How a Potential NHL Division Realignment Could Affect Nashville Predators
With the news of the Coyotes relocating to Salt Lake, division realignment is at the forefront again. Where would the Predators end up?
So, What Should the NHL Realignment Look Like?
It is still more than doable for the league to keep two conferences, that is not the thing that deperately needs to be changed, even if it would be possible to do without them. Where the big fix needs to be is in the divisions, and the NHL would be best off to adopt an NFL-style approach in this regard.
There should be four divisions per conference, and four teams per division. Divisions are not meant to be nearly as big as the NHL has them, so having only four teams in each is a perfect split, and would ensure that teams are only grouped with their rivals and other teams who are actually closeby, or somehow, make sense as divisional foes.
This would also give the league a chance to make the schedule matrix crystal clear, and put a true emphasis on teams playing their divisional and inter-conference foes more than anyone else. Neither of those is happening under the current situation, and honestly could not be when there are eight teams per division.
If the NHL did go this route of realignment, this is what the scheduling would look like.
In Division Games: 6 games each against 3 other teams, with 3 games per team at home and 3 games per team on the road, for a total of 18 games
In Conference Games: 4 games each against 12 other teams, with 2 games per team at home and 2 games per team on the road, for a total of 48 games
Out of Conference Games: 1 game each against 16 other teams, with a game each against 2 teams per division at home and a game each against 2 other teams per division on the road, for a total of 16 games, and alternate home and away for each team every year
In this version of a league realignment, you play 18 games in the division, 48 conference games, and 16 out of conference games. That is a total of 82 games, so the league could still keep the normal amount of games played, and have it be drastically easier to follow and decipher.
There is a real pattern in terms of how divisional, conference, and out of conference opponents are scheduled, and there are no are no asterisks or exceptions. It is much more black and white this way, and there would never be an issue with teams not playing divisional foes enough, like I touched on with the Predators and Blues this year.
Changing the divisions to do it this way would also give the league a chance to alter its playoff format, which is another thing that is broken, along everything else that was mentioned. Under the current system, there is much more of an emphasis placed on divisional opponents playing against each other rather than higher seeds playing against lower seeds, and it is not exactly fair.
For example, in the 2017-18 season, the Predators won the President's Trophy and the Jets took second place. You would think that the teams would not meet in the playoffs until the Conference Finals, but thanks to the playoff format, that was not the case.
The Predators were a 1-seed in the West, like all division winners are in their conferences, but the Jets were a divisional 2-seed. Both teams are and were in the same division, and with the Predators winning in round 1, they awaited the winner of the Central Division 2 and 3 seed matchup, which was the Jets.
See what I mean? The current NHL playoff system is not designed so that the best teams will actually be given the best chance to go far in the playoffs, which is the way it should be.
But under the suggested realignment, there is a much more fair way for the league to format the playoffs, and come to a compromise with how it is currently done.
With four divisions in each conference, the top four seeds in each conference could be the division winners in order of points. Some may not love that because not all divisions have the greatest teams, but there are probably just as many who do not like division winners not getting at least some reward for it.
Plus, with only four teams per division instead of eight, there is a much lower chance of a situation similar to the Predators and Jets years ago.
Even in a clearer system, not everything is going to please everyone or be 110% fair, so guaranteeing each division winner a playoff berth is a sensible thing to do. After that, the 5-8 seeds would be the remaining teams who have the most points in the standings, which in itself is easy to follow.
In this case, the NHL could re-adopt a traditional 1 vs 8 playoff seeding per conference, yet keep what they have done for years and make sure that the division winners are the top seeds. That is much better than letting the divisions purely determine the playoff matchups, and does maybe not a perfect, but much better job of making sure the best teams play against each other when they should.
Now, let's look at how the actual conferences and divisions should be assembled.
EASTERN CONFERENCE
Northeast: Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs, Ottawa Senators, Boston Bruins
Metropolitan: New York Rangers, New York Islanders, New Jersey Devils, Buffalo Sabres
Atlantic: Philadelphia Flyers, Pittsburgh Penguins, Washington Capitals, Carolina Hurricanes
Central East: Florida Panthers, Tampa Bay Lightning, Columbus Blue Jackets, Detroit Red Wings
Right off the bat in the Eastern Conference, there are several pairs and groups of teams that cannot be separated. The three Canadian teams have to be together, as well as both New York teams and the Devils, both Pennsylvania teams, and both Florida teams.
Additionally, with how the rivalry with the Penguins and Capitals has evolved over the years, you really want them in the same division. So that leaves the Bruins, Sabres, Hurricanes, Blue Jackets, and Red Wings in temporary no man's land, but there are viable solutions that jump out for two of those teams.
The Bruins make the most sense to go to the Northeast with the Canadian teams, while the Sabres join the Metropolitan. The biggest deciding factor here is the Sabres being in New York State, so it was best for them to join their other foes from New York City, and New Jersey.
