Buffalo loves that division

top two teams in each division make it?

Not a chance the east changes..... the west will likely stay add Seattle to the pacific and move ARI to the central. Nothing too big. They also don’t want 8 divisions like the NFL does.

Also switch Columbus and Detroit.... Columbus is only like 3 hours from Pittsburgh with traffic..... Detroit with Chicago.... STL to the division with Colorado and NSH to the south east.

West:

Gretzky Division
Edmonton
Calgary
Seattle
Vancouver


Orr Division
Winnipeg
Chicago
Detroit
Minnesota


Howe Division
San Jose
Los Angeles
Vegas
Anaheim


Hull Division
Arizona
St Louis
Colorado
Dallas


East

Richard Division
Montreal
Ottawa
Toronto
Boston


Bossy Division
New York Islanders
New York Rangers
New Jersey
Buffalo


Lidstrom Division
Columbus
Pittsburgh
Philadelphia
Washington


Roy Division
Carolina
Nashville
Tampa Bay
Florida

Here's what I think happens.

Pacific
VAN
SEA
SJ
LA
ANA
ARI
VGK
COL

CENTRAL
EDM
CGY
WPG
CHI
STL
DAL
NSH
MIN

Couple reasons I think this may be the case, Winnipeg has never had a Canadian rival since their re-incarnation back in the league, giving them CGY and EDM allows them that. I also know some fans will bellyache that VAN will lose their 2 rivals but with the introduction of SEA that gives VAN an instant rival. COL changes divisons going to Pacific only because with the 2 Alberta teams going to Central they are the closest to the Pacific geographically.

they are not going back to small divisions. they lost that natural rivals doing it and seeeding 1-8. I like the old style big divisions and winning your own division then conference then cup.

They won't go back to small divisions but if they did, this would actually be the perfect alignment

I think they will just slot seattle into the pacific and then even up the divisions in the west.

The main thing they ABSOLUTELY NEED to do is fix the massive mistake of playoff seeding, it NEEDS to be back to closer to what it was, not the bs only play within your division crap. It should have never changed to it. If you want three teams from each division fine, but seed them within it 1-8, the division winners get top two spots. Top seed plays lowest available regardless of division, next highest plays second lowest, etc. When you have the top two seeds overall meeting in the second round it is idiotic.

its not natural if you have to FORCE the rivalry, they need to go back to 1-8 and screw the divisional stuff when it comes to playoff time.