Living in Grand Rapids it looks like I’m a Hawks fan now. Hmmm…. My new team seems to be doing really good

Posted by Vladimir16 from Grand River Valley on 03/14/13 at 01:14 PM ET

That just goes to show you that the person at NHL that made that map lives in Chicago and spends their weekends saturating the lower SW corner of Michigan with the rest of the FIPs.

Posted by MoreShoot on 03/14/13 at 01:20 PM ET

and the piss yellow area can kiss my ass, im still not rooting for the BJ’s.  I still dont get how florida fits in.

Posted by NIVO from underpants gnome village on 03/14/13 at 01:22 PM ET

Get the wagons circling

Posted by RhymeTimeWingsDings from MMM LANSIN G on 03/14/13 at 01:23 PM ET

LOL at there being gray areas… I suppose that’s where expansion is headed next:
Yellowstone Bison
Auburn Ice

Posted by LivinLaVidaLockout on 03/14/13 at 01:30 PM ET

I still dont get how florida fits in.

If Florida moves to Quebec and TB moves to Ontario you are covered.

Posted by Cubanpuckstopper on 03/14/13 at 01:42 PM ET

If Florida moves to Quebec and TB moves to Ontario you are covered.

Posted by Cubanpuckstopper on 03/14/13 at 01:42 PM ET

good point. So I WAS right about phoenix then. Soon enough, they’ll be playin in Seattle and the rejoicing will commence.

Posted by NIVO from underpants gnome village on 03/14/13 at 01:49 PM ET

Cuban beat me to it. 

Miami can’t have that many seasons left (move or fold. I vote fold.) they can’t give away tickets to those games. Also, while Stevie is a Hockey God, he might not be able to save Tampa from being moved.  If they just kill Miami and move TB to Seattle, then they’ve got that un-even Conference issue all cleaned up.

Posted by Figaro from Los Alamos, NM on 03/14/13 at 01:53 PM ET

Thank the hockey gods, you guys aren’t talking about moving either the Yzerbolts nor the Panthers to Vegas.  Contradicting Iginla, I don’t think he understands the market forces in this town.  He may think players would love to come to Vegas for a game or two, but he’s a fool if he thinks the fans are gonna be there in droves and sell out every time just because it’s Vegas.

Posted by SYF from a viewing moratorium of NBC's hockey coverage on 03/14/13 at 01:59 PM ET

Miami can’t have that many seasons left (move or fold. I vote fold.) they can’t give away tickets to those games. Also, while Stevie is a Hockey God, he might not be able to save Tampa from being moved.  If they just kill Miami and move TB to Seattle, then they’ve got that un-even Conference issue all cleaned up.
Posted by Figaro from Los Alamos, NM on 03/14/13 at 01:53 PM ET

Yeah but where’s Phoenix gonna go?

Posted by Vladimir16 from Grand River Valley on 03/14/13 at 02:33 PM ET

Yeah but where’s Phoenix gonna go?

Posted by Vladimir16 on 03/14/13 at 02:33 PM ET

Seattle.

Looking at this map it almost seems like CBJ and Panthers should switch.

Posted by Crater from SoCal on 03/14/13 at 02:37 PM ET

Looking at this map it almost seems like CBJ and Panthers should switch.
Posted by Crater from SoCal on 03/14/13 at 02:37 PM ET

I didn’t notice that. Nice catch

Posted by Vladimir16 from Grand River Valley on 03/14/13 at 02:39 PM ET

It also seems like SOMEONE should be playing in Montana or North Dakota.  Seems like one of the 2 should have some hockey love just by proxy of being connected to Canada, eh?

Posted by Crater from SoCal on 03/14/13 at 02:41 PM ET

Lets root for your new Louisiana Flood. The mascot could be a bucket of water.

Posted by NIVO from underpants gnome village on 03/14/13 at 02:53 PM ET

I’d move Phoenix to Seattle. FLA to either Montana or North Dakota(Just to see if it sticks, makes more sense from a regional standpoint).. and TB to.. either Quebec to be the Nordiques again or give Toronto their second team.

