it would be too big of a deal.
Now that we've got the time zone issues mitigated, we can go about deconstructing the NHL's inherent East Coast Bias by forcing those East Coast Teams to mingle with the rest of the league and showcasing the entirety of the league rather than always seeing the east coast + Chicago and Detroit on NBC and Versus.
Wild are almost assuredly going to get screwed over here...
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The simple one is just a swap of Detroit for Winnipeg. That fulfils the promise of Gary Bettman to Mike Illitch to put the Red Wings in the east.
The second proposal is very close to the one we have been discussing for a few months that would see the removal of the two conferences (and six divisions), for four divisions and would include a more balanced schedule. It would appease the Wings demand that, if in fact they can't be in the east, that every team in the league would play a minimum of a home-and-home series. That proposal would also call for two rounds of divisional playoffs, that would help maintain the regional rivalries, if they don't play as many games against each other in the regular season.
seriously this wouldn't be a freaking issue if bettman would admit pho yotes can't make it,
lets all be honest they are lifesupport and in no way do i want pho to lose a team that would hurt the fans, how long will the NHL keep footing their bill?
There is just no easy way to cut up the West. Too much distance, too many time zones, too few teams.
I think you might get the majority of the West teams to vote for the 4 division format. But you would still have to get half the east teams to care about something they don't care about.
I think sports leagues think people actually give a crap about divisions, which is a problem.
Changing the playoffs to work with 4 divisions (which are uneven!) is just beyond stupid. The playoffs should be exactly the same as now, just with the #1 team in the divisions auto getting into the playoffs.
The other 6 spots should be continue to be wild cards.
As I had mentioned in the BoH threads, the league needs 20 votes to make a change. In the West you have 15 of 16 teams (15 west + Winnipeg) that would support a 6 division alignment that breaks up "the 10" in the Northeast and Atlantic. All of the Southeast would likely be convinced as well (bringing it to 19 teams) so it would only take a single defector from the Northeast/Atlantic (say...Pittsburgh) to have enough votes. As much as these supposed "insiders" talk about a straight swap, there's almost no way that happens. At minimum, you will have Dallas moved to the central.
I think sports leagues think people actually give a crap about divisions, which is a problem.
Changing the playoffs to work with 4 divisions (which are uneven!) is just beyond stupid. The playoffs should be exactly the same as now, just with the #1 team in the divisions auto getting into the playoffs.
The other 6 spots should be continue to be wild cards.
Playoffs work perfectly fine with 4 divisions. The thing people keep getting caught up on with 4 divisions is this thought that there's still conferences. There's not. Divisions exist for scheduling purposes. In a 4 division setup, you basically have home and home with all non-division teams and 6 games against each division team (exception being the two 7 team divisions needing an additional home and home interdivision matchup).
Playoffs can either be top team in each division + next best 12, top 2 teams each + 8, top 3 teams each + 4, or simply top 4 teams in each. Personally, I'd say the top 3 + next best 4 would be the best option. Guarantees an intradivision playoff series, but matchups won't be repeated too many seasons in a row. "Next best 4" almost guarantees no teams get in with inferior records (though it's still possible). I would argue playoffs work far better in a 4 division setup.
As mentioned, you don't need half the East to agree. If you can get the whole west to agree (which is feasible) you just need 4 votes out of the East, and the Southeast is willing to see changes.
If the NHL wanted to be fair, they'd do away with geographical divisions and make EVERYBODY have to max out their frequent flyer miles. New York teams have it ridiculously easy when it comes to travel.
If the NHL wanted to be fair, they'd do away with geographical divisions and make EVERYBODY have to max out their frequent flyer miles. New York teams have it ridiculously easy when it comes to travel.
Of course, traditional rivals would hate that.
Fairness is stupid in this regard. Why make things worse for everyone, just so things are equal? That doesn't help anyone. The problem is the Board of Governors has the old boys club in the Northeast/Atlantic divisions. They have 10 votes, which is just one shy of enough to veto any proposal that comes across. They don't care what happens to any of the other 20 teams as long as their little piece of the pie isn't damaged.
In a 4 division setup, you basically have home and home with all non-division teams and 6 games against each division team (exception being the two 7 team divisions needing an additional home and home interdivision matchup).
You mean we could play Edmonton eight times a year?!
I really wish the West would somehow find a way to just tell the East to suck it, but I know those whiney, spoiled brats on the east coast would never stand for anything like that.
I'm just kind of bracing for how bad whatever realignment proposal survives the BoG is.
Am I the only one that actually wants to stay where we are? Its been over a decade. I like our division.. Yes I understand that we could have better travel time & natural rivals & all that jazz, & yes Id love to play in the central too but at this point I just dont care anymore. Im used to it...
I like the mini rivalry we're getting with Edmonton & Colorado. I like playing the Canucks & Flames. I not only wouldnt care if they make a change so its us with winnipeg & drop colorado I'd embrace it. Us & 4 canadian teams! I think that would be fun too.. We're kind of like a little Canada anyways I think as we get better that this division can & will be fun! Im kind of proud to be in a division with so many canadian teams.. Thats where hockey has its roots & I think we fit well with them.. And you cant tell me that if we become a powerhouse in the next few seasons that you wouldn't love watching our little American Wild team run a canadian division!! (Obviously Edmonton will be good too tho) but still it's be fun! haha
Dont get me wrong, I wont complain if we got our wish & put in the central but Im happy as is and kinda dont care anymore...
With that said, I will point out that I live in PST so the game start times dont effect me at all.. I personally hate when we play in Central or Eastern time zones because then I always have to miss a chunk of the game driving home from work! But I understand that time aspect of it being frusterating for you guys.. But I really do like our division. Its grown on me & I really look forward to games against all of our division foes.
