NHL for Dummies

[Sav25 1]

Ok so i've got back into my hockey again after a 4 year break and i would like to start following the NHL but in the UK, there isnt much coverage (apart from online or premium TV) so its not easy to pick up.

There seems to be loads of cups, divisions etc!? Can anyone shed some light on these?

Who are the top 6 teams generally?

What are the main rules?

Most improtantly, i want to start following a team, but as i dont live in the USA - i dont have any geographical preference....so how do i pick a team? (My first NHL shirt was Oilers....but thats no reason to folow a team!)

Thanks in advance guys

:D

Rich

[JP1989 0]

Of course its a good reason! ;)

Like myself, I'm a Montreal Canadiens fan because when I used to leave near Montreal, it was the only team I could watch on TV. And that was in 1998, the worst era for the team.

As for cups, divisions and conferences, there's 2 conferences, east and west. In those 2, there's 3 divisions in each, depending on the geographic place of the region (Northeast, pacific, etc.) For the cups, there's 4 of what I can remember. The Stanley Cup when you win the playoff's finals (the ultimate trophy), the Clarence S. Campbell Bowl when the team win the playoff's finals in the west, the Prince of Wales Trophy for the east playoff finals in the east and finally the President Cup for the team with most points in the regular season. And then there's individual trophies players can get for their achievements in the regular season and the playoffs.

The rules... I'm letting that to someone else or wikipedia. ;P

[Sav25 1]

Thanks man - il probably wiki the rules - could be a hell of a post if someone sticks the rule book down!

So we have east and west - they play a season each (when is the season?) - then the top teams from the season go into the various cups?

So the top teams from the west have the Clarence S. Campbell Bowl

The top teams from the east have the Prince of wales

......Wait a minute.....what are the play-offs? How do you get to them?

Sorry - i have no idea!

[lampliter87 8]

An 82 game regular season is played between October and April. At that point the East and West are each seeded by record and the top 8 teams from each conference make the playoffs. They then play best-of-7 series with 1 playing 8, 2 playing 7, ect. The winner of the West wins the Campbell Bowl and the winner of the East the PoW Trophy. The two then play for the Stanely Cup in the overall championship of the NHL.

[Sav25 1]

An 82 game regular season is played between October and April. At that point the East and West are each seeded by record and the top 8 teams from each conference make the playoffs. They then play best-of-7 series with 1 playing 8, 2 playing 7, ect. The winner of the West wins the Campbell Bowl and the winner of the East the PoW Trophy. The two then play for the Stanely Cup in the overall championship of the NHL.

Cheers for that - so this is how i see it now...

East Conference / West Conference

v v

v v

Top Eight East Teams (Playoffs) / Top Eight West Teams (Playoffs)

v v

v v

WINNER (Prince of Wales) / WINNER (Campbell Bowl)

v v

v v

v v

v v

v v

v v

v v

v v

v

STANLEY CUP!

v

v

NHL Champions!

Have i got it?

Oh it diodnt come out like i wanted but you get the picture

[shooter27 116]

It seems that you're trying to compare the NHL to European soccer with its multiple leagues, series, and championships (Premiere League, FA Cup, Champions League, etc.). In this case, that is not really an apt comparison because the NHL is one self-contained season, not a series of multiple championships/trophies. In the NHL all 30 teams play an 82 game regular season, with the top 8 teams from each conference (East and West) making the playoffs. The team that has the most points in the regular season is awarded the Presidents Trophy, which is generally not a trophy teams focus much on winning, its a nice accomplishment, but not their ultimate goal. In the playoffs the teams are seeded by conference E1 vs. E8, E2 vs. E7, etc. and the same in the West. The teams then play best-of-seven series, being reseeded after every round. The team that wins the Eastern conference half of the bracket and becomes the Eastern representative in the Stanley Cup Finals is awarded the Prince of Wales Trophy (the Eastern conference used to be called the Wales conference) and the team that wins the Western half of the bracket and becomes the Western representative in the Stanley Cup Finals is awarded the Clarence Campbell Bowl (the Western conference used to be called the Campbell Conference). Those two teams play a best-of-seven Stanley Cup Finals to determine who wins the Stanley Cup. The ultimate goal for all teams is winning the Stanley Cup, the other trophies (with the exception of the Presidents Trophy) are stepping stones along the way to the Stanley Cup. Unlike in European soccer, where the team that wins each trophy is considered the Champion of that particular series (Premiere League Champion, FA Cup Champion, Champions League Champion, etc.) the only "NHL Champion" is the team that wins the Stanley Cup.

[JP1989 0]

Ya, that's the main difference between football/soccer and most of the north american sports. I had a hard time to catch on what was going on when I first got into soccer.

