Hey all,

Was looking at the current NHL standings and I hate the large divisions. Once Seattle gets an expansion team it would be a great time for the league to realign just like the NFL and have 4 divisions with 4 teams in each conference. This would also make the playoff format much cleaner since you would have 4 division winners hosting the 4 best wild card teams, not necessarily one team from each division, with the division winner having home ice advantage in the playoff series.

Here is my proposal:

WESTERN CONFERENCE
Canada Division
Calgary Flames
Edmonton Oilers
Vancouver Canucks
Winnipeg Jets

Pacific Division
Anaheim Ducks
Los Angeles Kings
San Jose Sharks
Seattle Metropolitans (I don't think they are going to come up with anything unique or original)

Southwest Division
Arizona Coyotes
Colorado Avalanche
Dallas Stars
Vegas Golden Knights

Central Division
Chicago Blackhawks
Minnesota Wild
Nashville Predators
St. Louis Blues

EASTERN CONFERENCE
Great Lakes Division
Buffalo Sabres
Columbus Blue Jackets
Detroit Red Wings
Pittsburgh Penguins

Northeast Division
Boston Bruins
Montreal Canadiens
Ottawa Senators
Toronto Maple Leafs

Atlantic Division
New Jersey Devils
New York Islanders
New York Rangers
Philadelphia Flyers

Southeast Division
Carolina Hurricanes
Florida Panthers
Tampa Bay Lightning
Washington Capitals

Discuss...

Love it! Send it off to Bettman!

Would rather see the Wings and Nashville swapped - tough having an eastern time zone team in the Western conference - but otherwise good.

The Western Conference is fine. The Eastern Conference...I would swap Buffalo and Ottawa.

Posted by jcarver67 on 11/19/2018 11:59:00 AM (view original):
Would rather see the Wings and Nashville swapped - tough having an eastern time zone team in the Western conference - but otherwise good.

That was a consideration but looking at the map (literally), Detroit is slightly further east than Nashville, and geographically it makes sense to have the Red Wings playing Columbus, Buffalo, and Pittsburgh.

What I would really like to see is a division of all Canadian teams in the Eastern conference. Time for relocation! I think either the Hurricanes or Islanders would be good candidates.

Is Pittsburgh close to a Great Lake?

Posted by bronxcheer on 11/19/2018 12:45:00 PM (view original):
Is Pittsburgh close to a Great Lake?

Pittsburgh is exactly a 2 hour drive to Erie, PA. It would be great if the Penguins and Flyers were in the same division but the New York metropolitan area is over saturated with teams which is why I think the Islander should move to Hamilton, Ontario, move the Bruins into the division with the Rangers, Devils, and Flyers then we would have an all Canadian division in the Eastern Conference.

Apparently the Islanders are building a new arena near Belmont, NY since the Barclays Center move was a disaster!

I think the Toronto area could support a second team versus Quebec City, since Montreal and Ottawa already have a strong presence in that market, Quebec doesn't need a third team.

Here's what the divisions would look like if the Islanders move to Canada:

Northeast Division
Hamilton
Montreal Canadiens
Ottawa Senators
Toronto Maple Leafs

Atlantic Division
Boston Bruins
New Jersey Devils
New York Rangers
Philadelphia Flyers

Posted by Got_Worms on 11/19/2018 12:28:00 PM (view original):

Posted by jcarver67 on 11/19/2018 11:59:00 AM (view original):
Would rather see the Wings and Nashville swapped - tough having an eastern time zone team in the Western conference - but otherwise good.

That was a consideration but looking at the map (literally), Detroit is slightly further east than Nashville, and geographically it makes sense to have the Red Wings playing Columbus, Buffalo, and Pittsburgh.

What I would really like to see is a division of all Canadian teams in the Eastern conference. Time for relocation! I think either the Hurricanes or Islanders would be good candidates.

Don't you dare move my Hurricanes..unless they go back to being the Hartford Whalers.

As a casual hockey fan, one thing I like about the NHL is the mixture of US and Canadian franchises. I think the league would be less fun if the Canada teams were assigned to Canada-only divisions.

Posted by gomiami1972 on 11/19/2018 3:39:00 PM (view original):

Posted by Got_Worms on 11/19/2018 12:28:00 PM (view original):

Posted by jcarver67 on 11/19/2018 11:59:00 AM (view original):
Would rather see the Wings and Nashville swapped - tough having an eastern time zone team in the Western conference - but otherwise good.

That was a consideration but looking at the map (literally), Detroit is slightly further east than Nashville, and geographically it makes sense to have the Red Wings playing Columbus, Buffalo, and Pittsburgh.

What I would really like to see is a division of all Canadian teams in the Eastern conference. Time for relocation! I think either the Hurricanes or Islanders would be good candidates.

Don't you dare move my Hurricanes..unless they go back to being the Hartford Whalers.

No Carolina should stay put. The Islanders would be the best option to relocate.

Looks like the NHL brass already came up with a plan...

NHL realignment is coming whenever the NHL expansion franchise in Seattle arrives, either in 2020 or 2021. While the plan won't be announced until Sunday, there's significant indication that the Arizona Coyotes would be shifted to the Central Division when Seattle enters the Pacific. "The proposed realignment went through the proper channels, was reviewed by the Executive Committee to the Board of Governors," said deputy commissioner Bill Daly, who did not confirm that was the plan. He said the league considered a few other models, but that "the one we ultimately determined to recommend we thought was the most logical."

Greg Wyshynski, ESPN6h ago

I feel like Seattle would need to be in the same division as Vancouver, as they could be natural geographical rivals. If you do divisions of four (as in Got_Worms proposal), I'd like to see a division of:
Calgary
Edmonton
Vancouver
Seattle

...which would have two pairs of rivals (one real, one potential) in it

That's a pretty good division too! Thought it would be cool to have all Canadian division but I'm open to suggestions.

I really don't like the 8 team divisions. Looks very jumbled!