What if the NHL Went to a Six Division Set Up in a 36 Team League?
Okay, since I saw comments of this nature in my recent expansion video, I might as well discuss how a 6 division NHL might look.
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I am the only one to notice the Conference magnets are the wrong way round? It is like an Easter Egg THG leaves for us every now and then.
@@ACatNamedLupusDon’t be dickish
@ACatNamedLupus notice the like disparity between the original post and the reply.
@@ACatNamedLupusWhy are you here then?
lol...I wondered how many comments it would be before someone pointed it out haha...
I was beginning to think it was part of an extreme league structure remodelling so that East became West 😂
And watch each division have a sponsor, just because they can.
The Tim Horton's Division?
And then that sponsor will have a sub sponsor
The colgate division. Recommended by 9/10 LTIR doctors.
They did that when they changed the divisions for the 2021 season when teams only played in their division. So you’re probably right
The In-n-Out Southeast Division Championship, sponsored by Raytheon!
The nhl adopts a "battle royale" system. 100 teams enter. 1 team leaves.
I assume you sent this to Gary so he can use it in the future.
It’s true! Even now, they could give the divisions players names, it would be much more endearing.
Other way around. Gary sent this to Shannon so he can hear feedback on his plan
@@legndery1909 Bet-man has ideas? More likely he watches THG under his covers every night.
@@jeffreyrainey1015 I'm sure they'd name them after sponsors knowing the NHL
I think you're right on the money with the expansion clubs, but I just don't see why AZ and COL wouldn't be swapped here.
I agree.
He mentions at the very beginning that Utah and Colorado need to be in the same division. I think all 3 should be in same division + Calgary, Edmonton, and Winnipeg
@@verytasty1532 "need" does a lot of work here. There is a while damn mountain range between them. (not at you)
@@trapjohnson I think it's more so that Utah will be by far the closest team to Colorado. Would seem a bit silly to not have them play each other most often from a Colorado perspective, especially when there are no other teams very close to Colorado at all
@@verytasty1532then van, Seattle, cali teams and az for a pacific division?
West needs to be organized by time zones full stop
Only issue is the states that don’t switch time zones, but 100% agree with them being aligned that way
I think it’s stupid teams like FLA and TB fly over Carolina, Washington, Pennsylvania, New Jersey/East New York to play teams in Canada, Massachusetts, West New York, and vice-versa. Like, isn’t saving fuel and miles traveled more important than an hour saved? 😒
That would work for the Pacific (6 teams) but the Central has 8 teams and the Mountain only has 4. Two from the Central would have to go to the Mountain, probably Winnipeg and Arizona, but then you're taking Vancouver away from Calgary and Edmonton. That wouldn't work.
I agree, for the same reason Detroit wants to be in the East, as a Dallas Stars and Houston Astros fan I’m tired of a large portion my teams away games being in the pacific or mountain time zone (for Dallas it’s not as bad as to used to be).
Don't you mean Saskatoon and Winnipeg?
Dude, what an in-depth vid, well done sir!
I think it'll be 9 per the four divisions. ATL goes to the Metro, Quebec City in the Atlantic, Houston into the Central and the revived Coyotes Pacific.
9 teams in 4 divisions how can scheduling work? 6 teams in 6 divisions are easier to schedule
@@ddddirge With 4 divs of 9 teams each, at minimum, 3 divisional games, so 3 x 8 = 24 2 with everyone else, so 2 x 27 = 54 and four extra games for: more arch-rival games, and encounters with other clubs that rotate every year; western Canadian cities would want to see more Habs and Leafs In this case, get rid of Conferences, so the semifinals would be 1st vs 4th, and 2 vs 3. Playoff Quals: top 4 per div. Or, top 3 per div, with a play-in between next 8 teams league-wide. Best record meets lowest record. A playoff qualification should be no longer than a 2-game home and home, with tie-break criteria similar to the reg season.
@@joetoh6675we experienced it this year and I don’t want to ever have to again there is no world where Philly and Pittsburgh should be playing each other less than 4 times a year I don’t love the 6 division format either because that is an absolute mess to seed curious if there is an in between way to do it.
