New league realignment has been approved for next season:
http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=382065
Quote:
The NHL's Board of Governors has made a decision on a plan for NHL realignment.
The league has approved a four conference format, subject to NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman considering time frame implementation. Bettman will also speak to the NHLPA befor implementing the changes.
Discussion and the vote to approve the new realignment plan at the NHL Board of Governors mettings in Pebble Beach, California took an hour.
The realignment became necessary when the Atlanta Thrashers moved to Winnipeg and became the Jets.
The plan, finalized on Monday would see four separate conferences established to replace the current two-conference, six division system.
The proposed new conferences would be arranged to accommodate both geographical proximity as well as established rivalries.
The existing Northeast division would be expanded to include the league's two Florida-based teams, making a conference of: Boston, Buffalo, Florida, Montreal, Ottawa, Tampa Bay and Toronto.
Meanwhile, the existing Atlantic Division would gain two teams for a seven-team conference including: Carolina, New Jersey, the New York Islanders, New York Rangers, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Washington.
The Central Division would be modified to form a conference of Mid-Western teams including: Chicago, Columbus, Dallas, Detroit, Minnesota, Nashville, St. Louis, and Winnipeg.
The three Canadian teams from the Northwest Division would join a proposed Western Conference including: Anaheim, Calgary, Colorado, Edmonton, Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Jose and Vancouver.
The realignment is aimed at evening out the travel schedules for all NHL teams with each team playing teams outside their conference twice per year, once at home and on the road.
In the seven-team Conferences, teams would play six times -- three home, three away. In the eight-team Conferences, a bit more manoeuvering would be required.
Teams in the conferences of eight would play either five or six times per season on a rotating basis; three teams would play each other six times and four teams would play each other five times. This process would reverse each season.
The top four teams in each Conference would qualify for the playoffs. The first-place team would play the fourth-place team; the second-place team would play the third-place team. The four respective Conference champions would meet in the third round of the Playoffs, with the survivors playing for the Stanley Cup.
The division winners would be re-seeded for the Conference Finals based on regular season points totals. This opens up the possibility that two teams that are currently in the same conference could conceivably play each other in the Stanley Cup Final.
