Habs 2010
Rejoint: mai 2020
Messages: 1,550
Mentions "j'aime": 975
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?