The Free Press’s Ryan Ford posted a column in which he discusses four theoretically possible division alignments for the 2020-2021 season:
The ‘Original 8’
The idea: The NHL loves playing tribute to the “Original Six,” and games between them just feel a little more special (especially when Leafs fans who couldn’t get a ticket in Toronto flood downtown Detroit for a weekend visit). So let’s put them all in a division. Oh … except for the two in Canada. Still, four of the 1967 expansion teams — the “Second Six — are still in their original cities. That’s enough history for one division. Next, we’ll take the Stars, a ’67 team which relocated to Dallas in the ’90s, and the seven U.S. teams that joined the league from 1970-79. Boom, another division. That leaves us with eight U.S. teams which joined the league from 1991 on. Boom. That gives us:
Original 8 Division: Boston, Chicago, Detroit, N.Y Rangers, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, St. Louis.
That ’70s Division: Arizona, Buffalo, Dallas, Carolina, Colorado, New Jersey, Washington, N.Y. Islanders.
Bettman Division: San Jose, Tampa Bay, Florida, Anaheim, Nashville, Minnesota, Columbus, Vegas.
How it shakes out: OK, the ’70s division is a little light on star power, though it’s got a former MVP in Buffalo (Taylor Hall), a Stanley Cup finalist (Dallas) and the 2018 Cup winners (Washington, featuring Alex Ovechkin). And yeah, the Red Wings might be a bit overmatched in their division, featuring six 2020 playoff teams, but if we let the Wings’ chances of winning be a concern, we’re going to be here a while. There’s only two Cups in the third division — and both of those belong to Tampa Bay — but hey, we gotta make commissioner Gary Bettman happy, and most of these teams are his babies.
Ford continues (paywall)…
