NHL approves radical realignment plan to move from 6 divisions to 4 conferences
Posted Dec 6, 2011 05:58:58 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. – NHL officials have approved a radical realignment plan that will give the league four conferences instead of six divisions.
The Board of Governors approved the move Monday at the first day of their meeting.
The realignment won’t be implemented until NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman discusses the new plan with the NHL Players’ Association.
The league needed to make changes to accommodate Atlanta’s move to Winnipeg this past summer.
They could have switched one team from the Western Conference with the Jets but opted for a more dramatic plan.
Here’s the plan in a nutshell, as well as some reaction from the meetings in California.
There will be two conferences with eight teams and two with seven teams instead of the current format of six five-team divisions.
This according to NHL.com is how the new league landscape will look.
Teams will play five or six intra-conference games and home-and-home series with non-conference teams.
