http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/news/story?id=6610414

An official announcement will be coming soon. Will they be the Jets, or something totally new?

Also, the NHL has said they're not realigning divisions for 2011/2012, meaning Winnipeg will play in the Eastern Conference's Southeast division. Dumb dumb dumb.

I'm not big into hockey but don't the Blue Jackets play in the Western Conference? Why not swap those 2 teams? I don't think Cbus has any big rivals/reasons to stay in the Western Conference.

There are only two teams in the eastern timezone that play in the Western Conference - those two being Detroit and Columbus - but I'd have to think you do some shuffling and move Nashville from the Central to the Southeast (to take Atlanta's spot) and then realign the divisions to look like:

Eastern Conference:
Atlantic:
Philadelphia
Pittsburgh
NY Rangers
NJ
NY Islanders

Northeast:
Boston
Montreal
Buffalo
Toronto
Ottawa

Southeast:
Washington
Tampa Bay
Carolina
Nashville
Florida

Western Conference:
Central:
Detroit
Columbus
St Louis
Chicago
Dallas

Northwest:
Calgary
Edmonton
Minnesota
Winnipeg
Colorado

Pacific:
Vancouver
San Jose
Anaheim
Phoenix
Los Angeles

It makes sense to ship Vancouver over to the Pacific division, even if they're the only Canadian team over there, from a geographical standpoint, and having Minnesota and Winnipeg in the same division - St. Paul is the closest NHL city to Winnipeg - makes sense as well. Dallas gets moved to the Central out of necessity.

why aren't they re-aligning the divisions? that's dumber than legends and leaders

So I ask again...

Is this a good thing?

I have heard that they will not be the Jets. And that the early front runner is Manitoba Moose

gorocks99;786419 wrote:...and then realign the divisions to look like:

Looks good.

I was reading the Washington Post's take on the move - they were whining about having to play six more games 2000 miles away in a different time zone for one year. Let 'em try Columbus or Detroit's travel schedule ....

I'd rather seen them go to four division and get rid of the constant travel between West Coast and Central teams.

Schedules are pretty much made for the next season so the Winnipeg franchise will remain in the Southeast for this coming season. The re-alignment will take place the next season. From what I read, Columbus and Detroit are the 2 candidates to move. I didn't think Detroit would want to leave the west since it's been there for so long and they have a pretty good rivalry with Chicago, but I've heard they would like to switch. I honestly think moving C-bus would be the best, but I might be biased because I'd like to see a Pens-Jackets rivalry start up. It would probably spark more interest in C-bus with a move as well as get more early games by playing the East for TV purposes.

wildcats20;786969 wrote:So I ask again...

Is this a good thing?

Hellll yes this is a great thing!!!

GoPens;787059 wrote:Schedules are pretty much made for the next season so the Winnipeg franchise will remain in the Southeast for this coming season. The re-alignment will take place the next season. From what I read, Columbus and Detroit are the 2 candidates to move. I didn't think Detroit would want to leave the west since it's been there for so long and they have a pretty good rivalry with Chicago, but I've heard they would like to switch. I honestly think moving C-bus would be the best, but I might be biased because I'd like to see a Pens-Jackets rivalry start up. It would probably spark more interest in C-bus with a move as well as get more early games by playing the East for TV purposes.

Agreed. The NHL won't lose any viewers if Detroit stays in the west. But, Columbus could gain a lot of viewers if most of their road games are in the eastern time zone. 9:30-10:30 start times is a bit much. Detroit wants in the east to have the 'big market teams' come to Detroit more often, and rekindle the old Original Six rivalries. Not to mention the obvious uptick with Columbus-Pittsburgh.

jordo212000;786975 wrote:I have heard that they will not be the Jets. And that the early front runner is Manitoba Moose

That's already the name of a AHL team.

@Wildcats, this is a good thing. A team from Atlanta has now been relocated twice now (Flames and Thrashers) into a bigger stronger hockey market. Attendance and revenue will do great for them.

wildcats20;786969 wrote:So I ask again...

Is this a good thing?

The only thing better is if they would move half the league to Canada.

hoops23;787285 wrote:The only thing better is if they would move half the league to Canada.

Only Phoenix and Florida need to be moved. Possibly NYI of they don't get a new arena soon.

The_Crosby_Show;787303 wrote:Only Phoenix and Florida need to be moved. Possibly NYI of they don't get a new arena soon.

Move em to Brooklyn with the Nets.

The_Crosby_Show;787276 wrote:That's already the name of a AHL team.

