Washington Capitals: New divisional realignment takes away Penguins rivalry

As if things can’t get any weirder in 2020 Washington Capitals fans.

Things were different when hockey returned in August and it’s looking more and more like things will be different this upcoming season with the novel coronavirus pandemic still not going away. Aside from a reduced schedule, it’s looking like all the NHL divisions will be completely realigned. That means a different outlook for the Washington Capitals.

ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski reported that the new divisional realignment will have the Capitals in the East division while the Pittsburgh Penguins are in the Central division. Part of the reasoning for the realigment is because of the border.

Seven NHL teams play in Canada and the Canadien government has closed the border to non essential travel through Dec. 21. It could be extended and likely will as we are in the middle of a second wave. The NHL is likely going to group all seven Canadien teams into their own division. But for that to happen, the other divisions have to be split up.

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If these divisions take place, that doesn’t mean the Caps won’t play the Penguins. It will just mean we’ll see a little less of the Alex Ovechkin vs. Sidney Crosby rivalry. Now this is just a temporary thing for this upcoming season. In 2021-22, the league plans to go back to the normal format with a new expansion team from Seattle joining the NHL.

The Caps are grouped with the Boston Bruins, Buffalo Sabres, Carolina Hurricanes, New Jersey Devils, New York Islanders, New York Rangers and Philadelphia Flyers. The league is known for great rivalries and separating one of the best ones in the sport may hurt their ratings for the casual fan.

Ratings across all sports went down when they returned to action including the NHL. We cannot afford another shutdown of sports as it would hurt all leagues across the board. I’m sure Flyers fans are disappointed too in that their rivalry with the Penguins is also epic.

I’m sure Penguins fans are scratching their heads as they are in a whole new division with only the Columbus Blue Jackets as a familiar face. One has to wonder how the playoff format would look. If they did an East vs. West for the Stanley Cup Final, what if Ovechkin and Crosby met in the Stanley Cup Final?

I don’t know if my heart would handle it but it would sure make a good storyline.