Now I know some of the changes I made are a little extreme. I did separate a few rivalries but sometimes it makes those games a little more important when they're played fewer times. I also included the return of the old time division names of the Smythe, Norris, Patrick and Adams. I feel the old names bring a nice old time feel to hockey and it feels more creative than the sport standards of West, East, North and South. I thought about going with the old conference names and while I'd love to do it, I think it might be a bit overboard.
The divisions are separated by no more than one time zone. The entire Eastern Conference is in the Eastern Time Zone. Only one team in the Norris Division is not in the Central Time Zone.
The league has a great opportunity to capitalize on the Pens-Caps rivalry by placing them in the same division while also putting two of the league's premier players in Sun Belt arenas more often, potentially boosting attendance in those cities.
The Penguins and Flyers are divided because while they are intrastate rivals they're also much further than anyone else in the Patrick Division. You can't always get what you want.
Detroit would've made the East cut if it weren't for Columbus being further east. (Columbus is only 167 miles from Pittsburgh or about half the distance between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia.)
It was also very hard to keep Toronto and Montreal considering Ottawa is closer to the rest of the Patrick Division. Buffalo and Toronto are just too close together to separate.
Boston and New York in the same division, enough said.
The entire West Coast is finally in the same division again. The brewing Canucks-Kings rivalry will be allowed to blossom with more games between each other.
Dallas will play more games in the Central Time Zone. None of their Pacific division rivals are in the same time zone as them.
Is it 20 years too late to make a Minnesota-Dallas rivalry?
The Smythe Division will truly be a gauntlet as it once was. On top of travel, five of the eight teams in the division made the playoffs last season. Two of them played for the Western Conference championship.
The conferences are as follows:
Eastern Conference
Patrick Division
Bruins
Canadiens
Devils
Flyers
Islanders
Rangers
Senators
Adams Division
Blue Jackets
Capitals
Hurricanes
Lightning
Maple Leafs
Panthers
Penguins
Sabres
Western Conference
Smythe Division
Avalanche
Canucks
Coyotes
Ducks
Flames
Kings
Oilers
Sharks
Norris Division
Blackhawks
Blues
Jets
Predators
Red Wings
Stars
Wild
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