No offense to Quebec City, and even Markham, but Seattle is likely higher on the NHL's list of relocation targets. The other two, if they are still viable options, will likely be expansions teams, complete with expansion fees!!
- p_zub

It'll be a hefty price to pay to MLSE to bring a team to Markham. I've been to Quebec city, beautiful place, but im not sure how they can support an NHL franchise. Its pretty small..

lol is this guy trying to propose his own realignment on Hockeybuzz??? I think most of it's already set, i'm not huge on bringing Tampa AND Detroit to Toronto's division, but sure will add competition and Detroit is back in the East, where they BELONG.
- blahman20

Don`t know but, this thread is gonna be out of space soon with those pages!

No offense to Quebec City, and even Markham, but Seattle is likely higher on the NHL's list of relocation targets. The other two, if they are still viable options, will likely be expansions teams, complete with expansion fees!!
- p_zub

Phoenix to Seattle and Florida to Quebec City are the two easy ones. Another team in Toronto makes perfect financial sense, it's just a matter of politics with the Leafs and which other southern market gets moved.

Expansion shouldn't even be on the radar. The NHL has too many teams that are bleeding money to even dream about expanding.

As the resident medical specialist in these forums, I'm going to have to go ahead and recommend a prescriptions of 12 Hennessey's for tonight's tilt.
- OBGYN Kenobi

id be wasted.. 5-6 is plenty

Detroit has been promised being moved to the East for a long time. And if you ask the NHL about Phoenix, they will tell you they aren't moving anywhere. Take it up with them.

- Two_For_Truth

Correct me if I'm wrong here, but you seem to think that you can tell the NHL what to do when it comes to realignment, so why not just further that suspension of disbelief by thinking that you can tell Detroit they need to sit tight for another year or two?

You just don't want to see Boston in the division anymore.

- Two_For_Truth

As someone who loves going to Boston, I'm fine with them still playing the Leafs a maximum amount of times. My only request is they stop scheduling Leafs games for Tuesdays or Thursdays.

The NHL needs to give the weaker franchises bone and the Islanders are in tough in their current division. If it spurs minor success or a "division championship" for the fans to get excited about, it's probably in the best interested to do that. If they didn't want to reward failure, the 1st overall pick would be a 30 team lottery. It isn't. Obviously, the NHL needs to do certain things to keep teams from dying.

- Two_For_Truth

I'm not sure how taking a team that is circling the bowl financially, and switching the majority of their away games from bus rides to overnight airplane rides helps them out so much.

Two different realignments. As in completely different. One was tweaking the current system. The other was a radical change that includes divisional playoffs.
- Two_For_Truth

Here's the thing: most Americans have no idea what the hell goes on the NHL. So we need to drop absurd ideas like hybrid icing and the trapezoid and playoff scenarios whereby team X plays team 4, but only if team alpha has more road wins in the month of February.

Eff the seeding. Bring back a nice little playoff tree, so that guys can go to NHL.com, download a pretty little playoff bracket and pin it to the wall in their office.

No offense to Quebec City, and even Markham, but Seattle is likely higher on the NHL's list of relocation targets. The other two, if they are still viable options, will likely be expansions teams, complete with expansion fees!!
- p_zub

Quebec City has shovels in the ground.

Seattle is still just an architectural drawing, and still faces a lawsuit over rushed environmental assessments (which will probably be dismissed).

To top it off, Sacremento is still jockeying to save the Kings.

QC right now is the odds-on favourite for the Coyotes.

With Franson being only a restricted free agent, I doubt the Leafs move him. He's only 24-25, so his best years are still ahead of him. Wilson sucked as a coach for him, but Carlyle has been perfect.

I'd say Macarthur, Grabovski & Liles are the trade chips
- Davey_Crockett

Agreed, and if you fit Connolly and Komisarek in there too, perfect! I would be calling Washington to see if they want a trade partner. I would love to see Troy Brouwer in the leafs line up.

It'll be a hefty price to pay to MLSE to bring a team to Markham. I've been to Quebec city, beautiful place, but im not sure how they can support an NHL franchise. Its pretty small..
- Arctic_AARDVARK

Much like the Jets, the owners (Videotron) are going to have to be willing to lose money.

Ian White healthy scratch tonight, leafs interested.
- wingz4life

If you have a time machine that can go back to 2010

Correct me if I'm wrong here, but you seem to think that you can tell the NHL what to do when it comes to realignment, so why not just further that suspension of disbelief by thinking that you can tell Detroit they need to sit tight for another year or two?
- Atomic Wedgie

If you're looking at the situation, Detroit going to the East is a must. The rest of it is just realigning teams geographically. Detroit will want to go East whether there are other teams being moved or not. That's just a promise the NHL made to them and it's going to go through eventually.

As someone who loves going to Boston, I'm fine with them still playing the Leafs a maximum amount of times. My only request is they stop scheduling Leafs games for Tuesdays or Thursdays.

It's better than scheduling games for Saturday nights. Avoids them getting slaughtered on HNIC.

I'm not sure how taking a team that is circling the bowl financially, and switching the majority of their away games from bus rides to overnight airplane rides helps them out so much.

