NHL Realignment: A Wish Finally Answered.

      Finally, I’ve gotten the wish I have been hoping for, for years.  The NHL Board of Governors and the NHLPA have agreed to a realignment of the Eastern and Western conferences.  The upshot of this is that the Red Wings will finally get out of the Western Conference.  I have long wondered why the Wings were stuck in the West, until the introduction of the Columbus Bluejackets; they were the only Western team in the Eastern time zone.  Travel was always a bear for the Wings, and hurt them over a whole season, now they won’t have those long west coast road trips.  The new alignment will look like this: The Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference will consist of the Carolina Hurricanes, Columbus Bluejackets, New Jersey Devils, New York Islanders, New York Rangers, Philadelphia Flyers, Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals.  The Central Division of the East will be: Boston Bruins, Buffalo Sabres, Detroit Red Wings, Montreal Canadiens, Ottawa Senators, Toronto Maple Leafs, Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning.  The Midwest Division of the Western Conference will be: Chicago Blackhawks, Colorado Avalanche, Dallas Stars, Minnesota Wild, Nashville Predators, St. Louis Blues and Winnipeg Jets.  The Pacific Division of the West will be: Anaheim Ducks, Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oilers, Vancouver Canucks, San Jose Sharks, Los Angeles Kings and Phoenix Coyotes. 
      The schedule would be a little different, with teams from the seven team Western Conference divisions playing interconference foes three time teams per season and five of the six intradivision teams five times a season.  The sixth opponent within the division would be played four times.  In the Eastern divisions, teams would play intraconference opponents three times and intradivision opponents either four or five times per season on a rotating basis.  One new wrinkle to the postseason would be the introduction of a wild card. Under the new format, the top three teams in each of the four divisions will qualify for the postseason. The final four spots would go to the two teams in each conference with the next-best records. In theory, five teams from one division and just three from the other division in each respective conference could make the playoffs.  So what would this mean to the Red Wings?
      I think the most obvious benefit for the Wings would be the lack of west coast travel.  The travel has always been a bane to the Wings and I wonder how many more games they would win if they didn’t have to go out west all the time.  The majority of the games would be in the Eastern Time zone and even the flight from Detroit to Tampa would only be 2-1/2 hours.  Sure, they would still travel out west, but it would only be for one game each, not three or four games in the other three time zones.  The next best benefit for the Wings, or rather their fans, would be the fact that they would be playing Boston, Montreal and Toronto four or five times and the Rangers three times every season.  Yes, they will only play the Blackhawks twice a year, but I think that is a small price to pay to start playing the other Original Six teams they haven’t been playing in decades.  Just imagine an Eastern Conference Final between the Red Wings and the Rangers before a Stanley Cup Final against the Blackhawks or Detroit and Pittsburgh meeting in the playoffs every season!  How happy will Detroit fans be to see Alex Ovechkin, Henrik Lundqvist, Simon Gagne, Zdeno Chara, Jason Pominville, Michael Ryder, Guillaume Latendresse, Mike Komisarek and the rest of the Eastern players they never see?  What would the negatives of this change be?  The play in the Eastern Conference is more physical than in the West, which wouldn't favor the Wings, although maybe the Wings faster style of play will help them rather than hurt.  The built in excuse of excessive travel would be gone and the Wings would have to be more accountable for bad play.  Overall I think this is a long overdue change that will be a boon to the NHL, a league is desperate need of positive press.  It can only generate more fan interest and maybe bring fans back to a game they might have loved in the past.  This has made me excited for the start of the 2013/2014 NHL season, especially since it doesn't look like the Wings will be making any noise in the post season this year.