After commissioner Gary Bettman announced Tuesday that the NHL is considering a temporary realignment for the upcoming season, theScore decided to create three realignment options the league could explore.
With Canada's 14-day quarantine rules still in effect (despite an ongoing pilot project), it's not surprising that Bettman hinted an all-Canadian division may be inevitable in 2020-21. But how would that affect the rest of the NHL?
There are a few important things to keep in mind here. Bettman specifically said having teams travel "from Florida to California may not make sense," so we've eliminated inter-conference regular-season games. These realignment proposals are designed to align time zones and reduce travel as much as possible - even if teams are playing in short-term hubs for 10-12 days at a time, as Bettman revealed.
For the purposes of this exercise, we assumed the league will stage a 48-game regular season, which is reportedly the shortest campaign it's considering. Bettman also said he hopes to have the playoffs finished before July, so anything more than 48 games seems challenging with a Jan. 1 target start date. The NHL ran a 48-game season during the lockout-shortened 2012-13 campaign, so there's familiarity.
Here are our three realignment options:
4 divisions
| East | South Central | West | Canada |
|---|---|---|---|
| Boston | Carolina | Anaheim | Calgary |
| Buffalo | Chicago | Arizona | Edmonton |
| New Jersey | Columbus | Colorado | Montreal |
| NY Islanders | Detroit | Dallas | Ottawa |
| NY Rangers | Florida | Los Angeles | Toronto |
| Philadelphia | St. Louis | Minnesota | Vancouver |
| Pittsburgh | Nashville | San Jose | Winnipeg |
| Washington | Tampa Bay | Vegas |
- U.S. teams play each divisional opponent six-to-seven times. The top four teams in each division make the playoffs.
- Canadian teams play each divisional opponent eight times. The top four teams make the playoffs.
The East and West divisions are nicely split geographically, but the South Central is a bit of a mishmash. It features three teams on Central Time - the Blackhawks, Predators, and Blues - and five on Eastern Time.
The only competitive imbalance comes in the West division, where at least one of the Ducks, Coyotes, Kings, Wild, and Sharks would make the playoffs. All five of those clubs finished in the bottom third of the league in points percentage last season.
5 divisions
| Atlantic | Metro | Central | Pacific | Canada |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boston | New Jersey | Chicago | Anaheim | Calgary |
| Buffalo | NY Islanders | Dallas | Arizona | Edmonton |
| Carolina | NY Rangers | Detroit | Colorado | Montreal |
| Columbus | Pittsburgh | Minnesota | Los Angeles | Ottawa |
| Florida | Philadelphia | Nashville | San Jose | Toronto |
| Tampa Bay | Washington | St. Louis | Vegas | Vancouver |
| Winnipeg |
- U.S. teams play each divisional opponent 9-10 times. The top three teams in each division make the playoffs.
- Canadian teams play each divisional opponent eight times. The top four teams make the playoffs.
This configuration offers a far better geographic split than the four-division option. The Red Wings draw the short straw as the only team in the Central Division on Eastern Time, with the other five using Central Time. Detroit could easily switch with the Blue Jackets, though, as both teams were in the Western Conference before the league realigned for the 2013-14 campaign.
The most glaring competitive imbalance once again comes in the western-most division - the Pacific. The Avalanche and Golden Knights are elite, but the other four teams are mediocre at best.
3 conferences, 8 divisions
Eastern Conference
| Northeast | Metro | Southeast |
|---|---|---|
| Buffalo | New Jersey | Carolina |
| Boston | NY Islanders | Columbus |
| Pittsburgh | NY Rangers | Florida |
| Washington | Philadelphia | Tampa Bay |
- Teams play divisional opponents eight times each and out-of-division opponents three times each. Division winners clinch playoff spots, while the remaining top three teams in the conference earn wild-card spots.
Western Conference
| Central | Mid-West | Pacific |
|---|---|---|
| Chicago | Arizona | Anaheim |
| Detroit | Colorado | Los Angeles |
| Nashville | Dallas | San Jose |
| St. Louis | Minnesota | Vegas |
- Teams play divisional opponents eight times each and out-of-division opponents three times each. Division winners clinch playoff spots, while the remaining top three teams in the conference earn wild-card spots.
Canadian Conference
| Canada East | Canada West |
|---|---|
| Montreal | Calgary |
| Ottawa | Edmonton |
| Toronto | Vancouver |
| Winnipeg |
- Canada East teams play divisional opponents 12 times each and Canada West clubs six times each.
- Canada West teams play divisional opponents 10 times each and Canada East clubs six times each.
- Division winners clinch playoff spots, while the remaining top two teams in the conference earn wild-card spots.
An eight-division system works for the NFL, so why not use it in the NHL for a season? This would seemingly be the fairest option, as it features the most non-divisional games and doesn't favor weak divisions as heavily as the other proposals.
But more non-divisional games could mean more travel, and that's something the NHL likely doesn't want. This specific alignment would also be even more unfair for the Red Wings: Detroit would be the only team playing opponents more than two time zones away.
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