2012/2013 realignment

[Kin]

For what it's worth I've never liked the proposed changes. I think it minimizes a lot of the existing really good rivalries in the league like Boston/NYR and Toronto/Philadelphia at the expense of games that nobody will care about. I'd legitimately be fine with the Leafs never playing the Nashvilles/Carolinas/Anaheims of the world and getting more games with the Rangers/Flyers/Islanders.

I mean, it'd be one thing if the league was trying to make this about travel exclusively and at least commit to geographic groupings but they couldn't even do that with a straight face because so much of the game is centred in the Northeast of the United States.

 

[L K]

yeah NHL!  Their sample schedule that they gave to the players was a 60 game schedule for Vancouver alone.  That seems like "legitimate" discussion.

 

[Kin]

Interesting that Friedman says that the vote among the players were 28-2 against the changes with the reps from Columbus/Detroit being the dissenters. I'd have thought it would be a more even split with Western teams wanting the changes as well.

 

[L K]

Interesting that Friedman says that the vote among the players were 28-2 against the changes with the reps from Columbus/Detroit being the dissenters. I'd have thought it would be a more even split with Western teams wanting the changes as well.

Every last one of those Western teams went from a 53.3% chance of making the playoffs to 50.0% chance while their Eastern rivals went from 53.3% to 57.1%.  I think it would be the other way around that some of the Eastern teams would have been happier about it.  Beyond that, I think the concern of 1vs.4 and 2vs3 in the first round probably turned some players off.  If you had the top 4 teams in the East in one division you would be guaranteed to have two of the best teams eliminated right off the bat.  I think there was a lot to not like about the new system.

 

[Derk]

I don't see why they didn't just try to keep three divisions in each conference. I didn't really like the whole playoff thing either.

 

[hockeyfan1]

I myself never really liked the new realignment format because as one can see, it was a flawed product from the start.

Certainly, the NHL's patronizing manner didn't help in smoothing out this discord with the NHLPA.  This may be what really irked the PA's union more than anything else.  When patronization sets in from one side, invariably, human nature being what it is, resentment builds on the other.

If the NHL was trying to present a tough image and attitude here, and we all know Don Fehr, at the helm of the NHLPA is no slouch neither, and, if this is a portent of things to come concerning the future CBA labour negotiations,  then we do not know how they will fare...for better... or for worse.

 

[hockeyfan1]

From:  http://www.thehockeynews.com/articles/44041-Campbell-NHLPA-positions-itself-for-CBA-negotiations.html

Without as much of an ounce of advance input from its Players? Association, the NHL devises a significant realignment structure which it fully knows affects the terms and conditions of the players? employment, then announces to the world it?s a done deal before getting the union?s approval on it.

...it imposes a deadline for the players to accept the changes and when the players refuse to do that, it declares the plan dead.
...it says the league doesn?t even need the union to sign off on the scheme, but essentially allows the NHLPA to derail it anyway.

This comes from a league head office that claims it doesn?t actually need the players? approval to impose mandatory facial protection, then doesn?t do it despite the fact it is knowingly putting millions of dollars in assets at risk by giving players the freedom to choose the safety equipment in which they work.

The fact the league has to deal with a union should not come as a shock to those who run things in New York. The fact that union is full of people who earn an average salary of about $2 million per year doesn?t make the dynamic of dealing with it any different than the United Auto Workers or Screen Actors Guild. The purpose and goals of a union (or association) remain the same regardless of the size of the paycheck.

...Don Fehr...the players hired him in the first place is they felt they needed someone who could stand up to management and provide an authoritative foil to NHL commissioner Gary Bettman. So in his first real test as leader of the union, he makes a bold statement such as this one...

You?re the member of a union where you work and roughly nine months prior to your collective bargaining agreement expiring, the owners of the company come up with a plan to change the shifts. It has its merits, but also affects your working conditions. Keeping in mind that you have to sit across the bargaining table from these same people in less than a year and you already know the employer is going to be looking for significant clawbacks, do you accept the changes without protest or would you want to use them as potential leverage in collective bargaining?

...would you take one for the team and accept a proposal you hope will create goodwill with your employer, but be viewed as a pushover when the bargaining gets more serious? Or would you rather assert your authority and make it clear to your employer that your voice matters?

There are those who believe the NHLPA has fired the first shot across the bow of the league by refusing to accept this realignment proposal for flimsy reasons and that it will lead to another labor Armageddon in the coming months.

The players know they will never win the public relations war in this negotiation, that they?ll always be perceived as pampered millionaires who are getting rich playing a game most hockey fans think they would play for free.

Are the players using this as a negotiating ploy? Almost certainly they are.

 

[hockeyfan1]

If the NHL's new realignment plan had been in effect this season, hypothethically-speaking, what would the conference standings have looked like, and who would have/would have not made the playoffs?  Some surprises...let's take a look...

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nhl-puck-daddy/playoff-race-look-under-nhl-failed-realignment-plan-204525268.html;_ylt=An.bjKpI06VIWqqDu4mI.WB7vLYF