What would a 32-team NHL realignment look like?

[Irishjim]

By: Matt Larkin 

 

Talk of NHL expansion just won’t go away. It’s pluckier than the ice bucket challenge, despite Gary Bettman’s claims last week that expansion talk was “complete fabrication.”

Investigative reporter Rick Westhead’s story for TSN is plenty interesting. It asserts that, Bettman’s stance be damned, several senior NHL team sources suggest expansion will be a serious discussion topic at the NHL board of governors meetings Sept. 30. Sources also told TSN a team in Toronto would command a North American sports record $1.2-billion expansion fee via auction. Wow. You need Grand Canyon-like pockets to make the Toronto dream happen.

Let’s say it does, however. I’ll borrow from colleague Rory Boylen and call the team the Toronto Toros. And let’s say one of the other rumored expansion franchises comes through – Quebec City, Seattle or Las Vegas. What would a 32-team NHL look like? With a 16/14 imbalance between the East and West already, realignment would be a near certainty once a second Toronto team arrived. Eight divisions of four teams spread across two conferences makes plenty of sense. Assuming Rich Uncle Pennybags shells out $1.2 billion at an auction, I’ll draw up the NHL with Toronto 2.0 and one version with each of the other candidates. My assumed playoff format would differ from the NFL’s, in that I’d still put 16 teams through. But would it be best to have the top two from all eight divisions comprise the playoff picture, or just the division winners plus four wild cards? I’m guessing the latter.

 

read full article for his proposed re-alignments:   http://www.thehockeynews.com/blog/what-would-a-32-team-nhl-realignment-look-like/

[Irishjim]

the one thing he has that I hate is 4 team divisions. with each division winner getting a playoff spot..nothing better than the least suckiest team in a division getting home ice against an opponent with 20+ more points

[Yorick]

Quebec City Poutines.

 

Seattle Raincoats.