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I know this is a complete dream that could never happen but if I were the commish and could move the franchises this is what I'd do:
Columbus to Winnipeg
New York to Hartford
Nashville to Salt Lake
Anaheim to Houston
Florida to Oklahoma City
Phoenix to Portland
Atlanta to Kansas City
Hamilton (expansion)
Quebec (expansion)
The expansion would most likely help the team since there both in Canada which would support the team even if their not very good to begin (ie:Minnesota). The expansion would also allow for their to be eight 4 team divisions, 4 in each league. It would allow for divisional playoffs to be re-born. However, I disagree with past post in which the teams should not be regionalized. What is great about many of the rivalries (New York-New Jersey, Quebec-Montreal) is that they are so close to one another. This is how the divisions would play out:
EAST
North East
Boston Bruins
Montreal Canadiens
Quebec Nordiques
Hartford Whalers
4 classic teams bringing back the Quebec-Montreal rivalry, and a New England rivalry that end got off the ground, plus Boston-Montreal
North
Ottawa Senators
Toronto Maple Leafs
Detroit Red Wings
Hamilton Bulldogs
Debated whether to put Buffalo or Detroit in this division but the division would be very weak if not for Detroit
Central?????
Buffalo Sabres
New York Rangers
New Jersey Devils
Philadelphia Flyers
The great Atlantic Rivalry stays intact
Atlantic?????
Pittsburgh Penguins
Carolina Hurricanes
Tampa Lightning
Washington Capitals
Probably the weakest conference in terms of rivalries, Carolina is probably the weakest market that I didn't move
WEST
Central
St. Louis Blues
Minnesota Wild
Kansas City Jazz
Chicago Blackhawks
Kansas City-St. Louis would be an instant rivalry
South
Oklahoma City Blaze
Houston Ducks????
Dallas Stars
Colorado Avalanche
Colorado-Dallas have a healthy little rivalry, A Houston-Dallas Divisional Playoff would be great
North
Vancouver Canucks
Winnipeg Jets
Calgary Flames
Edmonton Oilers
All-Canada Division
West
Portland Beavers
San Jose Sharks
Utah Snow
Los Angeles Kings
Decent Division, all depends on how Portland and Utah would react to major league hockey
Each team plays their division opponents 10 times (30)
Each team plays their conference (non-division) opponents 4 times (48)
Each division plays a different division in inter-league play (4)
Keeps 82 game schedule, with each division team playing the same exact schedule
Last edited by otis251850; 05-13-2008 at 05:47 PM..
Off The Top..of my head a tulsan california transplant
1.Winnipeg and Hamilton..the commish has been kicking around a lot of discussion about rewarding Da Loyal Winnipeg Fans with the return of NHL and Winnipeg is right up Hwy 75 from Tulsa OK
2.Houston Texas....Houston lost to Dallas in a Bidding War for a NHL..Franchise
3.Tulsa and Oklahoma City are working together as a team to bring NHL to
Tulsa , because the only way that Oklahoma is going to get 3 or 4 of the Major League Sports To Oklahoma is split them between the two Cities....the
Two Metro Area's are only 75 miles apart.
4.Kansas City and Hartford are in bold because they are the ones trying the hardest , most people don't know this but Kansas City wasn't the only City bidding for the Pittsburg NHL team..Houston and OKC and Tulsa were in the background Bidding too. And by the way the Bank Of Oklahoma Arena Was Built for a NHL and Arena Football Franchise. Vision 2025 - Arena 5.Seattle.Portland,Albuquerque,Miwaukee,Indianopolis ,Quebec City, Bridgeport CT, San Antonio..doesn't want a NHL Team..San Antonio is working very hard for a NFL Team because they helped New Orleans Out In Her time Of Need..
Quebec City doesn't want an NHL team ?? Are you nuts ?! I live there and there have never been as many rumors for an NHL return. At least 2 different groups of business men are working on the case and Marcel Aubut, former owner, isin constant talks with City mayor.
Quebec City mayor said "Find a business man to bring a Team, and I'll take car of the new Arena!"
The old "Colisee Pepsi", former home of the Nordiques, could easily host a team for a year or two while while new 20,000 seats Arena is built.
