I’d assume if something like this were to happen, they’d leave them in the West. It’s really the simplest move, and considering it’s the NHL vs. Balsillie… I think the NHL would try and “screw” Balsillie at least a little.

Expansion plans would then focus in the future on 3 Western locations… Kansas City, Las Vegas, and… you guessed it, Phoenix. Two of those locations have a readymade NHL arena. After a league expansion, then they’d consider moving Hamilton and Detroit or Columbus to the East.

it would be good and bad to see Colorado moved from the NW, and they’re definitely the biggest candidates to move if this goes down, I agree.

good: less travel for the team that travels the most if they get moved into the Pacific.
bad: rivalries with other NW teams are gone, still have pretty long travel everywhere.

I could see complete reorganization of the conferences, personally. Minnesota belongs in the Central more than the Northwest, Nashville should be in the Eastern somewhere…

Pacific: Vancouver, San Jose, Los Angeles, Anaheim, Colorado
Northwest:Calgary, Edmonton, Minnesota, Chicago, St. Louis
CentralDetroit, Columbus, Dallas, Hamilton, Nashville

East stays the same.

Southwest: San Jose, Los Angeles, Anaheim, Colorado, Dallas
Northwest: Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Minnesota, Chicago
Midwest: Detroit, Hamilton, St Louis, Columbus, Nashville

What’s great about this sketch game is there is no ideal answer. I’m a fan of returning to four divisions and making teams play their way out of the division in the playoffs (Disclosure: I come from the school of Patrick and Norris Division nostalgia).

Given that there is no way to divide up purely by time zones, and given that you can’t make four even divisions, I’d be a fan of something like this, with a 16-team East and 14-team West:

The worst casualty in this sketch is splitting up Pennsylvania, and Atlanta and Columbus have to play outside their time zone (But Columbus is used to that, and Atlanta will move to K.C. anyway (kidding))…

Adams: Montreal, Balsillie, Toronto, Ottawa, Boston, Buffalo, Detroit, Pittsburgh
Patrick: Long Island, New York, Philadelphia, New Jersey, Washington, Carolina, Florida, Tampa Bay
Smythe: Anaheim, L.A., San Jose, Vancouver, Colorado, Edmonton, Calgary
Norris: Minnesota, Chicago, St. Louis, Dallas, Nashville, Columbus, Atlanta

Thoughts?

This re-alignment is easy.

Northwest: Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Minnesota, St. Louis
Pacific: Los Angeles, Anaheim, San Jose, Colorado, Dallas
Central: Detroit, Hamilton, Columbus, Nashville, Chicago

Despite the Avs losing their recent rivalries in the northwest, people forget they had a pretty testy relationship with Dallas in the 90s that could be renewed.

Now, I seriously doubt the NHL will let Glendale get stuck with a fairly new empty arena, so expect the Coyotes to return in the future. Likewise, I would safely bet that the Thrashers will eventually leave Atlanta, and the NHL won’t look as bad because at least Atlanta’s arena hosts the NBA’s Hawks as well. In Arizona, the NBA’s Suns have their own arena, so Glendale would look like the NHL suckered it.

I would like to say Nashville or Florida would move as well, but like the Coyotes, both clubs play in arenas that their cities built just for them (well, sorta… Nashville’s arena was built to lure an NHL or NBA team, but there is no other tenant currently. The Panthers digs were, however, built just for them).

One really intriguing possibility involves the Islanders moving – they still can’t lock in a deal for a new arena, though their owner seems committed to New York.

NHL 2011-2012?:

Southwest: Los Angeles, Anaheim, Phoenix, Las Vegas
Northwest: Vancouver, San Jose, Edmonton, Calgary
Plains: Colorado, Dallas, Minnesota, Kansas City/Winnipeg
Central: St. Louis, Chicago, Detroit, Hamilton

Southeast: Florida, Tampa Bay, Carolina, Nashville
Atlantic: Washington, Philadelphia, New Jersey, Pittsburgh
Midwest: Columbus, Toronto, Buffalo, Ottawa
Northeast: New York Rangers, New York Islanders, Boston, Montreal

Notes on this 32-team alignment:
-I don’t think the NHL should expand, but I doubt the business side of things will let American cities that built arenas for hockey fail. This would be a serious no-no in the American business community, and could make it very difficult for successful U.S. franchises to get new arenas when they need them.
-I agree that it’s a good idea to leave Detroit in the west for exposure/TV’s sake.
-Putting Dallas and Minnesota together is almost too good to be true.
-Hopefully Kansas City gets a basketball team (the return of the Kings, anyone?) so that Atlanta winds up moving to Winnipeg. I’d much rather the ‘Plains’ division be Colorado, Dallas, Winnipeg, and Minnesota.
-I don’t think Las Vegas deserves a team, but I know how badly the league wants a team there. Again, like with Kansas City, hopefully the NBA beats them there so the NHL wises up.

Thoughts?

If the NHL can resist the Vegas temptation (or the NBA beats them to it), put the other team in Kansas City/Winnipeg. That’d make for:

Los Angeles, Anaheim, Phoenix, and Dallas or Colorado
Minnesota, Winnipeg, Kansas City, and Dallas or Colorado

I’d also be open to any number of configurations in the east, i.e.:

Southeast: TB, CAR, NAS, FLA (I don’t see that moving too much under my scenario)
Atlantic: WAS, PHI, PIT, COL
Northeast: NYI, NYR, BOS, NJ
Midwest: BUF, TOR, MTL, OTT

the northeast gets tricky, obviously.

Well, if the league says heck with it and adds 2 teams (let’s say Hamilton/Toronto2 and either Winnipeg or KC) as a way to settle this whole Phoenix mess, how about this:

Smythe/Pacific: Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Colorado, SJ, LA, Anaheim, and PHX.
Norris/Central: MN, Chi, Det, Columbus, St Louis, Dallas, Hamilton/Toronto 2, and KC or Winnipeg
Patrick/Atlantic: Pittsburgh, Philly, DC, Carolina, Atlanta, Florida, TB, and Nashville
Adams/Northeast: NYR, NYI, NJ, Boston, Buffalo, Toronto, Ottawa, and Montreal

Also, a schedule where every team plays a home-and-home series with every other team (total of 62), plus four additional games against your divisional opponents (28). I realize that’s only 80 games, but if that’s a problem, just add a few at-large games.