PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. – Forced into realignment following Atlanta’s move to Winnipeg last summer, the NHL opted for a dramatic change rather than a simple one.
League officials approved a radical realignment plan Monday that will give the league four conferences instead of six divisions and guarantee home-and-home series among all teams.
The Board of Governors authorized commissioner Gary Bettman to implement the proposal pending input from the NHL Players’ Association. It could be put in place as early as next season.
The new plan tried to address as many concerns of the teams as possible, from creating more equitable travel, to preserving rivalries, to promoting the game by having the biggest stars play in every city every season.
“This is not a subject that everybody is going to get their first choice on,” Bettman said. “What you try to do is come up with something that everybody can live with, get comfortable with and understands the value of. Because if you ask 30 clubs, you’d probably get 30 different solutions. That’s what makes this a difficult process.”
The league considered two plans to accommodate Atlanta’s move to Winnipeg this past summer. The first would have moved the Jets to the Western Conference’s Central Division
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