Quebec City is not getting a team stop it
With 4 divisions with 9 teams the NHL can get more games in the regular season. 4 games against teams in the same division 4*8=32 2 games against the rest of the teams in the league 2*27=54 That´s 86 games, which I think is realistic.
The division names are cool. Takes me back to when I first started watching hockey with the Campbell and Norris....
I can't imagine my Jets not playing St. louis, Chicago and Dallas. All in the same time zone.
Detroit has to come back to our division as well
I like more rivalry games leading to a rivalry playoffs. It’s easier to just get aware of a few teams and how you stack up against them than half the league.
The quality content put out by this man is unrivaled. The sports networks are put to shame each day
I admire you Shannon for pursuing your passion!
The southwest should be the Dionne Division. At a time when west coast hockey was the LA Kings, Dionne was a scoring machine. He was our first superstar.
As a pre-Gretzky Kings fan, I wholeheartedly agree!
I thought about this and came up with something similar, but prioritizing time zones in the west Pacific: VAN, SEA, SJS, LAK, ANA, VGK (splits up Vancouver and Alberta unfortunately) Mountain: CLG, EDM, WPG, SLC, COL, ARI (Winnipeg is the odd one out) Central: MIN, CHI, STL, NAS, DAL, HOU Southeast: FLA, TBL, ATL, CAR, WSH, CBJ (east is the same) Northeast: QUE, MTL, OTT, TOR, BUF, BOS Metro: NYR, NYI, NJD, PHI, PIT, DET 4x games against divisional opponents, 2x games against everyone else I also think the best playoff format is top two from each division, plus two wildcards in each conference, as divisional play is more important with this regular season format. Ultimately, I really hope they don't expand this much (though it's hard to argue with $$$). It sucks to expand the playoffs, and it sucks to make it harder to make the playoffs, either way ruining the good balance we have now. It also would ruin the balance between playing in every arena, and maintaining rivalries that there's no good way to solve without increasing the number of games (which can't happen). I don't want to see the NHL become the NFL where you only play certain teams every 4 years, and I don't want to see it become the MLB where it's impossible to watch every game.
The NBA has now adopted the play-in round, though it's a single game knockout involving the 7-10 seeds in each conference. Which was what many fans wanted the NHL 2020 bubble playoffs to be, maybe a best-of-3 instead of a single game. But the league elected to make it a best-of-5 involving seeds 5-12 in each conference. Also, for many years there was no interleague play in the MLB. I think that only became a thing at the turn of the millennium, but I could be wrong. I also don't think interleague play is necessary for the regular season. Make more divisional games instead.
Sam, I wrote down my divisional alignment before I read yours, and it’s exactly the same. Shannon, Winnipeg and Minnesota should not be put in a Northwest Division where there is a 2 time zone difference. I’m OK with a 1 time zone difference within a division. The only negative of Sam’s and my alignment is that Vancouver is split from Calgary & Edmonton. BTW for everyone: Arizona is on Mountain Standard time year round. So they’re the same as Mountain in the winter and the same as Pacific after early March when daylight savings starts. So it’s not optimum to have Arizona in the Central. Geographically, you could almost flip Detroit and Nashville, but the way the time zone line is laid out, Detroit is on Eastern time and Nashville is on Central time.
They will never separate Vancouver from Alberta. Those are the games everyone loves
Shouldn't the east and west magnets be flipped?
LMAO shannon moments
100%
Shh don't tell him
l noticed once he mentioned the Jazz magnet. Other than that l like the divisions
Who cares? Why be anal about it? Im sure you aren't that stupid and do understand.
I think you nailed it especially given the subtle changes/options that you mention later on in the vieeo.
This screws Minnesota really hard.
and winnipeg, and arizona.
...I agree!... I'd have Arizona in the southwest, Utah in the northwest, & Minnesota in the central!...
@@dominickpanoz That screws Utah harder than you'd be screwing Minnesota.
Minnesota in the NW sort of makes sense, but Arizona in the Central doesn't. They'd be closer to all the teams in the SW than half of the teams in the central division.
