Recently, groups from both Salt Lake City and Atlanta have announced their intentions to bring an NHL franchise to their respective cities. With the NHL very unlikely to relocate any of the established 32 franchises, it seems almost certain that if the NHL chooses to grant The Crossroads of the West its first NHL franchise and the ATL its third, it’ll come in the form of an expansion. The problem is that this would expand the league to 34 teams, which divided into two is 17, an odd number, which would make organizing divisions a headache. Therefore, I believe that if the NHL is to continue expanding, it will decide to go for 36 franchises. This is what I think will happen if the NHL chooses to do so.

NEW TEAMS

First of all, we need to figure out where the NHL will put these new teams. Thankfully, we already have the answers to two of them- Salt Lake City and Atlanta. That is one team in the west and one team in the east.

Candidates for the second team in the East include Quebec City, Hamilton (Ontario), Orlando, Jacksonville, a second team in Toronto, a second team in Ohio, Indianapolis and Hartford. Most fans in Toronto already support the Maple Leafs, so a second team in the Greater Toronto Area is a risky proposition, with so many established fans in the area. Hamilton has tried in the past to get a franchise, but I don’t think the NHL would be too keen on granting a third franchise to Ontario, with Ottawa already struggling. As someone who lives in Orlando, it almost certainly wouldn’t work here. Most hockey fans in Orlando are Lightning fans, and the Solar Bears do already have a decent following in the ECHL. Jacksonville could work, but I don’t know if there is any interest. I don’t think the NHL would be willing to put a second team in Ohio, because Columbus is already struggling and the league doesn’t want to take fans away from the Blue Jackets. Indianapolis doesn’t seem to have any interest. That leaves Hartford and Quebec City, both cities who have had franchises in the past, that still have a diehard fanbase. Quebec City’s population is much larger than the Insurance Capital of the World, and the interest is stronger there. Most importantly, Quebec City has an NHL ready arena. While in the past, I often didn’t like Quebec City due to their coveting of my team, I do think the people of the city deserve another franchise. The question is whether the Montreal Canadiens would be okay with a second team in their province again. Regardless, I’m gonna grant the second Eastern team to Quebec.

For the second team in the West, candidates include Houston, San Antonio, Austin, Kansas City, Milwaukee, Portland (OR), and Omaha. I don’t think the NHL will seriously consider Omaha, as Nebraska has yet to have a professional sports team, but then again, the league did pioneer professional sports in Nevada. I don’t think Milwaukee or Portland have strong enough movements behind them, and San Antonio is almost an instant no because they lost an AHL team. That leaves Houston, Kansas City and Austin. I think the league goes with Houston, because it is the largest of the three cities.

CONFERENCES AND DIVISIONS

For my 36 team NHL, we keep the Eastern and Western Conferences, but we go back to the old division format. The pre-2013 format of three divisions per conference, but instead of five teams per division, there are now six teams per division. Here are my divisions.

Eastern Conference

Southeast Division: Florida Panthers, Tampa Bay Lightning, Atlanta Expansion Team, Carolina Hurricanes, Washington Capitals, Columbus Blue Jackets

Atlantic Division: Pittsburgh Penguins, Philadelphia Flyers, New Jersey Devils, New York Islanders, New York Rangers, Buffalo Sabres

Northeast Division: Boston Bruins, Detroit Red Wings, Ottawa Senators, Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, Quebec City Expansion Team

Western Conference

Central Division: Chicago Blackhawks, Minnesota Wild, Nashville Predators, St Louis Blues, Dallas Stars, Houston Expansion Team

Mountain Division: Winnipeg Jets, Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oilers, Colorado Avalanche, Salt Lake City Expansion Team, Arizona Coyotes

Pacific Division: Vancouver Canucks, Seattle Kraken, San Jose Sharks, Anaheim Ducks, Los Angeles Kings, Vegas Golden Knights

SCHEDULE

Here is what an 82 game schedule format would look like for a 36 team NHL based on my proposal:

5 Division Opponents x 4 Games = 20 Games

2 Conference Opponents x 3 Games = 6 Games

10 Conference Opponents x 2 Games = 20 Games

18 Nonconference Opponents x 2 Games = 36 Games

PLAYOFFS

A 36 team NHL would also see an expanded playoff, but basically just a rip off of the new NBA playoff format. Here is how I think it would go.

Top Two teams in each division automatically qualify for Round 1 of the playoffs, which is 6 spots. The division leaders are granted Seeds 1-3, based on which of them had the best regular season, and the second place teams are given Seeds 4-6, also placed on seeding. The first round is a 1 v 8, 2 v 7, 3 v 6 and 4 v 5 affair.

