As many of you probably have heard, Atlanta is being traded to Winnipeg. The Jets will stay in the Eastern Conference for next season, then move. With Atlanta moving to the Western Conference after the 2011-2012 season, everybody assumed Detroit would move to the Eastern Conference. It makes sense geographically, plus most of our fans are getting tired with 10 PM or later starts vs. western teams, especially during playoffs.

However, it came out soon after that as of right now, they are planning to send Nashville to the Eastern Conference, and we will stay, with many fans mad. I am actually one of the few for staying in our conference, because of our rivalries. Although it would be nice to watch all our games and not still be awake at 1 in the morning, I would really miss frequent games against rivals like Chicago, St. Louis, Columbus, Colorado, Dallas, San Jose, etc.

So, would any of you switch conferences for better start times, or would you keep the traditions?

That's not the same, if I know the result it's not very exciting. I would rather just stay up for it and then oversleep the next morning.

One thing is if the Red Wings moved east they'd probably go to the Atlantic Division, than one team from the Atlantic Division would have to move down to the Southeast to take Atlanta's place and it's all starting to look like a game of musical chairs. the idea with moving Nashville is that it's geographically feasible to put them straight into the Southeast without changing any other divisions in the East.

Though, of course, I believe the Red Wings are the team that most belongs in the East as they are an Original Six team, it does seem alot easier putting Nashville in.

It also probably makes sense for the different hockey markets. If you noticed, when Nashville played on the west coast these playoffs (In both rounds) the puck drop was 9 PM EST. When the Wings traveled west, we played at 10, 10:30, or 11 PM est, so the games in Arizona and California could start at normal times like 7:30 and 8 in their time zones. Nashville was playing at irregular times like 6 and 9.

The reason Nashville had the earlier start time was probably the fan base. Although I know there are a lot of hard-core Predator fans in Nashville, hockey is new to a lot of people there. After all, this is the first year in their short 10 year history that they advanced passed the first round. Detroit, however, has a huge hockey market, especially with our other sports teams (Tigers, Lions, Pistons) not doing well. If Detroit and Nashville both have an away game with an 11:00 start time, a higher % of Detroit fans will watch than Nashville fans, because like I said, hockey is new there.

This way, Nashville starts at better times in the Eastern Conference. As for Detroit, you could start the game at 2 AM and we would watch.