Welcome Winnipeg…Now What?

June 17, 2011 - 0 comments

The relocation of the Atlanta Thrashers will have repercussions that are felt well beyond Peachtree Street.
Because of the timing of the move, the Winnipeg franchise (Jets? Moose?), will still be members of the Southeast Division for the upcoming season.
All of a sudden, back-to-back divisional games look a little different when you’re flying back from Manitoba instead of Georgia. And Southeast teams will have to play there four times each; that will tend to mess with the travel budget a little.
But the real fireworks will come from the debate over long-term realignment. The first two steps in this process are fairly easy and shouldn’t result in much drama: Winnipeg goes to the Northwest, Minnesota moves from the Northwest to the Central. It’s the next step that will be controversial: who moves from the Central to the Southeast? The discussion has focused on three teams: Detroit, Nashville and Columbus. Let’s look at each candidate:

Detroit – Original Six team with great tradition and enormous drawing power across the league. Team has wanted to return to the Eastern Conference for years (they’re in the eastern time zone) and was supposedly given first dibs on such a move as a condition of the last realignment. While the Southeast teams would love this, it’s unlikely to happen because the Western Conference teams would put up a huge fight to keep their 2 to 4 sell-outs a year.

Nashville – Would seem to be a good geographic fit, especially with Carolina. Wouldn’t create a lot of controversy on either side. Only drawback is Nashville is central time zone.

Columbus – The team that the Western Conference would most easily agree to part with. On the other hand, the Southeast teams would complain that this move is the worst of both worlds for them: no regional rivalry to be built upon and no tradition or displaced fan base to draw on.

Bottom line, this one is too close to call. But you can bet on one thing: if Detroit moves, an overhaul of the scheduling process will be part of any deal.

See you next time.

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