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Monday, 31 October 2011 11:00

Written by Seth Rorabaugh

As reported by the CBC's Elliotte Friedman, a proposal on realigning the NHL's division is gaining steam among the NHL's governors. According to Friedman, the proposal would reduce to number of divisions from six to four. And they would look like this:

If the sight of the Penguins being in a division not including any of their traditional rivals from the old Patrick Division is jarring, just wait until you hear how scheduling would be handled. According to Friedman:

"The way it works is you will play every team not in your division home and home, and the rest of the games will be in your division. So Pittsburgh would not be with Philadelphia, and that's one thing the Penguins were understandably concerned about, because [they say] we're going to lose that rivalry."

In others words, the Penguins would play the Flyers, Capitals, Rangers and others only twice a season.

Yeah.

And it gets worse in this regard when you consider the postseason. Again from Friedman:

"The playoffs will be in your division, like it used to be with the Smythe, the Norris, the Adams and the Patrick."

If the Penguins were going to meet any of their rivals beyond the two regular seasons scheduled games, they would have to do it in a conference final.

So basically, the Penguins could face the Ottawa Senators upwards of 13 times in a season (including postseason) and only face the Capitals, twice.

What?

If you focus just on the Penguins' wants and needs, the plan stinks in this regard. It hurts their rivalries with their old Patrick Division foes, and it reduces the amount of Penguins/Capitals or Penguins/Flyers games in a season. And many would argue those are among the two best rivalries in the sport.

If nothing else, it would hurt television ratings.

Unfortunately for the Penguins, there are 29 other teams in the NHL, each with distinct issues.

This proposed format would benefit the Western Conference teams a great deal. It would cut down on travel. Considering the Western Conference has teams in four time zones, the travel for those teams is grueling.

And for relatively new markets such as Columbus and Nashville, or even an established one in Detroit, it would reduce the amount of games which start after 9 p.m. and aid in the development of a television audience.

But the rivalries are what really would be sacrificed in this plan. And not just the Penguins' rivalries. Blackhawks-Canucks, Avalanche-Red Wings, Flyers-Bruins, Jets-Canucks/Oilers/Flames and Red Wings/Blackhawks could all be reduced to the equivalent of a ho-hum Predators-Panthers match-up in late January.

The idea of a Penguins-Flyers game not taking on urgent, hostile tone might seem far-fetched, but long-time Pirates fans will tell you what a change of a division can do to kill a rivalry.

The Pirates and Phillies used to be strong rivals, particularly from the late 1960 until the early 1990s when the National League was split into two divisions. The teams won 15 out of a possible 25 National League East Division championships from 1969 to 1993. It was a rivalry born out of competition as well as provincialism.

In 1994, Major League Baseball realigned and placed the Pirates in the new National League Central Division. A combination of fewer games between the teams and an unprecedented 19-year streak of losing seasons by the squad on the western side of the Commonwealth have made this a run-of-the-mill six-game series ever since.

Pirates-Phillies is no more exciting than Pirates-Diamondbacks.

Does the NHL face practical problem with how it's currently aligned? Definitely. But that shouldn't mean killing some of the most intense rivalries in all of sports.

(Photos: Penguins/Capitals-Pablo Martinez Monsivais/Associated Press; Flyers/Bruins-Charles Krupa/Associated Press; Phillies/Pirates-Associated Press)

Comments (12)

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written by Blitzburgh Brian, October 31, 2011 - 11:19 AM

*t's hard to develop any regular season rivalries in this format. We already play Buffalo and Toronto 4 times a year, and those meeting are pretty lukewarm in terms of venom. Hatred will only be borne of playoff series, which is a good thing, I think, but the regular season matchups won't have the same charm.

That said, it's not like it's going to be hard to learn to hate Boston or Montreal. And Pittsburgh/Buffalo really does have some potential. If the NHL goes to this, it won't be ideal for Pens fans, but it's not like it's going to drive us away from hockey. There will still be good things.

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written by Bones, October 31, 2011 - 11:35 AM

Hate it. Naturally I can't be objective about it because my team is the one that is one Atlantic Division team that is being left outside, but it just doesn't make sense to be in the same division as Boston or Ottawa and not with Philly.

