With the expected approval on Tuesday for the Seattle expansion franchise at the board of governor’s meeting, the next question that will have to be determined is how to re-align the Western Conference as Seattle will obviously move into the Pacific Division, giving them nine teams, while the Central Division would have just seven. While there has been talk about moving the Arizona Coyotes over to the Central Division, many feel the team should stay where it is as they have short rivalry trips to Las Vegas and Los Angeles/Anaheim.
Another popular suggestion is to move both the Edmonton Oilers and the Calgary Flames together to the Central Division and sending the Colorado Avalanche back to the Pacific Division. However, Terry Jones of The Edmonton Sun writes that option isn’t very popular in Edmonton.
“We want to stay in the Pacific. And we’re pretty strong about it,” insists Bob Nicholson, vice chairman and CEO of the Oilers Entertainment Group. “Seattle is going to come into the league and when they do come in, we definitely do not want to move. We feel the rivalries are too strong for the NHL to do that to our franchise.”
The two teams have built rivalries in the Pacific, including one between the Flames and the Vancouver Canucks, while Edmonton has built some significant rivalries with some of the California teams, most specifically with recent playoff matchups with the Anaheim Ducks and San Jose Sharks. Nicholson said the team intends to appeal to the NHL to allow the Oilers as well as the rival Flames to stay in the Pacific Division.
“I just believe we’ve been in the league a long time now and hopefully the league will respect our rivalries, especially the Calgary and Vancouver rivalries,” said Nicholson.
Of course, there are new potential rivalries between both Calgary and Edmonton with a team such as the Winnipeg Jets and even the Minnesota Wild. Regardless, Nicholson has a strong feeling the league will accept the wishes of Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver.
“I’m relatively confident from the unofficial conversations that have gone on, so far,” Nicholson said. “I’m expecting it to be simple and that it will be Arizona that would move into the Central. If it gets more complicated than that, I think there would be big debates. We expect to stay where we are. I would think it would be Arizona that would move.”
Arizona is the only logical one to move to the Central.
Not really. A string argument could be made for moving Edm/Cal.
Ya I don’t see why Arizona would move
If the Coyotes eventually end up in Houston the divisional placement would make sense.
Arizona is just too easy, even given their proximity to LA/LV
But why not go NFL style
1- LA/Anh/SJ/Seattle
2- Edm/Cal/Van/Win
3-Veg/Az/Col/Dal
4-StL/Chi/Minn/Nash
5-Tor/Ott/Mtl/Bos
6-Buf/Clb/Pitt/Det
7-NYR/NYI/NJD/Philly
8-Wash/Car/TB/Fla
that actually kinda makes sense
Thanks
I like that breakdown, but I doubt the league would want to breakup some historic rivalries—Pittsburgh vs both Philadelphia and Washington, Boston and NYR, etc.
That’s one lesson they should learn from the NFL. New rivalries can be made.
Also, Pitts used to be in different divisions than both when they had 6.
bucsfan You DO REALIZE that the Bruins would still play these metro division teams, correct? ha ha
Doesn’t really matter aside from geographical spacing concerns/formats etc. Plus it actually is logical and makes sense, considering Tampa Bay and Miami is in the Atlantic Division currently for some reason.
Not a bad idea, decent 4 team format and keeps my black and gold with 2 of the biggest cheating NHL organizations in the game. Have to have it that way, for the sake of the rivalries/hatred.
NFL style would mean Dallas would need to be in the East with NYR, NJ, and Phi because of rivalries or something. (Sarcasm)
If the Coyotes eventually relocate to Houston, it would make a world of sense.
LOL houston getting a team? Stick to “nature”, sport. There’s a reason texASS sports teams suck.
I’m not from Texas Einstein. It’s commonly known that the owner of the NBA’s Rockets, Tillman Ferrtita, has met with the league and has a desire to add events to the building he controls. Look it up.
Of course the Oilers would like to remain in the Pacific. Would anyone like to be moved to the Central? Facing the Preds, Jets, Wild, Hawks, Stars, & Blues on a regular basis is a daunting task!
Arizona is the most logical team to move out of the Pacific. They’ll probably leave the desert at some point anyways which will screw things up again.
Oilers and Flames move and Avalanche comes back. That’s the best scenario.
The edmonton soilers have NHL rivalries? Must have missed that. Kind of strange considering they’ve made the playoffs 3 times in the last 2 decades…. LOL…. kind of sad, honestly. Don’t worry too much about it Soilers, the Flamers and C#ntucks suck too. So much for Canadian “rivalries”, huh? Keep Arizona where they are, saw plenty of THEIR fans in the seats during their last throwback jersey game against the black and gold. Of course, there might have been fans there for the B’s, but that’s to be expected from a great OG 6 franchise with a giant following.
dude your crazy! when I go out there and play against the flames its balls to the wall! why move my team and calgary when we have all the history! screw arizona and their shithole of a team. I single handedly sell out the new barn in edmonton #FtheComish
Soilers?
Moving Edmonton and Calgary makes sense if you own a map
Really, when you look at where the teams are all located the western conference should be divided north/south rather than east/west.