The NHL Re-Imagined

Not quite re-imagined. I just needed a title and wanted to be hyperbolic for a moment.

Similar to my earlier post regarding a proposed realignment and restructure of the NBA, I feel the need to address the situation of the NHL. Yet another league that has just enjoyed one of the more entertaining and exciting postseasons in recent memory (though I may be biased as I live around Boston), the NHL is going through a small renaissance of sorts. The lockout they endured not too many seasons ago shied away many fans, but it was not the sole reason the popularity of the sport declined. However, it is making a comeback, and though the NHL may never eclipse the popularity of the NFL, they do look to be adding a new generation of fans within the past couple years. Certainly to thank would be the new rules installed post-lockout that encourage exciting, fast play, as well as the hard salary cap that ensures a stingy owner cannot submarine the team's competitiveness by refusing to pay for talent.

Bettman's Sun Belt expansion/relocation was miscalculated, and I think on this we can all agree. Expanding hockey into southern US states worked in some cases (Dallas, Anaheim), but you can't force a game onto a population that does not grow up around the sport. Hockey will always do well in Canada, and in the northern parts of the States where it is already a tradition and part of life in the winter months. Nashville? Raleigh? Miami? These are not hockey cities, and I know it pains the diehards to watch the Stanley Cup skated around the ice when outside the arena it's 95 degrees (I'm looking at you, Tampa/Carolina/Anaheim).

Besides, the NHL isn't a league that needs 30 teams. The league worked best before Bettman went expansion-crazy in the '90s, and it could be much more prosperous in a situation that keeps its teams in areas where the fan base cares and realizes that what's important is not the quantity of teams. The talent level has grown in recent years due to the influx of European and Russian skaters, but I still think 30 is too big for the league. If I was Commissioner of Sports and lived in my ideal world, I'd be cutting the NHL down to 24 teams, 12 in Canada, 12 in the US, and split up the conferences as so, allowing every Stanley Cup to feel like a Border War. Of course, since this is a good idea, it will never happen.

My more realistic dream would be to break up the Sun Belt teams and either contract them or relocate them to a region that will give a shit. This plan is already in motion, as Atlanta finally admitted they made a mistake, and granted Winnipeg a team to call their own again. Let's continue with the shakeup: Gone are the Hurricanes, Panthers, and Lightning, three teams whose fan bases spend more time in the Sun in one week than a hockey player spends on the ice in a month. Columbus is not a pro sports town, and any professional major league team who has a cartoony wasp in the wrong colors as their mascot should have had the team taken away long ago (yeah, Charlotte, that's a dig at your old basketball team, who looks like they won't be in New Orleans much longer either). The Nashville Sabertooth Fossils can remove themselves as well, along with the Phoenix Coyotes (that was never going to work) and the San Jose Sharks, who despite having the best team in their division for four years running, simply cannot fill their arena. We'll move this talented group to a city that cares.

That makes seven teams I'd like to see moved or contracted. In response to this, I'd like to see five markets served with their own franchise, giving us a net loss of two teams. These new (or revisited) cities I'd like to propose would be Quebec City, Hamilton, Hartford, Seattle, and Green Bay.

Hear me out. Quebec is one of the fastest growing cities in Canada, and the Nordiques are a much-beloved franchise missed not only by their loyal fans, but also by hockey fans in general. Same goes for Hartford and the Whalers. In the past few years, Whalers merchandise has come back into popularity in New England, with many of the old fans and new hopefuls clamoring for a return of their green-and-blue clad skaters.

The new ideas are Hamilton, Seattle, and Green Bay. Seattle has a long hockey history, stretching back to the Metropolitans of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association in the early 1900s and currently being carried on by the Thunderbirds of the Western Hockey League (who look strikingly similar to the 1990s Whalers and current Vancouver Canucks). Seattle is a city of rabid sports fans, as evidenced by their quick and passionate support of Sounders FC in MLS.

It's long been said that the Toronto area can support another team, and in my opinion Hamilton would be a perfect place to host them. They certainly have the population and growth rate to support a professional team, and the nearby hockey cities of Toronto, Buffalo, and Detroit would make for some quick, fun rivalries between the teams. And let's be honest: It can never be a bad thing to bring hockey into a big Canadian city, right?

Lastly is Green Bay, and this is my biggest question mark in the fake plan that I'm making up now and definitely will never come to fruition. However, bear with me. Green Bay isn't the biggest city in the world, it's not even the biggest city in its own state. However, really the only things to do in Green Bay (I imagine, I've never been) are watch the Packers, talk about the Packers, or go ice fishing. Considering the intense passion and dedication these sports fans show to their football team, I don't think a hockey team in town would be a disaster. With the Packers' season over in early February at the earliest each year, having another sports team in the city of Green Bay that could continue play into the summer months could be a rousing success. The nearby Resch Center only has a capacity around 10,000, but I have to believe that a renovation and expansion in order to bring an NHL team to Green Bay would be a welcome process. Besides, the Canadian city of Saskatoon has been discussed as a future NHL site, and their population a) is smaller than Green Bay's, and b) isn't exactly known for their rabid sports fandom. The other place I'd consider for this last spot would be bringing a team to Portland's Rose Garden. Portland could be a viable NHL city in the way that it's a wholly viable NBA city, but for now, I'll pencil in Green Bay as our last introduction.

