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Z-Man

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It's not a perfect world. I get that.

If I was King, I'd like to go back to the 2006 when we had 8 games versus the division. I don't need to see some teams every year, especially home and home - but I get why some do. I think that's the problem with over expansion but whatever. I understand why they have to go to this alignment to satisfy a number of votes, fine.

I don't like divisional playoff matchups, because I'd like a chance for their to be either a Devils/Flyer Semi Final or even better, a final.

I'd be OK with these four divisions, but the top 16 point getters get into the playoffs...and we do 1 - 16 travel be damned playoff. Make the 4 division winners top 4 seeds and there you go.

Some divisons will just be better than others.

Edited by HellOnICE
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Now, I don't neccesarily mind the format of division playoffs in the first two rounds but only playing every other team twice combined with having division playoffs in the first two rounds essentially kills off all non-division rivalries and for the most part just adds games to rivalries that were already good (and forces the creation of new, goofy ones based on travel).

Thats the other thing that concerns me...is playing the same the same teams in the first two rounds of the playoffs. It can get stale, and you dont create new non-div rivalries. I dont want to play the Flyers or Rags in the playoffs every year (if we even make the playoffs) as it can lose its fizzle (sorry for using that word).

I'm not a big fan of these changes and I know you hate everything that has to do with Winnipeg, but it's not like Winnipeg came in and told the league what to do here.

Yeah I see that Bettman wanted to do this regardless

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mmmm what i dont like is that its taking away rivalries that you have with other teams...

if im arguing with a MTL or Boston fan... you can't go like... "HA my team is 6 pts ahead of yours in the standings !!!" it doesnt matter anymore... its all about your division and thats it

with Pittsburgh, Flyers and Washington in our division its gonna be a though run...

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Pittsburgh and Washington have had a rivalry since Crosby and Ovechkin were born, there was no way the league was going to have them play twice a year with almost no playoff matchups. The league didn't have to go out of its way, it's not like they're 1000 miles apart.

Edited by NJDevs4978
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I love it. The Patrick Division I grew up with and the Whalers.

mmmm what i dont like is that its taking away rivalries that you have with other teams...

if im arguing with a MTL or Boston fan... you can't go like... "HA my team is 6 pts ahead of yours in the standings !!!" it doesnt matter anymore... its all about your division and thats it

with Pittsburgh, Flyers and Washington in our division its gonna be a though run...

Didnt realize the devils had such a huge rivalry with the B's and Habs.

Count me among those who like it. And if any of the league's revenue-sharing can go towards travel costs, it won't be so bad for the Florida teams. At least all their games are in the same time zone, as that seemed to be a priority with this realignment.

I also like the Proteautype (sp?) suggestions for conference names. It wouldn't seem fair if a team played in a conference named for a guy who wore their uniform, so I'd propose:

Conference A = Howe

Conference B = Lemieux

Conference C = Gretzky

Conference D = Orr

If by that you mean, Patrick, Adams, Norris, and Smythe, then I agree.

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Thats the other thing that concerns me...is playing the same the same teams in the first two rounds of the playoffs. It can get stale, and you dont create new non-div rivalries. I dont want to play the Flyers or Rags in the playoffs every year (if we even make the playoffs) as it can lose its fizzle (sorry for using that word).

I take it you weren't watching in the 80's and early 90's? From 82-87 the Rangers played the Flyers 5 times in the first round. Rangers won 3 and the Flyers 2. Was huge for building that rivalry.

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I don't think the playoffs will get stale if we're playing the same teams.. You seriously want to tell me that even 15 years from now you'll be like "Oh the Devils are playing the Rangers in the playoffs? Yawn, wake me up when something new and exciting happens".. It'll be huge even if it happens every season

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Didnt realize the devils had such a huge rivalry with the B's and Habs.

