~2020-21 NHL Thread~

[ELA]

Not NHL but the USA beat Canada to win Gold at the World Juniors.  I didn't watch, but a couple of the Red Wings guys I follow on Twitter and podcasts did, because a number of Wings prospects were playing major roles on their teams, and it was being discussed that this Canada team might be the best Juniors team ever.

[Brutus Buckeye]

Preseason rankings: https://novacapsfans.com/2020/12/30/2020-21-nhl-pre-season-power-rankings/

1 Colorado, 2 Vegas, 3 Tampa, 4 Dallas, 5 Philly

The pro sports dynamic in the non-coastal West is pretty basic. Denver and Phoenix are each loaded up with all four major sports (Denver also has MLS on top of all that), while Vegas and Salt Lake combine to have everything except Baseball, with no overlap. 

[ELA]

NBA rumored to be looking into expansion to help offset costs, and Vegas and Seattle are the two favored choices.

[Brutus Buckeye]

Interesting Divisional line up this year. I kinda like 'em, aside from the Midwest getting mashed up with the South (or the west in a few cases). 

East: Boston Bruins, Buffalo Sabres, New Jersey Devils, New York Islanders, New York Rangers, Philadelphia Flyers, Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals

Central: Carolina Hurricanes, Chicago Blackhawks, Columbus Blue Jackets, Dallas Stars, Detroit Red Wings, Florida Panthers, Nashville Predators and Tampa Bay Lightning

West: Anaheim Ducks, Arizona Coyotes, Colorado Avalanche, Los Angeles Kings, Minnesota Wild, San Jose Sharks, St. Louis Blues and Vegas Golden Knights

North: Montreal Canadiens, Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oilers, Ottawa Senators, Toronto Maple Leafs, Vancouver Canucks and Winnipeg Jets

[Brutus Buckeye]

When they add Seattle, they could actually tweak these new divisions just a hair, and have one helluva geographically sound alignment, with four 8-team divisions.

North (Canada plus Buffalo)

• Buffalo
• Monteal
• Toronto
• Ottawa
• Winnipeg
• Calgary
• Edmonton
• Vancouver

East

• Boston
• NY Rangers
• NY Islanders
• New Jersey
• Philadelphia
• Washington
• Florida
• Tampa Bay

Central

• Pittsburg
• Detroit
• Chicago
• Minnesota
• Columbus
• St Louis
• Nashville
• Carolina

West

• Seattle
• San Jose
• Los Angeles
• Anaheim
• Phoenix
• Las Vegas
• Colorado
• Dallas

That said, it will never happen.

[ELA]

Well the North isn't geographically sound at all, other than being mostly Canadian.  The travel would be awful

[Brutus Buckeye]

Yes, all of this would be predicated on the notion that they would want to keep all of the Canadian teams in the same division. 

The fans would like it, and the teams wouldn't have to go through customs as frequently. It would kind of suck for Buffalo, but someone's got to do it since there are only 7 Canadian teams, and Buffalo is the obvious choice since they are practically in Canada as it is. 

[Brutus Buckeye]

Getting into the semifinal round with..

• Vegas-Colorado
• Winnipeg-Montreal

.

• Tampa-Carolina
• Boston-Islanders