Semi-Radical NHL Schedule Idea

Well, that title is going to get attention, eh? Actually, I figure that making the NHL schedule is pretty difficult when you consider that every rink has certain needs that the league needs to work around, etc. But a few years ago I had this weird idea for a series of games around the Christmas and New Year's holidays that would be almost an in-season mini-tournament. Here it is:

The basic premise of the series is that some people (not me) think that the NHL season sort of hits a lag in December because that stretch is before the playoff pushes begin and because December comes as the afterglow of the new season has sort of worn off.

The NHL needs to exploit the fact that there are lots of college students home from school around the holidays and they are wanting to party and get involved in something. That's what college students do. The Islanders do a fantastic job with the Havoc Zone tickets full of boisterous college kids who just want to cheer for our boys as loud as possible. These kids really come across on TV and radio very, very well and definitely add some crazy atmosphere to the whole game experience.

Why not kick it up a little bit?

Here is what I propose: a mini-tournament between three teams who are as local to each other as is possible. Each team could do like the Islanders and Rangers do for the Pat LaFontaine Trophy (do they still do that?): put up some money for charity that goes to the tournament winner. Again, have some kind of trophy involved for bragging rights and promote the hell out of it.

For our purposes, we use the three tri-state-area teams: the Islanders; Rangers; and Devils. Each team plays the other home and away over the month of December and early January. Of course, that makes our tournament only four games long for each team for a possible 8 points in total. In the event of a tie at the end of the tournament, the teams can split the money they've put up between the two charities. Heck, if the two tied teams are playing in a game that night, then why not hold a separate, after-game shootout to decide the tournament winner that is "off the NHL books"? It just seems to be super-easy way to inject a little more excitement into some holiday games.

There are 30 teams in the NHL. Here is how we can break everything down scientifically:

Eastern Conference:
Islanders; Devils; Rangers
Flyers; Capitals; Penguins
Sabres; Maple Leafs; Hurricanes
Bruins; Canadiens; Senators
Panthers; Lightning; Thrashers

I know that some of these "regional" breakdowns aren't looking too regional. That's okay because the Hurricanes need to be put somewhere and they have a strong regional rivalry with the Sabres already. The Atlanta Thrashers are natural rivals with the Panthers and Lightning in the Southeast Division. I know that The Capitals are also in the Southeast but they have Patrick Division history with the Flyers and Penguins as well. It also becomes kind of a mid-Atlantic regional thing.

Of course, say the Nashville Predators do get moved to Hamilton, Ontario. They would end up playing in the Leafs and Sabres series. We can fix it if we need to because it's all a dream anyway!

Western Conference
Ducks; Sharks; Canucks
Flames; Oilers; Avalanche
Red Wings; Blues; Blackhawks
Wild; Blue Jackets; Predators
Kings; Stars; Coyotes

Pulling Ryan Smyth and the Colorado Avalanche into the Battle of Alberta is just too much fun. (By the way, this is one Islander fan who is not faulting Smyth for wanting to be closer to home and in the Western Conference.)


Bringing the Kings and Coyotes together is an easy one too. Gretz and the Coyotes going back to LA where he was the biggest thing to hit that hockey market is a wonderful opportunity to create and foster a rivalry. The Stars get tossed in there because they're simply in a weird spot geographically from the rest of the league. Should make for some good fun games though.

Again, if the Predators were to move to Hamilton, then they would probably have to switch conferences. I don't know how that would work out geographically; and let's never forget that the Maple Leafs fought for years to get switched back to the Eastern Conference after whining (a familiar thing in Leaf Land) about the huge travel demands that were keeping them from winning the Stanley Cup for all those years. So, you know, right there, we know that the Leafs are not going to move west no matter what happens.