Time zones become tricky with 6 x 6.

Most of us look at a map and see 5 Midwestern NHL clubs and think certainly they belong together. Then you look at the southern/southeastern teams from Texas to the Atlantic and think well they are culturally southern so they should be together.

But then you’ve got to pick one of these 2 team divisions and drop them into the Western Conference. This is why Columbus and Detroit hated the old 6 x 5 when then the league was at 30. They were eastern time zone but played a bunch of west coast games.

The better way to divide those teams is to make a division that’s on central time: HOU, DAL, STL, MIN, CHI

Detroit likes their present division so keep them with TOR, OTT, MTL, BUF, & BOS.

CBJ unfortunately gets to be Yankee squad in a Southern division with RAL, ATL, TB, FLA & NAS.

The location of the 36th club then potentially shakes things up:

If PAC/MTN time—WPG slides into the Central Division
If CEN time—club #36 joins Central Division
If EST time—NAS gets shifted to the Central Division, new club joins most appropriate Eastern Conference division

NHL mostly still in 'wait-and-see' mode on adding two expansion teams....mostly

The NHL still needs to figure out their local TV revenue following the loss of most cities regional cable network. NHL only has four teams within their own local operations, far fewer than what MLB has. Gotta have your future money right before you expand.

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Ar...n-2026-27/