More NHL Expansion?! Who Would Be the New Rivals in the Pacific?

3. Let's Set the Eastern Conference Up

With the West set, it's time to look at the Eastern Conference. Home to numerous hockey bluebloods, it was tough arranging the pieces around to make everything fit. Still, we managed to make it work. Here's how the Eastern Conference would play out.

Toronto has always been the talk of a second team, yet that's never come to fruition. Have no fear because Hamilton's here. Well, Hamilton isn't in Toronto. But it's close enough to make it work. As for the name, it's in honor of the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum.

Also, bonjour, Quebec Nordiques. Comment allez-vous? While the Montreal Canadiens lose a good rivalry with the Boston Bruins, they regain an old foe in the Nordiques. C'est tres bien!

While the Bruins lose the Montreal Canadiens as their divisional rival, a classic city rivalry is revived. In fact, it's an Original Six rivalry, where the New York Rangers have Boston in their division. Also, Hartford is back! Cue the "Brass Bonanza!"

Essentially, this is the "New York" division, with the Bruins and Devils. This is a fun division with quality rivalries. You can't go wrong with giving the Rangers more rivals to play with, especially if they're as big as the "Big Apple."

Now this division doesn't seem like much. But you have the two Keystone State teams, the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Philadelphia Flyers. You also have two Buckeye State teams in Cleveland and Columbus. Then, you have... the Buffalo Sabres.

Now, this would have been Pittsburgh's division back in the day. However, it's anybody's game if it happened today. If Buffalo could get some goaltending or Columbus would stop being anonymous, the Atlantic Division would have some wings.

Welcome back, Southeast Division of the late 1990s-2000s! We missed you and watching either the Carolina Hurricanes or Washington Capitals win your division. Of course, this might be one of the more unstable divisions in hockey. You don't know what will happen with the Florida Panthers, despite their success.

That is also a problem with the Atlanta Thrashers (part two), who had attendance issues and ownership problems. However, a potential move to the suburbs will rectify this. Take the Atlanta Braves as an example. They've hit over three million fans in the past two seasons in Cobb County.