@@idiotandco.1750 ...How?... if Utah's in the NW, they'd still have two teams in their time zone & none that are two time zones away!... if MIN is in the NW, they'd only have one team in their time zone & two teams that are two time zones away!...
I'm gonna try for fun Western Conference Pacific : LA, San Jose, Anaheim, Seattle, Vancouver, Vegas Center West : Calgary, Edmonton, Utah, Colorado, Winnipeg, Arizona Center East : Houston, Minnesota, Chicago, Nashville, St Louis, Dallas Eastern Conference Northeast : Quebec City, Toronto, Buffalo, Ottawa, Montreal, Boston Metropolitan : NYR, NYI, NJD, Pittsburgh, Washington, Philly Atlantic : Columbus, Detroit, Atlanta, TBL, Panthers, Canes
I like your western divisions better than Shannon’s tbh… I feel like Minnesota would not be happy with a division of almost all Canadian teams that are very far west of them. Splitting Vancouver up from the Alberta teams is unfortunate, but putting them with Seattle + California does make sense, and then Arizona fits nicely with the Canadian/American prairie teams, and Minnesota slots into the Central.
@@Lafv Yea, The only two teams I wasn't sure of is winnipeg is pretty far from the other teams in the division I put them in, and detroit is kind of far as well, but my goal was to keep iconic rivalries together like pitt washington and Boston leaf's and habs etc etc.
@@jakobfinney Winnipeg is a bit far but it works cause they’re with CGY & EDM. Detroit doesn’t really have any rivals in their division though, I’d switch them with Washington personally
@@Lafv Maybe because I grew up watching Crosby and Ovi that rivalry seemed bigger than it is but I wanted washington to stay with pittsburgh but I can see that change. I also dont think the red wings have massive rivalries except the original 6, but when I looked it up their fans seemed to hate tampa, but maybe thats every fanbase lol
"Center East" is called the Mid-West. "Center West" could be Mountain maybe..Other than that, I like your WC divisions.
I love videos like this. I find them calming while also being interesting. Thanks, Shannon, for always putting out videos on topics that other hockey youtubers don’t typically talk about-and when they do, it’s not in your signature style (not putting down other hockey youtubers, many are fun and engaging and entertaining, but THG scratches the itch in my brain while also being those things, yknow?)
Love this! Nice job
I hope the NHL is taking notes. ✍️
We're talking about the NHL here. ;)
Put the conference magnets in the wrong spots haha
Now I’m expecting you to climb deeper in this rabbit hole
This would be a nightmare as a Jets fan. So many late games!
every other year teams in other conferences host each other. 2025 New Jersey hosts the Canucks, 2026 Vancouver hosts the devils.
If the NHL were to expand to 36 teams in 6 divisons, a division of the Original 6 teams would be awesome. Maybe not the easiest in terms of geography but the inter-divisional play and rivalries would be worth it.
Fun video! It’s hard not to think of how diluted the talent could be. Thanks for the content.
While more teams def means more dilution of talent, at the same time, more people are playing hockey with better training, plus throw in the assumption it's growing internationally. I'd like to see an analysis and projection somewhere of the "dilution of talent" argument.
Brilliant thought process
THG has a Neapolitan complex
I see what you did there 🤭
Is that when you have rage when someone brings that shitty ice cream flavor to your house?
@@islandmankactually, it's 3 flavors 😏 and I like it 😅
Personally, I think that fans would like divisions better than a 2 conference setup. Being 6 or 8 points behind in your division feels better than being 18 points behind in your conference. Plus playing division rivals creates more rivalries for fans. More likely the NHL keeps things the way that they are and doesn't change anything.
I agree with you. As long as we can get one home and home with every team once a year. Back when your team played some outta conference teams every 3rd year… that was not great for attendance. some cities never got the chance to see star players
Best team in the west plays worst team in the west in round 1 The other 3 match ups can be divisional. This way...winning "the conference" gets you something of real value. Then in the second round...The team with the worst record must play the team with the highest record remaining. This way regular season placement still means something of value.
I don't like conferences because you can never face your close rivals in a final. It's always some team on the other side of the nation.
But isn't it really the other way around: if you're 18 points behind in your division you're likely going to be like 8 (or more likely ~12) behind in conference as the other division(s) have teams to fit between teams from a division that unbalanced.
