[bmf_51]

It seems that the biggest problem that some teams in the league have with the current divisional alignment is the number of times a team has to travel a great distance to play a game within their own conference. For instance, the Red Wings travel 20 times or so during the regular season to play teams from the Pacific and Northwest divisions. Then, when the playoffs role around, they have to go places like Calgary, San Jose, and Anaheim.

My idea for solving this problem is to shun the idea that a sports league needs two conferences, with one team from each advancing to the championship game/series. What if the NHL were to split into three conferences? They could keep the 15-team Eastern Conference in tact, and split the current Western Conference into a new 8-team Western Conference and a 7-team Central Conference, like so.

CENTRAL CONFERENCE
Chicago Blackhawks
Columbus Blue Jackets
Dallas Stars
Detroit Red Wings
Minnesota Wild
Nashville Predators
St. Louis Blues

WESTERN CONFERENCE
Anaheim Ducks
Calgary Flames
Colorado Avalanche
Edmonton Oilers
Los Angeles Kings
Phoenix Coyotes
San Jose Sharks
Vancouver Canucks

Then, when the playoffs come around, the Western and Central Conference could have separate 4-team brackets (with the Eastern Conference playoffs remaining unchanged.) Then, after the first two rounds, the final four teams remaining (the Western Conference Champion, Central Conference Champion, and the two remaining Eastern Conference teams) will be seeded from best to worst, with the highest seed playing the lowest seed, etc. So, for instance, in 2003 the semifinals would have been Ottawa vs. Anaheim and New Jersey vs. Minnesota. This year, the semifinals would remain unchanged: Buffalo vs. Ottawa and Detroit vs. Anaheim. The point is, the Central Conference team will occasionally get to play one of the Eastern Conference teams, rather than playing the Western Conference team every year.

This structure would seriously cut down on travel in the regular season and in the playoffs. Also, Central and Western Conference teams would have to play fewer games against each other each year, which would allow them to add more intraconference games, or even more games against the Eastern Conference (which teams like Detroit, Columbus, and Nashville would love.)

Also, if the NHL were to ever expand to 32 teams (obviously, they are in no position to expand again, but maybe in the future) they could split each conference into divisions of 4. So, if they were to add teams to Kansas City and Hartford (the first two cities that popped in my head) the alignment might look like this:

EASTERN CONFERENCE
Northeast
Montreal
Ottawa
Boston
Toronto

Atlantic
N.Y. Rangers
N.Y. Islanders
New Jersey
Hartford

Mid-Atlantic
Buffalo
Philadelphia
Pittsburgh
Washington

Southeast
Atlanta
Carolina
Florida
Tampa Bay

CENTRAL CONFERENCE
Midwest
Detroit
Columbus
Minnesota
Chicago

Southwest
Dallas
Kansas City
St. Louis
Nashville

WESTERN CONFERENCE
Northwest
Vancouver
Calgary
Edmonton
Colorado

Pacific
Anaheim
Los Angeles
Phoenix
San Jose

The Western/Central teams could play 10 games against teams in their divisions, 7 against the remaining teams in their conference, and 1 game against teams in the other two conferences. Eastern teams could play 6 against division opponents, 4 against other conference opponents and 1 against everybody else.

It’s not perfect, but neither is the current alignment. Any thoughts.

[peg_city]

Thats actually a pretty good idea. Its stupid to see the Red Wings vs the Ducks in the Western Conference final. However you would need to devide the Eastern Conference in the 2 as well. The NHL is looking to save money on traveling costs and this would help.

[bmf_51]

I considered splitting up the Eastern Conference. However, it would mean splitting up several rivalries and/or having two uneven (in terms of overall strength) conferences. Three ideas I considered were:

Option A (makes geographic sense, but conferences would be uneven):

NORTHEAST CONFERENCE
Montreal
Buffalo
Toronto
Ottawa
Buffalo
N.Y. Rangers
N.Y. Islanders
New Jersey

ATLANTIC CONFERENCE
Washington
Philadelphia
Pittsburgh
Carolina
Atlanta
Florida
Tampa Bay

Option B (conferences would be more even, but doesn't make geographic sense)

NORTHEAST CONFERENCE
Montreal
Buffalo
Toronto
Ottawa
Buffalo
Philadelphia
Pittsburgh

ATLANTIC CONFERENCE
N.Y. Rangers
N.Y. Islanders
New Jersey
Washington
Carolina
Atlanta
Florida
Tampa Bay

Option C (better geography then option B, more evenness than option A)

NORTHEAST CONFERENCE
Montreal
Buffalo
Toronto
Ottawa
N.Y. Rangers
N.Y. Islanders
New Jersey

ATLANTIC CONFERENCE
Buffalo
Philadelphia
Pittsburgh
Washington
Carolina
Atlanta
Florida
Tampa Bay

An any case, there would be several teams that would be upset with any of these options - particularly those teams that are grouped with the Southern teams. I also considered grouping Dallas, St. Louis, and Nashville with Atlanta, Florida, Tampa Bay, and Carolina, but such a conference wouldn't be very popular either.

[MJHMarc]

I don't know my hockey, but I don't want any more competition for the Islanders in the Atlantic.