Let's Go Blues

Yahoo article on Realignment

East 1 - Carolina, Columbus, NJ, NYI, NYR, Phi, Pitt, and Washington
East 2 - Boston, Buffalo, Detroit, Florida, Montreal, Ottawa, Tampa Bay, and Toronto
West 1 - Chicago, Colorado, Dallas, Minnesota, Nashville, St Louis, and Winnipeg
West 2 - Anaheim, Calgary, Edmonton, LA, Phoenix, San Jose, and Vancouver

Possibly adding a play-in game for the 4th and 5th seeds in the 8 team groups with caveats to determine if the 5th place team should even get a chance at a play-in.
1st two rounds of playoffs are essentially the same as current - top 8 with 1 facing 8, 2 facing 7, etc.
Big change - 3rd round is re-seeded so anyone could play anyone to determine which two teams play for the Cup. Creates the possibility of 2 teams from the same division playing for the Cup.

Thoughts?

I still think it kind screws both Florida teams.

Doesn't really affect the Blues that much, at all. Essentially the same travel requirements for St Louis as they currently face.

Throw Detroit in our division and we have a deal.

If they name them Norris, Smythe, Patrick and Adams, I'll be cool with it.

It's dumb.

Look at these stupid assholes leaving space for two expansion teams.

Why (Frank) with the playoff format at all?

I got some other great ideas, lets not play on ice anymore, since people get their heads hurt on it.
Lets have two goalies and a third ref to (Frank) up and make shitty calls that he can't see from the other end of the ice.
Foxtrax2.

Wales and Campbell conferences.
Adams smythe norris Patrick divisions.
Adams and Patrick in the prince of wales conference.
Smythe and Norris in the Clarence Campbell conference.
Keep the current playoff format, ditch the instigator, contract the islanders and blue jackets.

Look I just fixed the NHL.

STLADOGG wrote:Throw Detroit in our division and we have a deal.

Detroit is going East, no questions. It's just a matter of whether Columbus will go with them or not. It will break up Hawks-Wings, Blues-Wings, Preds-Wings, but from the NHL's standpoint, they'll appease ownership of an Original Six squad, and also have matchups with the Leafs, Rangers, Bruins, etc. more often. That's a ratings and money winner.

No one cares about what happens to Columbus except the fine people of Columbus.

dmiles2186 wrote:

STLADOGG wrote:Throw Detroit in our division and we have a deal.

Detroit is going East, no questions. It's just a matter of whether Columbus will go with them or not. It will break up Hawks-Wings, Blues-Wings, Preds-Wings, but from the NHL's standpoint, they'll appease ownership of an Original Six squad, and also have matchups with the Leafs, Rangers, Bruins, etc. more often. That's a ratings and money winner.

No one cares about what happens to Columbus except the fine people of Columbus.

Stupid Winnipeg. Right when the Wangs start to go downhill, detoilet will move out of our division.

That's what pisses me off as well. We get to get our asses kicked by Detroit for 15 years and then as soon as the tables start shifting, Detroit moves out of the division.

It's a load of crap.

I hate Detroit with the red hot intensity of a thousand suns, but they need to stay in the division.

I'm going to be seriously upset if they move.

Well, from my own selfish standpoint, I've rather enjoyed being able to catch the Blues when they come into Columbus every year, so I'd miss having a division opponent close to home.

Actually, Kodos, the intensity of something burning 1000 times as hot as the sun wouldn't be red. Red would indicate something which is cooler than the sun.

But we get your point.

Switch Winnipeg with Detroit & you have yourself a deal.

As much as the Red Wings would naturally belong amongst Eastern Teams, it would only further weaken far Western Teams. Same with Chicago.

When those two teams travel to Arizona (who knows how long this location will last) and along the West Coast those are home games for Wings and Hawks. Same when they go to Tampa, etc.

I don't think they would let the Hawks be the sole Original 6 in the West. Columbus will go East for their survival, Wings will get screwed by the League that has dangled moving to the East for about 20 years now. And the Wings are getting a brand new arena as well.

There are few rivalries in the West that don't include Wings or Hawks. The LA/OC rivalry is just eh at best. Then there is Alberta. Blues-Sharks...maybe...certainly not a Wings/Avs or Blues/Hawks level. Everything else runs through Chicago or Detroit.

