What should the NHL do in the future since realignment is a reality?

   Realignment was always a debatable topic based on seeing hockey returning to Winnipeg almost two years ago. The National Hockey League today finally approved of the proposed realignment plan for next season. The realignment will see the Jets move to the Western Conference while the Eastern Conference will see both the Detroit Red Wings and Columbus Blue Jackets join them. This move makes sense because it was not fair for fans of the Wings and Jackets to watch games late while the travel schedule for the Jets was horrendous. While the three teams will immediately benefit from this, there happens to be a slight problem. The Eastern Conference will now have 16 of the 30 teams while the Western Conference will only have 14 teams. Since the NHL faces this issue, this is what they should consider doing in the near future.
  Like the NFL, the NHL should expand to 32 teams mostly in Western markets. It is not like the financial situation of the Phoenix Coyotes will improve anytime soon. It would be much better if they were to relocate them to Seattle, while give two new cities an expansion franchise. Kansas City was rumored to have a team a few years back due to a brand new building (Sprint Center) so Bettman and company should put them for consideration. This sounds like a long shot, but another possible NHL team that can join the league is Portland. They have a great fan base due to having a rich history with its junior team the Winterhawks as well as an arena greatly suitable for hockey (Rose Garden). If both Portland and Kansas City were to join the league as well as Seattle, they would easily fit into what would be divisions A and B in the West.

  We cannot forget Quebec City. They have always wanted hockey back after seeing the Nordiques become the Colorado Avalanche. While its rumored that the Yotes will go to Quebec, it would not be the wisest thing because more realignment would have to be done. If Quebec were to see a team, it would make sense if the Blue Jackets become what we will see as the Nordiques. This is because the Jackets will be in the East and the only shuffling that happens would primarily be in both divisions of the new Eastern Conference. However hockey will only come back to Quebec City should the team find a way to get a modern rink. This idea would work out the best should the NHL have plans somewhere down the road.

 

What should be done in the near future

   It is a sad thing to say but after being demoted to the minors the other day, Rick DiPietro's time with the New York Islanders appears to be all but over. It is only evident as Evgeni Nabokov has been playing great and they have a quality backup in Kevin Poulin and let alone Tim Thomas should he decide to come back sometime in the near future. After being drafted first overall back in 2000, he was supposed to be the future of the team but really never lived up to the hype. This was because of some inconsistent play, numerous injuries that have limited him to 47 games the past five years and signing a ridiculous 15 year contract prior to the start of the 06-07 season. Here is what Islanders management should consider if they want to build a championship team long term.
   The simplest thing to do here is not bury his huge contract similar to what the crosstown Rangers did (Wade Redden) but simply buy out what is remaining on his 15 year contract this coming off-season. The reason behind it is because his salary will not count against the cap because of the amnesty buyout. Another thing to add is without having his huge salary, the Islanders will not be over the cap as it is expecting to shrink to somewhere in the $64 million dollar range and GM Garth Snow can use that space to add the talent necessary to build a contender. However should Snow decide to go with the buyout, he only has until the end of the 2014 off-season since the amnesty period finishes.

2012-2013 NHL season preview amongst Canadian Teams

 As the start of the 2012-2013 season was delayed thanks to a 113 day lockout, there will be a shortened 48 game season. Here is a look at how each Canadian team will do.

1)Vancouver Canucks
2)Edmonton Oilers
3)Ottawa Senators
4)Winnipeg Jets
5)Calgary Flames
6)Montreal Canadiens
7)Toronto Maple Leafs

1) Vancouver Canucks: The President Trophy winners are coming off another disappointing postseason as the surprising Los Angeles Kings beat them in five games. The core of the team largely remains in tact although Ryan Kesler will miss time due to him recovering and the signing of free agent d-man Jason Garrison. He provides them with a booming slapshot and can fit in beautifully for the departed Sami Salo. However the Canucks face one major question and it happens to be between the pipes. Will they go with the 2-man system again with Roberto Luongo and Cory Schneider or will Luongo be traded and Schneider become the starter?

