The Wings schedule represents the worst of the new format. That division has always been odd in that you had three established franchises mixed in with two newbies. The schedule will work well for most of the other divisions, where there are more established rivalries across divisional foes.

8 games vs. divisional opponents was the norm in the old 21-team NHL, and it was that format that created alot of the rivalries that exist today. As a fan of team with no natural rival (Atlanta) I’m hoping this schedule will create those rivalries.

I’m willing to give this new scheduling a chance, though I’m not a huge fan of it. It does look like it will make the Wings’ season a bit easier, which could help for a playoff run.

http://www.nhl.com/hockeyu/history/fstand90s.html

I really think the NHL should organize divisions/conferences better, if it’s really an East and West format.

And cut down division games from 8 to 6 each, which would free up enough games to play each of the Eastern Conference teams at least once. That also frees up enough games to play the Avs/Canucks more than 4 times. Which by the way, I care a lot more than playing Montreal or Boston. Toronto would be fun to play though. But they should be in our conference anyways…sigh

I’m not ready to complain about scheduling yet…it just seems like the wrong time to do that now. We don’t even know how rule changes will affect the Game. They may make games soo boring to watch that I won’t care that we’re not playing Toronto. I fear quality of play in general now…and if the rules changes make games amazingly exciting, that’s when I complain about who we’re playing.

From the outside, it looks to me like you need to worry about Wings-Avalanche.

We get both Habs-Leafs and Habs-Bruins 8 times this year.

Sounds good to me.