Without Detroit the West loses a lot of history, money, etc.

The League will side with money and leave Detroit in the West.

You guys think they are waiting on the Phoenix situation before doing a realignment?

In all fairness given that the Jets got a team back (The NHL should have eaten the money from the Glendale situation out of good faith and sent the Yotes back to Winnipeg), the Yotes should be moved to Quebec.

STLADOGG wrote:You guys think they are waiting on the Phoenix situation before doing a realignment?

Agree.

dmiles2186 wrote: No one cares about what happens to Columbus except the fine people of Columbus.

Actually from what I've read......even they don't care. Supposedly the fan base has completely bailed on the organization and that has as much to do with why they brought JD in as anything on the ice.


And for what it's wort......good bye Detroit. That is a well run organization with deep - deep pockets, they won't stay down for long. No matter how you twist it...the Blues run to the playoffs each year will be far easier without Detroit in the way.

DaDitka wrote:

dmiles2186 wrote: No one cares about what happens to Columbus except the fine people of Columbus.

Actually from what I've read......even they don't care. Supposedly the fan base has completely bailed on the organization and that has as much to do with why they brought JD in as anything on the ice.


And for what it's wort......good bye Detroit. That is a well run organization with deep - deep pockets, they won't stay down for long. No matter how you twist it...the Blues run to the playoffs each year will be far easier without Detroit in the way.

Rumor is that Illitch is shifting his focus (money) to his Detroit Tigers and getting them a World Series championship.
That isn't to say Detroit won't be good again, but they have lost a lot of good players over the past few years and they haven't done much over that time to replace those that left.
This is the worst I've seen Detroit play in forever. I'm with Kodos. After kicking our asses for 15 years, they don't get to jump ship when they start to suck and we are the better team. It's our turn to beat up on them now.

With that said...how epic would it be to face them in the finals?

The management in Detroit is top-notch, so I doubt they will become bottom feeders, but I do think they are finally really truly on the cusp of becoming a middling team. I know people have been saying this for a long time, but this time I'm pretty sure it's unavoidable.

No more massive team budget to buy superstars with, no more Detroit discount for those superstars, no more Lidstrom, no more drafting the best player in the game in the 6th round...

Detroit had a hell of a run, and their success helped feed into furthering success because they were able to attract people who wanted to be on the best team, from players to coaches to management... it was a self perpetuating machine... but the wheels are slowly coming off. They no longer have that advantage. Players aren't yearning to play for the Wings anymore, they don't have that much in the way of young players to fill in for their current core...

It's finally happening... and the team is most likely in for a few rough years as they rebuild.

And of course, of freaking course, right as that happens, they are going to move to the East.

It sucks. No just because they are going downhill. Even if they were still in their prime I wouldn't want them to move. Half the fun of being a hockey fan is having someone to hate. I like having Detroit to hate and having them in the East will suck.

The potential to face a Division rival in the Finals is just another gimmick, like increasing the size of the goal. As far as I know, there is no precedent for this in any major team sport- it's always been the best Eastern Team vs Western Team, NFC Team vs AFC Team, National League Team vs American League (or at least the best in one division vs the best of another division) for the top prize. The only reason the NHL wants this is so Washington or the Rangers can play the Penguins for the Cup.

gaijin wrote:The potential to face a Division rival in the Finals is just another gimmick, like increasing the size of the goal. As far as I know, there is no precedent for this in any major team sport- it's always been the best Eastern Team vs Western Team, NFC Team vs AFC Team, National League Team vs American League (or at least the best in one division vs the best of another division) for the top prize. The only reason the NHL wants this is so Washington or the Rangers can play the Penguins for the Cup.

I'm not saying that I like that idea at all, but I can't say I blame the NHL. As much as we would hate that setup as fans of the league, casual fans would eat that up, as would the networks and the advertisers. It's the business side of it. I still like the old fashion East vs. West, but for the NHL, it seems the West is often looked at as those other teams that play games later in the evening than the 'good' teams.

Realignment won't fix the wanker media bias, they think Chicago plays too late!

Ps westsiiiiide is the best side.