The NHL has recently passed a new realignment that
will go into effect next season. The proposal would divide the league into four
divisions and the top three teams from each division would make the playoffs
and two wild-card teams from each conference. Here are the proposed
divisions:
The top three teams from each division will make
the playoffs and two wildcard teams from the conference will round out the top
8. The first round of the playoffs will be intra-conference. For example, in
the yet-to-be-named far Western division (let’s call it the Pacific Division)
if Calgary finishes first, San Jose second and Los Angeles third, all three
teams will be guaranteed a playoff spot. The fourth and fifth place teams might
make the playoffs if they have a better record than the fourth and fifth place
teams in the other Western Conference division.
Now this is where it gets tricky. In the first
round of the playoffs the #1 seed plays #4 and #2 plays #3. And the winners of
these matchups will play each other and the winner of that series will play the
winner of the other division.
To determine who are the #4 seeds, the top seed in
the conference will play the bottom seed (#8 seed), and the second highest seed
in the conference will play the second lowest (#7 seed) If only three teams
from the Pacific make the playoffs, the extra wildcard team from the other
division will join the division with only three teams.
If Chicago is a wildcard team with the worst
record, and Calgary is the #1 seed in the Pacific with the top conference
record, Calgary will play Chicago in the first round and #2 San Jose will play
#3 Los Angeles. If Chicago and San Jose win their respective matchups they will
play in the next round. If Chicago wins that matchup they will be the Pacific
Division Champions. Although not in the Pacific division and no where near the
Pacific Ocean, the Blackhawks would be the Pacific Division champions.
Personally I find this playoff format system a bit
strange. Nothing was wrong with the old format where #1 played #8 regardless of
division. With this new format the NHL could conceivably do the same format,
but Bettman had different ideas and decided to complicate things a bit more for
everyone.
Thanks Gary
An interesting part of this realignment is the 14
teams in the West and 16 in the East. It looks like Gary Bettman and the NHL are
thinking expansion and are planning on adding two teams out west at some point
in the future.
Is Seattle gearing up for an NHL team? Connor (aka
Heartbreaker) will tell you all about Seattle's new arena deal in an attempt to
attract an NBA franchise. They are the city that has been rumored the most
about getting an NHL franchise.
Their were previous speculations about Toronto
adding a second NHL team but this appears not to be the case given this
realignment, unless another team from the East relocates to Toronto (Florida
Panthers?) Even then there would be a discrepancy in the number of teams in the
East and West. Where would the second team from the West go? Portland? Kansas
City? Milwaukee?
As much as the NHL
hates to admit it, the Phoenix Coyotes are a failure. The team itself isn't a
failure, because they don’t play bad hockey and made it all the way to the
Western Conference Finals last year after winning their first Pacific Division
Title. But the Coyotes have been losing money ever sense they relocated from
Winnipeg. So unless the temperatures start to plummet in Arizona and hockey
becomes part of the Phoenix culture I wouldn't expect the Coyotes to start
turning a profit in the near future. The Coyotes will not last in Phoenix.
Phoenix is not a hockey market and I highly doubt it ever will be. The NHL can
try all it wants to get a team to succeed there but from a business stand point
that is nearly impossible. And that’s not the NHL's fault or anyone’s fault
really. Sooner or later the NHL will have to cut its losses in Phoenix and
allow the team to be relocated. Several attempts have been made into purchasing
the Coyotes and relocating them into Canada but Bettman keeps blocking all
relocation attempts insisting that anyone interested in purchasing the team
must keep it in Phoenix
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