If the top 2 teams in the conference must play each other ever before the 3rd round. It's garbage. You earned that seed with hard work. 1 and 2 in the east should never ever meet anywhere but the east final.
36 teams. 4 divisions 9 teams each. Arizona to Pacific. Houston to Central. Atlanta to Metropolitan. Quebec to Atlantic. The 32 teams remain in their respective division. Playoffs - Division based. 1-3 automatically qualify for playoffs. 4-6 must play in a qualifying best-of-one tournament. 7-9 eliminated from playoffs and season end at the conclusion of the regular season. Qualifying tournament: 6th seed at 5th seed. Winner of that game plays at 4th seed. Winner of that game faces the 1st seed in the first round of playoffs.
I like the idea of 4 Divisions with 9 teams each. Not sure how you would run the schedule to make it fair unless you go to 86 games. I would also understand that the owners are going to want more opportunity at revenue since the % chance of making the playoffs would go down I would not want to extend the playoffs any further than maybe a wild card game per division. IE. Seeds 6-9 eliminated at the end of the season while the 4th seed hosts the 5th seed in a do or die situation to get into the playoffs.
why not group by timezone? seems like thats what creates more competitive advantage. 1.)CA teams + VAN, SEA, VGK 2.) Alberta teams + Utah, Colorado, AZ, and one of dallas or Houston 3.) existing central division as it is now but without colorado, AZ, and possibly Houston instead of Dallas
Put Red Wings in Central, Predators in Southeast and Washington in Metro. Feels cleaner
I too felt disturbed seeing the Wings in a division like that. I'd give it to them if they actually named it the Howe division, but let's be real.
they have the divisions mostly divided up by time zone for a reason, Shannon. This would absolutely kill the jets and the other teams in the "northwest" because of all the crazy time changes they'd have to experience during the season. it would directly disadvantage the teams there Over the teams in the other divisions. veto
Why would that kill them? Who cares bout the time Zone change?
@@wesleythorne6657 Kids in WPG or MN that want to watch their team play. 9pm local starts on school nights from Oct-April doesn't scream fan friendly/grow the game but if you are West Coast then you don't think or care about those things.
@@seanpollock8221 not west coast, honestly couldn’t care less if a few kids can’t watch the game before school.
@@wesleythorne6657 teams like new york rangers play nyi, nj devils, philly and still get to sleep in their own beds afterwards. this is huge for recovery for an athlete. jetlag and daily routine are also factors. I doubt nyr would play as well over the course of a full season if they were flying to the west coast every other day
@@wesleythorne6657bro time zone is a huge thing wtf are you talking about 😂
For playoffs, just make the top 2 from each division qualify. Division winners get seeds 1-3 and runners up get seeds 4-6, depending on points. And then next 2 most points as 7 and 8 seeds, they can be from same division.
for the playoffs it should be the team finished first in there division seed 1st and 2nd then the 3rd-8th go by points and do a cross over for example if the 9th place team in the east has more points then the 8th place team in the west then the 9th place team plays in the west if they do that you could have 2 teams in the same division play for the cup
I think I figured out a really good formula that makes everybody happy : 4x 5 division opponents = 20 games 3x 12 conference opponents = 36 games Okay now for the out of conference scheduling formula. Each division is paired with a division from the other conference to play 2x. The division pairings rotate every year (similar to NFL’s scheduling formula). You play the remaining out of conference teams 1x season, alternating home and away on the non pairing years, giving us: 2x 6 non conference, paired division teams = 12 games 1x 12 non conference, non paired division teams = 12 games Which gives us….. an 80 game season!!! I really think this formula makes everyone happy. Division and conference rivalries play just as often as they do now, every team plays each other at least once. And if you want to keep the 82 game format, throw in 2x additional conference, non division matchups that are legacy rivalries from the previous divisional make ups. E.g. Tampa plays Toronto and Boston an additional game.
AZ is located in the southwest US; not certain why they are in the central division. Ergo AZ to the southwest, CO to the northwest moving WInnipeg or MN to the central. This works if you take time zones under consideration, other than either Wpg or MN two hours ahead of the Pacific time zone.
