Some things to Consider Before Moving the Coyotes

I hate to do this, as I’d much rather be writing about some of the fantastic hockey that we’re witnessing, but I heard Bob McKenzie this morning on the Team 990 and as he usually does, brought up some great points that I have not seen discussed yet.

So I’ll try to expand on his thoughts here and now:

Let’s assume that Balsillie wins each step of the legal process and somehow manages to pry the Coyotes out of Phoenix in time for the start of the 2009-10 season. So far, so good right? A deserving Canadian market gets their team, and coast-to-coast, Canadian hockey fans rejoice. There are some finer points to resolve, however:

The last time I looked, Hamilton was wedged pretty tightly between Toronto and Buffalo, and the last time I checked, those were both Eastern Conference teams. The NHL would probably like to have 2 balanced conferences, not one with 16 teams, and the other with 14. It would throw off the entire schedule, as each team plays division rivals 6 times per year and conference rivals 4 times per year. Unbalanced conferences upset that schedule.

So this means that if Hamilton comes to the Eastern Conference, someone has to go to the Western, unless you just leave Hamilton in the West (afterall, Toronto was once upon a time a Western Conference team,
right?) and do some realignment.

Uh-oh.

Now Things are Getting Messy

Who’s going to move to the Pacific Division? As McKenzie says, the Canucks would be the natural choice based on geography, but does anyone think they’d want to give up the place with the Flames and Oilers? There are natural Canadian rivalries there, not to mention shorter travel distances (i.e. shorter road trips). So what does the NHL do? Certainly a successful team in Hamilton would need the benefits of divisional rivalries in Toronto, Ottawa and Buffalo, that much is obvious. Maybe Nashville would be the next natural choice? But they have a nice corridor in which they travel for divisional play. That probably wouldn’t be a very popular choice either.

Ready for My Solution?

Move the Coyotes to Hamilton, and put them in the the Northeast Division. Move Atlanta to the Western Conference, and put them in the Coyotes place. This way we’ve managed to keep the number of teams balanced in each Conference (let’s not worry about the travel issue for the Thrashers, since now that Phoenix is the first domino to fall it’s only a matter of time before the Thrashers leave Atlanta). The issue now  is that the Northeast Division has 6 teams. Another problem. No, not a problem, I have the PERFECT solution. Let’s move my beloved Habs out of the Northeast Division and put them in the place of the Thrashers in the Southeast Division! Brilliant!

“Kyle, that’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard, why does that make any sense at all?”

Well, I’m a myopic Habs fan, so let me explain. The Canadiens should embrace this, as should the Southern teams that they’d share Division space with. Since SO MANY Quebecers end up in Florida for the winter (Snowbirds as I believe they’re called), every time the Canadiens play in Florida or Tampa, it would be like another home game for the Habs. That’s a plus for the Habs, even though they typically don’t play well in Florida. Surely the Panthers and Lightning would accept the ticket revenue, no? Secondly, the Hurricanes formerly wore the Hartford Whalers jersey- another former fierce rival of the Canadiens. Wouldn’t it be great to resurrect that rivalry? And of course, instead of 4 games against Ovechkin and the Caps, there’d be 6.

Ok, the jig is up. I don’t really think the solution lies there. I think there’s too many traditionalists who would never let the Canadiens leave the same division as their long time rivals in Toronto, Boston and Buffalo, and I think the Canadiens would be the first to try and block that.

So what else is there? Let’s assume for a second (this whole article is based on assumptions!) that the Predators would agree to a move to the Pacific Division. Would it make sense to then ask the Sabres to fill their spot in the West? Geographically it *almost* makes sense, since there are team in Chicago, Detroit and Columbus which are fairly close flights (although I think the Preds would be getting a raw deal under this scenario).

So as we can see, there’s some significant hurdles to get over BESIDES the legal and financial ones. If Bettman can’t win his battle, certainly he can delay Balsillie by saying that it will take time to reorganize the Divisional and Conference structures and schedules, can’t he? And on that same thought, wouldn’t it serve Bettman’s cause to have a schedule for the 2009-10 season published as soon as possible, just to add another layer of complexity to Balsillie’s motives?

Your Thoughts? As usual, I’d love to hear them.