How Seattle effects the NHL
Vegas Golden Knight in there 1st Season
With Seattle applying to become the 32nd NHL team a year after Vegas started its inaugural season these are some possible ways Seattle might effect the landscape of the NHL.
Names
DetroitHockey.net reported that 13 team names have been registered for the new team. Here are them
• Seattle Cougars
• Seattle Eagles
• Seattle Emeralds
• Seattle Evergreens
• Seattle Firebirds
• Seattle Kraken
• Seattle Rainiers
• Seattle Renegades
• Seattle Sea Lions
• Seattle Seals
• Seattle Sockeyes
• Seattle Totems
• Seattle Whales
I do like some of these team names more then others like The Firebirds and Kraken but all in all the names are pretty good.
Divisions
So obliviously the division that would make the most sense would be Pacific but they would have 9 teams while both of the Eastern divisions haves 8 and the Central haves 7. So I think that the Arizona Coyotes (who are the closest to the Central out of all the other Pacific Teams) will move to the Central Division. Here how the division will look after the change
Central
Arizona
Colorado
Chicago
Dallas
Minnesota
Nashville
St Louis
Winnipeg
Pacfic
Anaheim
Calgary
Edmonton
Los Angeles
San Jose
Seattle
Vancouver
Vegas
The Eastern Division will be the same as before.
Schedule
So with the new team the schedule they will have to switch up from the current format.
Currently the schedule structure is this
Eastern Conference (Atlantic and Metropolitan)
Within Division 4 Games*7 Opponents=28 Games
Within Conference 3 Games*8 Opponents=24 Games
Inter-Conference 2 Games*15 Opponents=30 Games
Central Division
Within Division 4 Games*4 Opponents+5 Games*2 Opponents=26 Games
Within Conference 3 Games*8 Opponents=24 Games
Inter-Conference 2 Games*16 Opponents=32 Games
Pacific Division
Within Division 4 Games*6 Opponents+5 Games*1 Opponents=29 Games
Within Conference 3 Games*7 Opponents=21 Games
Inter-Conference 2 Games*16 Opponents=32 Games
Here is what i think might happen in 2020
Within Division 4 Games*7 Opponents=26 Games
Within Conference 3 Games*8 Opponents=24 Games
Inter-Conference 2 Games*16 Opponents=32 Games
Prediction
So I personally think that the new Seattle team will do pretty good. Not as good as the currently 1st place team in the Pacific Vegas but the will miss the playoffs there 1st year. It won't get easier for them in later season but in 5 years they will make the playoffs. A BOLD PREDICTION I'm going to make is they will win the Stanley Cup in the 2030-2035 year ranged.
Thanks for reading my blog
-James A. Weaver