They don't. But i do with have one with fans since i don't live in NJ... im mostly dealing with Habs, Pens, Leafs and Bruins fans... to the point that i dont really care much about Rangers fans since i dont deal with them... i know one Rangers fan thats it

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I take it you weren't watching in the 80's and early 90's? From 82-87 the Rangers played the Flyers 5 times in the first round. Rangers won 3 and the Flyers 2. Was huge for building that rivalry.

Agreed. We are going to get some real knock down drag out series out of this. And playing a team every year will just make it better. Look at Montreal-Boston. They seem to play each other almost every year in the playoffs, and those series are almost always great.

And as for killing the parity, I think there will still be plenty of parity. You have 7 teams fighting for 4 spots. Sure, one team might be out all season but it's the same now with 15 teams fighting for 8 spots. There's always a couple of teams that will pull away from the pack and there's always teams that will be in close to last all year, but you'll still have the dog fights for the last couple of spots.

Edited by Devil Dan 56
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If by that you mean, Patrick, Adams, Norris, and Smythe, then I agree.

homer_boring.gif

Kidding aside, those guys (except for Charles Adams) still have awards named after them. It's time for the next generation of hockey contributors to be immortalized, and if Gretzky, Howe, Orr and Lemieux aren't worthy of that honor, then no player(s) ever will be.

And besides ... without cheating, can you honestly tell me anything about James E. Norris? Nostalgia is nice, but it also helped bring Brian Rolston, Bobby Holik, Jason Arnott, etc. etc. back to Jersey. In other words, sometimes it's best to move on ...

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homer_boring.gif

Kidding aside, those guys (except for Charles Adams) still have awards named after them. It's time for the next generation of hockey contributors to be immortalized, and if Gretzky, Howe, Orr and Lemieux aren't worthy of that honor, then no player(s) ever will be.

And besides ... without cheating, can you honestly tell me anything about James E. Norris? Nostalgia is nice, but it also helped bring Brian Rolston, Bobby Holik, Jason Arnott, etc. etc. back to Jersey. In other words, sometimes it's best to move on ...

Or in the Rangers' case, bringing back Esa Tikkanen and Mark Messier.

If someone proposed to name the baseball divisions after 1880s players they'd be laughed at. The old names are silly, I wouldn't mind names from the more recent past. I have to imagine, though, they'll stick with the geographical type names.

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its gonna be rough for awhile but with the right moves and signing the right players we could be competing in a few years with our youngs Ds all up here and with a more experience Larsson...

can only hope the Canes and islanders continue to suck and that Carolina and Rangers can't find a good replacement after Ward and Lundqvist...

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As always, great stuff from Stu Hackel:

Reportedly, Bettman’s divisions (he preferred they be called conferences) originally were:

Group One: Anaheim, Los Angeles, San Jose, Phoenix, Colorado, Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary.

Group Two: Dallas, Nashville, Chicago, St. Louis, Minnesota, Winnipeg and Columbus or Detroit

Group Three: Detroit or Columbus plus Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Boston.

Group Four: New York Rangers, New York Islanders, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Washington, Carolina, Tampa Bay and Florida.

Well, it sounded good in theory until the conferences were revealed and the howling started again. For one thing, the Penguins and Flyers, two of the NHL’s most fierce rivals, were in separate conferences.

The Flyers-Penguins problem was solved by putting them together in the group with the New York area teams. That meant moving the two Florida teams into the group where the Penguins were — among four northeastern teams — and they stick out geographically like the hair under George Parros’ helmet.

As you can imagine, the Florida teams may not have been too pleased with the drastic increase this would mean in their travel costs, but more visits from the Canadiens and Maple Leafs, who always fill those Florida arenas, likely eased their mind.

The whole thing is a really good read.

Edited by DaneykoIsGod
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Geographical Conference names but each winner wins the following trophies:

"Atlantic Division" wins the Lemieux-Brodeur Trophy

"Northeast Division" wins the Orr-Bowman Trophy

"Central Division" wins the Howe-Hull Trophy

"Pacific Division" wins the Gretzky-Messier Trophy

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