There was talk of using that name because it will be freed up assuming the Moose move (and there are rumblings of the Moose heading to St. John's) and rename.
http://www.moosehockey.com/moosenews/407/2448
http://www.bclocalnews.com/news/122982148.html


Also, EA Sports says they will be able to get the Winnipeg franchise in the game on time for NHL 12 (Early Sept. release date) so long as the name and jersey styles come out soon after the official approval of the relocation. MTS Centre may not make it, may get generic arena. They can always patch it in later too.

The_Crosby_Show;787276 wrote:That's already the name of a AHL team.
.

I'm aware of that. The guys who own the Moose are behind the purchase of the Thrashers. They wouldn't have two teams in Winnipeg (AHL Manitoba Moose are there now), so the thought is that the ownership would relocate the AHL team, freeing up "Manitoba Moose"

I guess Winnipeg Jets is out of the question unfortunately

I've seen stories that say the Jets name is still property of the Coyotes, and others that say Phoenix left the old name/colors behind, so they could be the Jets.

jordo212000;788200 wrote:I'm aware of that. The guys who own the Moose are behind the purchase of the Thrashers. They wouldn't have two teams in Winnipeg (AHL Manitoba Moose are there now), so the thought is that the ownership would relocate the AHL team, freeing up "Manitoba Moose"

I guess Winnipeg Jets is out of the question unfortunately

I would prefer them going back to the jets instead of using a almost defunct AHL team name.

Winnipeg has long winters, and that can make people moody. I think the following name suggestion would pay tribute to both of those things:

Manitoba Bi-Polar Bears

hoops23;787285 wrote:The only thing better is if they would move half the league to Canada.

Great idea. Take NHL teams out of large American cities and stick them in Canadian cities that couldn't even handle an AHL team.

The_Crosby_Show;787303 wrote:Only Phoenix and Florida need to be moved. Possibly NYI of they don't get a new arena soon.

What's wrong with Florida? I mean, besides "nothing"?

NNN;788322 wrote:Great idea. Take NHL teams out of large American cities and stick them in Canadian cities that couldn't even handle an AHL team.

Right. Canada deserves more NHL teams. The NHL has botched a lot of things, and forcing hockey down the throats of people who couldn't really care less is one of them. Hockey is obviously crazy big in Canada and I think they need more teams.

hoops23;788326 wrote:Right. Canada deserves more NHL teams. The NHL has botched a lot of things, and forcing hockey down the throats of people who couldn't really care less is one of them. Hockey is obviously crazy big in Canada and I think they need more teams.

Sure, let's completely overlook the fact that not a single additional Canadian city has anything resembling an NHL arena, the logistics for several of those "deserving" cities is an absolute nightmare, and support for previous teams has been spotty at best.

Hamilton will never happen. Copps is a dump, and the only person with the financial means to change that will never be an NHL owner. The fact that he tried three times to orchestrate backroom deals in order to get a discount price on a team shows that he's not actually serious about ownership, and frankly he's lucky that the NHL hasn't raked him over the coals in court for that "Hamilton Predators" garbage. He'll also be lucky if he's still overseeing RIM by the end of this year. In addition, a team in Hamilton would be the undoing of Buffalo.

Quebec supposedly has plans to build an arena by 2014. Of course, Canada has a lengthy history of bitching about not enough NHL teams, then throwing every imaginable roadblock in front of things like arena construction/renovation.

London has an OHL team and an OHL-caliber arena and is located in the GTA.

St. Catharines/Niagara is in the same boat as Hamilton.

Kitchener is in the same boat as Hamilton.

Halifax is a logistical nightmare and is horrible to get in and out of. That's in addition to a meager population not only in the city, but the entire area.

Oshawa is part of the GTA.

Victoria just lost an ECHL team and is downgrading to a WHL team. That's another city with logistical issues.

Windsor would be squeezed by Detroit and any GTA-area teams.

Saskatoon is smaller than Green Bay and has a WHL team.

Regina is smaller than that. The two also aren't close enough to help each other out.

So tell me. Where would these magical Canadian NHL teams go? This would be the equivalent of putting NFL teams in Akron, Knoxville, Shreveport, Tallahassee, and Dayton.

With the pending sale, I do not beleive that any Canadian city (besides Quebec) that has had a franchise post WWII is currently without one.

If Canada were to get another NHL franchise, they would need to somehow have it be between London and Kitchener to draw enough population.

As far as old US cities, I don't know if Hartford would have enought support to take a franchise back.