So, we are left with 28 teams. With the reduction in franchises, we no longer have a need for six divisions. What makes sense in this case are four seven-team divisions within two conferences, broken down in the traditional structure of East-West and divided as to reduce cross-time zone travel. Below is what this new league would look like, taking all of the previous moves into consideration:

There. That feels better, doesn't it?

The problem this now presents us with is scheduling. We've cut two teams and realigned all our divisions; current scheduling formats won't work with this new look. Aiming towards retaining the 82 games that have been standard since the 1995-96 season, I've broken the proposed schedule down as such: Five games against all other teams within the division (intra-divisional), for a total of 30 games. The odd game against each team would alternate hosts each year. Additionally, teams would play three games against all opponents that are within the same conference but outside the division (inter-divisional), giving us another 21 games, for a current total of 51. The extra home game would be alternated in the same manner as the intra-divisional games. Each team would then faceoff against every team outside their conference (inter-conference) twice in a home-and-home series. This new format ensures, unlike the current scheduling methods, that fans will have the opportunity to see every team in the NHL at least once in their home team's arena. This adds up to 28 games, totaling 79. With the three additional games we can follow an idea introduced by the NFL and that I adopted in my earlier post about reorganizing the NBA: each team plays one additional game against the team in each division that finished in the same place in the standings the previous year. That brings us to 82 games, a full NHL season.

One of the things I like most about this potential scheduling method is that there are an uneven number of games against all opponents within a team's conference (except the one opponent in the other division with the additional game as noted above), ensuring that the season series between teams will always have a definitive winner. This could open the door for challenge trophies as we see in college football, where the winner of the season series takes home the trophy for the year. As if we needed an added incentive for a Bruins-Canadiens or Red Wings-Blackhawks series, we might actually see hardware exchange hands as well. Talk about an interesting proposition.

With the altered alignment and scheduling system, the playoff system needs a little tweaking. We will guarantee playoff spots for the top three teams in each division, with the division winners being seeded no lower than fourth, therefore rewarding them with home ice in the first round. The remaining two spots in each conference go to the two remaining teams with the most points. We don't want a situation where the fourth-placed team in the weakest division gets into the playoffs with less points than the fifth-placed team in the other division, therefore giving us a weaker field for the playoffs. We want the best quality tournament we can get. We can retain the reseeding that is currently done after each round, and I would suggest keeping the seven-game series in every round as well. We know the Stanley Cup Playoffs work incredibly well, so let's not go messing around with the format too much.

It's my opinion that all of the changes mentioned in this post would make the NHL a much stronger and more successful league. I'm sure not all of these changes will ever be adopted, in fact most might never see discussion outside this blog. But Atlanta is packing up and moving to Winnipeg, so I guess anything is possible.

Titletown, USA

I want to start this post by congratulating the Boston Bruins on winning the 2011 Stanley Cup. It's been a long time coming, with 1972 being the last year the Cup called Boston its home. A truly remarkable run for the B's, who have shed the weight of being the last Boston sports team from the four major leagues to win a championship in the new millennium, allowing both themselves and their loyal fans to breathe a big sigh of relief, followed by the widest smile they've ever known.

But while the Bruins' achievements are certainly to be admired and celebrated, the real winner here is the city of Boston. This was not the Bruins' first title, though it may feel that way for many. It has, however, marked the culmination of the most spectacular, compact sports run any city has ever seen.

Boston has celebrated championships in all four majors before last night. In fact, that quest ended when the Patriots secured their first Lombardi Trophy back in February of 2002, thanks to the arm of Tom Brady and the leg of Adam Vinatieri. That championship put them in elite company; to date, only five American cities have had the honor of being called Champions in all four majors: New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Detroit, and then Boston.

What's incredible about this Bruins victory is that Boston now boasts the shortest span of time in which all four championships were won by the local team. From the last Patriots Super Bowl win in 2005 to last night's hoisting of the Cup, at one time or another, Boston sports fans have been able to say that yes, their team truly is the best, a claim that fans in only those four other cities can make. But Boston is different because of this incredibly short time span.

Detroit, perhaps the most unlikely city on this list considering market size, has the longest gap between all four titles, sitting at 34 years. Beginning with the Red Wings Stanly Cup win in 1955 and ending with the Pistons first NBA Championship in 1989, they also saw the pre-Super Bowl NFL Championship won by their Lions (1957) and a couple World Series taken by the beloved Tigers in 1968 and 1984.

Chicago, while part of this exclusive club, also had to wait many years in between titles. In a 24-year span from 1986 to 2010, they were able to relish championships from Da Bears, Jordan's Bulls, the surprise 2005 White Sox, and last year's Blackhawks. A great run, filled with some incredible moments for sure. But still, it took a quarter century to complete the superfecta.

