Talk Talk Talk

So the fine gentlemen who run Up the Pucks (a weekly podcast about hockey and punk rock) invited your TBC editor back for another rollicking episode. We talk about team allegiances post-Thrashers, college hockey, and other stuff. Listen here. It'll be good for your dopamine levels.

Conference Swapping

So Ye Olde Atlanta Thrashers now known as the Winnipeg Jets will be playing in the Central Division of the Western Conference in the 2012-13 season while the Detroit Red Wings will be moving to the Eastern Conference.

It was obvious that after this upcoming campaign the Jets would have to be worked into the West because the prairie town in Manitoba is much too far to the West to remain in the Southeast Division or even the Eastern Conference. Many of us here had been hoping and even expecting that this would mean a welcome move of the Nashville Predators to the Southeast Division to play with their neighbors in Carolina and Florida.

However, after reading the TSN story above, I discovered this new fangled thing they call a "map." To my astonishment, I found that not only is Detroit farther East than Nashville, it is actually to the East of Atlanta, as is Columbus!

So the knee-jerk reaction I had about the Red Wings getting favorable treatment just because they are an Original Six team will have to remain un-ranted. While it would have been nice to have two Southeast Division teams within a five hour drive of Atlanta and playing Eastern Conference schedules with convenient start times for television viewing, it does make more sense for the league to move Detroit East rather than Nashville.

Now we really need the Avalanche to experience a renaissance so that we can have Detroit/Colorado Stanley Cup Finals matchups. Seriously, how long before we can have that happen with Roy/Sakic in the front office of the Avs and Yzerman/Draper in the front office of the Wings?