As the league tries to figure out their realignment strategy for the 2020-21 NHL season, the one thing we know for certain is that the Canadian Division is going to stay what it is. The rest is up for discussion and will likely change often as a number of factors are considered.
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Late Thursday evening, TSN’s Pierre LeBrun reported that things were changing again after a new round of discussions. LeBrun notes, “We warned everyone that the realignment plan the NHL shared with governors on the call Wednesday was subject to change, and that’s exactly what appears to be happening.” He adds, “Sources confirm the NHL is looking to make a few tweaks to those divisions again.”
He didn’t go into full detail on what those changes were but the original thought was that the divisions could look like the format below:
- Boston-Buffalo-New Jersey-NY Islanders-NY Rangers-Philadelphia-Pittsburgh-Washington
- Carolina-Chicago-Columbus-Detroit-Florida-Minnesota-Nashville-Tampa Bay
- Anaheim-Arizona-Colorado-Dallas-Los Angeles-Las Vegas-San Jose-St. Louis
- Ottawa-Montreal-Toronto-Winnipeg-Edmonton-Calgary-Vancouver
What Are the Changes?
It was expected there would be some debate surrounding both St. Louis and Minnesota and that could be exactly what happening. However, LeBrun also notes, “As colleague @RussoHockey reported, Minnesota could swap again. Also hear Dallas is a possibility. Could be a few other tweaks.”
In the end, it sounds like there were some governors unhappy with the first proposed division allotments and they voiced their opinions. As should be expected, it’s unlikely everyone will agree on what the final divisions look like as at least one team is bound to get shafted while another benefits. That said, the idea here isn’t to make everyone happy all the time. It’s probably to make as many people as you can happy most of the time.
Expect there to be more discussions and likely more changes.
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