And so the realignment talks that started last season have been sorted and approved for the 2013-14 season. Let's start with the basics.
The four "Conferences" are actually four divisions, two in the West and two in the East. While they are so eloquently named Conference A, Conference B, Conference C and (wait for it...) Conference D, the move pushed one currently misplaced Eastern Conference team (Winnipeg) to the West and two potentially misplaced Western Conference teams (Detroit and Columbus) to the East, leaving the East with 16 teams and the West with 14 teams.
Conference A - Anaheim Ducks, Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oilers, Los Angeles Kings, Phoenix Coyotes, San Jose Sharks, Vancouver Canucks.
Conference B - Chicago Blackhawks, Colorado Avalanche, Dallas Stars, Minnesota Wild, Nashville Predators, St. Louis Blues, Winnipeg Jets.
Conference C - Boston Bruins, Buffalo Sabres, Detroit Red Wings, Florida Panthers, Montreal Canadiens, Ottawa Senators, Tampa Bay Lightning, Toronto Maple Leafs.
Conference D - Carolina Hurricanes, Columbue Blue Jackets, New Jersey Devils, New York Islanders, New York Rangers, Philadelphia Flyers, Pittsburgh Penguins, Washington Capitals.
I fully understand why Detroit has been moved to the East - they recognize the eastern time zone and therefore have to travel to three separate time zones for most of their season under their current situation. Here's the thing - they should have been left in Conference B. This way both the East and the West would have an equal number of teams and Conference B already has every team but Colorado in the central time zone. It alleviates their travel while simultaneously allowing a balance to be maintained. Plus there's the age old rivalry of Chicago and Detroit.
Even more importantly in some people's eyes, there are the incredibly temporary and unmarketable names for the four Conferences. I toyed with the idea of naming each after legendary players from a team within - such as the Gretzky Division for Conference A as it hold the LA Kings and the Edmonton Oilers and the Lemieux Division for Conference D as it holds the Pittsburgh Penguins. If things went the way I'd mentioned and Detroit was in Conference B, it would be called the Howe Division and Conference C would be called the Orr Division. But alas, that is not the case. So we have Orr and Howe fighting for a namesake and Conference B without claim (Savard? Sakic? Modano?)
Regardless, this is how the new playoff structure will work. The top team from Conference A and B (henceforth mentioned as "Western Conferences") will reign as champions of their division and earn the number 1 and 2 playoff spots. The next four playoff spots (3, 4, 5 and 6) will be awarded to the top remaining teams with two coming from Conference A and two from Conference B. The final two spots (7 and 8) will be awarded to the top two remaining teams in the Western Conference. The same is true for the Conference C and D (henceforth referred to as "Eastern Conference"). This can get confusing for casual fans as the number 6 playoff spot could have fewer points than the number 7 playoff spot but outranks them solely because they are third in their lettered conference and get an automatic top six bid.
Confusing? Yes. Fair? Close. As mentioned before the Eastern Conference has more teams, meaning Conference A has three automatic bids out of seven teams, while Conference C has three automatic bids out of eight teams. In the end, its all just semantics and the best teams will win the most games and earn their spots. It's not a change in the game, its merely a change in late season strategy just as the shootout changed whether or not you pull your goalie at the end of overtime to go for the win. What's needed is a different point system where you get three points for a regulation or overtime win, two points for a shootout win, one point for a shootout loss and zero for a regulation of overtime loss. But I digress.
The fact of the matter is that Atlanta's move to Winnipeg caused a rift in the Conference and Division alignments and this is the NHL's approved solution. I look forward to existing rivalries heating up and new rivalries to form. I can't say I'm stoked that my Bruins are going to be playing the Red Wings more, but hey you have to beat the best to be the best.
