Alternate History 2: NHL & Pro/Rel

Last week, I looked at what would've happened if the NFL had promotion and relegation. Today, I look at the NHL using the same rules. Like the NFL, there's a clear point in which implementing it would've made sense. That's the 1967-68 expansion which saw the size of the league double, from the long-standing six teams to twelve. The league even put all six teams in a different division, and most were much weaker for many years. Details after the jump. I tried to use the same number of playoff teams one conference would have. And, I tried to have three teams going up and down each season, though it wasn't possible for the earliest years. As with the NFL previous post, I picked the playoff teams via the best records (tiebreakers: head to head, then goal differential). Then, of the playoff teams, the ones who went the furthest in real life were recorded as champions and runners up. If two teams went to the same round, then the same tiebreakers were applied. STANLEY CUP CHANGES Only four champions ended up being different. They are 1991 Pittsburgh, 1994 NY Rangers, 2006 Carolina, and 2007 Anaheim. Respectively, they were replaced by Boston, New Jersey, Ottawa, and Ottawa. Here's the full list of different finalists. With pro/rel is on the left, and real life is on the right: 1968 Montreal vs Boston Montreal vs Saint Louis 1970 Boston vs Chicago Boston vs Saint Louis 1991 Boston vs Edmonton Pittsburgh vs Minnesota 1994 New Jersey vs Toronto NY Rangers vs Vancouver 1996 Colorado vs Detroit Colorado vs Florida 1998 Detroit vs Dallas Detroit vs Washington 2002 Detroit vs Toronto Detroit vs Carolina 2003 New Jersey vs Ottawa New Jersey vs Anaheim 2004 Tampa Bay vs Philadelphia Tampa Bay vs Calgary 2006 Ottawa vs New Jersey Carolina vs Edmonton 2007 Ottawa vs Buffalo Anaheim vs Ottawa Why did each finalist miss out? In second division: 1968 Saint Louis 1991 Pittsburgh 1991 Minnesota 1994 New York Rangers 1996 Florida 1998 Washington 2002 Carolina 2003 Anaheim 2004 Calgary 2006 Carolina 2006 Edmonton 2007 Anaheim Didn't qualify for playoffs: 1970 Saint Louis (relegated) 1994 Vancouver (relegated) YEARS IN EACH DIVISON PCT 1st 2nd Playoffs 1 Boston Bruins 86.05% 37 6 31 2 Montreal Canadiens 83.72% 36 7 26 3 Buffalo Sabres 72.50% 29 11 19 4 Philadelphia Flyers 72.09% 31 12 26 5 Colorado Avalanche 64.52% 20 11 15 6 Calgary Flames 60.53% 23 15 13 7 Detroit Red Wings 60.47% 26 17 20 7 New York Rangers 60.47% 26 17 13 9 Chicago Blackhawks 55.81% 24 19 11 10 New Jersey Devils 55.56% 20 16 16 11 Saint Louis Blues 53.49% 23 20 11 12 Washington Capitals 52.78% 19 17 13 13 Ottawa Senators 50.00% 9 9 6 14 Dallas Stars 48.84% 21 22 13 14 Pittsburgh Penguins 48.84% 21 22 11 16 Toronto Maple Leafs 46.51% 20 23 5 17 Edmonton Oilers 45.16% 14 17 9 18 New York Islanders 44.74% 17 21 13 19 San Jose Sharks 42.11% 8 11 6 20 Nashville Predators 41.67% 5 7 2 21 Minnesota Wild 40.00% 4 6 1 22 Los Angeles Kings 37.21% 16 27 7 23 Anaheim Ducks 35.29% 6 11 1 24 Vancouver Canucks 35.00% 14 26 5 25 Phoenix Coyotes 25.81% 8 23 1 26 Tampa Bay Lightning 22.22% 4 14 1 27 Carolina Hurricanes 19.35% 6 25 2 28 Florida Panthers 17.65% 3 14 1 29 Cleveland Barons 8.33% 1 11 0 30 Atlanta Thrashers 0.00% 0 11 0 30 Columbus Blue Jackets 0.00% 0 10 0 The Cleveland Barons were one of the 1967 expansion teams, which folded in 1978 - the last team in the "big four" leagues to do so. Interesting to see a team like Toronto with 20 ears in the first division, but only 5 playoff appearances. As somebody who doesn't follow hockey too closely, I'm surprised to see Buffalo so high. I guess they're like the Phoenix Suns of the NBA; almost always good but never great (I've done the other leagues already). MOST CONSECUTIVE YEARS IN D1/D2 The longest lengths of time spent in division one (bold means a current streak): Years First Last Boston Bruins 30 1968 1997 Detroit Red Wings 18 1993 2011 New Jersey Devils 18 1993 2011 Montreal Canadiens 17 1968 1984 Philadelphia Flyers 16 1974 1989 Saint Louis Blues 14 1992 2006 Washington Capitals 14 1984 1997 Buffalo Sabres 13 1974 1986 Colorado Avalanche 13 1996 2009 Dallas Stars 11 1998 2009 Edmonton Oilers 11 1983 1993 Philadelphia Flyers 11 1996 2007 Pittsburgh Penguins 11 1992 2002 Montreal Canadiens 10 1986 1995 Boston had that really long playoff streak, and they easily top this category. The longest lengths of time spent in division two: Years First Last Carolina Hurricanes 14 1992 2006 New Jersey Devils 14 1975 1988 Detroit Red Wings 13 1975 1987 Toronto Maple Leafs 13 1981 1993 Atlanta Thrashers 11 2000 2011 Tampa Bay Lightning 11 1993 2003 Columbus Blue Jackets 10 2001 2011 San Jose Sharks 10 1992 2001 Some expansion pains here. 2011 DIVISION ALIGNMENTS Here's how two divisions would look for the current, almost finished 2010-11 season. The number represents the current consecutive number of years in the division. NHL-1 Anaheim Ducks 4 Boston Bruins 2 Buffalo Sabres 5 Calgary Flames 6 Chicago Blackhawks 2 Detroit Red Wings 18 Los Angeles Kings 1 Nashville Predators 5 New Jersey Devils 18 Philadelphia Flyers 3 Phoenix Coyotes 1 Pittsburgh Penguins 4 San Jose Sharks 6 Vancouver Canucks 1 Washington Capitals 2 NHL-1 Atlanta Thrashers 11 Carolina Hurricanes 4 Colorado Avalanche 2 Columbus Blue Jackets 10 Dallas Stars 2 Edmonton Oilers 6 Florida Panthers 9 Minnesota Wild 1 Montreal Canadiens 1 New York Islanders 5 New York Rangers 1 Ottawa Senators 2 Saint Louis Blues 5 Tampa Bay Lightning 3 Toronto Maple Leafs 3 For the current season, it looks as though New Jersey, Buffalo, and Calgary will likely be relegated. The three promoted teams would come out of these four: Tampa Bay, Montreal, NY Rangers, and Dallas. YEAR BY YEAR CHART Orange = promoted Blue = relegated Green = playoffs This should be a better reflection of reality than the NFL, who didn't play many inter-conference games. But one interesting thing is, for most teams until the more recent expansions, either you made the playoffs or were relegated.