That's right, hockey fans! The realignment is coming. It's a 4 conference league. Here's what we're looking at at the moment. (along with their current records)


CONFERENCE A

BOSTON BRUINS ............................ 17-7-1 (35)
TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS .................. 15-10-2 (32)
FLORIDA PANTHERS ........................ 14-8-4 (32)
BUFFALO SABRES ........................... 14-11-1 (29)
OTTAWA SENATORS ...................... 13-11-3 (29)
MONTREAL CANADIENS ................... 11-11-5 (27)
TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING ................... 11-12-2 (24)



CONFERENCE B

PITTSBURGH PENGUINS.................... 16-8-4 (36)
NEW YORK RANGERS ....................... 15-6-3 (33)
PHILADELPHIA FLYERS ..................... 15-7-3 (33)
WASHINGTON CAPITALS .................. 13-11-1 (27)
NEW JERSEY DEVILS ....................... 12-12-1 (25)
NEW YORK ISLANDERS ..................... 8-11-5 (21)
CAROLINA HURRICANES .................... 8-16-4 (20)


CONFERENCE C

VANCOUVER CANUCKS ...................... 15-10-1 (31)
LOS ANGELES KINGS ........................ 13-9-4 (30)
SAN JOSE SHARKS ........................... 14-8-1 (29)
PHOENIX COYOTES* ........................ 13-9-3 (29)
EDMONTON OILERS .......................... 13-11-3 (29)
COLORADO AVALANCHE .................... 13-13-1 (27)
CALGARY FLAMES ............................ 11-13-2 (24)
ANAHEIM DUCKS .............................. 7-14-5 (19)


CONFERENCE D

MINNESOTA WILD ............................ 17-7-3 (37)
CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS...................... 16-8-3 (35)
DETROIT RED WINGS ........................ 16-8-1 (33)
DALLAS STARS ................................ 15-10-1 (31)
ST. LOUIS BLUES ............................. 14-9-3 (31)
NASHVILLE PREDATORS ..................... 12-10-4 (28)
WINNIPEG JETS ............................... 11-11-4 (26)
COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS .................. 7-16-3 (17)


* denotes that the Phoenix Coyotes are most likely the team moving to the Province of Quebec. If that happens, they will most likely be realigned to CONFERENCE A.

PLAYOFFS - The top 4 teams of each conference will make the playoffs. The first 2 rounds will be in-conference (A1 vs. A4, A2 vs. A3, B1 vs. B4 and so on). I think the 3rd round will be seeding and then the last two will battle for the Cup.

EXAMPLE (1st 2 Rounds)

A1- Boston (35)
A4- Buffalo (29) 4-0
..............................A3- Florida (32)
..............................A4- Buffalo (29) 4-2
A2- Toronto (32)
A3- Florida (32) 4-2


B1- Pittsburgh (36) 4-1
B4- Washington (27)
..............................B1- Pittsburgh (36)
..............................B2- NY Rangers (33) 4-3
B2- NY Rangers (33) 4-0
B3- Philadelphia (33)


C1- Vancouver (31) 4-0
C4- Phoenix (29)
..............................C1- Vancouver (31) 4-2
..............................C3- San Jose (29)
C2- Los Angeles (30)
C3- San Jose (29) 4-0


D1- Minnesota (37)
D4- Dallas (31) 4-3
..............................D2- Chicago (35) 4-2
..............................D4- Dallas (31)
D2- Chicago (35) 4-1
D3- Detroit (33)



After these 2 rounds, They'd be grouped together by reg season standings. After that, onto the Cup.


EXAMPLE (3rd Round)


.......D2- Chicago (35)
.......A4- Buffalo (29) 4-2

..............................................B2- NY Rangers (33)
..............................................A4- Buffalo (29) 4-3

.......B2- NY Rangers (33) 4-1
.......C1- Vancouver (31)


Yes. I gave my team the Cup. Any of you would have done the same . Anyway, the point of it was to show the new playoff format, piece by piece.


Your thoughts on all of this?

Very cool. And this all but guarantees two more expansion teams in the next few years.

My guess is that when all is said and done Phoenix will move to Quebec and join Conference A, Seattle will join Conference C, And a third Ontario team will join Conference A and move Buffalo to Conference B to play their rivals in New York.

I feel bad for Winnipeg being the only Canadian team in their conference. It'd help keeps fans in their seats there if they were playing Edmonton or Calgary a little more frequently. Or maybe some expansion teams can head over there.

One of the candidates to receive the Coyotes is Markham, ON. The city's about the size and population of Buffalo.

I like it but wish that the playoffs would go interconference right off the bat so the matchups won't be the same so much.

I mean I can only watch the Penguins beat the Flyers so much before I don't need to see it again.

I understand what you mean, but they want to keep some kind of tracking order to the playoffs.

NHLPA has blocked the realignment. Sometimes, ESPECIALLY in sports, unions get waaaaaaay too much power...

Absolutely stupid move. They block this, yet teams like Columbus and Detroit are playing in the Western Conference....and that is ok?

Stupid. Hope they work it out.

I'm actually glad they blocked it. We'd be going back to the days of the old Norris, Adams, Patrick and Smythe divisions.

I like the new format, but agree they could change a few teams into different divisions to make travel better.

The main reason I'm glad it didn't happen is simply this: repetitive games. The way they'd have had it, you'd have seen the same teams in your own division X amount of times, and then you'd have seen the same teams again in the Playoffs. I'm all for divisional rivalries, but I like seeing teams like Vancouver/Chicago in the first round of the Playoffs. I like playing teams that you don't see a lot (prefer actually) in the regular season, in the Playoffs.

There were actually less interdivision games in the new allignment than there are now. The new system had a home and away series against every team in the league, the current system has many teams playing each other only once a season. The fact that teams play less games in there own conference is actually the number one reason the players gave for rejecting it.