There were two plans. One was four conferences instead of six divisions. The other was the current format switching Winnipeg to the west and moving Detroit, Columbus or Nashville to the east. They went with the four conference plan (which was spearheaded by Nashville reps).
Two conferences on the east will have seven teams each while west coast teams will have eight teams each. Playoff format is still to be ironed out, but it will be four from each conference with the first round being inter-conference play only. The conferences have not been named.
Every team will play in every arena at least once. That means more travel for all, but the League promises that the schedule would be more efficient with every team playing in every city. Teams will play home-and-home series against all nonconference teams.
In the seven-team conferences, teams would play six times -- three home, three away -- for a total of 36 inter-division games. In the eight-team conferences, teams would play either five or six times in a season on a rotating basis -- for a total of 38 inter-division games.
The teams in the seven-team conferences will have 46 out-of-conference games, including 23 at home and 23 on the road. The teams in the eight-team conferences will have 44 out-of-conference games evenly split between home and away.
Here's the breakdown.
The first conference in the east includes the New Jersey Devils, Philadelphia Flyers, Pittsburgh Penguins, New York Rangers, New York Islanders, Washington Captials, and Carolina Hurricanes.
The other east conference is the Boston Bruins, Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs, Ottawa Senators, Buffalo Sabres, Florida Panthers, and Tampa Bay Lightning.
Western conference one (teams with Central or Eastern timezones) are Detroit Red Wings, Columbus Blue Jackets, Nashville Predators, St. Louis Blues, Chicago Blackhawks, Minnesota Wild, Dallas Stars, and Winnipeg Jets.
The final conference of Mountain or Pacific timezone teams consists of the Los Angeles Kings, Anahiem Ducks, Phoenix Coyotes, San Jose Sharks, Vancouver Canucks, Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oilers, and Colorado Avalanche.
All jerseys are from the Sportslogos.
Quick observations.
First, what will happen with the All Star Game? Will it be totally jumbled? Will it be conference 1&2 versus 3&4 every year or will it mix up so it's 1&3 v 2&4 one year then 1&4, 2&3 the next? Will it go back to US & Canada vs the World?
Speaking of seeding for events, how will the Playoffs work out? Right now, it looks like the top four teams in each conference will play each other in a 1-4 and 2-3 in format then those two winners play in the second round giving each conference a champion. It's the third round where things get tricky. They will be the conference champions and how will they be seeded? The two 7-team conferences playing each other? A new seeding for the third round based on performance and not tied to which conference the team came from? That will not likely be answered until the GM meeting in March. Personally I'd love to see a re-seeding with a 1-4, 2-3 ordering going on for round 3 right before the Stanley Cup Finals.
Winnipeg may feel screwed a bit in this because they are the only Canadian team in their conference meaning less matches against fellow Canadians than any other team from Canada. I guess it makes sense since the western conferences were decided based on timezones, but it still seems like a bit of a shaft against the Jets.
Some more odd conference settings. The Florida teams are in the same conference as Canadian teams while skipping over an entire cluster of teams in the middle of the country including Carolina, Washington, New York, New Jersey, and Philadelphia. Part of that was probably to keep long-standing rivalries in tact (PIT-PHI, NJD-NYR), but it still seems odd to me.
I do love the idea of seeing every team every year in all arenas. That definately helps spread the game out over the country and build more rivalries, not letting those heated rivalries them get stale due to a passage of time between meetings, and more evenly spliting the level of competition.
One thing that doesn't make a lot sense to me is the fact that there are 16 teams in the Eastern time zone versus 14 in the other time zones combined. Seems like Detroit and Columbus kinda got the raw end of the deal. Why aren't the two eight team conferences in the east with the remaining fourteen split into seven in the west?
The reason is probably to keep the Detroit rivalries (particularly with Chicago) alive by keeping them conference opponents. But then why not 15 in the east to include Columbus (eight and seven conference split) and 15 in the west? That doesn't make a ton of sense to me. And perhaps Columbus doesn't like it either. "I think there were more than two or three teams not happy with the current situation,” Columbus general manager Scott Howson said. “This was a compromise that really satisfies everybody to a large extent.” Sounds like a man who didn't get what he wanted, but can't really say that outloud.
We shall have to see what happens. Final note...