Granted I don't completely understand what this dude is talking about as far as the number of games played against your division rivals, but it sounds like that number will be high. They tried that coming out of the lockout and nobody liked it. I get that realignment is necessary, but that doesn't mean I want to see the Penguins play the Senators 13 times in the same season. As a fan of an out of market team, how will this affect the number of times I get to see the Penguins? As things are right now, I only get to see them in person every other year.

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written by mackdorg, October 31, 2011 - 12:02 PM

Sadly, this is all too typical of how Pittsburgh gets shuffled around between the east and midwest, not just in sports, but in business reorganizations all too often.

It looks like a new northeast division with Pittsburgh and Columbus thrown in. No schedule that has the Penguins playing Philadelphia and Washington only twice a year makes reasonable sense based on the biggest draws for national TV. I can't imagine NBC would be happy with that.

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written by Bones, October 31, 2011 - 12:09 PM

Would be very surprised if it's the Blue Jackets, Detroit has made it very clear they want to be in the east...

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written by kpa42, October 31, 2011 - 02:33 PM

I say flop the number of teams in the two eastern divisions and put Pittsburgh in the 7-team division w/ Philly, NJ, Florida, Tampa, Carolina and Washington, then put both NY teams in the other grouping.

Also, leave Detroit in the west. With the western division they're pencilled in for above they'd keep their rivalry with Chicago alive and would still see serious improvement in their travel/television start time in the home market.

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written by eman41, October 31, 2011 - 02:50 PM

You still play in-division teams 6 times a year, but maybe they could modify it so that you play the other in-conference division more times, and one of the western divisions less/not at all.

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written by kpa42, October 31, 2011 - 03:12 PM

The only thing remotely appealing to me about this is the potential for a COL-PIT rivalary to bloom. But like Bones said, chances are they'd cater to Detroit anyhow.

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written by Disgruntled Goat, October 31, 2011 - 03:15 PM

Seems to me that moving the Islanders to KC would solve everything.

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written by a guest, October 31, 2011 - 03:27 PM

I am really hoping they look into this more. Yes, travel and geography are vital in the decision but shouldn't rivalries be equally as important? Sacrificing rivalries will have to happen for logistics' sake but logistics can sacrifice for rivalries to...

I say swap the Rangers and the Pens. Put the Wings in the Rangers new division and the Blue Jackets in the West. Trade Chicago to the East for Florida (the logistics sacrifice) which could also be done with a Carolina or Tampa Bay.

The result:

East - East
Philadelphia
Pittsburgh
New York Islanders
New Jersey
Carolina
Tampa Bay

East - Central (notice something special with 6 of these?)
Detroit
Toronto
Montreal
Boston
New York Rangers
Chicago
Buffalo
Ottawa

West - West (unchanged)
Vancouver
Edmonton
Calgary
Anaheim
Los Angeles
San Jose
Phoenix
Colorado

West - Central
Columbus
Winnipeg
Dallas
Nashville
St. Louis
Minnesota
Florida

Okay so the obvious sore thumb is Florida in the west and Chicago in the east. But it aligns the Original 6 together and isn't asking Florida to give up big rivalries or travel what was asked of Detroit all these years of playing in the west.

Just my 2 cents but man would I love to see some of the rivalries reborn and some made even stronger with this...

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written by a guest, October 31, 2011 - 03:33 PM

Sorry in the post above I intended to have Buffalo in the east - east not the east - central. The rivalry they have with Carolina would increase and I could see Buffalo/Pittsburgh and Buffalo/Islanders becoming rivalries...

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written by EricNaughton, October 31, 2011 - 03:42 PM

in my opinion, the only thing that makes sense is the following moves:

Nashville to the Southeast (replacing Atlanta)
Minnesota to the Central (replacing Nashville)
Winnipeg to the Northeast (replacing Minnesota)

All three clubs are around the same level of competition. Nashville is geographically the best fit to the Southeast. Minnesota would be a great regional foe to Chicago and Detroit, even St. Louis. Winnipeg in the Northeast makes for a great Canadian conference along with Colorado.

Four divisions with an unequal amount of teams is a really bad idea.

(While we are at it, why not decrease intra-conference, non-division games to three per year and add more inter-conference games?)

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written by leahbackus, October 31, 2011 - 05:37 PM

I think Goat has the right idea. Move the Isles to KC!!! I'm totally not saying that because I live in Missouri, either. **shifty eyes** Not at all.

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