4 expansion teams at once would sure make for an interesting expansion draft.
The league needs to contract to 28 teams. Will never happen though.
4 New NHL Teams Are Atlanta, Houston, Quebec City, And Utah With Arizona Being An NHL Team Again In 5 Years.
Awesome interesting video!
Torts just gifted the Capitals a postseason birth!! Pulled the goalie in tie game despite being eliminated by the Red Wings
Minnesota to Central Sharks to Northwest Arizona to Southwest
arizona and colorado flipped?
2:28 Also can't forget Brett Hull finished his career with Arizona
Very interesting concept
32 is enough
The magnets being backwards is hilarious to me
Loved the video! Very interesting - yeah NHL with 36 teams seems like the way the world is going.
Top 2 from each division and two wildcards from among the 3 divisions allows for 8 teams per side for a clean playoff setup.
I'd be pissed if the Wild were in a West Coast division.
Only two teams would be on the actual coast. All others are east of the mountains.
I guess I hate the idea of Minnesota in the Northwest. Two opponents in the Mountain Time Zone, and two in the Pacific just doesn’t get it. Should Arizona get another team, put them out west - where they are geographically. Chicago, St.Louis, and even (yuck) Dallas should be our division rivals.
That is an issue for the Jets as well.
@@jacobdill4499That’s very true. It’s all speculation at this ooint, but I’m not happy about the prospect of either team stuck in a division like this, to be honest.
Good video. What about the conference magnets?
Thanks!
Bring back the Whalers and the Nordiques!!
Here's my ideas West - Mostly based on timezone Pacific - Anaheim, Los Angeles, San Jose, Vegas, Seattle, Vancouver Sierra/Rocky - Arizona, Utah, Colorado, Kansas City, Calgary, Edmonton Central - Houston, Dallas, Nashville, St. Louis, Minnesota, Winnipeg Could swap Winnipeg/Kansas City Eastern Conference V1 You can divy up the north east two ways and travel time can take a back seat to rivalries. Here I did OG6 division Oldtown/Metropolitan - Boston, Montreal, Toronto, New York Rangers, Detroit, Chicago Atlantic - Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, New Jersey, New York Islanders, Ottawa, Buffalo Southern - Florida, Tampa, Atlanta, Carolina, Washington, Columbus Could swap Washington/New Jersey if you want Penguins vs Capitals in the same division. Eastern Conference V2 Heres a 3-3 split Atlantic - Boston, New York Rangers, Montreal, New York Islanders, Buffalo, Ottawa Foundry - Toronto, Detroit, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Columbus Southern - Florida, Tampa, Atlanta, Carolina, Capitals, New Jersey. When the line for the eastern conference runs through Nashville and Chicago theres its hard to put a team there. Atlanta is the easy one, after that you got Indianapolis, and then it falls of a cliff to Quebec City. It's just easier to expand west as adding 2 teams in Texas makes sense, Kansas City makes sense, Portland makes sense, Arizona/Utah make sense, New Orleans makes sense, so I think if we are going to 40 it will be 5-3 or 6-2(west-east) with how the league expands. if holding to 36 it makes sense to go 3-1 west-east.
Foundry kicks ass
Original Six Division would be glorious, fuck timezones resurrect that bloodbath all season long baby. That foundry division would also be killer. Any way you slice it, Chicago should be battling in the east.
You do a great job
Tbh i find rivalry's are more formed in the playoffs rather than the regular season. Like the canucks and blackhawks playoff history or toronto boston
Original 6 division: Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Montreal, NY Rangers, Toronto Canadian/North division: Quebec City, Ottawa, Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver Pacific division: Anaheim, Arizona, Los Angeles, San Jose, Seattle, Vegas Central division: Utah, Colorado, Dallas, Houston, St. Louis, Minnesota South division: Atlanta, Carolina, Florida, Nashville, Tampa Bay, Washington Atlantic division: NY Islanders, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Columbus
I like this.
You cannot not put Montreal and Quebec City together. One of the Biggest rivalries ever
@@brandoncote5406 So you don't want a rivalry?
