Thread: Loooong McKenzie article on possible realignment scenarios

I've mentioned this before, but here it is again.

Do whatever with the first round, but after that, reseed all the teams in a single pool. 1 plays 8, 2 plays 7, etc. What I want out of this is the potential for Montreal and Toronto to play for the Cup. Or Detroit and Chicago. Or the Kings and the Ducks . . . uh, wait, make that the Kings and the Sharks. I don't ever want to see Anaheim playing for the Stanley Cup ever again.

Of course, McKenzie makes an excellent point about the Eastern teams. They are fine with the status quo and will easily assemble a veto block for anything crazy. I say f*** them, but that's about all I can do.

Add 2 teams in Vegas and Seattle. Any pro sports team in Vegas will do well, and Seattle well, I guess that's as good as anywhere. Make the divisions as follows:

Seattle
Las Vegas
Vancouver
Calgary
Edmonton
San Jose
Los Angeles
Anaheim


Phoenix
Dallas
Colorado
Nashville
St. Louis
Minnesota
Chicago
Winnipeg

Montreal
Boston
Ottawa
Toronto
Buffalo
NJ
NYI
NYR

Philadelphia
Pittsburgh
Washington
Detroit
Florida
Tampa
Columbus
Carolina

Top 4 from each to into the playoffs. I like the idea of re-seeding each round regardless of conference. Ditch the east vs west final.

Originally Posted by salami

Top 4 from each to into the playoffs. I like the idea of re-seeding each round regardless of conference. Ditch the east vs west final.

Agree and disagree. I've always HATED the divisional playoffs because segregation tends to leave teams out of the playoffs that shouldn't. Besides playing the same teams every year gets old. I hated in the 80s and I'd hate it now. The Plan G is perfect for the regular season but the playoffs is inherently unfair. By segregating you now tell the teams all you need is to be better than a few teams just to make the playoffs. Those strategies will come out in time...it did in the 80s. All the Kings had to do was be better than Colorado (Rockies) and you are in the playoffs. Later it was the Kings or Winnipeg who were the fall guys.

However, the reseeding is a good idea and ditching the east vs. west is good as well.

Several have pointed out rivalries. The fact is you can't force feed rivalries. They just happen. It doesn't have to be geographic at all. Why force a playoff of Kings vs. Ducks so early? You'd never have a Kings/Ducks conference final.

Ideally the BEST solution is just have a completely balanced schedule and have 1 vs. 16 etc. But since travel is a problem why not just put 15 teams in two conferences and have 1 vs 8, etc? Scrap the divisions.

jom