NHL Re-alignment pros and cons (to me and only me)
I'm guaranteed to have an opportunity to see all of my Western teams play in Boston once a year, and I also get to see them play each other twice. One of my complaints with the soon-to-be old alignment was that Boston and teams like Chicago and San Jose only played each other once a year, and if I missed seeing one of those teams in Boston, I would have to wait another two years for that opportunity again. Also, all Original Six teams play each other more often - though still not nearly as much as I would like them to, they still see more games against each other.
Boston/Tampa games are always exciting to watch. Whether they're chippy like the game in October was, or they play almost perfectly executed hockey as they did in last season's Eastern Conference Finals, they're fun. I can see a rivalry forming there, though nothing as cutthroat and coveted as the Bruins/Habs rivalry, a little bit of a flare is there.
All the big rivalries are still in tact: Boston/Montreal, Philly/Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh/Washington, Detroit/Chicago, the Battle of California, the Battle of new York, and the Battle of Alberta.
The conferences are skewed. West and Central have 8 teams, while East 1 and 2 only have 7 teams. If SCoC is on to something, and this does mean an expansion, I don't know where else the NHL can expand to. I would hate to see another Florida or Phoenix (I will never understand why Bettman has a grip like a vice on keeping a team there) financial disaster happen AGAIN.
Some second-priority rivals (for lack of a better term) are lessened. Boston/Philly, Chicago/Vancouver, and Detroit/Colorado are the first that come to mind. Hell, even Boston/Pittsburgh games are almost always tight and gritty games. They're cut from 4 games (2 home, 2 away) to 2 games (home-and-home).
The average travel distance of East 1 (717 miles) more than triples that of East 2 (222) because of the Florida teams. Even the other two average travel distances are a bit skewed, with the West (838) vs. the Central (595). Both Florida teams alone will travel over 1000 miles - the Panthers at approximately 1087 - while teams in East 2 will only travel an average maximum of 289 (Pittsburgh to be specific). No team will average under 700 miles in the Western Conference.
I just think, in general, it would have been easier to move Colombus to the East in exchange of Winnipeg to the West.
