NHL Realignment Project – Week 47: Portland and Seattle

After a very long hiatus, the project returned with another reshaping of the NHL. Apologies for going dark for so many months: business was picking up in the real world, and Mrs. Fulery and the author were expecting their first child, which takes over your life, so far in a very good way. Besides, not much had happened in hockey since, right?

Two cities, two arenas

The scenario involved two cities losing their teams, one unlikely and the other definitely possible, to two cities in the Pacific Northwest. Both destinations have arenas that can hold hockey, one well, the Rose Garden in Portland, and one not well at all, Key Arena in Seattle.

The author was clear that Quebec City or Markham were far more likely to land teams than Portland, but a Pacific Northwest map was too much fun to skip for this WHL-centric part of the world.

Five divisions of three

The re-imagined league brought back one of the favourite breakdowns: two conferences, each made up of five divisions of three teams. Every division becomes a three-team race, and the schedule is built around it.

What the format buys

• Focus: with more divisions, the main job of a season is to win the division and guarantee a playoff spot. Beat the other two teams and you are in, and if you don't, three wildcard slots remain.
• Rivalries: the other two teams in your division become hated rivals, so every game against them matters even in a bad year.
• Travel: with Detroit in the Eastern Conference and Dallas and Winnipeg in divisions that make geographic sense, travel becomes the last thing teams can complain about, not that that will stop them.

The schedule

The playoff shape

The top team from each division qualifies, seeded one through five by overall record, and the three best records among non-division winners take wildcards seeded six through eight. Pairings and home ice reset after each round, and every series is best-of-seven, so sixteenwins.com would not have to change its name.

Portland skipping ahead of Quebec City or Markham is hard to imagine. But the Portland, Seattle and Vancouver corridor would create such an amazing crucible of hate that it is hard to argue against, and if the league does reach 32 teams, a Pacific Northwest entry would be a far less risky enterprise than the sunbelt push of the nineties.