NHL Realignment Maps
NHL Realignment Maps
As a companion to my NHL Realignment Project, this page will act as a compendium of the maps. For those of you who don’t want to wade through my rambling rationales for each realignment, this is the place for you. Just the maps. Click each map to see it larger.
If however you do want to view all the full blog entries in one place… click here to see the entire NHL Realignment Project.
Special thanks to OilersNation.com for the original map used in the first 40ish weeks.
And now for the maps:
Week One: Moving and Shaking (and Expanding) — Read Post »
NHL Realignment Project — Week 1 (Map A)
NHL Realignment Map – Week 1 (Map B)
Week Two: Phoenix to Seattle — Read Post »
NHL Realignment Map – Week 2
Week Three: Damn, that’s Cold — Read Post »
NHL Realignment Map – Week 3
Week Four: The Devil You Say! — Read Post »
NHL Realignment Map – Week 4
Week Five: Get Real! — Read Post »
NHL Realignment Map – Week 5
Week Six: Get Real, Take Two! — Read Post »
NHL Realignment Map – Week 6
Week Seven: Bigger is Better — Read Post »
NHL Realignment Map – Week 7
Week Eight: Canadian Madness — Read Post »
NHL Realignment Map – Week 8
Week Nine: Barbecue and Desert — Read Post »
NHL Realignment Map – Week 9
Week Ten: A Long Trip Leads to Rivalry Overdose — Read Post »
NHL Realignment Map – Week 10
Week Eleven: The MLB Map — Read Post »
NHL Realignment Map – Week 11
Week Twelve: The NFL Map — Read Post »
NHL Realignment Map – Week 12
Week Thirteen: There and Back Again — Read Post »
NHL Realignment Map – Week 13
Week Fourteen: The Mother Lode! — Read Post »
NHL Realignment Map – Week 14
Week Fifteen: Triple Threat — Read Post »
NHL Realignment Map – Week 15
Week Sixteen: Champions League (Version 1) — Read Post »
NHL Realignment Map – Week 16
Week Seventeen: Champions League (Version 2) — Read Post »
NHL Realignment Map – Week 17
Week Eighteen: Champions League Plus — Read Post »
NHL Realignment Map – Week 18
Week Nineteen: Champions League (Semi) Final — Read Post »
NHL Realignment Map – Week 19
Week Twenty: Domo Arigato, Mr. Roboto — Read Post »
NHL Realignment Map – Week 20
Week Twenty-One: Pod Casting — Read Post »
NHL Realignment Map – Week 21
Week Twenty-Two: Nationalism — Read Post »
NHL Realignment Map – Week 21
Week Twenty-Three: Nationalism, Expanded — Read Post »
NHL Realignment Map – Week 23
Week Twenty-Four: Oh Six! — Read Post »
NHL Realignment Map – Week 24
Week Twenty-Five: Oh Six (Times Six)! — Read Post »
NHL Realignment Map – Week 25
Week Twenty-Six: Oh Six (One Last Time) — Read Post »
NHL Realignment Map – Week 26
Week Twenty-Seven: Dear, Gary — Read Post »
The Realigned NHL 2012-2013
The NHL Realigned – Possible Near Future (PHX-to-KC)
The NHL Realigned – Possible Near Future (PHX-to-QBC)
Week Twenty-Eight: Gary Christmas! — Read Post »
Gary Bettman’s NHL Realignment Map
Week Twenty-Nine: Where do we go from here? — Read Post »
NHL Realignment Map – Week 29
Week Thirty: Seeking 32 (KC, QBC, Hamilton, Portland) — Read Post »
NHL Realignment Map – Week 30
Week Thirty-One: Seeking 32 (Quebec City, Seattle, Houston) — Read Post »
NHL Realignment Map – Week 31
Week Thirty-Two: Seeking 32 (Quebec City, Portland, Kansas City, Houston) — Read Post »
NHL Realignment Map – Week 32
Week Thirty-Three: All the People, All the Time — Read Post »
NHL Realignment Map – Week 33
Week Thirty-Four: So Long, Sunshine and Buckeye States — Read Post »
NHL Realignment Map – Week 34
Week Thirty-Five: Merge and Move — Read Post »
NHL Realignment Map – Week 35
Week Thirty-Six: Getting Vertical, Eh! — Read Post »
NHL Realignment Map – Week 36
Week Thirty-Seven: West, West, West, West, East — Read Post »
NHL Realignment Map – Week 37
Week Thirty-Eight: Something Old, Something New(s) — Read Post »
NHL Realignment Map – Week 38
Week Thirty-Nine: Simply Seattle — Read Post »
