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NHL REALIGNMENT SPARKS ENTHUSIASM
Thursday was a significant day for the National Hockey League.
When the Board of Governors voted in favour of realignment, having already been given the go-ahead from the NHLPA, a revamped landscape began to take shape across the league for next season.
Here’s a detailed breakdown of how each division will look, along with a map and the new playoff schedule matrix.
No realignment will suit every team’s needs, but one thing which seems to be drawing universal praise is the fact that all 30 teams will now play in all 30 arenas at least once per year. This hasn’t happened in the NHL since the ’97-98 campaign.
Hockey Hearsay strives to bring you interesting perspectives from around the league daily. Given the ramifications of the new divisions, we’re dedicating Friday’s session solely to a sampling of realignment reaction from around the league.
WINNIPEG JETS (Winnipeg Free Press)
Jets’ Chairman and owner Mark Chipman: “We’re very relieved, as much as we’ve enjoyed those trips down south, I think our team and our coaches are very pleased to know that we’re going to be playing in the central time zone.”
“The travel burden ought to be not as onerous and we also really look forward to establishing some rivalries close to home, particularly Minnesota, the great franchise that presides in Chicago. I think our fans are extremely excited about the prospect of playing those teams and a lot of great teams in that division that are very much on the rise in St. Louis, Nashville has been a great team over the years and is consistently strong and Dallas has got a good young team.
“It’s very exciting for us as an organization and for our fans to be geographically located where we ought to be. It looks like, from a league perspective, it’s solved a lot of issues so we’re very, very supportive of it.”
The new format will mean that every team will play in each club’s building at least once in a season. Asked if the idea of having more Canadian teams in their division would have been appealing, Chipman said:
“That would have been great, but as a number of people have pointed out, there were a lot of objectives that we tried to achieve. We are going to play all the Canadian teams. But I think what we’ve learned in the last couple of years playing in the Southeast is our fans really like seeing all the teams. Having the (New York) Rangers in our building tonight is huge. Having seen (Sidney) Crosby in our building and all the premier teams coming through from the east has been impactful.
“It would have been nice, perhaps, to play Edmonton, Calgary more often. But we are going to play them. We’re going to play the Habs and the Leafs, Ottawa and Van and all those teams. Is it perfect? I don’t think anybody in the league would say it’s absolutely perfect. But as the commissioner said, we were trying to cover a lot of ground here and I think we’ve done that. The fact that we’re not seeing all the Canadian teams as often as we might have liked is a very reasonable compromise for us.”
EDMONTON OILERS (Edmonton Sun)
All those divisional playoff series are going to make for some spectacular rivalries.
“I truly believe so,” said Oilers GM Steve Tambellini. “I like what’s happened, the intensity within the division. You see the type of hockey that’s being played right now (with conference play). It’s intense within the conference. You’re seeing teams two or three times in a month and there are some intense battles out there.”
The Oilers will have to bolster their forces, won’t they, if they’re playing more games with LA, San Jose and Anaheim?
“You’ll always try to have good balance on your hockey club,” he said. “Los Angeles is a big heavy team, but we also see a team like Detroit that’s fast and skilled and plays a disciplined hockey game.
“You can lean one way or the other. Different teams have won the Stanley Cup over the last four or five years that looked totally different. You just have to be comfortable with what you are.”
A team with one of the NHL’s worst travel schedules will be travelling a little more under the league’s new alignment plan, but Tambellini feels it’s worth it.
“Overall it’s a wonderful thing for the fans, you want to see every team in your building at least once. You want to play every team at least once. For 6% more travel it really doesn’t mean that much to us. It’s more the fact that our fans get to see every single team at least one time a season.”
DETROIT RED WINGS (Michigan Live)
General Manager Ken Holland: “It’s a win-win for our fans and our team. There is more road games in prime time. We still have a home-and-home with the teams in the West. It’s an hour-and-a-half max to go everywhere in the East other than Florida and Tampa Bay, so there’s less time in the air, more opportunities to come home after road games at an earlier hour.”
More Holland: “There will be a real buzz in our marketplace with a whole new set of opponents. Our fan base will be extremely excited.”
