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Rumor: WPG/CJB swap for partial season before full realignment
7 years of Doug MacLean, with almost no NHL talent to show for it during that entire time, is what stunted everything.
It's become popular to unload on current GM Scott Howson. But to be perfectly honest, look at the roster and farm system he inherited. If you look at the roster in June of 2007, it looked like an expansion draft roster that had Rick Nash on it. No other under-30 NHL talent except Nikolai Zherdev. No one in the farm system to speak of. The drafting/development has been night and day since the MacLean days, but it's not an overnight process to pull out of that.
As a Kings fan, I know all about poor drafting and development. The Kings didn't do it for basically the first 30 years of the franchise. Then they started to build after trading Gretzky, then they traded Jokinen for Palffy(a tough trade to turn down, but the Kings as an organization at the time weren't ready for it). The Kings didn't truly stick with rebuilding the organization from the ground up until Lombardi, and his job was on the line after 6 years, until the Kings won the Cup.
I fully endorse this. Would love to be in a division with Calgary, Edmonton and Winnipeg.
The problem with having all the Canadian teams together is that they will be knocking each other out of the playoffs, extending the drought of a Cup in Canada.
Both sides (Columbus and Detroit) have claimed that they were promised first priority at moving over. No one from Detroit has actually claimed that they personally were told this by the NHL; the powers-that-be all say that it was told to someone else. Doug MacLean was with Columbus at the time, and he has said that he was told by the NHL that the CBJ would have priority.
Q. OK, once and for all, are you gonna get the Wings out of the Western Conference or not?
A. The commissioner (Gary Bettman) promised me I was next. We even had a meeting over lunch this past season, and he had all his people here, and he goes, 'Yeah, I promised Mike he'd be the next one to go in the Eastern Conference.' So I expect to be in next year. Jimmy D (Devellano) is on the phone every other week reminding them.
Weren't they given that "promise" before Columbus was even in the league?
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Toronto came east first because they were in the league/founded in 1917.
Detroit(1926) is next in line, then Chicago(1926) is... if they ever want/need to.
That said, Winnipeg will be going west, not based on age, but based on relocation locale.
2012-13: WPG goes west, CLB temp goes east
2013-14: WPG stays west, CLB goes back west, DET goes east.
2014-15: DET stays east, QUE enters east, SEA enters west
That's what I meant. If the promise was given before Columbus was in the league, then I really don't think they should have to fulfill that promise. But from what Ilitch said above, it looks like they were still given that promise again even after.
That would make some sense, provided Minnesota is okay with having 4 Canadian division rivals.
CBJ - move to SE Division
Wpg - move to NW Division
Min - stay in NW Division
Dal - move to Central Division
Col - move to Pacific (aka SW) Division
It apparently is Not, though I personally think it's mostly an excuse to try to force some other arrangement in which Minnesota gets in the Central. Nevertheless, that argument can be dismissed with Vancouver going to the Pacific and Colorado staying in the NW.
And if there's the argument to keep Vancouver with the other western Canadian teams,... well that leaves sort logistical problem (in addition to the Minnesota problem) in that then the Division continues with 3 Time Zones.
Detroit will be butthurt of course but the Western teams need them on their schedules they don't play other original 6 teams or Pittsburgh much.
The NHL BOG has already approved a 4-division alignment. It was the NHLPA that vetoed it. I don't see the BOG doing any tinkering with the 6-division setup. If there is a 2013 short season, it'll be under the old alignment. But I think the NHL will insist on its alignment for 2013-2014 as part of the CBA.
Toronto came east first because they were in the league/founded in 1917.
Detroit(1926) is next in line, then Chicago(1926) is... if they ever want/need to.
That said, Winnipeg will be going west, not based on age, but based on relocation locale.
Toronto went east first because they were further east than Detroit. They basically replaced Toronto in the Norris/Central division with Columbus, which was a bad alignment for the Jackets from the start. But, since Winnipeg was no longer in the league, they moved Toronto into a division with other Canadian teams.
Toronto being in the West before 1998 wasn't a good alignment for them either, but in terms of which franchise could withstand being in the West between Toronto and Columbus, it's certainly Toronto with their decades and decades of history and overwhelming fan support.
That's why 6 divisions within East/West conferences don't really work in the NHL though. At least one team from the ETZ is going to get the shaft.
If you're going to keep 6 divisions, what they should do is rotate big city teams in the east in that central division. One year Detroit, the next Toronto, then Montreal, then Boston, then NY, then Philly. It makes as much sense as either Columbus or Detroit being there full time.
And more explicitly, ref: The Tampa Bay (Devil) Rays.
The Rays aren't nearly out of the woods yet, but just look what slick drafting did for that franchise. Andrew Friedman will have a job in baseball wherever he wants, whenever he wants it, for as long as he wants.
I remember that now, because I remember it being the first time that anyone on the Detroit side actually saying, "I personally was told." Before that, it was years of, "We were told, but I wasn't. It was one of the other guys."
Quote:
Originally Posted by Captain Bob
Exactly. The pro sports owners need a reality check
I guess I forgot where you were an NHL owner, and it's your money being lost.
Nashville doesn't make sense east/west, but they do north/south.
As for a Columbus/Winnipeg swap...if only no one suggested this a year ago...
....
If Columbus is put in the East, it's not going back, even if the move was said to be temporary. The proposal last year had a spot open for someone in the West to fill in a spot with one of the two eastern divisions. Columbus moving over would solidify that.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Marc the Habs Fan
Colorado has made it clear they don't want to be in a division with 4 Canadian teams.
They might not have a choice, but Winnipeg was fine with being the only Canadian team in the Detroit-Chicago division. Colorado has a big Western Canada fanbase, so not sure why they'd had it so much. They're in no-man's land in terms of travel, so no scenario really suits them.
Nashville doesn't make sense east/west, but they do north/south.
As for a Columbus/Winnipeg swap...if only no one suggest this a year ago...
....
lol, prettymuch
I think the only issue with either Nashville or Columbus moving instead of Detroit last year is that the Wings ownership would have raised holy hell about it based on what they were told before Nashville and Columbus ever joined the league. I don't buy for a second that they didn't have ample time to get the divisions situated and a new schedule set when Atlanta moved to Winnipeg. The move was official before the Cup was even awarded that year.
Nashville doesn't make sense east/west, but they do north/south.
As for a Columbus/Winnipeg swap...if only no one suggested this a year ago...
....
If Columbus is put in the East, it's not going back, even if the move was said to be temporary. The proposal last year had a spot open for someone in the West to fill in a spot with one of the two eastern divisions. Columbus moving over would solidify that.
They might not have a choice, but Winnipeg was fine with being the only Canadian team in the Detroit-Chicago division. Colorado has a big Western Canada fanbase, so not sure why they'd had it so much. They're in no-man's land in terms of travel, so no scenario really suits them.
Actually... they probably will. The NHL isn't in the business of f###ing over their member clubs on the business side.
Winnipeg was fine with being the only Canadian team in a Detroit-Chicago division, because they realize that they're not going to get into a division with the 3 other Canadian teams, and Calgary/Edmonton are not going to be split up.
