The National Hockey League has realigned itself for the upcoming 2013-14 season, and with the release of the league-wide schedule today, the San Jose Sharks have a little bit of the same and a lot of something new on their slate next year.
The conferences and divisions have been re-shaped, and while the Sharks still reside in the Western Conference and the Pacific Division, they have some new rivalries to look forward to and some old rivalries to lament the loss of in 2013-14.
Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver join the Pacific Division, replacing Dallas (now in the Central Division). The old Mountain Division is gone, leaving just two divisions comprised of seven teams each in the Western Conference.
The Eastern Conference also has just two division (the Atlantic and the Metropolitan), with eight teams in each division.
This new league structure has brought change to the Stanley Cup playoff picture, as well:
- The top three teams in each of the four divisions earn automatic playoff berths (i.e., six teams per conference), while the next two teams -- regardless of division -- in each conference earn "wild-card" spots;
- The "Divisional Playoffs" feature the top-ranked team in the conference against the lowest-ranked wild-card team, and the other division winner faces the higher-ranked wild-card team. Then, second- and third-place teams in each division play each other;
- The first-round victors will meet in the "Division Championships". It's not clear if both wild-card entries come from the same division and win in the first round how that will possibly unbalance this round, however;
- Finally, second-round winners play each other in the Western Conference (Pacific vs. Central) and Eastern Conference (Atlantic vs. Metropolitan) Finals, with the victors advancing to the the Stanley Cup Finals.
The new schedule includes home-and-away matchups against every team in the league, so not only will San Jose host every team -- but the Sharks will also visit every city in the league, every year.
Thus, San Jose will open the new campaign with three straight home contests, starting on October 3. The Sharks also have a five-game road trip to end the first month of the season, through Detroit, Boston, Montreal, Ottawa and Los Angeles.
San Jose has another five-game road trip in November (Winnipeg, Calgary, Vancouver, Edmonton and Chicago), and then the Sharks close the month this time with a five-game home stand.
In December, once again San Jose starts with a four-game trip to Toronto, Pittsburgh, Carolina and Minnesota as nine of their 14 games this month are away from the SAP Center.
The Sharks get a four-game home run in late January, followed by a quick trip through Edmonton and Calgary -- and then they return for four straight at SAP immediately before the 20-day Olympic hockey break in mid-February.
That is eight home games in a ten-game stretch which could really set the tone for the season heading into the Sochi Games.
Following the Olympics, San Jose plays 12 of the final 23 games at home, including four in a row in early March, three in a row in late March and three in a row in early April.
The Sharks finish the season on April 12 in Phoenix against the Coyotes.
