Thursday, December 8, 2011

Conference Realignment

Along with the realignment, apparently we are calling them 'conferences' now, not 'divisions'. Here is how they realignment would shake out according to the current plan:

Central Conference: Minnesota Wild, Chicago Blackhawks, Detroit Red Wings, Columbus Blue Jackets, Nashville Predators, Dallas Stars, St. Louis Blues, Winnipeg Jets.

West Conference: Anaheim, Calgary, Colorado, Edmonton, Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Jose, Vancouver.

East Conference: Carolina, New Jersey, New York Islanders, New York Rangers, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Washington.

The... other East Conference: Boston, Buffalo, Florida, Montreal, Ottawa, Tampa Bay and Toronto.


There will be six games against each conference opponent; 3 each home and away. In what was the West Conference, there will be five or six games against each, with a rotating schedule to determine who plays who how many times.





Your thoughts on the realignment?

1 comment:

Patrick said...

Obviously it is great for the Wild to be in a division with more regional opponents. However, I will miss games against Vancouver--I think of them as a rival. Maybe Winnipeg can replace them?

I'd call the conferences simply West, Central, East, and Northeast. That won't happen, I'd imagine. Maybe we'll go back to Norris, Smythe, Adams, and Patrick.

The bigger picture, however, is more concerning. Top four from each conference? What if the #5 in the Northeast is a far better team than #4 in the Central? I would think a scenario like this would happen every year. Why not have the top three of each conference advance and then have four wild cards?