[dalebert 8]

Thanks man - il probably wiki the rules - could be a hell of a post if someone sticks the rule book down!

So we have east and west - they play a season each (when is the season?) - then the top teams from the season go into the various cups?

So the top teams from the west have the Clarence S. Campbell Bowl

The top teams from the east have the Prince of wales

......Wait a minute.....what are the play-offs? How do you get to them?

Sorry - i have no idea!

Just so you know the rulebook can be found online straight from NHL's website.

http://www.nhl.com/ice/page.htm?id=27011

EDIT: After a quick glance it is 224 pages long. Hope you like reading :P

[JJ Thompson94 0]

As I was born and raised in america by two russian immigrants, I know I am biased toward the american way of running sports leagues.

Why do teams "sell" players instead of trading them. That system is horrible where only the rich teams are the best. What is up with that?

Also, why was a team from spain and a team from england playing for the championship. Doesn't each league have their own playoff system.

[Sav25 1]

As I was born and raised in america by two russian immigrants, I know I am biased toward the american way of running sports leagues.

Why do teams "sell" players instead of trading them. That system is horrible where only the rich teams are the best. What is up with that?

Also, why was a team from spain and a team from england playing for the championship. Doesn't each league have their own playoff system.

--

Oh dont get me wrong, i hate football. They all dive around crying if they get a bad tackle - bunch of girls.

The reason Barcelona was playing Manchester United was because it was the champions league. Basically the best teams from the different leagues in europe all play eachother to determin the European champions. Its just another competition, so while we would normally just have the premier league in the UK, this is almost like a second prize to go for.....do well in the premier league....and you get a chance to play in europe.

The UK had 4 teams in the champions league.

I'm sure someone from the UK on here can explain it better then me...as i dont actually like football!!

Oh and the selling thing - i personally think it has ruined the sport (it was crap in the first place anyway!). We have rich arabs buying teams now and everything. Yet they still call teams by their home ground i.e. West Ham, Liverpool etc....yet hardly any of the players are from that area?!?

--

What does "reseeded" mean?

And with the Stanley cup finals...do the same 2 teams play each other 7 times!!?? Doesnt that get a bit boring!?

[Rustpot 1]

What does "reseeded" mean?

And with the Stanley cup finals...do the same 2 teams play each other 7 times!!?? Doesnt that get a bit boring!?

The teams are organized originally to have the best play the worst in terms of rankings. The second round does not use the tiers but rather matches teams based on rankings again.

It's a best of seven series. Teams must win 4 times to move on. This takes away things like day-to-day health, officiating, single bad plays, isolated events, etc that can decide a single game. It does sound repetitive, but games in a series take on a different depth, and games can look completely different from one another. It also makes the game play quite grueling as teams can play up to 28 hard-fought games in a short span. Teams can also employ multi-game strategies and work both home and away.

If it was a single game or best of 3 or 5 you're looking at things like a late plane or whatnot that could be the reason a team plays poorly and loses 33% or more of the series.

[Sav25 1]

What does "reseeded" mean?

And with the Stanley cup finals...do the same 2 teams play each other 7 times!!?? Doesnt that get a bit boring!?

The teams are organized originally to have the best play the worst in terms of rankings. The second round does not use the tiers but rather matches teams based on rankings again.

It's a best of seven series. Teams must win 4 times to move on. This takes away things like day-to-day health, officiating, single bad plays, isolated events, etc that can decide a single game. It does sound repetitive, but games in a series take on a different depth, and games can look completely different from one another. It also makes the game play quite grueling as teams can play up to 28 hard-fought games in a short span. Teams can also employ multi-game strategies and work both home and away.

If it was a single game or best of 3 or 5 you're looking at things like a late plane or whatnot that could be the reason a team plays poorly and loses 33% or more of the series.

Interesting - i like that, sounds like it would be worth takign the month off work ;)

One last question if you dont mind...wherre abouts are we now in terms of the season? How far into it are we? And when does the season normally start / finish?

[Rustpot 1]

We are 4 games in to the finals for the Stanley Cup. Only 3 possible games left before it's over.

Starts in late September and obviously finishes up in June.

There are breaks in the season for either Olympics or NHL All-Star games. The big dates that generate a lot of forum traffic include the opening day of free-agency that occurs in the summer and the trade-deadline that occurs 3/4 of the way through the season.

[Sav25 1]

Thanks a lot guys!

[interpathway 9]

If you really want to catch the NHL bug...

On New Year's day NBC (US Broadcast) there is an "outdoor" NHL game, aka The Winter Classic. You should be able to find it on ustream.tv, around noontime 1/1/10. Mark your European calender for the Eastern Time Zone event now.