Bettman said the NHLPA has expressed concerns about the new plan and that he will discuss it with union chief Donald Fehr before implementing it. Bettman said the change doesn’t need union approval, a stance the NHLPA contests.
“Realignment requires an agreement between the league and the NHLPA,” union spokesman Jonathan Weatherdon said. “‘We look forward to continuing our discussions with the league regarding this matter.”
Hmmm. A showdown between the NHLPA and the NHL? Maybe. Who's right?
Let's look to the Collective Bargaining Agreement.
The NHL is probably looking towards Article 16, League Schedule.
16.3 Length of Season. Without the NHLPA's advance written consent, the Regular Season will be scheduled over a period of not less than 184 days. Each Club will play at least one (1) NHL Game during the first three (3) days of the Regular Season and at least one (1) NHL Game during the last three (3) days of the Regular Season. Prior to finalizing the Regular Season schedule, the League shall provide the NHLPA with a draft schedule. The NHLPA shall be given an opportunity to comment on the schedule. This opportunity for the NHLPA to comment shall be provided at a point when the NHL has the ability to adjust the schedule based on the NHLPA's comments and shall include a meeting at the NHL's offices with the Vice President, Scheduling, Research & Operations (or his equivalent) responsible for assembling the schedule and a League attorney. The League will give good faith consideration to specific scheduling requests made by the NHLPA and will provide an explanation if any of the NHLPA's requests will not be accommodated; however, the final decision making authority shall remain with the League.
The League is going to be keeping all of those requirements (notification, a meeting, 184 days, blah blah blah) and will probably quote the last line saying that the final decision making authority shall remain with the League.
The NHLPA will probably look towards Article 22, the Competition Committee.
22.1 The NHL and NHLPA will establish a Player/Club Competition Committee (the "Competition Committee") for the purpose of examining and making recommendations associated with issues affecting the game and the way the game is played. The issues to be considered by the Competition Committee will include: (1) the development, change, and enforcement of Playing Rules; (2) Player equipment regulations and standards; (3) Player dressing room and in-arena facility standards; (4) the scheduling of games played outside a team's home arena and facility standards relating to said games (e.g., "outdoor" games, neutral site games, etc.); and (5) issues relating to schedule, compression and start times for games. By mutual agreement the NHL and NHLPA can expand the issues to be considered by the Competition Committee.
The biggest argument to be made here relate to the scheduleing of games under part (5) and "examining and making recommendations associated with issues affecting the game".
It seems the CBA actually kinda contradicts itself upon these findings. On one hand, the Competition Committee (a group having NHLPA and NHL representatives) is suppose to discuss the schedule while the actual scheduling part of the agreement says the NHL has final say and only need listen to requests from the NHLPA. I am by no means an expert on the CBA and there maybe an article or sub-article that directly addresses this, but I didn't immediately find it. I could be very wrong here.
But, I think the NHLPA is right here and realignment needs their consent. A reshuffling of the entire layout of the teams and the shakeup of the playoff format seems to be an issue that affects the game and how it is played. The schedule part in Article 16 seems to be talking about individual schedule changes here and there or "petty changes" to the overall season schedule, not a monumental shift in the entire structure of the scheduling based on realignment.
This could get juicy, but I would imagine two things keep it tame and without public fireworks. First of all, I don't think the NHLPA will greatly protest to this realignment plan anyway, so no need to pull the veto card just to prove they can. Also, I don't think the NHL will intentionally do anything to really tick off the NHLPA since the lockout just happened a few seasons ago. And seeing the NBA and NFL recent struggles will probably lead to much more open discussion than would be needed between the two parties, regardless of who's technically right. The NHL (or any sports league) can't handle the PR nightmare that would happen if there were lockout talks. Fans would give up so much quicker on a pro-sports league now compared to other times because of the NBA and NFL stoppages.
To be fair: Bettman didn't say he was going forward no matter what the players say or anything like that, just that they don't really need the NHLPA's permission. The NHLPA also said they would continue the talks and didn't say they were thinking of fighting the realignment tooth-and-nail. In fact, there appears to be an open dialouge already going on that's benefiting both parties. But there is some areas where the two are not seeing eye to eye. Bettman said so. This may be why we have the teams and conferences have been announced, but the playoff format is not ready yet. That may be the place of disagreement between the two parties. I don't know this to be true, but it's a theory.
TTFN
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