NHL 2011/2012 Season
- Thread starter Winterwind
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Ugh. The media is reporting that the league has voted in favor of the 4 conference realignment. Not a fan of this at all, even with the original proposed divisions being adjusted to maintain the Pens-Flyers rivalry.
What are the new proposed divisions? I can't say I'm really a fan, but I'll be glad if the Flyers and Pens stay together. Still, I can't see it really being beneficial overall. Strikes me as more higher ranked crap teams.
ETA: Four conferences, not divisions? I was thinking this was some kind of eight division league, but I gather they're just going back to a four division league? Let's say I'm a bit confused on what this all means.
ETA: Four conferences, not divisions? I was thinking this was some kind of eight division league, but I gather they're just going back to a four division league? Let's say I'm a bit confused on what this all means.
Well, isn't that something. At least every team will play each other at home and away.
Yeah, that's a bit bizarre. What was wrong with the 6 divisions? There doesn't appear to be a good way to maintain at least halfway decent rivalries in the new format without stupid things like Florida teams playing Canadian teams as division rivals.
Found a map someone did on Google that gives you an idea of how the conferences will look.
I'm cool with it, except for Florida and Tampa Bay being in the same conference as Boston, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, and Buffalo. That just seems really random and doesn't make any sense. The Rangers and Islanders would have made more sense, I think.
I believe this is going to be the new playoff format:
Round 1: Conference #1s vs. Conference #4s, Conference #2s vs. Conference #3s
Round 2: Conference championships
Round 3: Champion with most points vs. Champion with fewest, Champion with second most points vs. Champion with third most
Round 4: Stanley Cup
I'm cool with it, except for Florida and Tampa Bay being in the same conference as Boston, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, and Buffalo. That just seems really random and doesn't make any sense. The Rangers and Islanders would have made more sense, I think.
I believe this is going to be the new playoff format:
Round 1: Conference #1s vs. Conference #4s, Conference #2s vs. Conference #3s
Round 2: Conference championships
Round 3: Champion with most points vs. Champion with fewest, Champion with second most points vs. Champion with third most
Round 4: Stanley Cup
Well aside from some strange geography to keep the Pennsylvania teams together, I like it. I never liked it when the NHL went away from divisional playoffs. Yes some teams might make the playoffs with fewer points than someone who stays home, but if you can't finish fourth you don't deserve to win.
It would. I suspect they wanted to have the Devils play New York or, alternatively, try to have a Philly-NY rivalry that isn't so great in Hockey. Still, from my perspective, that would work fine. Boston can have New York, Philly will have the Devils and Pittsburgh.
ETA: I also considered Detroit and Chicago going with Canada and the Florida teams being put in that list of yellow teams (which would work visually). But then it occurred to me how god awful that conference would be.
I like the new division realignment. It also looks as if they're keeping the East open for relocation and/or expansion in the future.
I think the thing I like most about this new realignment is every team will see every team at least twice. I'm never a fan of the unbalanced schedule (And it's worse in Baseball than any other sport) and the only sport where I feel it get's it's schedule right is the NBA, minus the lockout of course. I like the fact that the Sharks will see Sidney Crosby or Montreal come to HP every year and they will go to Pittsburgh or Montreal every year.
I kind of hope they tweek the alignment though for the playoffs because I can see repitition being a bad thing for the league. I do like the whole East vs. West thing and kind of hope they keep that somehow. Also, what we gain is seeing the east coast teams come to your home town, we kind of lose those rivalries with teams that are in your conference but out of your division. The biggest example of this is probably San Jose and Detroit. Since now those two teams only play twice a year, I feel like that rivalry that was rekindled last year in the Western Conference semi-finals will be kind of dead now, unless they meet every year in the playoffs. I guess there had to be compromise, but that is a bit sad.
I kind of hope they tweek the alignment though for the playoffs because I can see repitition being a bad thing for the league. I do like the whole East vs. West thing and kind of hope they keep that somehow. Also, what we gain is seeing the east coast teams come to your home town, we kind of lose those rivalries with teams that are in your conference but out of your division. The biggest example of this is probably San Jose and Detroit. Since now those two teams only play twice a year, I feel like that rivalry that was rekindled last year in the Western Conference semi-finals will be kind of dead now, unless they meet every year in the playoffs. I guess there had to be compromise, but that is a bit sad.
The realignment would help the Wild in that it would decrease the amount of travelling the team has to do. And it would be nice to get back to some old Norris division rivalries.
I think they went with the Florida teams being in the same conference as Montreal/Ottawa/Toronto for the sole purpose of trying to attract Canadian snowbirds to the games in Florida. "Hey, Toronto's in town for a hockey game tonight, let's go get some of those 20 dollar rink-side tickets that are still available an hour before game time!"
That's possible. A lot of New Englanders also head down to Florida for the winter, so there are probably a good amount of Bruins fans down there, too.
On another forum someone said that the New York teams aren't grouped with the other northeastern teams because the NHL wants its two biggest stars (Crosby and Ovechkin) playing in America's biggest market as much as possible. That makes sense.
On another forum someone said that the New York teams aren't grouped with the other northeastern teams because the NHL wants its two biggest stars (Crosby and Ovechkin) playing in America's biggest market as much as possible. That makes sense.
Nonsense. The Rangers and Islanders aren't in the north because they don't belong there and they don't want to be there.
Basically, the New York teams aren't in the northern conference because the Atlantic division teams were steadfastly opposed to to a realignment plan that didn't maintain their age-old rivalries. They accepted this revised realignment proposal precisely because the classic Patrick/Atlantic Division rivalries have been preserved. (And with the Capitals returned to the fold to boot.)
And Crosby is out indefinitely with concussion-like symptoms. Booooo!
And we have 5 coaches who have been fired already before Christmas, with Terry Murray getting the axe yesterday. I do think if the Sharks continue playing the way they are, Todd McLellan might be on that list as well.
Yeah, hopefully he doesn't turn into the next Lindros. I don't like him particularly much, but I'd hate to see that happen to him.
On another note, the Leafs could really use a win tonight. The last ten games or so haven't been great.
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