From TSN, possible plans to reduce the number of divisions from 6 to 4.

NHL overhaul

"each team will apparently play its division rivals six times each and its conference rivals either three or four times each and non-conference teams once each."

At least teams would meet at least once in a year.

Pittsburgh would join the northeast (assuming they stay in that city). Another addition would be Columbus!?

Atlanta would change conference.

If they expand to 32 and make sure both new teams are out west, they can keep both Atlanta and Columbus in the east. Yes, let's dilute the talent even further! That, or cut back to 28. I say get rid of Buffalo and Anaheim and disperse their talented players among the worst teams in the league, starting with the team with the fewest points in the NHL...

OK....according to that article if Columbus and Atlanta do switch, here is what the new setup would look like:

Northeast:

Buffalo, Boston, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Pittsburgh, Columbus

Atlantic:

Rangers, Islanders, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Washington, Carolina, Tampa Bay, Florida

Central:

Chicago, Detroit, St. Louis, Nashville, Dallas, Minnesota,Atlanta

Far West:

Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, Colorado, Phoenix, Los Angeles, Anaheim, San Jose


Of course the fly in the ointment is Pittsurgh. If they go to Southern Ontario or Hartford then all would stay I'm certain. But a move to KC/Winnipeg/Houston would send them to the west and potentially send an Atlanta back to the East. A move to Portland could really mess things up with that Far West division, my guess is Colorado would then go to the Central division.

Contraction....let's start with weakling teams like....ummm....Philly and go south from there;)

I think they need to go back to the drawing board!

Four divisions instead of six means the NHL would be going back to the way things used to be. While I can see some logic in moving Columbus to the East (and fans there will probably be relieved not to have to face the Red Wings so often), I can't make sense out of Atlanta moving to the West, especially if travel costs are supposed to be a factor. I do like the idea that every team in the league would play each other once a year...not enough, IMO, but certainly an improvement over the current rotating division nonsense.

Although I'd like to see either Winnipeg or Québec return to the NHL if the Penguins fold, it won't happen as long as Gary Bettman is in charge. While he pays lip service to the Canadian teams' contribution, he's always been obsessed with trying to sell hockey in non-traditional US markets...Florida, Nashville and now Oklahoma City?? I thought maybe cities such as Milwaukee or Cleveland would be under consideration, but I've never heard them being mentioned.

Scott Burnside adds his commentary about the realignment plan. He suggests that shortening the season a few games, and talks about a suggestion to have a mini "play in" 1st round of the playoffs. I haven't really seen that elsewhere.

Personally, I liked the old system where everyone played at least 2 games against each other with some exceptions so the Canadian teams could have a few more matchups. I'd be fine going back to that.

I really hope the NHL doesn't expand any more, it's really not needed.

Finally, I got a chuckle out of the plan to have Atlanta in the Western Conference since both the Braves and Falcons have played in "western" divisions in baseball and football. Maybe people figure that the city should just take a hint and move, already.

They could always shorten the season a few games so the Stanley Cup doesn't go into mid-June. But no to adding new teams, and I don't like having a mini-playoff for the last spots to make the playoffs. The regular season must count for something...

I like with two divisions there are less automatic seeds than with three divisions. If there is a big difference in points between the automatic seed and another team with more points, I find that unfair.