Coach Mike Babcock: “It’s way better for our fans. I’m excited about who we get to play. I’ve never coached in the East, so I have to learn the (opponents), but I’m excited about that opportunity. Some of my favorite cities in the world are New York, Boston, Montreal.”
Captain Henrik Zetterberg: “It’s a good thing for hockey, it’s great for our fans. They’re going to see a lot of different teams and fun match-ups next year.”
Defenseman Niklas Kronwall: “I think it’s a great time for our fans. They’ll be able to watch our games in prime time a lot more than they have. Playing Montreal, Toronto, Boston more often, I’m hoping it’s going to spark that (enthusiasm from fans) even more. I know it will for us.”
MINNESOTA WILD (Star Tribune)
General Manager Chuck Fletcher: “It’s a big deal for our franchise. It’s a great opportunity for our team to reestablish some of the regional rivalries that the North Stars used to have awhile back. We’ll save on some travel costs, but more importantly, the wear and tear that our players are enduring, the travel should be easier, road games will be on TV at a normal time for the most part at hours where more people can watch them.
“It should be great.”
Coach Mike Yeo: “Travel-wise what it’s going to do for us is huge. As much as anything else, I love rivalry hockey and I think that’s going to bring that here.”
CALGARY FLAMES (Calgary Herald)
Coach Bob Hartley says he gets a schedule every year. He studies it, then constructs his game plan, simple as that. Beyond that, there are very few concerns.
“I can do lots of things, but I can’t move cities,” said Hartley. “They’re going to tell us how many games we play against certain (teams), then we’ll just go from there. It doesn’t change anything.”
Added Michael Cammalleri: “Adaptation will happen quickly. A year from now, it’ll be like it was never any different. As far as adjusting to who’s in your division and things like that? No big deal.”
More Cammalleri: “The (reduced) travel is something guys will really like, for sure,” said Cammalleri. “There’s a couple things nice for us going west. First thing, it’s nice going that way, time-zone-wise, (because) you get to bed earlier and get your rest. You feel much fresher going that way than going east. Also, it doesn’t hurt to get some Vitamin D, a little sun. Spending more time in So-Cal is always nice — as long as we’re winning the games.”
Jarome Iginla: “I like a lot of things about it. It makes sense with teams (such as Detroit Red Wings and Columbus Blue Jackets) moving . . . and being in the eastern time zone. And it’ll be nice to have Winnipeg (in the Western Conference) — another Canadian battle — and create that rivalry.
“I think it’s great to go to each building. Most hockey fans, they like their team, but they do enjoy seeing the other guys from around the league — getting to see them up close and not just on the highlights. And it’s fun to play against those guys every year. There’s a lot of positives.”
NASHVILLE PREDATORS (Nashville Tennessean)
General manager David Poile: “The positives outweigh the one negative. The one negative is we’re not in the same division as Detroit, which we’ve built up a really good rivalry with, both in the regular season and in the playoffs. The good news there is we don’t lose them completely. We’re going to play them once (at home) next year vs. three times.
“The pluses could be very advantageous, most importantly for our fans, but also for our players. From a fan standpoint, given our focus groups and communicating with our fans, they wanted to have the ability to see every team in the league, and now you have that. That in itself changes the schedule a lot for everybody, and I think that’s very fan friendly to have every team come into your building once a year. I think rivalries are built up in the playoffs. We know that in Nashville.
“I applaud it. It makes more sense travel-wise and makes more sense fan interest-wise. I think it’s a real good decision.”
Chief operating officer Jeff Cogen: “It’s beneficial, very beneficial, to the Preds. Some highlights are we’re still in the Central Division, or what will be the renamed potentially Central Division. We keep the majority of our rivalries, specifically Chicago and St. Louis. We add to that Minnesota, which as you saw is going to be a pretty good rival for the next 13 years. And we add Dallas, which if you watched our last two games, certainly has been a rivalry waiting to happen, so to speak. From that perspective I think it’s positive.
