NHL Realignment: Pros and Cons
PROS:
-Rivalries intact. No splitting of teams like Flyers/Penguins or Habs/Bruins.
-Rivalries strengthened through conference playoffs. Rivalries will become more storied and more intense in the conference playoff system.
-Travel issues fixed. Teams like Vancouver and Chicago won’t go through as rigorous travel schedules.
-More 7 to 8 start times in local time zones. Young fans will be able to see more of their teams’ games.
-East vs East or West vs West Stanley Cup Finals. Old school matchups like Rangers-Bruins or new school rivalries like Vancouver and Chicago are now possibilities and could make for incredible Cup Finals, which help the sport.
-Canadian exposure to the teams in the Florida markets. Teaming the Panthers and Lightning with the current Northeast division brings them to the forefront even more in Toronto, Ottawa, and Montreal; crucial markets.
-Every team’s fans gets to see every other team. The game’s most exciting teams and stars will be seen in every single arena.
-More flexible. Because there are two 7 team divisions and two 8 team divisions, moving teams from one to the other will be simpler, and a debacle like Atlanta/Winnipeg can be avoided. Phoenix’s potential move to Quebec will not screw things up as badly as Thrashers/Jets did.
-Leaves the door open for expansion. If the NHL expands, the divisions can be easily evened.
CONS:
-Longer/more road-trips. Teams like San Jose will have to either make more trips to the East or make longer ones.
-Less meetings between current (2011) intraconference teams, like Pittsburgh and Boston.
The new plan isn’t totally perfect, but I think it’s a great solution. It fixes a lot of issues in the current alignment. An East/West split dependent schedule doesn’t make sense when the teams in each time zone are far from balanced, and the “West” spans four time zones.
pretty much EXACTLY
(Source: adamcquaider)