Posted by Crater from SoCal on 03/14/13 at 02:53 PM ET

LOL.  Unfortunately, Crater, that’s not how NHL, Inc. works.  They look at TV markets rather than geography.

It’s also their stupidity in choosing a TV market while ignoring the demographics of that TV market.  ATL is a huge TV market (waaaay bigger than PHX and Vegas combined) and they still lost an NHL team…twice.

I wouldn’t mind it one bit if Tronna gets another team in the GTA.  If the Panthers have to move, GTA should be the next location.

Posted by SYF from a viewing moratorium of NBC's hockey coverage on 03/14/13 at 03:02 PM ET

I’d move Phoenix to Seattle. FLA to either Montana or North Dakota(Just to see if it sticks, makes more sense from a regional standpoint).. and TB to.. either Quebec to be the Nordiques again or give Toronto their second team.

Posted by Crater from SoCal on 03/14/13 at 02:53 PM ET

Given I’m from Billings, MT (largest city in MT at around 100,000 folk) and a few years back they moved the Billings Bulls from the Metra Arena (sits about 12,000) to Centennial Ice Arena (which seats about 600) due to they were averaging ticket sales at around 2000 a game and the county was losing money operating the Metra.

Actually…now that I think about it…sounds like a perfect fit for Phoenix.

Posted by mrfluffy from Long Beach on 03/14/13 at 03:16 PM ET

They should move one of the Florida teams to Hartford.  With ESPN right there, and ESPN showing that they will cover the teams they care about (NYR and, uh, NYR) it could make for a bigger media presence than it’s market suggests.

Posted by shanetx from Floydada, Texas on 03/14/13 at 03:22 PM ET

Div A = Daly Division
Div B = Leipold Division
Div C = Jacobs Division
Div D = Bettman Division

:larfs:

Posted by SYF from a viewing moratorium of NBC's hockey coverage on 03/14/13 at 03:58 PM ET

Football-wise, the map makes sense, because it is difficult to find a Lions fan west of SS Marie. Most people to our west are Packers fans. But hockey-wise, the UP is all Red Wings.

As for the NBA…LOL, does the NBA still exist??

Posted by Red Winger from Sault Ste Marie on 03/14/13 at 04:37 PM ET

Sorry, Yoopers,... you’re Minnesota and Chicago fans now.

Ummmm, George, half the UP is orange

Posted by Red Winger from Sault Ste Marie on 03/14/13 at 04:39 PM ET

Tampa moves to Quebec City (same division)
Florida moves to Hamilton (same division)
Phoenix moves to Seattle (same division)

problem solved ... plus, the french bastards in Quebec would love Stevie Y as a GM.

Hard for me to say this but, I think the league actually put some thought into this realignment setup.

Posted by Hockeytown Wax from West Bloomfield, Mi. on 03/14/13 at 04:43 PM ET

Where do I fit?

Posted by Guilherme from Brazsil on 03/14/13 at 04:49 PM ET

Posted by SYF from a viewing moratorium of NBC's hockey coverage on 03/14/13 at 05:20 PM ET

I posted this in Paul’s thread on the BOG vote, but that got bumped off the front page, so I’m reposting here.

The division winner with the most points in the conference will be matched against the wild-card team with the lowest number of points; the division winner with the second-most points in the conference will play the wild-card team with the second fewest points.The teams finishing second and third in each division will play in the first round of the playoffs. The winners of each series will play for the divisional championship.

Ummm… Somebody didn’t think through this “Divisional Championship” thing very well.

According to the NHL press release, division names have not been finalized, so the NHL uses letters A-D to refer to the Divisions; C & D are Eastern Conference.

So here is a hypothetical… C1, C2, C3, C4, C5 all make the playoffs where C1 has the better record than D1 and C4 and C5 are the wildcards.

First Round looks like this:

  C               D
C1 v C5       D1 v C4
C2 v C3       D2 v D3

Assume the only upset in the First Round is C4 beating D1. Your “Divisional Championship” round now looks like this:

  C               D
C1 v C2       C4 v D2

Assume that C4 pulls another upset, that makes C4 the Divisional Champion of D Division. So C4 gets to hang a D Division Champions banner in its rafters?

