I am confused. Why is Colorado in the US West, while Las Vegas is in the US Central?


Additionally, Drouin is not going anywhere.

I would be all for that setup of the divisions. Makes a ton of sense, keeps old fashioned rivalries together, seems great.

I like the idea of the 8 divisions.

Minor adjustments, but then i like the idea... Keeps Toronto v Buffalo and Boston v Habs.

The East 1
Montreal
Quebec
Boston
Ottawa

The East 2
NY Islanders
NY Rangers
Toronto
Buffalo

The East 3
Philadelphia
Washington
NJ Devils
Pittsburgh

The Canada West Division
Edmonton
Calgary
Winnipeg
Vancouver

The US Lakes Division
Columbus
Detroit
Chicago
Minnesota

The US South Division
Carolina
Nashville
Florida
Tampa

The US Central Division
Dallas
St. Louis
Las Vegas
Phoenix

The US Western Division
LA
Anaheim
San Jose
Colorado

I too hate separating Montreal from Boston and Buffalo from Toronto...but I don't see another way around it. They would get each other in their sister division years more often....

The US Central Division
Dallas
St. Louis
Phoenix
Colorado

The US Western Division
LA
Anaheim
San Jose
Las Vegas

That's better.

Other than playing your own division 8 times, I absolutely love this.

I find 8 team divisions are absolutely ridiculous right now.

The only caveat I would like to include is that only ONE team from each division (the winner) is guaranteed a playoff spot, just like the NFL. After that, the two other teams are basically a wild-card format between the two sister divisions. Basically, you could get three teams from one division and only one team from the other.

I also love the idea of switching the sister divisions on a three year cycle. This will ensure that deserving teams will generally make the playoffs, and if, for some crazy reason, we have two of the best teams in the league in sister divisions, the following season it will change.

As for Drouin, I can't see them moving him until Stamkos is locked into a contract extension.

How does Stammer's extension affect moving Drouin? If anything signing him to an extension should increase the odds he stays since sooner rather than later he will be playing next to Stammer feeding him one-timers.

Also: Drouin isn't going anywhere

Minor adjustments, but then i like the idea... Keeps Toronto v Buffalo and Boston v Habs.

The East 1
Montreal
Quebec
Boston
Ottawa

The East 2
NY Islanders
NY Rangers
Toronto
Buffalo

The East 3
Philadelphia
Washington
NJ Devils
Pittsburgh

The Canada West Division
Edmonton
Calgary
Winnipeg
Vancouver

The US Lakes Division
Columbus
Detroit
Chicago
Minnesota

The US South Division
Carolina
Nashville
Florida
Tampa

The US Central Division
Dallas
St. Louis
Las Vegas
Phoenix

The US Western Division
LA
Anaheim
San Jose
Colorado
- gnosox1986

I get where you are going with this...but separating Toronto/Montreal is impossible. Also the NY Metro area teams MUST stay together. in my opinion..

Geographically, Colorado and Las Vegas should be switched.

The status quo is fine with me. After 20 years of conference playoffs, divisional playoffs are finally back.

Columbus will have to move back to the Central (or Carolina despite being literally 200 miles from the Atlantic Ocean). The Wings move to the Metro to make way for the return of the Nords (makes no geographical sense but keeps longstanding Atlantic rivalries intact).

The playoffs would be all 8 divisional winners and then 8 wildcards of the next 8 best records.

You are royally screwed if you are a weak team in a division of 3 real strong teams. That and 8 times is too much. Sure it's great if you have a good rivalry going, but I remember playing Minny all those times back when they played the trap. It was awful.

I get where you are going with this...but separating Toronto/Montreal is impossible. Also the NY Metro area teams MUST stay together. in my opinion..
- Eklund

Would it really matter? They are two of the strongest markets in the game, they should be split to help better grow the game.

The playoffs would be all 8 divisional winners and then 8 wildcards of the next 8 best records.
- Eklund

I love this idea. I hope it gets implemented.

EDIT: It probably makes too much sense for the NHL to do though.

Minor adjustments, but then i like the idea... Keeps Toronto v Buffalo and Boston v Habs.

The East 1
Montreal
Quebec
Boston
Ottawa

The East 2
NY Islanders
NY Rangers
Toronto
Buffalo

The East 3
Philadelphia
Washington
NJ Devils
Pittsburgh

The Canada West Division
Edmonton
Calgary
Winnipeg
Vancouver

The US Lakes Division
Columbus
Detroit
Chicago
Minnesota

The US South Division
Carolina
Nashville
Florida
Tampa

The US Central Division
Dallas
St. Louis
Las Vegas
Phoenix

The US Western Division
LA
Anaheim
San Jose
Colorado
- gnosox1986

You want to separate Toronto from Montreal and Ottawa, to keep a rivalry with Buffalo, of all teams? That seems silly.

I love the idea of the two Canadian divisions.

The only team that gets a bit screwed in that format is Boston (being away from Montreal), but I'm sure it will not take long for them to form good rivalries with the NYR based teams (they already have it in baseball, so it's just waiting to me exploited).

Think it would be better going 4 conferences of 8 teams. I really don't want to see the same 3 teams for a third of the season

This is a real stretch and too many rivalries are taken away

In a perfect world I see the NHL with 32 teams 16 in each conference 8 in each division

Toronto
Ottawa
Montreal
Buffalo
Quebec
Boston
Detroit
Tampa

Pittsburgh
Rangers
Islanders
Devils
Washington
Carolina
Columbus
Philedelphia

St.Louis
Dallas
Chicago
Winnipeg
Minnesota
Nashville
Colorado
Las Vegas

Calgary
Edmonton
Vancouver
Los Angeles
Anaheim
San Jose
Phoenix
Seattle

I picked Florida as a relocate to Seattle but there are really a number of teams that need to be looked at moving

If this season progresses with Arizona playing a game, then the entire league is a joke. If Ari is the key to a TV deal, and that team just traded for Pronger, then there is no TV deal for a long time!

The playoffs would be all 8 divisional winners and then 8 wildcards of the next 8 best records.
- Eklund

8 wildcard teams? Jesus.

Horrible idea.

8 wildcard teams? Jesus.
- dothedougie

Right?

8 wildcard teams? Jesus.
- dothedougie

Yes, my child?

You want to separate Toronto from Montreal and Ottawa, to keep a rivalry with Buffalo, of all teams? That seems silly.

I love the idea of the two Canadian divisions.

The only team that gets a bit screwed in that format is Boston (being away from Montreal), but I'm sure it will not take long for them to form good rivalries with the NYR based teams (they already have it in baseball, so it's just waiting to me exploited).
- Charliebox

Basketball and Football as well. Really in general the peoples of the 2 cities are not big fans of one another.

How about the teams just join whatever geographical location they belong to, and instead we reformat how teams make the playoffs... It should be the top 16 teams make the playoffs... period. Regardless of what division/conference you play in. The top 16 teams with the most points finishing the season are the teams that deserve to play for the cup. The whole 2 conference, top team from the division, and 2 wildcard team format just seems archaic. It doesn't make sense for a team with less points to make the playoffs, just because they were on the top of their weak division.

Yes, my child?
- MrBeanTown

Why did you kill the dinosaurs?