NHL Realignment Map – Week 39
Week Forty: Arena Talk — Read Post »
NHL Realignment Map – Week 40
Week Forty-One: Whale of a Tweak — Read Post »
NHL Realignment Map – Week 41
Week Forty-Two: I’m Having Contractions — Read Post »
NHL Realignment Map – Week 42
Week Forty-Three: Five Alive — Read Post »
NHL Realignment Map – Week 43
Week Forty-Four: There Is No Spoon — Read Post »
NHL Realignment Map – Matrix
Week Forty-Five: Red Hot & Blue — Read Post »
NHL Realignment Map – Week 45
Week Forty-Six: Olé… Olé, Olé, Olé! — Read Post »
NHL Realignment Map – Week 46
Week Forty-Seven: La Key en Rose — Read Post »
NHL Realignment Map – Week 47
Week Forty-Eight: Gary’s Dream — Read Post »
NHL Realignment Map – Week 48
Week Forty-Nine: Gary’s Dream – With a Little Barbecue Sauce — Read Post »
NHL Realignment Map – Week 49
Week Fifty: Bulldogs and Metropolitans — Read Post »
NHL Realignment Map – Week 50
Week Fifty-One: A More Balanced East — Read Post »
NHL Realignment Project – Week 51
Week Fifty-Two: Rivalry Pods — Read Post »
NHL Realignment Map – Week 52
Expansion? With what talent?
Every expansion has generated that same response. I think so long as the league capped any expansion to two more teams… we’d be okay. I personally would rather see the league go to 28 teams, but that’s just me.
Contraction is ridiculous and just won’t happen. Imagine that you are the guy who owns a franchise worth $250M. Are you suddenly going to say – okay, hockey needs me to close my business for the betterment of the game. Absurd. Contraction is usually raised by Original Six elitists that think the only hockey that is played is from the old school teams. They also think that newer teams or those with more Ls than Ws need contracted. If you look at how long it took many of these teams to become competitive, let alone win a cup you would realize that franchise development takes time. Building a fan base and being successful is more than just Ws and Ls.
i really like that pod idea its the best idea in hockey since the goalie mask
Thanks. I rather enjoy the pods myself. When the NHL expands someday, that’d be the way I’d go.
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Its such as you read my thoughts! You seem to understand so much approximately this, such as you wrote the e-book in it or something. I believe that you simply can do with a few p.c. to power the message house a bit, however instead of that, that is fantastic blog. An excellent read. I will certainly be back.
Please for to expressing my thank yous! I are thinked of soon to write eebook on subject! I will are continue to been greatfull with continued readings by yourselfing.
—TF
Its just me but id like it for NY islanders to stay on LI but my idea of what to do 32 teams is:
Smythe Norris Adams Patrick
EDM CHI BUF PHI
CAL DET BOS PIT
LA COLUM OTT WAS
SJ MIN TOR NYR
ANA WINN MTL NJ
COL DAL QBC (phoenix move) NYI
SEATTLE (EXPANSION) NSH FLA CAR
VAN STL TB HARTFORD (EXPANSION)
pretty simple and adds some great rivalries with QBC/MTL, HART/CAR…VAN/SEA
give me some feedback and your thoughts because i love your realignment plans and maps. Awesome stuff
Hey, James. Thanks for reading and for the compliments. Always nice to hear that my work isn’t all for naught.
Agreed, that the new rivalries would be sweet. I hadn’t really thought of the HRT/CAR rivalry… it really would be great. And the Hurricanes are in desperate need of a rival to add to relevance these days. Nice work.
I really don’t have any bones to pick with your alignment. It keeps major rivals together. It keeps time-zone travel to a minimum in-division. It gets the cool old division names back too. Excellently done, sir.
Cheers and keep reading!
—TF
Thanks for the great website. Is one of these models the straight GEO model. Group teams which are geographically closet as the crow flies?
