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NHL realignment now official:
Wild card playoffs, four divisions for next season


Here’s the playoff format for next season, via Dan Rosen of NHL.com:


The Stanley Cup Playoffs will still consist of 16 teams, eight in each conference, but it will be division-based and a wild-card system has been added as a new wrinkle.

The top three teams in each division will make-up the first 12 teams in the playoffs. The remaining four spots will be filled by the next two highest-placed finishers in each conference, based on regular-season points and regardless of division. It will be possible, then, for one division to send five teams to the postseason while the other sends three.

The seeding of the wild-card teams within each divisional playoff will be determined on the basis of regular-season points. The division winner with the most points in the conference will be matched against the wild-card team with the lowest number of points; the division winner with the second-most points in the conference will play the wild-card team with the second fewest points.


The teams finishing second and third in each division will play in the first round of the playoffs. The winners of each series will play for the divisional championship.

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This is disgusting. It's way too unwieldy. Divisions of four or five teams work best.

Move Columbus to the other conference and establish three five-team divisions in each. Three division champs and two wild card teams from each conference. Let it go at that. I'd prefer to see National and American Conference setups like the NFL/MLB instead of the geographic divisions. But the three divisions and two wild card teams would make for a good playoff setup that doesn't take forever.

SuperHornet wrote:This is disgusting. It's way too unwieldy. Divisions of four or five teams work best.

Move Columbus to the other conference and establish three five-team divisions in each. Three division champs and two wild card teams from each conference. Let it go at that. I'd prefer to see National and American Conference setups like the NFL/MLB instead of the geographic divisions. But the three divisions and two wild card teams would make for a good playoff setup that doesn't take forever.

Why move Columbus, a city straight south of Detroit to the West when they are moving Detroit from the West to the East?

Great for Minnesota and Winnipeg. Cutting down the late starting west coast games will be great. Could trade Nashville for Detroit to align old rivals and have at least 2 original 6 teams in the West.

clenz: That's ANOTHER reason I think they should go to a National/American set-up. Detroit belongs in some sort of Central Division, not an Eastern one....

SuperHornet wrote:clenz: That's ANOTHER reason I think they should go to a National/American set-up. Detroit belongs in some sort of Central Division, not an Eastern one....

Detroit is in the Eastern Time zone. I don't like the imbalanced conferences either, but I think they make more sense than forcing an eastern team to play out west all the time.

SuperHornet wrote:This is disgusting. It's way too unwieldy. Divisions of four or five teams work best.

This completely sucks ass. Good bye division rivals. Half the fucking conference is in your division.

89Hen wrote:

SuperHornet wrote:This is disgusting. It's way too unwieldy. Divisions of four or five teams work best.

This completely sucks ass. Good bye division rivals. Half the fucking conference is in your division.

3 conferences of 2 divisions and 10 teams each. Play everyone in your division 8 times, the other 5 teams in your conference 6 times and the other 20 teams once.

4 x 8 = 32
5 x 6 = 30
20 x 1 = 20
Total games = 82

All first and second place teams are in the playoffs, take the next 4 best as wild cards.

There's probably going to be some sort of geographic anomaly no matter what you do. Here's one that attempts to minimize it. I see only one gross anomaly here, but you guys might not like it very much. Here goes:

NHC West

Mighty Ducks of Anaheim
Phoenix Coyotes
Calgary Flames
Winnipeg Jets
St Louis Blues

NHC Central

Dallas Stars
Minnesota Wild
Chicago Blackhawks
Detroit Red Wings
Florida Panthers

NHC East

Montreal Canadiens
New York Islanders
Washington Capitals
Philadelphia Flyers
Carolina Hurricanes

AHC West

San Jose Sharks
Los Angeles Kings
Vancouver Canucks
Edmonton Oilers
Colorado Avalanche

AHC Central

Ottawa Senators
Nashville Predators
Toronto Maple Leafs
Pittsburgh Penguins
Columbus Blue Jackets

AHC East

Boston Bruins
Buffalo Sabres
New York Rangers
Tampa Bay Lightning
New Jersey Devils

SuperHornet wrote:There's probably going to be some sort of geographic anomaly no matter what you do. Here's one that attempts to minimize it. I see only one gross anomaly here, but you guys might not like it very much. Here goes:

NHC East

Montreal Canadiens
New York Islanders
Washington Capitals
Philadelphia Flyers
Carolina Hurricanes

Screw geography. You must have the Flyers/Pens/Caps together. Period.

Oh, and there's no way you can break up Boston/Montreal.

Patrick, Norris, etc were fine. And that was what, 25 years ago?


But 93henfan, what about all the expansion and transplant teams of the past 20 years? Where do they fit in?


Easy. Make a division called "Expansion/Transplant Teams" and put them there, because real hockey fans don't give a fuck about those teams.

SuperHornet wrote:There's probably going to be some sort of geographic anomaly no matter what you do. Here's one that attempts to minimize it. I see only one gross anomaly here, but you guys might not like it very much. Here goes:

NHC West

Mighty Ducks of Anaheim
Phoenix Coyotes
Calgary Flames
Winnipeg Jets
St Louis Blues

NHC Central

Dallas Stars
Minnesota Wild
Chicago Blackhawks
Detroit Red Wings
Florida Panthers

NHC East

Montreal Canadiens
New York Islanders
Washington Capitals
Philadelphia Flyers
Carolina Hurricanes

AHC West

San Jose Sharks
Los Angeles Kings
Vancouver Canucks
Edmonton Oilers
Colorado Avalanche

AHC Central

Ottawa Senators
Nashville Predators
Toronto Maple Leafs
Pittsburgh Penguins
Columbus Blue Jackets

AHC East

Boston Bruins
Buffalo Sabres
New York Rangers
Tampa Bay Lightning
New Jersey Devils

I hate hockey. But even I know you have to have your head up your ass if you are going to split up the Caps/Flyers/Devils/Rangers/Penguins. That is just fucking superhornied.

Andy, don't use the r word...

The new term us superhornied

Sent from the nexus of the universe

noted