2017-18 NHL Alignment Map
2017/12/15 Leave a Comment
It occurred to me that with all musing and dreaming, I’ve neglected to create a map of the current NHL alignment with the Vegas Golden Knights logo incorporated.
Here you go, internet:
Endless Possibilities. Zero Consensus.
2017/12/15 Leave a Comment
It occurred to me that with all musing and dreaming, I’ve neglected to create a map of the current NHL alignment with the Vegas Golden Knights logo incorporated.
Here you go, internet:
2017/12/08 Leave a Comment
I’m not advocating for this, nor do I feel this is even likely, but let’s look at a “might happen” scenario for a few years down the road. In this new NHL the following goes down:
• Seattle gets it’s expansion team.
• The clock runs out on the Coyotes and their quest to get a decent arena deal or arena location in Greater Phoenix and the move into the very-ready Videotron Centre in Quebec City.
• Once the new (Texan) owner of the Carolina Hurricanes acquires the other 48% of the team, and either works out a lease-buyout, or simply waits out the terms of his “have to stay in Carolina” agreements, he opts to move his team in the Toyota Center in Houston.
… and we end up with a league that looks like this:
Bonus: I’ve renamed the divisions to the glory days version we all* loved until 1993.
*Not based on anything even closely resembling fact.
— Tom
2016/06/16 8 Comments
Hi all. Here’s a real quickly put together map of what the “New NHL” will likely look like. I don’t foresee the league bothering with realignment yet until they get to 32 teams (and hopefully incorporating my four-conference plan). For now Las Vegas is just added to the current 7-team Pacific. Also in case you can’t squint enough to see, the logo I threw together for the “Las Vegas Black Knights” is a quick construct of letters found in, or inspired by the ol’ classic Bicycle Cards logo.
Here it is bigger:
Okay, here’s the map:
Basically, the same old map I’ve been doing for a while with a little bit of flair (and the new Florida Panthers logo).
NHL Las Vegas is a reality… next up is landing on a nickname for the franchise and seeing if indeed, the league will stick with the current alignment (plus Vegas in the Pacific), or if they’ll opt for realignment and mix things up… I hope they go with something like my four-conference alignment plan. Time will tell, but for now, we’ve got a 31-team league and a new and interesting market in the mix. Good luck, Las Vegas!
Feel free to tweet/facebook/whatever this out to others.
Thanks!
— Tom
2015/07/27 10 Comments
With the news coming down that only two cities actually ponied up the $10M to apply for expansion, we have to look at the very real possibility that the perceived “Westward Expansion” ain’t happening. That said, I threw together a quick map that I shared on twitter (feel free to follow me @NHLMaps), but neglected to post here. Below is that map. I’m actually pulling together some thoughts on a real solid argument for the four standalone conferences you see in this map and will post that soon(ish… newborns and blogs aren’t a good pairing it turns out).
Until then, enjoy this map:
2014/09/13 Leave a Comment
The Florida Panthers have always been the easy whipping-boy for the “hockey doesn’t belong in non-traditional markets” crowd. They are also always the first picked on by the “NHL realignment is easy, just do this….” crowd.
The reality is, they have one of the cushiest arena leases out there (and for 14 more years). So I’ve never put too much stock in the Panthers-to-this-city-or-that noise. But this recent article makes things a little more interesting.
Obviously, owners of franchises always talk a lot of crap when they are trying to squeeze more “free money” out of the tax base, but when an owner starts saying thing like “unsustainable” and talks of getting a break on what would be an $80 million lease buy out, there may be a little fire to that smoke. Don’t get me wrong, I still think it’s mostly posturing to get the $80 million subsidy they’ve tried to twice in the last little while (coincidentally the same amount as the lease buyout amount)… but, my adjective has shifted to “mostly” from “totally.”
I’m sure new owner Vincent Viola would totally take the taxpayers’ money if it happens, but I also don’t think it’s far-fetched for him to move the team if he doesn’t get an even more favorable agreement in Sunrise.
That was a really long intro to the following musing for a new map (it’s been forever since I made one, I know).
Picture if you will, an NHL where the league finally admits they are ready to expand. Thanks to crazy money being talked about for a second GTA team, and, I’m sure somewhat crazy money for a return team for Quebec City, some 1-2 billion bucks are to be split between the 30 ownership groups. If Viola can negotiate down from the $80 million he’d have to pay Sunrise to leave, plus a bunch o’ new money in his pocket, it’s not too far-fetched that he’d do it.
Now in this scenario he could be the owner for the “we don’t have an owner” but let’s get the NHL in Vegas hullabaloo we’ve all heard. Or he could be the guy that finally hitches his wagon to Hansen and gets the MOU changed to allow hockey-first in the Seattle arena deal? Or perhaps he could just move over to existing NHL arenas in Kansas City or Houston. Whichever way, let’s look at the maps that show this new NHL… just in time for the league’s centennial celebration:
The Seattle Version:
The Las Vegas Version:
The Houston Version:
The Kansas City Version:
Some notes:
Schedule:
48 games — Home and Home versus non-confernce opponents
28 games — 2 Home/2 Away versus conference-mates
6 games — An additional Home and Away versus one team in each of the other three conferences (rotates through all teams each eight years)
I think that works out. 82 games
Caveats for all this: I’m tired and not good at math, so there might be something wrong in the above schedule… I have no insider info on the goings on of the NHL, the Panthers, or any other team… I’m just a guy with photoshop, wordpress, a nurse wife working an overnight tonight and a daughter that mercifully went to bed at a decent hour … No need to call me an idiot in the comments, I already know this… don’t take this seriously (hey, my name is Tom Fulery)… I don’t wish any ill on the Panther fan base—losing a team must suck really badly (my friend and former Thrashers season-ticket holder, still isn’t over it)… I used the “Toronto Legacy” logo from the now defunct torontolegacy.com site—I claim no rights to it (nor any of the other logos)… I stuck a scorpion in Las Vegas, just cuz.
Thanks and good night:
— TF
2014/08/29 2 Comments
From PuckDaddy. I like the article (minus the attributing some pre-Bettman expansion to Gary).
What if NHL expansion is actually a really good idea? (Trending Topics) | Puck Daddy – Yahoo Sports.
2014/04/14 Leave a Comment
Welcome back to the playoffs. Feel free to download this Facebook cover photo to show your support for the boys in Victory Green as they take down the ducks.
PS – If your name is George Lucas, please don’t sent some Sith lord over to my house because I used your ’83 design. Much love (except for the young Anakin crap… and the Jango Fett mess… and the “died of a broken heart” garbage).
2014/04/14 1 Comment
For those of you who missed it over the last little while, here is link to my map/infographic of the “big four” affiliated professional hockey leagues in North America. There are additional minor professional and major juniors things in there too.