I see no reason to deny this other than to pump up negotiations for the next CBA. Next lockout ahead, all engines full.
Right? They really don't have any logical reason to block this other then to flip the NHL Board the bird and say, "See neener neener what you gunna do about it?"
Meh. I just view this similarly to Bettman not committing to NHL players in the next Olympics. It will eventually happen; they just want to use it a bargaining chip since they know the other side wants it.
I agree. That said, i'd rather deal with that than another lockout.
Exactly. Unless the league wants to start putting teams in Las Vegas, Portland, Seattle, Eugene, Sacramento, San Diego, Santa Barbara...
proximity is always going to be something that the East benefits from as opposed to the West. It's just an unavoidable evil of all sports. Baseball, Basketball, and Football don't escape it either.
I am really tired of people talking about travel being unfair to the west. It is what it is. And it is going to be there no matter what.
Not sure why you think that the current travel isn't unfair to the west or why you'd believe that it has to be that way cuz "it is what it is", Jay. that's seems like a strange line of thinking.
It's strange I didn't read any of the threads on this and didn't do too much research But just in perusing it I thought the main idea was solid from what I understood. Get a fairer travel schedule and allow our fans to see teams once a year, a far cry from this once every 3-4 year **** we have to deal Witt now. The one thing I didn't like, again it must be stated I didn't do my fair share of reading on the realignment, was that EDM and VAN would be in our new conference. And really the only reason that bothered me was because it made the path to the playoffs all the harder.
Not sure why you think that the current travel isn't unfair to the west or why you'd believe that it has to be that way cuz "it is what it is", Jay. that's seems like a strange line of thinking.
My line of thinking is that there IS NO way to make travel fair for the west if you are comparing it to the east.
Travel will never be fair, so you just have to lessen the damage best you can.
Honestly right now any way you slice the realignment it's going to be unfair to west teams because of how far the teams are spread apart.
Do you have a better solution in mind?
Because both the Western Conferences had 8 teams and the Eastern nnes had 7?
Much easier to make playoffs in an 7 team Conference versus an 8.
That being said, I am pretty pissed this is being delayed. Mostly since now WPG needs to spend another year in the SE. Garbage. You just needed to add a cross-over rule and you had the best possible conference setup, IMO.
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2012 STANLEY CUP CHAMPIONS LA KINGS!!! GO JETS GO!
Honestly right now any way you slice the realignment it's going to be unfair to west teams because of how far the teams are spread apart.
Do you have a better solution in mind?
Why couldn't they have just had two conferences, and split each one into two divisions?
Conference I Division A
Carolina
Columbus
New Jersey
New York Islanders
New York Rangers
Philadelphia
Pittsburgh
Washington
Division B
Boston
Buffalo
Florida
Montreal
Ottawa
Tampa Bay
Toronto
Conference II Division C
Chicago
Dallas
Detroit
Minnesota
Nashville
St. Louis
Winnipeg
Division D
Anaheim
Calgary
Colorado
Edmonton
Los Angeles
Phoenix
San Jose
Vancouver
15 teams per conference. Winner of each division gets an automatic playoff berth. Spots 3-8 are determined by record. This would be much more fair because the top 8 teams from both conferences make the playoffs.
Why couldn't they have just had two conferences, and split each one into two divisions?
Conference I Division A
Carolina
Columbus
New Jersey
New York Islanders
New York Rangers
Philadelphia
Pittsburgh
Washington
Division B
Boston
Buffalo
Florida
Montreal
Ottawa
Tampa Bay
Toronto
Conference II Division C
Chicago
Dallas
Detroit
Minnesota
Nashville
St. Louis
Winnipeg
Division D
Anaheim
Calgary
Colorado
Edmonton
Los Angeles
Phoenix
San Jose
Vancouver
15 teams per conference. Winner of each division gets an automatic playoff berth. Spots 3-8 are determined by record. This would be much more fair because the top 8 teams from both conferences make the playoffs.
Because Detroit would not want to be the only eastern time zone team in the western conference. They don't like having to go to the west coast so much during the regular season, plus maybe playing 3 playoff series against 3 west coast teams. The teams in the central time zone aren't big fans of playing in the pacific time zone so much either.
Because Detroit would not want to be the only eastern time zone team in the western conference. They don't like having to go to the west coast so much during the regular season, plus maybe playing 3 playoff series against 3 west coast teams. The teams in the central time zone aren't big fans of playing in the pacific time zone so much either.
The league's current proposal for Detriot's conference/division isn't really any different than mine.
League's current Proposal:
Chicago
Columbus
Dallas
Detroit
Minnesota
Nashville
St. Louis
Winnipeg
Meh. I just view this similarly to Bettman not committing to NHL players in the next Olympics. It will eventually happen; they just want to use it a bargaining chip since they know the other side wants it.
Pretty much, but I would advise the NHLPA against crossing swords with Bettman again. I think they will lose, again.
Why couldn't they have just had two conferences, and split each one into two divisions?
Conference I Division A
Carolina
Columbus
New Jersey
New York Islanders
New York Rangers
Philadelphia
Pittsburgh
Washington
Division B
Boston
Buffalo
Florida
Montreal
Ottawa
Tampa Bay
Toronto
Conference II Division C
Chicago
Dallas
Detroit
Minnesota
Nashville
St. Louis
Winnipeg
Division D
Anaheim
Calgary
Colorado
Edmonton
Los Angeles
Phoenix
San Jose
Vancouver
15 teams per conference. Winner of each division gets an automatic playoff berth. Spots 3-8 are determined by record. This would be much more fair because the top 8 teams from both conferences make the playoffs.
^ This. I really don't understand why this became so difficult. It's like the league used a shotgun to kill a fly. The proposed playoff format was a complete joke
