Quote:
Originally Posted by 357
That is most likely the biggest reason it WON'T happen. I'm praying it will despite the business factor. Not to come off cocky, but it is said that the Wings are a big draw for western conference teams.
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All of the better teams are big draws where ever they play, people will make more of an effort to go to a game involving good teams because it's better entertainment. The same can be said for the Original 6 even when they are in rebuilding phases or are having off seasons. It's hardly specific to the Wings and I really don't see how/why you'd think is a reason for the NHL to keep the Wings in the West. Especially given that the West already has a larger percentage of high profile talent and the most of the best team in the league already.
I certainly agree on the balanced schedule though. Frankly I'd like to do away with the rigid conference structure altogether for the reasons I mentioned earlier in this thread. It produces artificially inflated/deflated point totals based on the relative strength of a team's division (Vancouver was a classic case this year). It's also ridiculous when you have the #9 and #10 teams in conference missing the playoffs when they both have better records than the #8 team in the other conference.