Clearly teams in the east have an advantage relative to travel time and travel costs. If you send the TOR, MTL, BOS, PIT and NYx of the world out west for a couple of trips they would be pxxxxing and moaning pretty quickly about travel costs and fatigue from travelling three time zones multiples times a season. Think about it. Teams like CBUS and DET are at huge disadvantages since they are on the eastern side of the Western Conference and are in the Eastern time zone.
realignment seems less messy with one FINAL, two-team expansion. i clearly am not aware of all that goes into expansions nor the length of time required to create one, but two canadian expansions [quebec city (QBC) and hamilton (HAM)] would be sound decisions. so w/ 32 teams, you could have 4, 8-team divisions or 8, 4-team divisions.
1E QBC/MTL/OTT/BOS
2E BUF/PIT/HAM/TOR
3E NYR/NYI/NJD/PHI
4E WSH/CAR/TBL/FLA
1W NSH/CBJ/CHI/DET
2W COL/MIN/STL/DAL
3W VAN/CGY/EDM/WPG
4W PHX/ANA/LAK/SJS
1E QBC/MTL/OTT/BOS/BUF/PIT/HAM/TOR
2E NYR/NYI/NJD/PHI/WSH/CAR/TBL/FLA
1W NSH/CBJ/CHI/DET/COL/MIN/STL/DAL
2W VAN/CGY/EDM/WPG/PHX/ANA/LAK/SJS
if PHX folds, they should be relocated to seattle (SEA) or saskatoon (SKN)
3W SKN/CGY/EDM/WPG
4W VAN/ANA/LAK/SJS
3W VAN/CGY/EDM/WPG
4W SEA/ANA/LAK/SJS
2W SKN/VAN/CGY/EDM/WPG/ANA/LAK/SJS
2W SEA/VAN/CGY/EDM/WPG/ANA/LAK/SJS
i acknowledge that CAN/US customs would impact some of these divisions
Very thorough, my friend. Funny that lately, I’ve been leaning towards more divisions with less teams. It would be very interesting to have a playoffs that were made up of four champions and four “wildcards” in each conference. It certainly would make divisional rivalries way more intense.
As much as I love the idea of Saskatoon getting a team, I don’t think the NHL would go for it since Corporate support in the market is comparatively lean when compared to Seattle, say. The population base is really small too especially when compared to Seattle as well. The positive would be a nice rivalry triumvirate with Minnesota and Winnipeg. Would be sweet.
Thanks for you comments!
— TeeEff
Let me run this one by you.
Canadian Conference
East- Mtl,Ott,Que(expansion),Tor(leafs)
West- Cgy,Edm,Van,Wpg
Atlantic Conference
North- NJ,NYR,Phi,Pit
South- Car,Fla,TB,Wsh
Northern Conference
Northeast – Bos,Buf,Clb,Markham(or whatever,expansion)
Central- Chi,Det,Min,StL
Western Conference
Midwest- Col,Dal,Nsh,Phx(Yotes stay)
Pacific – Ana,LA,SJ,Sea(Islanders,name works there)
4 teams make playoffs in each conference, at least one in each division.
Guarantees a Canadian team in final 4. Makes TSN and CBC happy.
Odds of 2 Canadian teams making final is virtually nil. Take a breath,Gary.
Division teams play 6 against each other. 4 against teams in opposing divsion within conference.
Home and home against rest of league. Deal with it Lou.
Have weeks 47 to 52 been posted?
I love the week 32 expansion with the Houston Aeros (my home town team). I think that would work especially with the rivalry between Houston and Dallas, I could see that bringing in tons of money for both teams. It would be even cooler if San Antonio had a team too like in the 44 team expansion, that would create an even bigger Texas Triangle Rivalry (although thats a long shot).
Thanks, Derek. As a Dallas Stars fan, nothing would make me happier (other than getting out of the Pacific Division) than seeing them get a great, in-state rivalry going. It would be so intense.
—TF
What about (essentially) the same map as week #15 but without contraction. Then put the four top teams in each of the divisions into playoff brackets, plus a wildcard bracket of the next best four teams in the league. The four winners meet in the Stanley Cup semis.
Pros: Travel; any two teams can meet for the cup (Toronto v Montreal anyone?)
I thought that Nashville should relocate to the Eastern Conference`s Southeast Division, than relocate Winnipeg to the Western Conference`s Central Division.
The move would have made more sense geographicallhy. However, it`s too late now…
There’s always 2015-16
if you can’t skate outside at LEAST once a year there should be no hockey team.