Detroit Red Wings & the NHL

[Optimus Prime]

Detroit & Columbus to the East. 16 teams in the East, 14 teams in the West....yet another conference shakeup.

http://aol.sportingnews.com/nhl/story/2013-02-23/nhl-realignment-plan-red-wings-eastern-conference-seattle-hockey-team

[Hannibal]

There might not be an East-West conference alignment. It might just be pods, which I think would work great.

[Hannibal]

Proposed divisions:

Hurricanes, Jackets, Islanders, Rangers, Flyers, Pens, Caps

Bruins, Sabres, Red Wings, Panthers, Senators, Lightning, Leafs

Blackhawks, Avs, Stars, Wild, Predators, Blues, Jets

Ducks, Flames, Oilers, Kings, Coyotes, Sharks, Canucks

[WingsFan]

Are you leaving out the Canadians just to piss off OP?

[Mike]

The Wings being in a division with 4 original 6 teams would be a dream come true.

[Optimus Prime]

New realignment plan in detail, appears some teams will get screwed. LA Kings finished last in the West last year, barely made the playoffs yet won it all. There will be a couple teams each year in the East singing the same song.

The playoff format calls for the top three teams in each division to earn post-season berths. The remaining four spots would go to wild-card teams, the top two records remaining in each conference. That means there's a possibility five teams make it from one division and only three from another.

It would be divisional playoffs, not conference playoffs, so 1 vs. 4, 2 vs 3 in the first round. The two fourth seeds would be made up of the wild-card teams. The top division winner based on regular-season points in the standings would face off against the lower-ranked wild-card team. The other division winner would play the higher-ranked wild-card.

First-round winners then meet in second round in the division championship; Third round sees Pacific winner vs. Mid-West winner in Western Conference finals; Central winner versus Atlantic winner in Eastern Conference finals; Eastern and Western Conference champions meet in Stanley Cup finals.

The regular season schedule would see teams play every team in the other conference home and away.

This plan is tentative as it still requires approval from both the NHL Board of Governors and the NHL Players' Association.

[Optimus Prime]

Are you leaving out the Canadians just to piss off OP?

Nah Packy, I know where to look. For the Habs, it's first place in the East and if I am looking for the other Canadians, it's Crosby and Stamkos leading the NHL in scoring.! LOL

[Optimus Prime]

Best shift in the CHL this season, leads the Q in scoring and those Frogs know how to play!

If you’re a follower of NHL prospects then you know that the top two prospects, and the two likely choices at number one overall, in this years NHL Draft are Seth Jones and Nathan McKinnon. Still, that — obviously — doesn’t mean that there isn’t top talent throughout the 2013 NHL Draft class.

Halifax Mooseheads standout Jonathan Drouin is one of those top-level players that could become a star for whatever team takes him come June. The 17-year old showed the skill that he has by undressing his opponents in what can be viewed as one of the best shifts of the year in the QMJHL and the entire CHL.

(For those that don’t know, Drouin is # 27 in White the video)


[youtube]K7YDx0M51WE[/youtube]

[DennisT]

Pavel does that about every game.

[DennisT]

Also, original 6 is a ridiculous term. It refers to a 25 year stretch of time. There was a pre-original stretch before 1942.

[ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Original_Six"]Original Six - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]

[DennisT]

Some interesting reading here too. Seattle Metropolitans - 1917. Seattle with such a fabled hockey history, heh.

[ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Stanley_Cup_champions"]List of Stanley Cup champions - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]

[Hannibal]

Are you leaving out the Canadians just to piss off OP?

It was an accident with a pleasant side effect. :-)

[Hannibal]

Eh. Not sure how I feel about divisional playoffs. If they are going to divisional playoffs, then I hope that they at least reduce the regular season meetings below six. People romanticize a lot of the old-school playoff battles, but man, was it ever tiresome watching the same teams meet every year. In a ten-year span from 1984 through 1993, the Red Wings played in 13 playoff series, and they faced only five different teams in those 13 series.

[iam416]

Bring back the Adams Division! 4 of 5 make it! WoooT!

Let's Go Pens! War Patrick DivisioN!

[Hannibal]

I do wish that Columbus and Detroy-it were still together. That's a good natural rivalry that just never got off the ground because Columbus has been shit for so long. For the home of OSU not to share a division with a team from Michigan seems wrong.