NHL realignment

[Ben Kenobi]

If they move Phoenix to Hamilton, this is what I think they should do.

1. Montreal-Toronto-Hamilton-Ottawa
2. Boston-Buffalo-Pittsburgh-Philadelphia
3. NYR, NYI, NJ, Washington
4. Carolina-Atlanta-Florida-Tampa Bay

This makes much more sense then the current system. Out west:

5. Vancouver-Calgary-Edmonton-Winnipeg* (expansion)
6. Los Angeles-Anaheim-San Jose-Portland* (expansion)
7. Denver-Dallas-Houston(Nashville)-Kansas City(Columbus)
8. Detroit-Chicago-St Louis-Minnesota

The alternative without expansion is also messy:

Montreal-Toronto-Hamilton-Ottawa-Buffalo
Philadelphia-Pittsburgh--NJ-NYI-NYR
Carolina-Florida-Tampa Bay-Boston-Washington

Atlanta-Nashville-Columbus-St.Louis-Detroit (CENTRAL DIVISION)
Chicago-Denver-Dallas-Minnesota (MIDWEST DIVISION)
Vancouver-Los Angeles-Anaheim-Calgary-Edmonton-San Jose (WEST DIVISION)

If you put Hamilton in the west, you have:

Detroit-Hamilton-Columbus-Chicago-Nashville
Denver-Dallas-Minnesota-St. Louis
Vancouver-Los Angeles-Anaheim-Calgary-Edmonton-San Jose.

[Asher]

The league is not going to expand anytime soon...

[Ben Kenobi]

Well, I'd rather not have St. Louis replacing Phoenix, and Atlanta moving West. Bad enough having teams on Eastern time in the West.

[Garth Vader]

They need to get rid of more of the southern teams.

[Guynemer]

Detroit-Hamilton-Columbus-Chicago-Nashville
Denver-Dallas-Minnesota-St. Louis
Vancouver-Los Angeles-Anaheim-Calgary-Edmonton-San Jose.

Agreed that one goal should have teams in the Eastern Time Zone be in the Eastern Conference. Right now, the only teams that applies to are the Wings and Jackets. So, the ideal situation would be to move (at least) two Eastern teams (hello, Atlanta, Florida, Tampa Bay, Islanders) to Western locales (Seattle, Portland, Kansas City, Austin, Houston, San Diego, Winnipeg, Sacramento, Salt Lake City).

[KrazyHorse]

Seattle, Portland, Winnipeg

Fair enough

Kansas City, San Diego, Houston

No more Southern teams.

Sacramento, Salt Lake City, Austin

[Kontiki]

San Diego? Is there a more bat**** crazy place to put an NHL team that's not called Las Vegas? And given that, how far along do think Bettman is in granting franchises to those two cities?

[Guynemer]

San Diego can't do any worse than PHX or ATL. Not my personal preference, certainly. I'd much rather have northern teams.

[Guynemer]

Salt Lake City

Climate's right, metro area comparable to Edmonton and Calgary, and only one other game in town. And lord knows the Mormons like a good spot of the ultra-violence.

[Kontiki]

San Diego can't do any worse than PHX or ATL. Not my personal preference, certainly. I'd much rather have northern teams.

I think it can be every bit as bad, if not worse. Both Phoenix and Atlanta are a bigger by a good margin. Atlanta is a much more significant business center, meaning alot more corporate money. Phoenix has lots of northern transplants (not that it's doing them a ton of good). And both of those cities already suck as NHL sites.

[KrazyHorse]

Climate's right, metro area comparable to Edmonton and Calgary, and only one other game in town.

Uh....you do realize that for a US city to support an NHL team requires like 3 times the population of a Canadian city, right? Especially when the US city has absolutely no hockey culture?

[Imran Siddiqui]

Salt Lake gets 16,000+ for Major League Soccer games. I'm fairly sure they'd get at least that for NHL games. And that's more than Atlanta or Phoenix this year.

[Asher]

Isn't hockey a bit too heretical for the mormons?

[Kontiki]

Perhaps, but think of the family packages they could put together for SLC games: a man and his favorite three wives, plus any four of their children, hot dogs and no beer for all. Only $150!

Edit: And, instead of towels for playoff games, they can wave their magic underwear.

[Imran Siddiqui]

And hockey is like the whitest sport there is... the Mormons will eat it up!