@@tristanpotts3300 I want the rivalry, these divisions split Québec and Montréal
@@brandoncote5406 I agree, now why would they do a OG 6 division? It doesn't make any sense whatsoever. The divisions should be teams that are within a certain distance from each other.
No no no Shannon, Vancouver should be in the southeast division! 🤭
This can definitely work I like this format of 6 divisions (3 divisions in both conferences) & 2 conferences
Love THG rabbit holes
The idea of the NHL expanding beyond 32 teams is just ludicrous. They are definitely interested in quantity, not quality.
Nashville to southeast , Detroit to central and Washington to metro and it's perfect
I honestly wish they would put Detroit back in the West and just bring Nashville to the East. Detroit has felt out of place for years. All their classic rivals are in the West. They've been irrelevant in the East.
@@jbellflower83 Detroit is nowhere close to any of the teams out West sans Chicago in terms of geography. The Avs rivalry is dead and gone. I love that my Wings are in the East, primarily for the reason that I won't be up until midnight watching games.
Love it!!!
Nice effort. I mostly agree
Detroit should be with Buff, Tor, Mtl, Ott, and Que and rename it Howe. Boston should be in the Orr division with Isles, NYR, Pitt, Philly, and NJ.
Expansion, especially in the places the NHL is talking about, will just further water down the league.
and the officiating
That's the same argument every time that any sport expands... and the competition gets better not worse. Way back when, the NHL went from 16 to 21 teams? Edmonton, Quebec, Winnipeg and Hartford were all expansion teams and the talent pool was just fine.
Have you looked at the teams in the playoffs this year? Tell me how the league is “watered down?”
There is more average talent per team on the ice now than I'd wager any era ever before, with the amount of young kids playing hockey and going pro. Thanks to the cap, that talent is spread out more, so less dynasties for sure. The one issue I have is that the average fan will see less Stanley Cups in their lifetime. I'm envious of my dad who grew up an Islanders fan and saw them win 19 playoff series in a row. That just won't ever happen again. (Or really really probably won't happen again). I wish every tier 2 market could get the St Louis experience, but there just aren't enough years in the average fan's lifetime.
@quinten3427 That's a valid thought. One thing that bothers me is how the small market teams are already hurting themselves, in my opinion. They take on bad contracts to get to the salary floor. It's a lot of money that isn't helping them on the ice. I know that the argument is that they're getting draft picks, but draft picks can be a gamble that doesn't always work out. I think if they spent money on salaries instead of gambling on draft picks, they might be better off? Or not?
Great job .
In the second scueduling option, I think you could also take a page out of the NFL's book to get the number of games up to 82. You could have 2 additional games, each against a team in the same conference who had the same division standing as you. So for example: if the division standings were just as shown on the board, then Calgary would play Dallas and Utah 3 times in the following season, as opposed to just twice.
This is fun Shannon. But i agree with your idea of going to just two conferences.
I like what you've got, but I'd move Minnesota to the Central, Arizona to the Southwest, and Utah to the Northwest, just to keep the time zone changes down. But I like it!
Agree with your thoughts on 6 divisions in a 36-team league and I was thinking the same to get to an expanded playoffs. I was against the idea at first, but Elliotte Friedman was very insistent that because the NHL is more gate-driven than other pro sports, expanded playoffs are a necessity. I think that in a 36-team league, 24 teams make the playoffs. The top team in each conference get a bye in a first round with one wild card, and the remaining of the top 4 in each division enter a first round best of 5 series. The winning teams in the first round face the bye teams in the second round. A team would have to win either 16 or 19 games to win the Stanley Cup, but the regular season would be shortened by 2 games to 80. Thanks for all you do here and cheers
A play-in should be no longer than a 2-game home and home, with tie-break criteria similar to the reg season. Having to start with a b.o. 5- or even 3-game series would guarantee those teams never advancing past the final 16.
This is GREAT!
I actually love this, it probably won't happen but if it does I'm all in for it.
As someone who is from Georgia, the general feel from most around here is that the team should be called the Thrashers, and I honestly think that's what they'll go with. The Phoenix, Firebirds or Knights are the only other options I see, BUT the Knights already exist in the NHL, the Phoenix sounds weird especially if the Coyotes come back and the Firebirds doesn't sound as good as Thrashers to me.