“From the travel, even if it doesn’t reduce total miles, it’s less West Coast trips and it’s more East Coast trips. And when you go from East to West traveling, you gain the hour coming back as opposed to losing the two coming from West to East. So that will be a benefit to our players.
“Our fans will see games at a more reasonable television hour on the road. We also have a home-and-home with the Eastern Conference, which will be a real benefit to the fans, and bringing Winnipeg in, they have some benefit in Atlanta as we look to expand into that marketplace. All in all I would say very positive.
“I don’t want to be disingenuous and say Detroit going away is OK — that’s clearly a little disappointing — but that’s made up by other teams coming in.”
Coach Barry Trotz: “It’s good, it’s necessary. I think it’s good for the fans. I know we’re going to miss Detroit, who has become a good rival for us. We played them a few times in the playoffs. We’re going to miss them and our fans are going to miss them because we had a lot of Detroit people who moved to Nashville.
“Where we’re located, we probably really should be in that Southeast corner right there. But the Central is fine. I get to go back to Winnipeg, where I’m from.”
PITTSBURGH PENGUINS (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review)
Penguins General Manager Ray Shero: “Selfish -wise, I love staying in the East, and from a travel standpoint it works great,” Shero said, adding his management of the Penguins’ roster will not change because of the realignment that restores a divisional playoff format for the first time since 1993.
“There are some real good teams presently in this conference, and (our) division is packed,” Shero said. “Even teams that today might not be playoff teams — that changes pretty quickly. Look at Montreal. Last year (the Canadiens) were 15th, and now they are first.”
Shero said he favors fans in each Western Conference city getting an annual chance to see the stars such as Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin of the Penguins.
“Sometimes they’ve gone two or three years without seeing those guys,” Shero said. “So, I think that (part of realignment) is great.”
SAN JOSE SHARKS (CSNBayArea.com)
Dan Boyle: “I’m good with it. Four divisions, hopefully the travel will be little bit better for a lot of teams. You get to see every team, I think that’s probably the most important thing for me, and the fans. The fans are going to get to see every team at least twice. I think that’s what we needed.”
The fact that every team in the league will visit HP Pavilion should be a key selling point for the Sharks’ sales staff. Bay Area hockey fans will get the opportunity to see players like Sidney Crosby, Steven Stamkos and Claude Giroux each and every year. It will be the first time that’s happened since the 1997-98 season, Patrick Marleau’s rookie year.
“When I first came into the league, it was nice going into each team’s building, and playing in it. That part of it will be fun,” Marleau said. “The travel is definitely something you have to look at, but I don’t know any different, so I’m ok in that boat. But, I think it will be fun to play a home-and-home with Eastern teams.”
WASHINGTON CAPITALS (Washington Post)
Tom Poti: “It will be good to kind of change it up a little bit. It was getting a little bit old with the different divisions, and it will kind of bring back some old rivalries like us and Pittsburgh. I think it will be good for the league. It’s obviously going to help out certain teams with travel; that’s the most important thing. You don’t want guys to be traveling an extra 10,000 to 20,000 miles. It really takes a toll on you.”
Jason Chimera: “I’m a big believer of, if the game’s in a good spot, why change things? I think the game’s in a great spot right now. Parity’s good; if you change a whole bunch of things maybe it’s not going to be as good.”
Free agents who have strong playoff performances or simply are a part of a postseason club often ink larger contracts than their peers who are idle in the spring. So the argument is that having a lesser chance of making the playoffs could result in lower contract values for some and might prompt players to prioritize playing in the West. But there is a trade-off there with significantly longer travel times for teams in the West than the East.
“I hope it doesn’t make guys sign in the West,” Chimera said. “It does make you want to think [about] things when you’re a free agent probably because you have a better chance of making it just percentage wise. It is what it is but I don’t know. I hope it doesn’t make the East any less – make people not want to sign there.”
CAROLINA HURRICANES (Washington Post)
Canes coach Kirk Muller: “It’s going to be tough. There are a lot of good teams in there. There are a lot of grinding, physical teams,” Muller said. “So it makes you sit back and evaluate your team and organization asking are we the type of team that’s skilled enough to go into certain arenas and get points or do you want to change your style to match up with your opponents?”