NHL Realignment and Division Names

[Digityman]

Pacific, Central, Metropolitan, Atlantic......

What say you? Do you like it?

[sarsippius]

Metropolitan???? This is a joke, right?

How about Adams, Smythe, Norris & Patrick? Has a nice ring to it

[Haliax]

The thought that the Red Wings are in the Atlantic Division is somewhat odd for me. I don't really know why they wouldn't have called the Metropolitan division the Atlantic and thought of something different for the 4th. I don't like metropolitan, I don't know how it fits with the other division names.

If we want to talk about the re-alignment, it will always be weird to me that Florida and Tampa Bay are in the same division as the Wings/Habs/Leafs/Sens etc. It has to be purely to try and increase interest in those 2 franchises.

[flyercanuck]

Metropolitian???? It's sports you idiot!

Will somebody, please, punch Bettman in the head.

[Haliax]

@flyercanuck

I don't think that Bettman made the decision unilaterally.

[flyercanuck]

@Haliax

That doesn't affect my wishes one bit.

[Boston]

Pacific, Central, Metropolitan, Atlantic......

What say you? Do you like it?

Will a western team play an eastern team in the finals each year? If so, that gives an unfair advantage to western teams, as they each have a 1:14 chance of reaching the Stanley Cup finals, while eastern teams have a 1:16 chance. Or could this be justified due to the extra travel western teams are subject to?

[hf101]

I actually think it is clever. The hub (metro) of the East, or the Atlantic.

[jammer2]

Metropoliton....pffft....me no likey, not one little bit...scrap it and start over.

[WingNut722]

If we want to talk about the re-alignment, it will always be weird to me that Florida and Tampa Bay are in the same division as the Wings/Habs/Leafs/Sens etc. It has to be purely to try and increase interest in those 2 franchises.

A number of folks have speculated over the years that the biggest reason for including the Florida teams with the northern teams is due to the large amounts of retirees and "Snowbirds" from the urban centers in the north. The NHL is trying to cash in on those fans who rarely have an opportunity to see their teams live.

By the way @Digityman, for my part...stupid names. Why do they have to be "sterile" like the other sports? What was so wrong with naming them after hallowed hockey legends of yester-year?

[hf101]

Why do they have to be "sterile" like the other sports? What was so wrong with naming them after hallowed hockey legends of yester-year?

Because they are trying to gain new hockey fans to grow the sport.

[OH1FlyersFan]

I guess it beats "Neopolitan", but what the heck? This is going to take some getting used to. Right now, I don't like it. This is the best the League could come up with? The word isn't even related to the others - which could be time zones or geographic designations, locations -- I'd say bodies of water but I can't find a Central Sea, Lake, or Ocean. "Metropolitan" speaks to a densely populated urban core. I live in Columbus, home of the Bluejackets....and we don't have one of those. So it doesn't even work in that respect. Ha.

[hf101]

@OH1FlyersFan

Digity already started a similar thread in "Around the NHL" thus I'm merging the two topics.

[OH1FlyersFan]

No worries. Sorry I missed that.

[Haliax]

A number of folks have speculated over the years that the biggest reason for including the Florida teams with the northern teams is due to the large amounts of retirees and "Snowbirds" from the urban centers in the north. The NHL is trying to cash in on those fans who rarely have an opportunity to see their teams live.

Yeah, this is what I meant, just explained better. Hopefully it is successful and those 2 teams can make more money and generate some more interest among the locals at the same time.

[WingNut722]

Because they are trying to gain new hockey fans to grow the sport.

Riiiiight...because........... Wait, you lost me.... :wacko:

[OH1FlyersFan]

For me, that raises the question -- were those snowbirds ever fans of the NHL to begin with? If they were then the chances of them supporting a team in Florida is higher, I suppose, than if they weren't or if they lived in one of the western states. And if they are fans of the game, then my guess is they don't "root" for one of the Florida teams they still root for whatever team they were following up north - a team that may get into town only several times a season. Retirees aren't as mobile as they once were - more likely to watch on tv and less likely to attend in person or purchase merchandise perhaps if on a fixed income. So is there any real bump for these teams from retirees? I wonder.

