It came to my attention that the NHL has a new realignment proposal that the Player's Union shot down last year in an attempt play hardball in the then upcoming Collective Bargaining Agreement negotiations. It looks a lot like the last one; only 3 teams are in different Divisions:
West Division 1 West Division 2
Vancouver Colorado
Edmonton Dallas
Calgary Winnepeg
San Jose Minnesota
Los Angeles Chicago
Anaheim St Louis
Phoenix Nashville
East Division 1 East Division 2
Detroit Columbus
Toronto Pittsburgh
Ottawa Philadelphia
Montreal New York Rangers
Buffalo New York Islanders
Boston New Jersey
Tampa Washington
Florida Carolina
My thoughts are that the last proposal was better. I liked the West's Division 2 better when it had a more Midwestern feel and contained Detroit and Columbus. I also think that Denver is a better fit with the California and Western Canadian teams.
I also thought that the previous proposal was better suited to handle expansion and relocation. The old model was designed to accommodate a western team like Phoenix moving east while in the new proposal a western team moving east would force either Columbus or Detroit to move to the Western Conference.
I am also not a fan of the playoff set up under this model. I am not keen on 8 out of 14 western teams making the playoffs while in the east only 8 out of 16 get in.
I do see some good in this new model though. I think it would very easily accommodate expansion in the West. Seattle could be granted an expansion franchise and seamlessly become part of the West's Division 1. I could also see where a city like Milwaukee would fit nicely into the West's Division 2 should the league ever have an interest in expanding there.
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