(10-04-2026 08:16 PM)chargeradio Wrote:  

(10-04-2026 10:25 AM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  What the league can (and should) do is make sure the 4 Western Canadian teams are all in a division together. The same goes with Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, and potentially a Quebec expansion team.

The eastern group is pretty easy to keep together, as the Atlantic Division is effectively a "S. lawrence" division as all of the teams except Boston are along the Great Lakes or the St. lawrence River (which connects to the Great Lakes).

Winnipeg probably will have to fly solo as they are a basically just outside Minnesota - too far West for the St. Lawrence teams, not far enough for the teams in the Mountain and Pacific Time Zones (or whatever Canada calls them after November 1).

Atlantic - DET, BUF, TOR, OTT, MTL, QUE*, BOS, FLA, MIA
Metro - NYI, NYR, NJ, PHI, WAS, CAR, ATL*, PIT, CBJ
Central - NSH, STL, CHI, MN, WPG, DAL, HOU*, CO, UT
Pacific - PHX*, LV, ANA, LA, SJ, SEA, VAN, CGY, EDM

The 4 Western Canadian teams + Colorado + Seattle make for a good 6 team division

SJ, LA, ANA, LV, PHX, & UTA are your other true western division team.

For the last division in the conference you can either:

A) build a division of southern teams, starting with Dallas & HOU/SA, then working your way East

B) build a division of Midwestern teams starting with MIN & STL, then working East

C) build a division of Central time zone teams—this division is likely: DAL, HOU/SA, STL, MIN, with the final 2 spots being some combination of CHI, NAS, or an expansion team in a place like KC.