In the previous two editions of this series we looked at how the uncertain location of the Phoenix Coyotes affects the possibilities with the NHL’s divisional alignments for next year. Today I’ll look at what would happen if Jim Balsille got his wish and was able to transplant the team to Hamilton.

Firstly, I don’t think that this is possible in the slightest right now, with RIM stock dropping for starters, but more importantly the planned construction of an NHL Ready Arena in the Markham area. But this arena won’t be ready for a while, so I guess there is a chance of the NHL wanting to relocate a team to Toronto, but have them play in Hamilton for a few years in the meantime.

The important points from examining possible moves to Seattle/Portland or Kansas City were:

• The NHL can’t have Winnipeg be in the Southeast for one more year, so some changes are coming.
• Even if they can’t blow up the league for next year, I think that there can be some minor tweak now to set up for seismic shift down the line.
• They have to wait and see where Phoenix goes first before any changes can happen – they don’t want to move Columbus, Nashville, or Detroit to the East, only to have them be forced to switch back a year later

Now a move of Phoenix to an Easternish place like the GTA, would make sure we would have an awkward conversation with Mike Ilitch about moving back West.

A team getting transplanted from Phoenix to Hamilton would obviously lead some sorting out on both sides of the Lake Eerie, which is apparently where “West” starts.

I’ll start with the Western Conference, where things are a lot easier. With Phoenix moving out of the Pacific Division, it seems like Colorado would be the obvious team to switch in there, leaving a Winnipeg sized hole in the Northwest Division. Bing. Bang. Boom. Done.

Now what about the Eastern Conference? Well that’s where things get a lot more complicated. Obviously a team in Hamilton should go to the Northwest Division to be with their geographic rivals Buffalo and Toronto. So who gets bumped out?

Now Boston is clearly the most Atlantic team in that division, and there is obviously a big city rivalry with New York, so let’s get them into the Atlantic Division. That should make things look something like this…

This splits up the Keystone Rivals, but it is rather inevitable. In the build-up to the Winter Classic everyone was saying that the Flyers biggest rivalry was with the Rangers and not the Penguins, despite the fact that these two teams haven’t met in the playoffs in the past 15 years, and only twice in the past 25 years (while facing the Penguins 5 times in that span), so I guess we should keep the Flyers with the New York teams. This would also make the Southeast Division the Superstar Division with Crosby, Ovechkin, and Stamkos giving the NHL a whole lot of games of the week.

The obvious losers in this plan are fans of the Bruins-Habs rivalry, which is arguably the greatest in the league. So if that’s too important to split up, I guess that means that the Sabres have to be the team to move to the Atlantic Division, to join their cross-state rivals. This could make it look something like…

With Buffalo joining the Atlantic, it makes more sense to keep the nearby Penguins in the mix and bump the Flyers, who are both Souther and Easter than Pittsburgh.

Now this leaves Boston, a major NBC Draw alone with four Canadian teams, hardly ideal for the league. There is a slightly more radical idea that could appease NBC and fans of Bruins-Habs matchups.

Move both the Bruins and Canadiens into the Atlantic Division, bumping both Pennsylvania teams out of the mix. This is pretty geographically harmonious, but would the NHL willingly lower the number of games Crosby visits Madison Square Garden? Would the man who owns the Flyers (and a Cable Network….) give up ratings and gates bonanzas with the Rangers and Penguins?

The truth is, the Northeast and Atlantic Divisions are about as close to untouchable as you can find in the National Hockey League. Both groups of five have pretty clear sets of rivalries that help everyone out both North and South of the border. Look at the vetoed plan for realignment, all five teams in both divisions were kept together. They even decided to place Tampa Bay and Florida with the Northeastern teams as opposed to moving the Penguins out of the Atlantic.

In short, they are not carving these two up. Which would give us the final and most likely scenario for realignment.

Yup, that’s the Hamilton Coyotes playing in the Southeast Division. This would ensure that the NHL could milk those cash cows a little longer. Once more, when they are finally able to get their four Division/Conference plan up and running, Hamilton could get to know their rival Panthers and Lightning a little bit before they come and join the Northeast in realignment, and/or are forced to move to Quebec City in a few years.

Also, we could get a better chance to modify the proposed playoff format for next year a little, since we would get two 15 team halves.

In summary, the league would look like this:

PACIFIC: Anaheim, Los Angeles, San Jose, Colorado, Dallas
NORTHWEST: Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Winnipeg, Minnesota
CENTRAL: Chicago, Detroit, Nashville, St. Louis, Columbus
NORTHEAST: Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Boston, Buffalo
ATLANTIC: Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, New Jersey, New York Rangers, New York Islanders
SOUTHEAST: Hamilton, Washington, Carolina, Florida, Tampa Bay

If anyone has ever been to Hamilton, you’ll know it may not have a lot in common with Miami or Raleigh, but hey, at least it’s not Winnipeg.

Anyone out there have any thoughts on how things could shake up with the Hamilton Coyotes?

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