from Jim Gordon of the SiriusXM NHL Radio Network,

The concerns I have with the new proposal are simple. It feels like they are trying to put a square peg into a round hole. In an effort to properly align time zones and satisfy clubs, you create an imbalance with 16 teams in the East, and 14 teams in the West. It is an imbalance which creates scheduling challenges, and a lack of fairness with respect to the likelihood of qualifying for the playoffs.

So how to build the better mouse trap? The final answer for me ultimately became expansion. Speculation has been rampant, and I never liked the idea, but if you are going to do it, do it now. A franchise in Quebec City, and a second team in the Greater Toronto are has its perks. It caters to a pair of hockey markets who currently feel underserved. It would certainly generate between half a billion and a billion dollars in expansion fees. And it would create about 50 new jobs for the players association.

Now we decide how to split up 32 teams, and make it functional. I adopted the NFL model. 2 conferences with 4 divisions in each. In my opinion, the geographic break down of the divisions are ideal. While it does not address the desire to move Detroit and Columbus to the East, I will explain later why I don’t feel that is the problem.

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