So tonight the NHL Board of Governors approved a new realignment plan for the 2012-2013 season. There has been much hullabaloo about what was going to happen with the Thrashers moving to Winnipeg and the Red Wings/Blue Jackets wanting out of the West because of time zone differences. Well now we have the plan.
http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=604852
Keep in mind that the NHLPA still needs to approve this plan. However this is a pretty huge overhaul.
Couple of pointers:
- 4 Conferences instead of 2 and no more Divisions
- The "Western" Conferences have one more team a piece than their counterparts
- Top 4 teams of each Conference would make the playoffs, with the 1 & 4, 2 & 3 in each distinct conference playing and then the winners of that "mini" bracket playing the other winner.
-The Eastern Conference looks like a nightmare for low talent teams. Essentially the Southeast Division is split up between the Atlantic and Northeast. Sorry Canes, Islanders, and Sens fans.
- Conference A gets a pretty nice Canadian trio of the Flames, Oilers, Canucks and keeps the current Cali trio of Sharks, Ducks, Kings. That's good for geographic rivalries at least.
Again the plan isn't 100% yet but things would sure see a shake up. Tell the Two Dudes what you think about the new set up!
uhhh realy don't know how i feel about this one..i feel the same teams will play each other the first 2 rounds every year..i think more than anything this messes up the exciting part of the nhl playoffs. one of the great things about the sport
ReplyDeleteor league rather
ReplyDeleteCreates rivals. Rivals pay the bills. Since I am an avid caps fan with the potential to play the pens every off season from now to forever is exciting...better than insert rando BS team to clean our clocks ie) TBL....womp.womp.
ReplyDeleteyeeea i guess.... still on fence
ReplyDelete