Monday, May 29, 2006

Reshuffling the Deck

Shockingly enough, I was thinking about this last night whilst flipping through the late-night television selections. We have also talked about it on our show here and there with Sean-O bringing it up even more recently. It took to a head today, when on the The Score's "The Spin" mentioned it, though it was a little backasswards. You see, Steve Kouleas, Steve Ludzik, and Mark Osborne were talking about if Canada is ready to have a 7th team in the league. I like to take that one step further.

You see, Sean had mentioned in the recent past that teams should have to play their way out of their division to get the Conference Finals. Even earlier on, Sean had mentioned that all the Canadian teams should be grouped into one division to have a chance to be in the Conference Finals each year. For this to become a reality, a lot will happen. First, one team would have to move to Canada, probably Winnipeg or Quebec City. Secondly, the elimination of two teams would need to be done in order to get a four-division, 7-teams-per-division format.

Now, it's a pipe dream, but I'd like to see that happen. It's pretty useless to have the six division format, especially after years of the Southeastern Conference struggles to stay above water. The four division format would take the top four teams in each division, which would be eight teams in like usual. That way, a team has to actually win their division in order to get into the Conference Finals instead of winning it in the regular season. Plus, equal representation from all divisions, which could present a problem in the current conditions if some teams don't get better. In the end, the best teams from each division will play at the final four.

Maybe I'm just all about the old times when I first got into hockey when there were the Patrick, Adams, Smythe, and Norris Divisions. The winners of each division would go on to battle for the Clarence Campbell Conference or the Prince of Wales Conference titles. The game today is great and there's plenty of talent, but there's a time when you step back and see if there's something better you can think of. Personally, if the division play is so important in the NHL nowadays, why not make the playoffs a divisional battle like they want to make the regular season?? There's definitely much more on the line and the intensity would be on an extreme level.

It probably will never go to that, but I can always dream. Of course, if I wanted nostalgia, I'll put in my 1989-90 Washington Capitals "More Than A Team" video, which includes bad, bad karaoke from the Washington Capitals.

2 comments:

freethoughtguy said...

Washington Capitals sing Karaoke?

That almost sounds like a joke!

ScottyWazz said...

Ok, I shouldn't say sing karaoke...more like lipsynching and pfaux playing trumpets and violins and stuff. I'm trying to convert it from VHS to DVD, then rip it to the computer to post. Once I get it done, I'll throw it up there.