For the last two years the NHL has been in discussions with Yankee Stadium about the Winter Classic. While the NHL most likely wouldn't include the Islanders in a New York Winter Classic (let's face it, the league has been good about getting competitive teams in the Classic), it can never hurt to dream. Right now though the dream is on at least a one year hiatus due to the Short Island Smurfs playing in it. Along with the West being deserving of another Classic right about now.

The Stadium

It's got to be Yankee Stadium, even as much as I hate the Yankees, the history is there. It also helps that the stadium is in the city unlike the new Meadowlands arena. Citi Field, even though they brought the big apple over, just feels like it would be wrong. Plus I can't think of any company less deserving of any publicity right now then Citi. I think every sports fan in NYC can admit that among the available open air stadiums, New Yankees Stadium would be the finest site for a game.

It would be something historic, as the original Yankee stadium never held a hockey game despite existing at a time when ballparks seemed to be used for everything. The original Yankee stadium not only hosted College Football, Pro Football and Soccer, but also Boxing and two different Pope lead masses. There is something to say about a hockey game being played with that famous frieze as a backdrop.

The Opponent

If it wasn't the Rangers, the league would be missing out. Of course NBC would probably have something to say about it if the league picked two teams from the same market, but the NYC media market is large enough to almost double the combined markets of previous teams. If the Islanders were winning at a regular pace (which they would be) and the Rangers were competitive, it's been shown that the fans for both teams will come out in droves.

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As it got closer to the 1999 draft, there were two teams looking to make a big splash to turn around bad seasons. The Islanders had stockpiled picks via a firesale, and had the 5th, 8th and 10th pick along with the 28th overall pick. These picks were going to be the cornerstone of a new Islanders dynasty.

Meanwhile the Vancouver Canucks had been freed from the reign of horror initiated by Mike Keenan and Mark Messier. Brian Burke had taken over and was looking to make a big splash in his first draft. His target? Daniel Sedin and Henrik Sedin, highly talented twins from Sweden. Unfortunately, they were reportedly unwilling to play apart, with rumors swirling about how they might work the system so they might both become UFAs. Another problem was that while Daniel was ranked among the top thre prospects, Henrik was ranked at the bottom of the top 10.

It was an amazing amount of maneuvers which eventually got Burke the 2nd and 3rd overall picks in order to take the Sedins. A decade later it was easily the best move of a draft which is considered one of the worst in recent history. The Canucks have become one of the elite teams in the league, winning the President's Trophy this year on the back of award-winning seasons by the Sedins. Meanwhile, those four Islander draftees? They became Tim Connolly (163 games played for Isles)  Taylor Pyatt (78 games played for Isles) Branislav Mezei (66 games played for Isles) Kristian Kudroc (26 total NHL games).

But looking back at the draft movement, it isn't hard to imagine that the Isles might have found themselves in a position to draft the Sedins...

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During our expansion and protection discussions, we briefly touched on where the league would actually put two extra teams once they had them - not just the cities, but the divisions and conferences. For fun, Dom and I kicked around an idea that we've apparently worked on separately for years - four 8-team divisions.

Because the southern and western teams are much more sparse it becomes a challenge to get together groups of eight without putting them at a severe disadvantage compared to the northeastern teams. For example, it doesn’t work to just re-assemble the classic '80s divisions and add the extra teams. (Pity, that.) Who gets nudged to a less-convenient location?

Boston, for example, makes much more sense playing the Flyers, Rangers, and Isles six times a year, than Ottawa and Toronto.  The Bruins and Canadiens need each other to hate. So Boston-Montreal-Rags-Isles-Philly-Jersey, plus… well, Quebec?  Toronto and Buffalo, for the old Adams Division purists?  Where do the Penguins go?

Based on this and our similar theories for NHL '93-'94 lineups, I suspect that Dom and I are long-lost twins or something.  But we want to let everyone else in on the fun as well.  With Winnipeg and Quebec now in the fold, the league has to re-align - how do you think it should get done?

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The SBNation major-domo, Travis Hughes, is pleased to announce that the NHL is faux-spanding to Winnipeg and Quebec City, with the not-actual-return of the Jets and Nordiques to imaginary professional ice hockey.

To lead the franchises, Travis has selected stat maven Gabe Desjardins of Behind the Net for the Jets, and the Globe and Mail's James Mirtle for the Nordiques.  (Note to James: do not dress the team in these.  Not even at home.  Thank you.)

The first order of business is to see which team immediately relocates.  (Mirlte's already looking at Hamilton - maybe Ballsillie owns them?)  Gabe - Seattle has a nice arena with no basketball tenant that could be refitted into a palace, befitting the first United States city to raise the Stanley Cup in triumph.

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As I mentioned in the FanShot earlier today, a bunch of SB Nation hockey sites are coordinating a "what-if?" summer diversion: Namely, if the NHL expanded to 32, where do they go (vote here), and what players would those teams have? (Two mystery GMs to be named later will do the drafting.)

That second question will be in part determined by each SBN team site, which means we need to get down to the business of protecting, finalizing a list by Thursday.

After the jump are the ground rules, based on a combo of rules used in prior NHL expansion drafts. As you'll see, these rules are awfully friendly to the fantasy New York Islanders GM in all of us. Though I'll have to decide on a final list to submit to the overlords, I will need and use your collective input to make sure I didn't overlook anyone:

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The saying goes, hindsight is 20/20. When people look back over their lives, they always question what might have been. For fans of any sports team it's no different. From the Mets trading Nolan Ryan, to the Flyers trade for Lindros fans have always imagined what if? When it comes to asking what If, it's not about a single event. Instead it is more about how the dominoes fell due to that event.

The event we're looking back on today is the infamous Dale Hunter cheap shot, the repercussions of which are still being felt today. In the playoffs that year the Islanders upset two time defending champ Penguins before being taken out by Montreal. You can argue if Turgeon had been in the lineup the Penguins might have taken the Islanders a bit more seriously. In the long term, Turgeon's struggle to return to form ended up being a factor in his being traded for Kirk Muller. Muller's holdout and Don Maloney's inability to trade him (along with some other poor decisions) led to Maloney being fired and replaced by recently hired head coach Mike Milbury. The rest is history, but after the jump I imagine what might have been.

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