I think you’re spot on
I’d love to see more ephasis on rivarlies. Sadly with expansion I think we move further from that rather than closer.
Cool idea
Even with Chicago being in the central time zone, the idea of having an Origins division with the original 6 I think is a banger that could be worth it. Just make their home divisional games start at 7:00 local time. Even with Detroit not being geographically close to Montreal, when teams are flying for their travel, there isn’t a big difference between a 1:35 flight to Philly or a 1:05 flight to Pittsburg and a 1:50 flight to Montreal.
As an Avs fan living in CST who has a difficult time staying up past 10:30, this would make me cry
I tried doing this yesterday, with the same 4 expansion teams. My 3 eastern divisions were the same as yours, except I had Nashville instead of Columbus in the Southeast (Columbus replaced Nashville as the eastern team stuck in the Western Conference; I didn't think about time zones). I had the 3 California teams, Vegas, Seattle, and Vancouver in a "Pacific" division, which worked, but the other 2 western divisions were a bit of a mess. I like your western divisions better, although I probably would swap Arizona and Colorado.
While I agree with the East, I am pretty sure the Arizona team will not want to be in with the Central Time zone because they are effectively in the Pacific Time zone from March until November. Here is my suggestion for three 6 team divisions in the Western Conference. Time zones in parenthesis. Arizona is (M/P) because of the uniqueness of their situation. (Note: Division Names are placeholders, suggestions welcome) PACIFIC DIVISION Vegas (P) Los Angeles (P) San Jose (P) Anaheim (P) Vancouver (P) Seattle (P) MOUNTAIN DIVISION Utah (M) Colorado (M) Arizona (M/P) Calgary (M) Edmonton (M) Winnipeg (C) (Note: Some team from the Central Time zone had to be added here) CENTRAL DIVISION Dallas (C) Houston (C) Nashville (C) Chicago (C) St Louis (C) Minnesota (C)
If you do 5 games against division, 3 games against conference, and 1 against league you end up with a good 84 games, using this division format. For playoffs, run the division leader in the first 3 seeds ranked by points. The division runner ups take the battle with the leaders in reverse order of points (2nd worst record plays 1st best, 2nd middle record plays 1st middle record, 2nd best plays 1st worst), then seed wild cards based on conference records against each other
"Seattle has to be in the same division as Vancouver from a travel perspective." Adds Minnesota seconds later. Flight distances: Seattle to Canucks: ~120 miles Seattle to Flames: ~440 miles Seattle to Oilers: ~560 miles Seattle to Utah: ~700 miles Seattle to Sharks: ~700 miles Seattle to Golden Knights: ~880 miles Seattle to Kings: ~960 miles Seattle to Ducks: ~980 miles Seattle to Avalanche: ~1000 miles Seattle to Phoenix: ~1100 miles Seattle to Jets: ~1150 miles Seattle to North Stars (I mean, Wild): ~1400 miles Denver to Minneapolis: ~700 miles Salt Lake City to Minneapolis: ~1000 miles Limiting travel, are we? Putting Minnesota in a division with Seattle and Vancouver increases travel for all three. West Division: Seattle Vancouver San Jose Los Angeles Anaheim Vegas Midwest Division: Colorado Utah Arizona Calgary Edmonton Winnipeg Central Division: Minnesota Dallas Houston Nashville Chicago St. Louis
For the west, they should keep it (mostly) in line with time zones: Pacific = Vancouver, Seattle, SJ, LA, Anaheim, and Vegas Mountain = Edmonton, Calgary, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and Winnipeg (Winnipeg would be the only one outside of their time zone; but would get to be in a division with 2 Canadian teams) Central = Minnesota, Chicago, Nashville, St. Louis, Dallas, & Houston For the east, I think they'd need to give every team at least one 'assigned local rival' (Ideally historic, but basically a short drive that the networks would make into a thing and air every year; this is basically because a team like Columbus needs someone close by; and in your set up, I don't think Washington would fit that role). North = Toronto-Buffalo, Montreal-Boston, & Ottawa-Quebec Metro = NYR-NYI, NJ-Philly, & Washington-Pittsburgh South = Tampa-Florida, Atlanta-Carolina, & Detroit-Columbus Splitting it this way would be ideal for time zones, and I hope would also give natural internal rivals
I don't know if anyone has mentioned this, but for most of the hockey season Arizona is effectively in the Pacific time zone since they don't observe DST.
