I started to talk about the new realignment here, and it ended pretty positively. That can't be right. Let's take a look at the reasons it sucks, starting with schedule.
First of all, let's make sure we're all clear about what the current format looks like. You're in a 5-team division, in a 3-division conference. You play each other team in your division 6 times, for a total of 24 games. You play each other team in your conference (outside of your division) 4 times, for a total of 40 games. This leaves 18 games a year to play against the other conference, so you play each team in the other conference at least once, and you see 3 of them twice.
This feels good. We play the Devils a lot, the Maple Leafs some, and the Canucks rarely. The Ducks play the Kings a lot, the Wild some, and the Penguins rarely. Great.
Here's where realignment gets shitty: Remember how I called those things we split the teams up into conferences, not divisions? Yeah. Well the NHL is doing away with the Eastern and Western Conferences. There's no higher-level structure than these four conferences. The NBC Conference has no stronger relationship with the What's Florida Doing Here Conference than it does with the Frequent Flier Conference. Which means, drilling down, that the Rangers have no stronger relationship with the Canadiens than they do with the Flames.
This is the real heartbreak for me. In the interest of marketing its big stars to small hockey markets, the NHL has increased inter-conference play in line with this new 4-conference system, requiring that every team play each other team in the league twice. Holy road trips, Batman, that's a lot of games. Let's break it down.
With the league over-saturated at 30 Goddamn teams (18 of which lose money annually, by the way), 7 teams in the NBC Conference means 23 teams aren't. 23 home-and-homes equals 46 games against non-conference opponents, leaving only 36 games for intra-conference play. 6 other teams in the conference means 6 games against each, as with intra-division play now.
(Mathematical Imbalance Sidebar: Teams in 8-team conferences will have differently balanced schedules. Of course, you have to keep inter-conference play consistent, so these teams will play their 44 home-and-homes as normal, leaving only 38 intra-conference games against 7 teams. Which means they will only play some conference rivals five times a year. All in the name of more cross-country hockey no one cares about!)
But that means that outside of the conference, as I said earlier, all teams are treated as equal. Requiring the Rangers to play a home-and-home against each of the Flames, Ducks, Kings, and so on means leaving them only a home-and-home against the Bruins, Leafs, and Senators. What happens to those team relationships?
The Rangers came into the league in 1926, alongside the Chicago Black Hawks and the Detroit Cougars (who would become the Falcons 4 years later and then the Red Wings 2 years after that). The teams found themselves in clashes with, among others, the Montréal Canadiens, Boston Bruins, and Toronto St. Patricks (who would be renamed the Maple Leafs later that season). Though they wouldn't become the six-team league of lore until the Brooklyn Americans disbanded in 1942, these six teams started developing relationships 85 years ago. Now, for the first time since '26, the Rangers and Bruins will visit each other's Gardens only once per season. Madison Square Garden will host only 5 Original Six games a year.
Now, these numbers aren't radically different than they currently are. Currently, the Rangers play twice in Boston (and the Bruins twice in New York), and MSG hosts 7 or 8 Original Six games, each season. But that still seems like a big difference, especially given that it's done to increase games against teams that have no relationship with the Rangers. In short, the realignment plan is good for fans that want to see a small sample of 100% of the NHL's talent, but it's bad for fans who want their teams to build up rivalries with certain geographically close teams - doubly so for those whose teams already have historical rivalries that are now being legislated away.
Let me sum this point up succinctly, since "succinct" is never really a way I do anything: Many seasons, the Blackhawks will only play the Red Wings five times, to make sure they can play the Panthers twice.
More thoughts to come...
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