Eastern Conference:

The Northeast:


The Atlantic


The Mideast


The South


Western Conference

The Central


The Pacific:


The Midwest:


The Northwest:

Here's it sketched out:

I think the NHL would be keen on keeping some rivalries in division so Buffalo and Boston would be swapped, Washington moves to the Mideast, Detroit to the central and Nashville to the South. I would also put Seattle in the Northwest, Vegas in the Pacific and Winnipeg in the Midwest

I'd rather see Canadian teams spread out more than further condensed into only 2 divisions.

Well for rivalries and geographic purposes, keeping Ottawa, Montreal, Toronto together and Calgary, Vancouver, Edmonton together just makes sense imo, If the NHL went back to 8 divisions, Canadian teams would be in only 3 divisions most likely

The eastern conference: Pretty good is switch Boston and Buffalo, otherwise it’s good

The west: St Louis should go to the Midwest, Winnipeg to the central, Seattle to the northwest and Vegas to the Pacific

I've been thinking a lot about this over the past few days so the timing of your post is awesome, there are lots of factors to consider such as rivalries, travel, schedule and playoff format.

A website runs a survey to collect rivalry information on teams, very useful for this type of project:

https://knowrivalry.com/

With that said here are some observations on your proposed format:

1. MTL vs BOS
- This is the biggest and most historic rivalry in the NHL, so keeping these two teams in the same division is a must. Therefore, BOS and BUF should be swapped... which is not as optimal for travel however these divisions already have the easiest travel schedule anyways. The counter to this will be but what about BUF vs TOR, but that is a one sided rivalry. Leafs fans view OTT, MTL, and BOS as bigger rivals than BUF. Something also tells me that Buffalo will quickly develop rivalries with the other NY teams being from the same state.

2. WPG vs MIN vs COL
- WPG's main rival is Minnesota (also the closest team geographically for travel), while Minnesota's main rival is Colorado. These 3 teams should be in a division together. It also doesn't make sense to leave Seattle out of a division with Vancouver. So put Seattle in Jets spot. Vegas in Seattle spot. Dallas in Minnesota's spot... all those teams can go in a division with Arizona (closest to Colorado, stole the original Jets - they will fit in).

How would the schedule and playoff format work?

With 82 game schedule, would be easier to just do two conferences.

If they go for more intra-divisional games, it benefits, divisions with less travel

You just perfectly optimized the NHL to maximize the league's rivalries, the only other change that should be made would be switching Minnesota and Dallas for the rivalry with Winnipeg and Colorado (also improves travel for WPG).

The only counter argument is Detroit will not want to be in the Western Conference the time zone difference is brutal, however if the NHL switch to 4 Conferences (Atlantic, Central, Eastern, Pacific) then that wouldn't be an issue.

How about...

Eastern Conference

Northiest:


Metro:


Crosvechkistan:


Red State:


Western Conference

Industrial Midwest:


Dust Bowl:


High Rent:
:krakken

Up There:

Detroit might hate the time difference but most of there rivalries are old rivalries from their time in the West, they don't really have rivalries with east teams

I totally agree, but your a habs fan be honest... would you want to play more games against the Pacific division just because of old rivals? When the habs go to the west coast those are the worst games.

Rivalries take time to build, unfortunately for Detroit the team hasn't been very relevant since they came to the east. That's one of the issues with the new schedule format though... the divisions are too big so it's harder to create regular season rivals.

Solution:

ATLANTIC CONFERENCE
NORTH ATLANTIC
[ ] Buffalo Sabres (ET)
[ ] New Jersey Devils (ET)
[ ] New York Islanders (ET)
[ ] New York Rangers (ET)
SOUTH ATLANTIC
[ ] Columbus Blue Jackets (ET)
[ ] Philadelphia Flyers (ET)
[ ] Pittsburgh Penguins (ET)
[ ] Washington Capitals (ET)

EASTERN CONFERENCE
NORTHEAST
[ ] Boston Bruins (ET)
[ ] Montreal Canadiens (ET)
[ ] Ottawa Senators (ET)
[ ] Toronto Maple Leafs (ET)
SOUTHEAST
[ ] Carolina Hurricanes (ET)
[ ] Florida Panthers (ET)
[ ] Nashville Predators (CT)
[ ] Tampa Bay Lightning (ET)

CENTRAL CONFERENCE
EAST CENTRAL
[ ] Chicago Blackhawks (CT)
[ ] Dallas Stars (CT)
[ ] Detroit Red Wings (ET)
[ ] St. Louis Blues (CT)
MIDWEST
[ ] Arizona Coyotes (MT)
[ ] Colorado Avalanche (MT)
[ ] Minnesota Wild (CT)
[ ] Winnipeg Jets (CT)

PACIFIC CONFERENCE
NORTHWEST
[ ] Calgary Flames (MT)
[ ] Edmonton Oilers (MT)
[ ] Seattle Kraken (PT)
[ ] Vancouver Canucks (PT)
SOUTHWEST
[ ] Anaheim Ducks (PT)
[ ] LA Kings (PT)
[ ] San Jose Sharks (PT)
[ ] Vegas Golden Knights (PT)

SCHEDULE (82 Games)
- 18 Division Games (3 Teams × 6 Games)
- 16 Conference Games (4 Teams × 4 Games)
- 48 Non-Conference Games (24 Teams × 2 Games)

I’m down for new divisions but not in love with that idea. Also I want the old division names back! I miss winning the Patrick Division. I just found my 30 year old 93 Patrick Division champs hat. I’ll be cherishing these things when we suck for a while.

If there was ever any talk of Detroit going back to the west, Mike Ilitch would rise from the grave to stop it.

You could get away with two conferences, 8 divisions if you had it setup as @Shanesaw9 does but switched Detroit and Nashville. Maybe a bit of rearranging for geographical purposes on in the east.

You would have made it out of the Columbus, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Washington division this year! (assuming division winners are automatically seeded in the playoffs).

That's one potential issue with a small division format, how do playoffs work? It's easy to align teams in a division but what does it mean for the schedule or playoff format?

I guess I’m fine with 4 divisions but I’d move the FL teams to the metro and rename it the Patrick. I’d move us and the Jackets to the Atlantic and rename it the Adams. I honestly like how the west is set up minus AZ not on the West coast

Noob question... how do you insert team logos?

When you go to reply to a comment, there should be a bar at the top, click on the emoji icon and under that, you will find “logos”, click that and you have access to 31 team logos ( Seattle isn’t there ) and the NHL logo

thanks!

How are you going to split up Buffalo and Toronto in the name of *keeping* rivalries?

You think Toronto and Buffalo have a rivalry? They very much do not and please tell me which of Ottawa, Montreal or Boston aren't rivals with Toronto?

As someone who has lived the Battle of the QEW, I assure you they very much do.
Ottawa is the obvious odd-man-out.

So you want to remove the battle of Ontario? Buffalo is simply the odd man out of Ottawa, Boston, Montreal, Toronto, all have at least a decent rivalry with each other, Buffalo only has an argument of a rivalry with Toronto

As per the fan survey from https://knowrivalry.com/

Boston's Rivals:
1. Montreal

Montreal's Rivals:
1. Boston
2. Toronto

Ottawa's Rivals:
1. Toronto
2. Montreal

Toronto's Rivals:
1. Montreal
2. Ottawa
3. Boston

Sure Buffalo may view Toronto (and Boston) as their rivals, but not one of the 4 teams above consider Buffalo to be their rival... Buffalo is the obvious odd man out, not one team would miss Buffalo if they were moved to another division.

Being in NY state I'd think Buffalo would fit well with the other NY teams.

I think the current divisions are fine