I like the concept for sure. Somehow it would be nice to keep Pitts and Philly in the same division. But I don't know where you sacrifice.

Maybe swap Buffalo and Philly?

I’d swap CHI and ARI as well as PHI and BUF

Yeah that might be it. But you've nailed some rivalries in other divisions. I know it's not the most important thing but I know as much as I hate Boston, Montreal, and Ottawa, as a Leafs fan I always look forward to those games.

I like this a lot actually

What's your reasoning for Chicago and Zona?

Islanders are going to run away with the division

I thought about posting something like this actually.

If this happened though, there's a couple of things I'd change. 1, that southeast division is way too good. I'd swap Washington for Detroit.
Also it'd be nice to keep Pitts and Philly in the same division, so maybe swap Buffalo with Philly?

And on a less realistic note, it would be nice to have all Canadian divisions.
Like a Western Canadian division of WPG, CGY, EDM and VAN
And move the yotes to Quebec and have TOR, MTL, OTT, and QUE
But that likely won't happen.

All in all, great job.

Great Job! I like this a lot. The division names are great. I'd be scared having to mostly only play Tampa, Florida, and Washington though. I would propose this to Bettman as long as he's fine with smaller divisions.

As a general hockey fan, NSH + STL + DAL have been rivals with CHI for quite some time now, more so than COL, WPG, and MIN over that same time -- so that should be preserved.

As a NSH fan, when I think of the Central division (of last year), I think of WPG + CHI + DAL are NSH's biggest rivals from that division right now, so keeping at least 2 seems like a good move to me.

Pittsburgh Definitely say YES!... at least for this year and next... after that, Detroit will grow up, Columbus will finally have a decent coach, and Philli, well, who knows, they might burn the whole city down.

As much as I like the rivalries, if you're going by Geography, then Buff and Phil were correct before switching them. The metro wouldn't fly at all within the division because they'd all be flying in and out of the exact same airport. LOL

I was considering moving Nashville to the southeast but I don't think the divisions matter too much.

That Canadian division idea would be awesome

That division is a bloodbath. I think Bettman wouldn't like these smaller divisions but it could be a good way to intensify rivalries and generate money

I was thinking about the central division and the wild west division based on geography. But your idea could work as well

The Metro division would be so intense. All of the teams are within 1 hour of each other. And I actually think the Rangers Devils and Islanders all use the same airports. I might be wrong though

I got a few swaps of how I'd do it.

Northwest: CGY,EDM, VAN, WPG
Pacific: ANA, LA, SJ, SEA
Central: CHI, MIN, NSH, STL
Southwest: ARI, COL, DAL, VGK

Northeast: BOS, MTL, OTT, TOR
Atlantic: NJ, NYI, NYR, PHI
Great Lakes (s/o OP): BUF, CBJ, DET, PIT
Southeast: CAR, FLO, TB, WSH

Not married to any of these too much, but that Atlantic division would be crazy fun.

Also, one quick thing too.

I'd have the divisional winners be 1-4 seeds.
Then have 4 "wildcard" teams play each divisional winner.
But that's a pretty minor change.

Im not really a fan of that idea because the divisions are so unbalanced.

That's a good point. But it just feels like the divisions are pointless if something like this is not happening. Might as well just have 2 conferences and no divisions.



I'd assume geographical reasons.

I kinda like this 👍, but it won’t happen