By the way, if you didn't know, World Hockey Championships is in town and it is a huge success story. Don't try to find tickets, everything is sold out! Bettman was in town and had secret meetings with some business men last week, lets hope this leads to GOOD NEWS!
It seems weird Seattle doesn't already have one. I mean if freakin Anaheim does
I'm still surprised Seattle still does not have a team. Being the first American city to win the stanley cup you would think they would have one. But I guess they would need a new arena to have a franchise.[/quote]
Seattle also has lots of potential corporate support in Microsoft, Boeing, Starbucks, Amazon etc. This is important in terms of stadium naming rights, luxuroy box suites sales.
If the NHL awards a city a new team, it had better be in Canada. Id love to see Quebec City get a team, even though theyd struggle against the Habs. I loved the old Nordiques and wish they would bring them back. Kansas City has already shown they cant support a NHL team, with their massive flop of the Scouts. I dont know why Basillie wanted to move the Preds there. If Jim had any brains at all, he'd have put the team in Canada somewhere, but the Preds recently signed a deal stating they wont move. If the team had to be in the states, Id love to see Milwaukee get a team, I think they could support one no problem. But places like Albuquerque and Oklahoma? Forget it. Bad idea.
Kansas City? a flop? that was a loooong time ago. KC has changed alot since then. If that rational were true then Colorado and Atlanta shouldn't have teams as well b/c they had them before. KC has an NHL/NBA quality area *already* built and waiting for a tenant.
Oklahoma could support a team b/t OKC and Tulsa, they're getting an NBA team.
and Milwaukee? come on, when the Bradley Center was built in the late 80's it was one of the finest areas in all of North America. The sightlines were built with hockey, not basketball, in mind. If the Petit's had wanted an NHL expansion team they surley would've gotten it but in the end they decided no. Milwaukeeans just don't want to pay NHL ticket prices. Milwaukee has the second highest unemployment rate (behind Detroit) for all US metro areas. Despite the success of the U of Wis men's and women's hockey teams Wisconsin isn't much of a hockey state as compared with Minn and Mich. I live 1.45 mins from Madison and have more success finding U of Minn and U of Mich games on TV than Badger games.
I'm still surprised Seattle still does not have a team. Being the first American city to win the stanley cup you would think they would have one. But I guess they would need a new arena to have a franchise.
Seattle also has lots of potential corporate support in Microsoft, Boeing, Starbucks, Amazon etc. This is important in terms of stadium naming rights, luxuroy box suites sales.
I just get the impression the "leadership" of Seattle thinks the only sports the city should have are speed reading and baristalympics. They can't seem to run the Sonics out of town fast enough. Hockey's definitely too lowbrow and working class for such a high-minded city as Seattle.
Hockey's definitely too lowbrow and working class for such a high-minded city as Seattle.
Ha! I work next to a guy who's a Seattle native, and he reminds me quite often that he loves baseball and his Mariners. When he asked me if I was going to grab some tickets that our company was handing out to see the Nationals play here in D.C., I said I wasn't really interested, since my wife and I follow football and hockey and don't really care much about baseball. "Oh, that's right," he said. "You guys are all about blue-collar sports."
My jaw just about hit the floor. So baseball is for the high-minded business folks, and football and hockey are for the grunts on the assembly line? Strange attitude, since he and I are both degreed professionals who work side by side in an office environment.
So yeah, maybe Seattleites ARE a little bit highfalutin ...
Ha! I work next to a guy who's a Seattle native, and he reminds me quite often that he loves baseball and his Mariners. When he asked me if I was going to grab some tickets that our company was handing out to see the Nationals play here in D.C., I said I wasn't really interested, since my wife and I follow football and hockey and don't really care much about baseball. "Oh, that's right," he said. "You guys are all about blue-collar sports."
My jaw just about hit the floor. So baseball is for the high-minded business folks, and football and hockey are for the grunts on the assembly line? Strange attitude, since he and I are both degreed professionals who work side by side in an office environment.
So yeah, maybe Seattleites ARE a little bit highfalutin ...
Grunt...unngnggg *drool*
Yep..us hockey fans is nutting but knuckledraggers...
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Off The Top..of my head a tulsan california transplant
I live there and there have never been as many rumors for an NHL return. At least 2 different groups of business men are working on the case and Marcel Aubut, former owner, isin constant talks with City mayor.