In the case of the Bruins, they have been in a division with the Eastern teams from Canada for so long, and their rivalry with the Canadiens is one of the most storied in the sport. There's no reason to break that up.
After the Bruins and Sabres, it's down to the Hurricanes, Blue Jackets, and Red Wings. Ultimately, geography plays a huge role in the decision of where to place them, and I would love to put the Hurricanes in a division with the Panthers and Lightning, but it was not feasible.
Looking at all eight teams in the Atlantic and Central East, those in the Atlantic are actually the easternmost locations, and are actually in close proximity to one another. All four in the Atlantic are also in the same division today, so it was reasonable to keep that going.
In the Central East, the Blue Jackets and Red Wings make too much sense for it, given their location, and the fact that they were a part of the old Central when they were in the Western Conference. The Panthers and Lightning are good teams to join them, especially given the fact that they were in the Central during the 2021 COVID season, along with the Jackets and Wings.
Travel wise, the Central East is not the most favorable, but given how far south the Panthers and Lightining are, they were going to have it rough anyway. I suppose it could be made easier for the Jackets and Wings, but when you are trying to do the best for the Conference as a whole, you just are not going to make it perfect for every individual team.
With the way the Eastern Conference is assembled here, we can see that the Predators would not be involved, which might be a disappointment for some. But if they did move over, who are you taking out?
Every team in the East is on the Eastern time zone, so it would be even less fair for one of them to slide to the West in place of the Predators. Once again, you cannot make it 100% optimal for each team, so it is what it is for the Predators, but with this suggested format, they would certainly have it better than they currently do.
WESTERN CONFERENCE
Northwest: Edmonton Oilers, Calgary Flames, Vancouver Canucks, Seattle Kraken
Pacific: Anaheim Ducks, Los Angeles Kings, San Jose Sharks, Vegas Golden Knights
Scenic: Colorado Avalanche, Salt Lake City, Minnesota Wild, Winnipeg Jets
Central West: Chicago Blackhawks, St. Louis Blues, Nashville Predators, Dallas Stars
The Western Conference is significantly harder to put together than the Eastern Conference, but there are still several teams that have to be together no matter what. You surely are not separating the Alberta teams, and you really want the Canucks to also be in that division.
You also must keep the California teams together, as well as the Blackhawks and Blues, and the NHL certainly will have the Avalanche be in a division with the new Utah team. So that leaves the Kraken, Golden Knights, Wild, Jets, Predators, and Stars without a home, and it really did take some mixing and matching to decide where each team belongs.
When I first did this, I was so intent on having the Jets join the Northwest to create an all-Canada division, but that would result in one big traveling nightmare. That would not even just be for the Jets, it would have a ripple effect on the rest of the conference.
Putting the Jets in the Northwest makes it so that the Kraken are in the Pacific, and the Knights in the Scenic, which would create much more travel for both them and the Wild.
Having only Canadian teams in the Northwest is a fun idea, but would create a logistical mess, so it is honestly not wise to go in that direction. The way I ultimately designed it was not perfect, but much less burdensome on the teams in terms of travel, and still would have some pretty fun themes and rivalries.
In the Northwest, you have all three Canadian teams and the Kraken, who are all within fairly close distance of one another. Plus, Seattle and Vancouver are right down the road from each other, and with the Kraken being so new in the NHL, the league could see an opportunity to showcase them and market that rivalry, which would be easier to emphasize in a much smaller division.
The Pacific is a virtual no brainer, as you have the California teams, and Vegas is easily the next closest one. The Knights have also developed a bit of a rivalry with the Sharks, and with Arizona (presumably) no longer having a team, the league would have no reason to promote a desert battle with them and the Knights, so they can put the Knights in the Pacific without hesitation.
That leaves eight more teams, and the Central West is one that makes a lot of sense. You obviously have the Blackhawks and Blues, who have been in a division with the Predators for years, and the Predators have developed a Southern themed rivalry with the Stars in the recent past.
All four of those teams are in the same division today, and with how far east the Predators are, the only way this is fair to them is if they are in the Central and their travel is kept in check at least for in-division games.
RELATED. Preds. Rearranging the Pack: Move the Preds to Eastern Conference?. dark
This leaves the Scenic, which is probably the most controversial division here, and it starts with the name. Given where each team is located, I wanted to make the division name have something to do with the outdoorsy and environmental theme, and if you can call the Metropolitan Division what it is today, you can get away with calling this one right here the Scenic.
What also makes the Scenic controversial is the amount of travel involved, but that is a big part of why the Jets were put in this division. With them being there, both them and the Wild get a little less total travel for their divisional games, and of course not everything can be perfect with how geographically expansive the West is, but it is better than nothing.
If the NHL were to implement this overall alignment as well as the playoff format, it would be the best for everyone in terms of scheduling, travel, and playoff seeding. If a realignment happens and it is not done exactly like this, hopefully it is similar, or at least a step up from the current alignment, which in all fairness, a lot of things would be a step up from the current alignment.