Philadelphia was not much more impressive than Chicago's teams in terms of winning time, besting them only by four years. Philly's span reached from the 1960 NFL Champion Eagles to the 1980 Phillies, encompassing back-to-back championship wins from the Flyers as well as Wilt Chamberlain's first title, coming as a member of the 1967 76ers.

Ah, New York. Of course they're on this list. When you have two entries in three of the four sports, you give yourself a pretty monumental advantage. However, they still don't best Boston's six-year run. In their most concise effort, New York teams won all four titles in a 15-year span from 1973 to 1988. This run began with the Knicks' most recent NBA Championship and went through a couple World Series in Yankee Stadium, four straight Stanley Cups on the Islanders' ice, and finished up with the New York Football Giants' Super Bowl victory and ensuing Bill Parcells Gatorade shower. An impressive run, for sure.

But the crown goes to Boston, who before last night sat just ahead of Detroit with a span of 32 years (last Bruins Cup in '72 to 2004 Red Sox). Interesting, too, that there are no duplicates within the six year title run, though we were close. Minutes away, in fact, from an undefeated Super Bowl season from the 2007 Patriots and another Celtics victory over arch nemesis Los Angeles last June. Nevertheless, from the 2005 Patriots through the 2007 Red Sox, 2008 Celtics, and the 2011 Stanley Cup Champion Boston Bruins, this has truly been the most incredible, remarkable run for any four-sport city in modern history. Congratulations, Boston fans, and enjoy this. It's truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience.


Note: Anyone who wants to argue that "Boston" doesn't count because the Patriots don't play within the city limits must also then throw out New York and Detroit. But more importantly, they should probably just get over themselves.

Missing A Tornado

Ever since I can remember, I've been fascinated with tornadoes. Maybe it was getting surprised by my parents when they showed up at my school to take me and my sister to a matinee showing of Twister that sparked my interest. Maybe it was the constant replays of Night of the Twisters on cable. Maybe it was something completely different. What began my interest doesn't really matter, just that it has endured to this day and shows no signs of slowing down.

See, I live in a state that gets no tornadoes. My richest memory of one was a twister that tore up a grocery store about an hour west of my house when I was a kid. That's it, that's as close as I've come. I relish the tornado watches that the news occasionally throws my way, and I brighten up whenever the watch progresses to a warning. It is almost too much.

Don't assume this means I have a weird interest in death and destruction. It's not the aftermath I look forward to. The stories that have come out of the Midwest already this year are heavy on my heart, and I wish the best for all those affected and their families. I have read and consumed more tornado stories and videos than an average 24-year-old, so I'm quite familiar with the consequences. Yet still I hold out hope. I know there is no preventing them, so maybe I use that to rationalize my interest.

What it really comes down to is the pure awe-inspiring power. The most intense, concentrated power that nature has to offer. There is truly nothing like a tornado. Hurricanes, tsunamis, earthquakes, these are all events that cause much more damage and much more lasting effects than the average twister. But the concentration of wind power in such a small space is simply incredible. This is without mentioning the strange beauty of it all.

I recently began a job that has me traveling quite a bit. When I found out my first account was in Iowa, and I'd be there multiple times during the summer, I got excited. I knew there wasn't much in terms of tourist attractions in the area, but I felt like I finally had my chance to see one. Of course, the first night in Independence, we had a tornado watch. That was the last time (so far) that I would be so close while on business though.

Tonight, the area I grew up in, that same area that never gets a tornado, was hit by multiple instances of the storms. Parts of 19 communities throughout Western and Central Massachusetts have been hit, and the tornado watch has recently been extended until 11pm this evening. Thankfully, my hometown seems to have been spared of the heaviest devastation, suffering only downed trees and power lines. As of this moment it also looks like injuries were at a minimum, and only one fatality has been reported. I hope that the numbers remain where they are now, and do not grow.

From the moment I heard a big storm was coming, with the potential for tornadoes, I was very excited. I always am when I hear the watches, warnings, and reports. Once I began to hear of the sightings and damage in Springfield, my thoughts immediately rushed to my family and friends. Everyone is okay, and though the power and cell service was knocked out in my town, I was able to get in contact with those I was concerned about. Some texts made their way to me, others that couldn't text had the ability to use their 3G connection (somehow) to communicate on Twitter. Once things started to settle down, I even discovered that one of the videos the Boston news had been showing on repeat was taken in the truck of my friend I had just returned with last night from Florida. He had accidentally driven into the storm, and his coworker and friend lucked out enough to catch a tree falling in front of the truck and a roof being ripped off a house. The video can be found here, credit to Dylan. Silly world we live in.

Part of me was extremely jealous that I was out east, away from the action and the possibility of catching this storm with my eye. That feeling increased the more videos and pictures I saw as they scrolled by on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. But in the end, I'm so very relieved that everyone is okay. At the very least, you all have a wonderful story to tell. The night is not yet over here, with another two hours to go before the watch is lifted, but at least for this one day I think I can say I'd rather not be a witness. I know that sentiment will change, and I will always wish I could have been there (at a safe distance, of course). But there's always the next time.