Re-alignment came to the NHL and the hockey world on this past Monday. Do you like it?
For years this reporter has been pushing for a geographical re-organisation of the league. As a huge foe of the Bettman footprint of the 90's the geography movement was always going to be a challenge, but for the most part the tiny perfect commissioner has got this one right. How so Doug?
Gary Bettman last year recognised Atlanta was done like dinner and because certain Canadian interests had lobbied him the way he likes to be lobbied, politely, Winnipeg became a reasonable destination point for a floundering franchise. The Commissioner of all the hockey pucks got that one right but getting it right necessitated a review of the league structure.
What we get is four conferences, two with 8 teams and thus a lesser statistical chance of making the playoffs, while two feature seven teams each.
In the west, the far west, we now have Edmonton, Calgary, Vancouver, San Jose, Los Angeles, Anaheim, Phoenix and Colorado. Well, geographically most of this alignment makes sense although it would have been just as easy to move Colorado into this Conference as well. The Mid Western Conference will now feature, Winnipeg, Minnesota, Chicago, St. Louis, Dallas, Columbus, Nashville and Detroit. Could Detroit have shifted into the east? Yes is the answer because geographically it poses no problem, and maybe eventually it will since there will be more movement within the league sooner than later. We will talk about that in a paragraph or so.
The Eastern Conference will now feature, the Rangers, Devils, Islanders, Penguins, Flyers, Capitals and Hurricanes. The North Eastern Conference will retain Boston, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Buffalo and the two Florida based teams (a little weather shock in store for them for sure) Tampa Bay and Florida. It's a geographical leap from Montreal in the north to Miami in the south but at least it's the same time zone and what hockey player doesn't like taking his golf clubs in December on a Florida swing. All in all a lot of rivalries are saved although Colorado and Detroit will be muted as will Winnipeg and the rest of it's Canadian brethren, but all in all I'll take it for now, and here's why. It is inevitable that Phoenix will fail and thus be moved. The only place it can move to over night is Kansas City. There are no other NHL ready arenas and that includes Hamilton capable right now of taking on this floundering franchise. Hamilton's Copps Coliseum needs an expensive make over and without a "sugary daddy" like Jim Balsillie to do it, it likely doesn't happen any time soon.Thus in a flash Kansas City lands a team whether long term it's a viable solution or not. Kansas City would then naturally move into the Mid Western Conference leaving the west with seven franchises and the Mid West needing to shift one. Do you think Mike Ilitch has built up enough credit with Gary Bettman to move the Red Wings from the Mid West to the North East? I think so.
Mr. Bettman sees the future and knows the Coyotes must move so he's made room for them to do it. Indeed with other fluky franchises out there like the Islanders he has built in opportunity to either keep his league at 30 if others are forced to move like Atlanta and soon Phoenix or expand to 32 even with some movement.
If Phoenix moves to Kansas City and Detroit shifts to the North East creating 8 franchises there, Gary will still have the opportunity of expanding into Quebec City and Southern Ontario bringing in fresh monies and actual hockey mad markets to placate any disgruntled owners. Then by applying a little more geography we could see this within five years; a North East division comprising, Detroit, Buffalo, the Leafs, Toronto 2, Ottawa, Montreal, Boston and Quebec City. The East would line up with the Rangers, Islanders, Devils, Capitals, Flyers, Penguins, Hurricanes, Lightning and Panthers (that's 9 but bare with me). I would ask Winnipeg to shift to the West creating this Conference, the Jets, Flames, Oilers, Canucks, Sharks, Ducks, Kings and Avalanche. And finally the Midwest would feature, Kansas City, Dallas, St. Louis, Chicago, Nashville, Columbus, Minnesota and one from the East. I would nominate Carolina who have much more in common with Nashville and Columbus than they do with the New York and Pennsylvania based clubs. It's under this plan a league that papers over it's trouble spots, expanding into new markets, namely Kansas City, Quebec City and the under serviced Southern Ontario market while retaining a number of current rivalries and creating new ones. I think Bettman is gazing into a crystal ball and aligning his league for further expansion and movement down the road. In this picture I see no hope for Hamilton. Alas.
dkf December 8/2011 D
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