There are lots of scenarios like this even when only one wild card comes from each division. They had these stupid divisional playoffs back in the 80’s and everyone hated them because every year one division is always weaker than the others and so one of those undeserving teams gets into the Conference Finals.

There was nothing broken about the old system; Division winners get in and get the top spots, then the rest of the field is filled out regardless of division by record. It ain’t broke, so naturally the NHL is “fixing” it. <face palm>

Posted by CaptainDennisPolonich from Warm and sunny SoCal on 03/14/13 at 05:47 PM ET

Posted by SYF from calquake’s low standards…verily on 03/14/13 at 05:20 PM ET

I’m on the green part, let’s see…

HOLY SHIT I’M A DUCKS FAN

Posted by Guilherme from Brazsil on 03/14/13 at 06:13 PM ET

herme, welcome to years of adventure with Getzslob

Posted by NIVO from underpants gnome village on 03/14/13 at 06:28 PM ET

There is no way in hell I am going to cheer for the Avs. Anyone that believes that can ride next to me on the light rail to the Pepsi Center on April 5th.

But please stop with the Florida Panther are moving nonsense. Their “owners” have the best lease deal in the NHL.

Here are some facts:
The Florida Panthers sister organization made $117.4 million in profit between 1998 and 2010 (according to Broward County Auditor). They run a public entity (the arena and all it’s business operations) and are required by law to open their books to the public. The parent company, Sunrise Sports & Entertainment owns both that sister organization and the Florida Panthers.

In 2005, The NHL was locked out and the Panthers costs were minimal. The sister company made only 1M. It’s worst year ever.

“In 2006, Forbes estimated a $1.9 million loss while the sister company had huge profits of $11.7 million.”

“In 2007, Forbes estimated the Panthers lost $7.1 million while the sister company reported a profit of $9.5 million.”

In 2008, The sister company had an $8.25 million profit and Forbes estimated the Panthers had a $9.4 million loss.

In 2008 the parent company went to the county with a request for additional finances because of significant cash flow issues so take those numbers with a grain of salt.
Source: http:// www .broward.org/Auditor/Documents/arena_final052510.pdf

In 2011, Forbes estimated the Panthers lost $12 million while the sister company made 10.4 million in profits (according to a different source: http:// hockey.ballparks.com/NHL/FloridaPanthers/newindex.htm

In case anyone missed the point:

If the Panthers were losing money than the parent company should have posted the biggest profits during the 05 lockout year when they continued to operate the arena but didn’t have the Florida Panthers expenses—-yet there was major drop in the sister company’s revenue in 2005. HOWEVER, when the NHL resumed operations the sister company’s profits soared to around 11M.

beyond this the lease is for 25 years with a significant penalty clause..they aren’t going anywhere..

The NHL will use expansion franchises (with their expansion fees to cover any revenue lost during the lockout) in the future when the issue of realignment is next addressed. Look for teams in Seattle and KC to balance any new team in the east . Also the NHL could give Houston a team since they have the Aeros dating back to the 1940’s with a 18,800 seat hockey arena already. And don’t discount Vegas as well.

Posted by d ca on 03/14/13 at 09:45 PM ET

And don’t discount Vegas as well.

Posted by d ca on 03/14/13 at 09:45 PM ET

We don’t have a 20,000-seat arena and the LVCA Arena Project was shot down.  There’s a budget deficit in Clark County and there’s no new spending in the foreseeable future when local unemployment is at 11%.

But, yeah, go on…..

Posted by SYF from a viewing moratorium of NBC's hockey coverage on 03/14/13 at 11:20 PM ET

Damn I’m in no man’s land. Does this mean I can be a bandwagoner?

Posted by cigar_nurse from Greenville South Cakalakee on 03/14/13 at 11:47 PM ET

Fold Miami, move Tampa to Kansas City, move Phoenix to Seattle.

Posted by redxblack from Akron Ohio on 03/15/13 at 08:12 AM ET

Where do I fit?

I don’t think you’re allowed to like hockey anymore.  Realignment means you’re now just a soccer fan.

Posted by Garth on 03/15/13 at 10:33 AM ET