Because, despite the added cost on airplane rides, is made up for when the Islanders can say they are division champions and the seats start getting filled. The last thing a team like the Islanders or the Blue Jackets need is to be put in a division where they have zero chance of success. It's like putting a weight around a drowning man's neck instead of a life preserver.

Here's the thing: most Americans have no idea what the hell goes on the NHL. So we need to drop absurd ideas like hybrid icing and the trapezoid and playoff scenarios whereby team X plays team 4, but only if team alpha has more road wins in the month of February.

The Americans that don't care about hockey, won't care about hockey any more just because the rules are a little different. The shootout didn't attract millions of new Americans. The Americans that do care about hockey however, will take the 30 seconds it takes to learn something new about the game they already like.

Eff the seeding. Bring back a nice little playoff tree, so that guys can go to NHL.com, download a pretty little playoff bracket and pin it to the wall in their office.

Playoff tree wouldn't change at all in the first format. The second, it's just divisional playoffs. It's almost identical to the NFL system just with more teams and more games.

id be wasted.. 5-6 is plenty
- Arctic_AARDVARK

What, are you 12 or something?

Much like the Jets, the owners (Videotron) are going to have to be willing to lose money.
- Atomic Wedgie

I'd like to see buildings that hold 15-16,000 people in smaller markets. Quebec, Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Waterloo.. etc... guarantees a sellout crowd and better atmosphere.

What, are you 12 or something?
- OBGYN Kenobi

Im not looking to get plastered on cognac haha.. I have captain mo's or gibsons for that.

I'd like to see buildings that hold 15-16,000 people in smaller markets. Quebec, Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Waterloo.. etc... guarantees a sellout crowd and better atmosphere.
- Arctic_AARDVARK

That's leaving out 2,000+ seats per game that they could be selling. Especially during the playoffs. Absolutely no team is going to go with the smaller building if they have the choice. Better to have 2,000 empty seats when things are going bad than it is to need the extra seats and not have them when things are going great.

its sad that the NHL still has to have the big markets support the smaller ones

if these teams are losing money so badly then fold or relocate them


they dont care about hockey in the south, thats football country
high school football is bigger then hockey in most places down there

No offense to Quebec City, and even Markham, but Seattle is likely higher on the NHL's list of relocation targets. The other two, if they are still viable options, will likely be expansions teams, complete with expansion fees!!
- p_zub

moving phoenix to seattle would make sense with a left coast division, that way vancouver isnt way further north than the rest of the teams in california

That's leaving out 2,000+ seats per game that they could be selling. Especially during the playoffs. Absolutely no team is going to go with the smaller building if they have the choice. Better to have 2,000 empty seats when things are going bad than it is to need the extra seats and not have them when things are going great.
- Two_For_Truth

The Boston Red Sox disagree with you.

its sad that the NHL still has to have the big markets support the smaller ones

if these teams are losing money so badly then fold or relocate them


they dont care about hockey in the south, thats football country
high school football is bigger then hockey in most places down there
- wingz4life

Bettman is still hunting down his big national TV deal and he needs teams all over the US to make it happen. If Bettman can somehow find a way to generate 20 to 25 million extra dollars per year, per team, then every franchise will have enough money coming in to survive. But he's dreaming now because it's not going to happen. The interest in the game in the southern states just doesn't exist.

its sad that the NHL still has to have the big markets support the smaller ones

if these teams are losing money so badly then fold or relocate them


they dont care about hockey in the south, thats football country
high school football is bigger then hockey in most places down there
- wingz4life

Dallas can be a successful franchise again.

Tampa Bay is fine.

Carolina can be tolerated.

Nashville is a great franchise.

There's just a few that need to be cleaned up.

its sad that the NHL still has to have the big markets support the smaller ones

if these teams are losing money so badly then fold or relocate them


they dont care about hockey in the south, thats football country
high school football is bigger then hockey in most places down there
- wingz4life

just move a team to wisconsin to create a football/hockey hate rivalry with minnesota

just move a team to wisconsin to create a football/hockey hate rivalry with minnesota
- MetroidPrime

who knows why florida has hockey teams anyway

Bettman is still hunting down his big national TV deal and he needs teams all over the US to make it happen. If Bettman can somehow find a way to generate 20 to 25 million extra dollars per year, per team, then every franchise will have enough money coming in to survive. But he's dreaming now because it's not going to happen. The interest in the game in the southern states just doesn't exist.
- Two_For_Truth

You seemed to have missed the memo where the NHL and NBC signed a deal for a decade.

who knows why florida has hockey teams anyway
- wingz4life

Tampa Bay because Esposito got a bunch of Japanese businessmen drunk.

Miami because Wayne Huizenga wanted a team.

who knows why florida has hockey teams anyway
- wingz4life

i dont mind the lightning being there, they won the cup which helped but they actually get good turnouts and have a decent franchise both on the ice and in the head office, but ya (frank) the panthers theyre my prime candidate for relocation to canada

That's just a promise the NHL made to them and it's going to go through eventually.
- Two_For_Truth

So the NHL and owners during the lockout were a bunch of bastards who welched on their promises to the PA.

BUT NOWWWWW, they're stand up guys who will make good on their promises.

Now that wouldn't be because it serves your opinion on this matter would it?