2) Edmonton Oilers: These young Oilers got even better from this past offseason. With another first overall pick from the draft, they selected former Sarnia Sting sensation Nail Yakupov. To add to their already good defense corps, they signed highly touted prospect Justin Schultz. Add those guys with players like Taylor Hall, Jordan Eberle, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, new head coach Ralph Krueger's defense first approach along with veterans Ryan Smyth, Ales Hemsky, Ryan Whitney and Goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin, the Edmonton Oilers finally have the right tools to finally make the playoffs after multiple years spent in hockey purgatory.

3) Ottawa Senators: The Sens were a huge surprise last season. Led by Defenseman Erik Karlsson, the ageless wonder Daniel Alfredsson, and rookie head Coach Paul Maclean, the Sens had a 41-31-10 record  which was good enough for 8th places. Even though they lost a thrilling series to the Rangers in seven games, they made intriguing acquisitions as Guilliaume Latendresse and Marc Methot now join the fold. Although Methot is a great stay-at-home defenseman, Latendresse is often injured but usually produces when healthy. Now the bad, they lost most of its size and grit as Zenon Konopka and Matt Carkner left leaving only one sole enforcer in Chris Neil and losing gritty forward Nick Foligno. All in all, the Sens need to jump to another quick start if they hope to have the same success as last season and surprise many people.

4) Winnipeg Jets: The Jets are coming off a successful season despite missing the playoffs. This is only because hockey returned to Winnipeg after a 15 year absense. The core is still the same with Andrew Ladd, Dustin Byfuglien, Tobias Enstrom, Evander Kane and Goalie Ondrej Pavelec. Expect to see bigger things in Mark Schiefele as he is now ready to play in the professional ranks and keep a close eye on Jacob Trouba as he played a hue role for the Americans in the World Junior Hockey Championships. It helps that the Jets added veteran forwards in Olli Jokinen and Alexei Ponikarovsky but what they need to do to make the playoffs is win games outside MTS Center as they had a 14-22-5 record on the road.

5) Calgary Flames: Changes happened once again in Cowtown after seeing the team miss the playoffs for the third straight year. Bob Hartley is now the new Head Coach replacing Brent Sutter. Hartley provides the team with lots of experience as he has a Stanley Cup ring. The Flames did not make that much noise this offseason as Dennis Wideman and Jiri Hudler signed as free agents. The only major loss the Flames saw was seeing Olli Jokinen depart to Winnipeg. The core still remains in tact with Jarome Iginla, Mike Cammalleri, Mikka Kiprusoff, Alex Tanguay and Jay Bouwmeester. The major question that faces Hartley the most is if he wants his team to make the playoffs, he needs not only great play from his core, but others to step it up such as Mikael Backlund, Anton Babchuk, Matt Stajan and Lee Stempniak.

6) Montreal Canadiens: The Habs have nowhere to go except to go up. After finishing last in the Eastern Conference, major changes happened. First they hired Marc Bergevin to be the new GM replacing Pierre Gauthier. The second change made was the hiring of a familiar face as Michel Therrien does his second tour of duty as Head Coach. On the player front, Bergevin addressed the grit issue by signing players like Colby Armstrong, Brandon Prust and Francis Bouillon. He also made a great draft choice by selecting Sarnia Sting forward Alex Galchenyuk. The Canadiens still have most of last seasons team only this time with a much healthier Andrei Markov and Brian Gionta. If the Canadiens want to rebound and make the playoffs, they are going to once again heavily rely on Carey Price to get the job done.

7) Toronto Maple Leafs: What a second half disaster. After being in playoff contention for most of last season, the Leafs completely fell off the ladder in the beginning of February which led to Ron Wilson losing his job. Before GM Brian Burke was fired last week, he made another surprising deal. He traded Defenseman Luke Schenn to the Flyers for Forward James Van Riemsdyk in order to add size and scoring punch to his forward corps. The major questions that surrounds LeafsNation is if both Goaltenders James Reimer and Ben Scrivens can get the job done and if Coach Randy Carlyle can further implement his physical system which would help the Leafs end the longest current playoff drought in the NHL.