The best four remaining teams in the conference will be wildcard teams, and will play in a wildcard play-in round before the regular tournament begins. This would mean a 20 team playoff. The 7th and 8th seeds would play each other in a winner take all game hosted by the 7th seed. This game would have playoff Overtime rules, but it’s one game only. The winner progresses to Round 1. The loser of the higher seed game faces double elimination. The 9th and 10th seeds would play each other in a winner take all game hosted by the 9th seed, and follow the same format as the 7th/8th seed game. The winner then will host the loser of the 7th and 8th seed in a follow-up game. The loser goes home. The winner of the follow-up game clinches a spot in the playoffs. The worst play-in team in the regular season that makes it plays the #1 seed and the best play in-team in the regular season that makes it plays the #2 seed. After that, the NHL playoffs progress like normal, except when each round is finished, the teams are reseeded based on their regular season performance. For example, if the 1st, 2nd, 6th and 4th seeds progress, the 1 seed plays the 6 seed and the 2 seed plays the 4 seed in Round 2.

WHY WOULD THE LEAGUE GREENLIGHT 4 NEW TEAMS?

This can be surmised in one word, which is money. All four cities will pay hefty expansion fees to enter the league, which will boost the league’s revenues, making the owners more money, and could help raise the salary cap, which makes the players more money. All four cities would likely see high attendance in their first season due to the novelty factor of having a new team. The problem is that the league cannot let in all four teams at once. It would create a chaotic expansion draft and harm the already established teams. The smart play would be to let two teams in at first, likely Salt Lake City and Atlanta, in say 2026, and then add the additional two in 2028 or later.

THE ARIZONA QUESTION

Before expansion can occur, the league must address the Arizona question. Unlike other southern markets like Tampa, Carolina, and most recently Florida, which have struggled in the past, but are now on the path to success, or have been successful, the Coyotes have not been successful. A good case study would be comparing the ownership groups of the Florida Panthers and Arizona Coyotes. After being sold by Wayne Huizenga, the Panthers faltered for several years, never really amounting to much and often with a half-empty barn. Eventually, the team was purchased by Vincent Viola. Mr. Viola without a doubt is the reason why the Florida Panthers still exist today. He renegotiated the Panthers arena lease, built a new practice facility, but most importantly has spent money and hired the right people in Matt Caldwell and Bill Zito to run the day to day operations of the franchise. Caldwell and Zito have transformed the franchise from the business (Caldwell) side and the hockey (Zito) side. The Panthers are pretty secure now, with one of the best teams in the NHL, and it seems very certain that the Panthers will be securing a deal for a new updated arena in downtown Fort Lauderdale sometime soon. The Panthers have been able to keep a good relationship with their local government, which has provided them a stable home (though not stable naming rights) over the past quarter-century. Meanwhile, the Coyotes are still a chaotic mess. Despite the Panthers faults, they never had to declare bankruptcy and be taken over by the NHL. The Coyotes have had several different ownership groups, most recently one headed by Alex Meruelo. Meruelo wants to keep the Coyotes in Arizona, but he is likely fighting a losing battle. Unlike the Panthers, the Coyotes have not maintained a positive relationship with their local government and have even developed an antagonistic relationship with other Arizona franchises, especially the Phoenix Suns. The Coyotes also nearly got evicted from their old arena for failing to pay bills on time, and have not made the playoffs (bar the COVID season) since 2012. The Coyotes have been forced to play in a college hockey arena that sits 5,000 and new NHLPA boss Marty Walsh is not happy. The Coyotes are trying to come up with a plan to find a permanent site to play in the Desert, but most of their plans have failed like Wile E Coyote’s attempts to catch the roadrunner. The NHL has been very patient with the Coyotes, but time is seemingly running out. Pressure from Walsh and the PA, as well as time going on have upped the pressure on hockey in Arizona, and Bettman likely won’t be able to hold it off forever. The Coyotes need to present a plan if they want to keep hockey in the desert, and it must be done soon. While the Coyotes twitter admin may be going full Jordan Belfort, business doesn’t work that way. If the next proposal to save hockey in Arizona fails, which is tomorrow, I think it is more than likely that the Meruelo group’s days are numbered, as Ryan Smith and the Salt Lake team circle like sharks.

If the Coyotes relocate to Salt Lake City, I don’t think it is the end of hockey in Arizona as a whole. The Phoenix market is too big for the NHL to ignore. I think that the Phoenix market would get a new team, probably in record time, if they were to lose the Coyotes, provided a competent ownership group steps up and is able to secure a building for the team to play in.