I was just doing this exact thing on Excel the other night lmao! I divisions were almost exact same except I switched Washington and Detroit cuz I felt you have to put Washington with Pittsburgh and Philly...
Hear me out: 4 x 5 div teams = 20. 3 x 12 conference teams = 36 1 x 18 opposite conference teams = 18 games. 74 games so far. 8 “floater” games in the opposite conference. Decided by last years’s standings, best rivalries, or rotating schedule. Playoffs: 2 division winners each, 2-3 wild card teams per conference.
East demands ONE timezone. West: Laughs while cursing in THREE
I was a big fan of the old playoff format, particularly because it fostered playoff meetings by happenstance-which I think is the way it should be…let rivalries be born and happen naturally!👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
I am soooo excited about this...more expansion...fantastic idea especially for Georgia which is just screaming for a hockey team, who wouldn't want to see hockey when the temperature is 97 and the humidity 99, can't wait for the first outdoor game there. Hopefully the league will expand to Idaho and New Mexico, I will personally fly to Boise to witness the historic first game between the Idaho Potatoheads and the New Mexico Roadrunners....epic 😂.
I like the idea of naming the divisions after significant players who may have spent some meaningful time with one or multiple teams.
I drew up something similar when I've found out elsewhere that LA Rams owner Stan Kroenke is exploring a San Diego franchise. I've factored out Atlanta because of no potential owner identified at the moment. Gretzky: VAN, SEA, SJ, LA, ANA, SD* Hart: VGK, AZ*, SLC, COL, CAL, EDM Norris: WPG, MN, CHI, STL, DET, CLB Bettman: NSH, CAR, TB, FL, DAL, HOU* Adams: BUF, TOR, OTT, MTL, QUE*, BOS Patrick: NYR, NYI, NJ, PHL, PIT, WSH I have kept your scheduling mechanism for a relatively clean 80 game schedule. For the playoffs, teams will be seeded by division champions obtaining the first six seeds, then the remaining ten by season record.
great idea
As a Blue Jackets fan, this puts us in a division without either team we consider a rival (Red Wings, Penguins).
Bettman doesn't want rivalries, creates too much animosity. He's trying to eliminate fighting in the league.
Change: Move Colorado to the Central and AZ to the Southwest. The NHL needs a proper blood rivalry down there with Utah-Vegas-LA-AZ all wanting to beat each other. Move Detroit back to the Western Conference. Avalanche, Chicago, St Louis and Detroit in the same division? There will be blood. Then, move Nashville to the Southeast and Washington to the Metropolitan.
any chance with divisions of 6 we just have an original six division and work around that? kinda makes no sense but could be beautiful
If you mean adding a round to the playoffs - 16 teams per conference works well as it will also make the draft lottery much smaller. That would make a 4 team draft lottery and the rest of the teams would enter the draft following the current rules of elimination. It would also increase team revenues with playoff games. The expansion of 4 teams would help to deal with the rise in salaries as the costs would be absorbed over 36 teams instead of 32. Based on that schedule, 2 fewer games per team allows for a best of 5 1st round.
Let the NHL worry about alignment, but I get where you are going with this Shannon!
i would want pittsburgh and washington together. that rivalry still holds up
Cincinnati and Atlanta were in the NL West with Houston when there were only two divisions.
That's because Chicago and St Louis refused to go to the NL West when MLB went to 4 divisions for 1969 the Cubs and Cardinals didn't want to play so many games on the west coast
I just wish they would go back to the old 1-8, 2-7, 3-6, 4-5 playoff format-I was elated to see that the Eastern Conference seeds corresponded this year but I feel like they should go back to it full time…it just made sense on paper and kept the postseason matchups fair and clean! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