NHL teams didn’t travel much in 1917.  There were only four NHL teams when the league was founded, all in Canada. It took 50 years for the league to expand westward. Although today’s NHL consists of teams throughout the U.S and Canada, too many of them are located in eastern U.S. cities.
The NHL is split into four geographically based divisions. Because of this, the entire Eastern Conference is located in one time zone, while the West is divided into three.
Additionally, the Metropolitan Division is densely packed, whereas the Central is spread out.
These issues create a travel problem for the league. Look at this graph, showing the total miles traveled of NHL teams from this past season (assuming it would have gone to completion):

The four divisions separate almost perfectly. The Pacific is at the top, followed by the Central, Atlantic and finally the Metro.
Even the anomalies are explainable. The Blackhawks, Flyers, Lightning and Sabres all traveled to Europe this season, increasing their total travel distance.
Clearly, teams in the Western Conference have to travel far more than their Eastern counterparts. Travel negatively affects both player performance and owners’ balance sheets. Finding ways to cut travel cost could surely appeal to multiple teams. Here are some solutions.

Random Conferences, Semi-Local Divisions

Perhaps the easiest solution is to eliminate geographically based divisions. If the league instead creates random divisions, teams will probably travel similar distances.
The MLB and NFL employ this method to an extent. Each of the league’s two conferences span the entire continent. The membership of a team within a conference is not based on their geographical location. Still, they have divisions that are smaller and geographically based.
As a result, NHL teams travel across the country to play conference foes, but generally shorter distances to play inter-division opponents. Cross-conference doesn’t mean cross-country.
But it hurts intercity rivalries. The Giants and Jets only play each other once every four years. Similarly, the Yankees and Mets barely have any bad blood.

East West Divisions, 32 teams in four divisions

Another solution would be to arrange the 32 (including Seattle) teams into east-west divisions.
The four divisions would look something like this:

Boston, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver 

Longest distance: BOS-VAN; 3,166 miles

Shortest distance: MTL-OTT; 137 miles

Florida, Tampa Bay, Dallas, Arizona, Anaheim, Los Angeles, San Jose, Nashville

Longest Distance: SJS-FLA; 3,051 miles

Shortest Distance: ANA-LA; 30 miles

Seattle, Minnesota, Chicago, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Columbus, Buffalo, New Jersey

Longest Distance: SEA-NJ; 2,837 miles

Shortest Distance: PIT-CBJ; 187 miles

Las Vegas, Colorado, St. Louis, Carolina, Washington, Philadelphia, Islanders, Rangers

Longest Distance: VGS-NYI; 2,556 miles

Shortest Distance: NYI-NYR; 29 miles

This method keeps would keep the current division and playoff format in tact. Now, however, teams travel cross-country for divisional matchups.
But, NHL teams that used to travel less will travel much more. Therefore, teams on the coasts will travel the most within their division. Yet there is a more overall equal distribution of travel within the divisions. The league can also salvage some rivalries that would have been lost to random conferences.

Dump the Divisions, 2 Conferences of 16 teams

This idea divides the 32 teams into conferences without divisions. Then, each conference would have the same amount of teams from each time zone (8 eastern, 3 central, 2 mountain, 3 pacific).

Conference A

Islanders, Rangers, New Jersey, Boston, Ottawa, Montreal, Toronto, Detroit, Nashville, St. Louis, Dallas, Edmonton, Calgary, Los Angeles, Anaheim, San Jose

Conference B

Buffalo, Tampa Bay, Florida, Columbus, Pittsburgh, Carolina, Philadelphia, Washington, Winnipeg, Minnesota, Chicago, Arizona, Colorado, Vancouver, Seattle, Las Vegas

This format would have to come with scheduling changes. Teams within each conference would play each other three times. Then, each team would see every other squad from the opposite conference twice. The remaining five games could either be cancelled due to the travel increase, or played against conference opponents.
Like the east-west divisions, this hurts teams on the coasts. However, since the conferences are geographically broader, teams spend similar amounts of time traveling. Additionally, it compensates for the randomness caused by realignment, protecting geographic rivalries.

Expansion: Adding NHL teams

The best way to rid the league of lonely teams is to give them company. Perhaps that’s why the NHL chose to hold off on granting a new franchise to Quebec City while adding teams in Las Vegas and Seattle.
Adding a team in Las Vegas gave Arizona a nearby rival, as will Seattle with Vancouver.
There have been rumors that Houston and Kansas City may one day get an NHL franchise. That’s great for the Central Division, which has some of the more isolated teams in the NHL.
The Colorado Avalanche currently have to travel 785 miles to play Dallas, their nearest rival. A team in Kansas City shorten that distance, not to mention provide a great rivalry with St. Louis.
The same is true for the potential “Battle of Texas.” This year’s Winter Classic showed how well hockey is doing in the Lone Star State.
However, adding teams in Hartford and Quebec City only worsens an already crowded Northeast region. The NHL would likely focus on larger, untapped markets than smaller ones that cling to larger ones in Boston and Montreal.

What is the NHL Doing?

When Seattle joins the NHL in 2021, they will be in the Pacific Division. Arizona will move to the Central Division to make room for them.
The change will likely hurt Edmonton and Calgary.  They are located in the mountain time zone whereas the rest of the division runs on pacific time.
Colorado also remains the most isolated team in the NHL. Arizona will be their closest rival, but the Desert Dogs will have to travel even more than they already have. It helps that that Arizona does not use daylight saving time, essentially putting them in mountain time during hockey season.
Arizona, and many other teams travel far more than they should.  Time will tell how these changes affect their play.

Ben Baruch

Born and raised on Long Island. Isles fan since 2009. Studying journalism at the University of Maryland, College Park.