could we get some options for different league sizes?

21 teams       80 game season

Put the league into 4 divisions for flavour purposes (Adams, Norris, Smythe, Patrick),
but the divisions have no bearing on scheduling or on playoff seeding.  
(One division has an extra team but that is neither an advantage nor a disadvantage.)

play each other team 4 times
top 16 overall make playoffs
1 vs16
2 vs15
etc.

12 teams    76 game season

2 conferences of 6 teams each (no divisions)
play 6 teams in opposite conference 6 times each (36 games)
play other 5 teams in your own conference 8 times each (40 games)

All teams make the playoffs
2 highest teams in each conference get 1st round bye

Round 1 Conference preliminary round
6 v 3
4 v 5

Round 2 Conference Semi final
1 v lowest seeded round 1 winner
2 v highest seeded round 1 winner

Round 3 Conference final
round 2 winners play off

Round 4 Cup final
2 conference winners play


16 teams    80 games

4 divisions of 4 teams each

play 8 games vs other 3 teams in your division (8 x 3 = 24)
play 6 games vs other 4 non-divisional teams in same conference (6 x 4 = 24)
play 4 games vs other 8 teams in opposite conference (4 x 8 = 32)

Playoffs
2 division winners in each conference get 1st round bye 

Conference quarter final (best of 5?)
6 v 3
4 v 5

Conference semi final
1 vs lowest remaining seed
2 vs highest remaining seed

Conference final
semi final winners play

Cup final
conference winners play

20 teams    (option 1)   84 games

4 division of 5 teams
2 conferences of 2 divisions each

play 4 other teams in own division 6 times (24 games)
play all 15 other teams 4 times each (60 games)

20 teams   (option 2)  82 games

4 division of 5 teams
2 conferences of 2 divisions each

Play other 4 teams in division 8 times (32 games)
Play 5 teams in same conf., other div. 6 times (30 games)
Play 10 teams in opposite conf. 2 times (20 games)

Playoff could be run a whole lot of ways,
A)  Conference 1 v 8, 2  v 7, etc.
B)  or inside division 1 v 4, 2 v 3, then winners play for conf, those winners play for cup
C)  or division crossovers Adams 1 vs Patrick 4, Adams 2 vs Patrick 3, etc.


Please chime in...any flaws I have not anticipated?

2 teams    (82 games)

one division within a single conference

Teams play the other team in their division 82 times (82 games)

both teams make the playoffs, and meet for the Cup.

(The above post is not serious.)

this would work, should be pretty easy to implement, but it won't happen.

I ran smaller sized leagues by Admin, it's not going to happen any time soon.  It's probably the single smartest thing they could do for sim league hockey.

According to a WIS site-staff developer, this idea has been kicked around for years. Unfortunately, it would take 30-40 hours of coding plus several weeks of testing according to him. It would also require changes to registration, the league office, the schedule generator, the records module, the playoff system, and probably more. FOX is dedicating $0 to WIS, and it is showing everywhere you look. Heck, we can't even get the 2013-2014 players! We used to get them within a week of the end of the season. Funny thing, they say it is delayed due to divisional realignments. Just what the heck do divisional realignments have to do with player ratings anyway?? (Sorry, off topic rant).
IMO, it's a great idea (don't forget to throw in an original 6 league as well!), but I don't feel we'll ever see it unless FOX opens up the pocketbook to allow developers to work on updates and dynasties which is not going to happen.

I think Fox is missing a great opportunity to use this site to drive traffic to Fox....they should invest more $$ in WIS, integrate the site more thoroughly with the main Fox Sports site, and market/promote WIS better.  They payoff for them is that they would have a growing base of users, many of whom log into the site multiple times per day.  

They need to have the foresight to invest the money first, and have faith that the traffic will follow.

A virtual version of "Build it and they will come.", so to speak.

I love the idea. Many theme leagues with significant interest seem to falter and die coming up short the owners necessary to fill the traditional 24 team league. An option for a smaller league, whether 16 or 21, would allow those to go forward. Seems like a lot of logistical hurdles stopping it, but viewed another way 30-40 hours of coding equals only one work week (possibly less than 4 days) for a single employee to get the product to the point of testing: not really that much time in the grand scheme of things for something that could generate renewed interest and potentially quite a bit more revenue long term.

I completely agree they would be making money if they had an option for a 16 team league as more leagues would fill