NHL REALIGNMENT NEWS

The new era in the NHL has officially begun.

This is how the NHL looked last year:

EASTERN CONFERENCE
ATLANTIC DIVISION	NORTHEAST DIVISION	SOUTHEAST DIVISION
New Jersey Devils	Boston Bruins	Carolina Hurricanes
New York Islanders	Buffalo Sabres	Florida Panthers
New York Rangers	Montreal Canadiens	Tampa Bay Lightning
Philadelphia Flyers	Ottawa Senators	Washington Capitals
Pittsburgh Penguins	Toronto Maple Leafs	Winnipeg Jets
WESTERN CONFERENCE
CENTRAL DIVISION	NORTHWEST DIVISION	PACIFIC DIVISION
Chicago Blackhawks	Calgary Flames	Anaheim Ducks
Columbus Blue Jackets	Colorado Avalanche	Dallas Stars
Detroit Red Wings	Edmonton Oilers	Los Angeles Kings
Nashville Predators	Minnesota Wild	Phoenix Coyotes
St. Louis Blues	Vancouver Canucks	San Jose Sharks

Here's what the NHL will look like starting in the 2013-14 season:

EASTERN CONFERENCE
ATLANTIC DIVISION	METROPOLITAN DIVISION
Boston Bruins	Carolina Hurricanes
Buffalo Sabres	Columbus Blue Jackets
Detroit Red Wings	New Jersey Devils
Florida Panthers	New York Islanders
Montreal Canadiens	New York Rangers
Ottawa Senators	Philadelphia Flyers
Tampa Bay Lightning	Pittsburgh Penguins
Toronto Maple Leafs	Washington Capitals
WESTERN CONFERENCE
CENTRAL DIVISION	PACIFIC DIVISION
Chicago Blackhawks	Anaheim Ducks
Colorado Avalanche	Calgary Flames
Dallas Stars	Edmonton Oilers
Minnesota Wild	Los Angeles Kings
Nashville Predators	Phoenix Coyotes
St. Louis Blues	San Jose Sharks
Winnipeg Jets	Vancouver Canucks

Two divisions, two conferences. 16 teams in the East, with the other 14 in the West. Big departure from the old setup. Also, "Metropolitan Division?" The Mets division, if you will.

The biggest change is that the Red Wings and Blue Jackets move to the Eastern Conference. All in all, the conferences are more geographically sound, which will make for a more fair schedule.

According to the post on Pro Hockey Talk (which links to other articles on NHL.com that further explain the implications of the realignment), every team will play each other and visit every stadium at least once. So the Blackhawks/Red Wings rivalry lives on! Also, the first six playoff seeds in each conference will go to the teams that finish in the top three in their respective divisions. The remaining two will go to the teams with the highest point totals outside of the top three, regardless of division.

So using the above as a reference, let's say the Bruins, Sabres and Red Wings finish first, second and third, respectively in the Atlantic Division, and the Hurricanes, Blue Jackets and Devils do the same in the Mets Division. If the Panthers and Canadiens each have more points than any other team in the East, they will be the seventh and eighth seeds, respectively. So the final playoff spots could go to Panthers/Canadiens, Panthers/Islanders, or Islanders/Rangers. This all applies to the West as well, obviously. The NHL's going to try this out for a minimum of three seasons according to the articles, so if this format shits the bed, they won't be able to change it until the 2016-17 season at the earliest.

Personally, I find it interesting that the Western Conference has two fewer teams than the East. Obviously, there are more teams on the eastern side of the continent, but I wonder if those blank spaces are going to eventually be filled with an expansion team or a relocated one? Seattle has been rumbling about its NHL aspirations a lot lately...

Overall, I like the new layout. And if anything, it'll be interesting to watch for at least a year.