How would playoffs work? Top 16 overall? Cause some of those divisions have multiple teams that are just crap.

Well there are 16 teams per conference, so probably top 8 in each one. Do it like the older format with no wildcard, just the best 8 teams per conference

Personally im not a fan of the uneven teams. Maybe have 4 teams in each division to balance it

The west is considerably weaker though with the Canadian and California teams.

The biggest issue is the all 3 Cali teams absolutely suck lmao. So no matter what division they’re in, it’s almost a cake walk for the other teams. Give it 2-3 years though and it’ll be more competitive.

Top 10, or even top12 and have a “play in” round like last year
Would be great fir the league financially

Speaking of finances.... expand to 36teams, adding:
1- Hamilton: Southern Ontario can easily support a 2nd team
2- gotta get in the Houston market, 3rd largest US city
3- Kansas City has been trying for a while, why not?

No obvious option for the 4th team, but lots of possible options imo:
Quebec City, Portland(OR), San Fran, San Diego, Salt Lake City, Austin, New Orleans, Orlando, Atlanta(again), Charlotte, Cinci, Cleveland, Indi, Wisconsin...... all possibilities

You can say that about any division tho. That Atlantic Division would've been a cakewalk for the Bruins just a few years ago. Few years from now it could be a cakewalk for the Leafs.
Colorado and Vegas would love to see less of each other.

That’s true. It’s just how it goes. It’s weird that all 3 Cali teams are bad at the same time though, in my mind at least.

where's columbus

RW aka Central div



Too many divisions than imo. 6 is better than 8. The current divisions are uneven too, its the way its gonna be



Didn't make these off balancing team talent, I don't think that should be the goal. Saving travel time saves the league money and has the players better rested which is more important imo.



So what? They are all gonna be in the same division no matter what the divs look like. They are all reasonably close together, it would be senseless to separate them.



If Hamilton gets a team you can say goodbye to the Buffalo Sabres. Since 50% or more of ticket holders are people from Toronto, we won't get any of them anymore if Hamilton gets a team. I'd say the best places to expand if the league wants success are Quebec City, Regina, and a team in Wisconsin or another in Minnesota. They gotta expand to hockey markets, so Houston, Salt Lake, San Diego, New Orleans, Atlanta, etc are not good options imo. Quebec City is a no brainer. The rivarly between Montreal and Quebec City would trump all other rivalries in the NHL. If 70k fans show up to Saskatchewan Roughriders games consistently, Regina would have 0 problem filling up a NHL arena night in and night out. Most passionate sports fans in Canada are people from Saskatchewan if you ask me.

About Cali... that was my exact point. chill mate.

If the tiny amount of ppl in Saskatchewan can supposedly support an NHL team (idk that they can),
Then Southern Ontario / Western New York has WAY more than enough ppl to support 3 teams

Why do they need to focus on “hockey markets” exactly?
They’re doing well in Dallas, the closest city to Houston. And they had a successful minor league team there for years, with a currently successful one in the Austin area. Houston is the 3rd largest city in the US- it would be foolish NOT to expand there.

Also, there’s MANY more teams that are working in non-traditional markets then are failing.
Look how good Vegas & Tampa & Nashville are doing.
There’s a bunch of AHL teams doing well in Cali right now- including San Diego & the Bay Area. LA, Anaheim & San Jose have been very successful for years in Cali as well.
U don’t JUST need to fill the seats- u also need corporate sponsorships- and Cali, Texas & S.Ontario have so much more of that then small populations in Saskatchewan & Quebec City that u seem so sure about
And idk why KC wouldn’t work out as well, since hockey has been thriving in the Midwest now for decades- from Minnesota to Columbus to St.Louis (pretty close to KC) and down into Nashville & Texas.

The biggest issue with non traditional markets that haven’t worked tend to do with a lack of good ownership imo.
That’s a bigger obstacle than not having snow on the ground.
And so many northern hockey fans have moved down south, that there is a good base of fans in these bigger cities.
All those Sabres fans u see in Florida & Carolina & Nashville, etc etc at the games aren’t traveling from Buffalo, they live there already. And expansion into these markets has gone right many more times than it hasn’t.

lol sry didn't see it