I'd paint Columbus with the same brush as the Florida teams. We've struggled. Maybe it's been because we haven't had competitive teams, maybe because the sport can't compete with OSU football, or maybe because there just isn't an interest in hockey. I'm a lifelong resident of Columbus but my mom and her family are from Philly. That's why the Flyers are my adopted team and I've been a fan for the last 39 years. Many of my friends are Penguins and Red Wings fans. I won't shift my allegiance to the Jackets, I'll always be a Flyers fan - spending my money there rather than in/on Columbus. That can't help these small/out of the traditional hockey market teams either. I think it's always going to be a struggle.

[pilldoc]

Metropolitian???? It's sports you idiot!

Will somebody, please, punch Bettman in the head.

stand in line....I think there a long line ahead of you.......

I agree with @sarsippius......sometimes the classic names are the best Patrick / Adams / Norris / Smythe....enough said!

[pilldoc]

Metropolitian???? It's sports you idiot!

Will somebody, please, punch Bettman in the head.

stand in line....I think there a long line ahead of you.......

I agree with @sarsippius......sometimes the classic names are the best Patrick / Adams / Norris / Smythe....enough said!

[TedZep]

That's... that's just plain ugly.

[J0e Th0rnton]

Will a western team play an eastern team in the finals each year? If so, that gives an unfair advantage to western teams, as they each have a 1:14 chance of reaching the Stanley Cup finals, while eastern teams have a 1:16 chance. Or could this be justified due to the extra travel western teams are subject to?

This was the first thing I was wondering

[AbelMorpheus]

You hear GM's and owners complain about travel all the time and how the cost and time has an adverse affect for their teams. Why doesn't someone (not me, I'm not a math guy) figure out the distances one team has to travel to visit all the other teams. Then go to the next team and do the same thing all the way down the list. Every team. That way every team has to spend time and money flying across the country. Equal it out so that travel is the same for all teams. And go back to the original names. Smythe, Adams, Norris and Patrick differentiate it from all other sports and that uniqueness makes it special.

Smythe: Vancouver,Edmonton,Calgary, Ottawa, Montreal, NYI, NYR, Boston.

Adams: Winnipeg, Minnesota, Detroit, Toronto, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, New Jersey.

Norris: San Jose, Colorado, St.Louis, Chicago, Columbus, Washington, Carolina.

Patrick: Los Angeles, Anaheim, Phoenix, Dallas, Nashville, Tampa Bay, Florida.

[radoran]

I'm calling it the "Glen" division.

[flyercanuck]

Because they are trying to gain new hockey fans to grow the sport.

No offence HF but how does "Metropolitian" bring in new fans? Honestly, the more Bettman puts his clueless paws on this game the less I want to watch it.

My guess is Crosby and Bettman decided to name the division the Pens are in "Metrosexual" but then settled on Metropolitian.

Of course it makes total sense to have NONE of the previously existing Atlantic teams remaining in that division.. And even more sense to have a grand total of TWO teams that are actually ON the Atlantic, in the division.

[hf101]

No offence HF but how does "Metropolitian" bring in new fans? Honestly, the more Bettman puts his clueless paws on this game the less I want to watch it.

My guess is Crosby and Bettman decided to name the division the Pens are in "Metrosexual" but then settled on Metropolitian.

Of course it makes total sense to have NONE of the previously existing Atlantic teams remaining in that division.. And even more sense to have a grand total of TWO teams that are actually ON the Atlantic, in the division.

How can the names Smythe, Adams, Norris, and Patrick identify a location to a new fan? Essentially then they have no meaning. If you first look at the NHL is divided between the East and the West. The Atlantic ocean lines the East from North to South, the metropolitan division is the center of that north / south region, just as a city is the center of the suburbs and surrounding countryside. Anyway that is just how I can relate to the names.

If they kept the Atlantic division the same for the most part what would they call the combined divisions of the northeast and southeast?

I do prefer the name "Metro" as opposed to "Metropolitan" chances are most on TV and radio will shorten the name also.