NHL Realignment: What Will Change Under the 4-Conference Format ?

The NHL announced a radical new alignment strategy on Monday night. After a lot of speculation, the NHL decided that instead of making a simple swap of teams to even things out, it would revert back to the four division system. This reverted system will incorporate some old twists and new thrills.

Under the reverted format there are some things that will change and will make the sport very interesting to watch next fall.

There Will Be Four “Conferences"

The most obvious change is the structuring of the league

There will no longer be an Atlantic, Northeast, Southeast, Central, Pacific or Northwest Division. Instead the league will be divided into four different conferences.

Here is the structure of the four unnamed conferences.

Conference "A"

VAN, CGY, EDM, LA, SJ, ANA, COL, PHX

Conference “B'

WPG, DET, CHI, STL, NSH, CBJ, DAL, MIN

Conference “C"

TOR, MON, OTT, BOS, BUF, FLA, TB

Conference “D"

PIT, PHI, NYR, NYI, NJ, CAR, WSH

This will rival the old structure of the Patrick, Norris, Adams and Smythe Divisions.

Top Four Teams in Each Conference Will Make Playoffs

Currently, the league’s playoff participants are decided by points. The top eight teams with the most points gain entry into the playoffs.

Under the new system, the top four teams in each Conference will make the playoffs.

This puts teams like the Columbus Blue Jackets, Carolina Hurricanes, New York Islanders, Winnipeg Jets and countless others at a huge disadvantage.

Can you imagine the Islanders contending for a playoff spot against the Capitals, Penguins, Rangers and Flyers? This is probably one of the largest disadvantages of the new alignment. 

Each Team Will Face Each Other at Least Twice

Under the current system, teams play most of their games against their divisional rivals. The next frequent games played are distributed against remaining teams in the respective conferences.

This system helps keep divisional rivalries strong, but think about all the rivalries of old that have been phased out because of restructuring.

In the new system, each team in the league will face a team at least twice. For example, the Flyers will face off against the Kings in Los Angeles and the Kings will come to Philadelphia for a game against the Flyers.

This idea really benefits smaller market teams. With powerhouse teams traveling to each city, more games will sell out, fans will be treated to quality matchups, and hockey becomes exciting to watch every night.

This will help to generate league wide exposure and revenue and is a win/win in my mind.

Here is a write up by NHL.com’s Dan Rosen to better explain it.

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"In the seven-team conferences, teams would play six times—three home, three away. In the eight-team Conferences, teams would play either five or six times in a season on a rotating basis; three teams would play each other six times and four teams would play each other five times. This process would reverse each season: An eight-team Conference member that plays an opponent six times in one season would play it five times the following season."

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First Rounds of Playoffs

Once again, Dan Rosen eloquently breaks it down.

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"The top four teams in each Conference qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The first-place team would play the fourth-place team; the second-place team would play the third-place team. The four respective Conference champions would meet in the third round of the Playoffs, with the survivors playing for the Stanley Cup."

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In the first round of the playoffs everything stays the same. I’ll explain it with this scenario.

Conference “A"

1) Sharks—Winner

2) Canucks

3) Kings—Winner

4) Oilers

In this scenario the top seed plays the bottom and the middle seeds play each other. This would occur in all four conference.

However, the second round then takes the four survivors and re-seeds them so theoretically the Rangers, Red Wings, Bruins and Sharks could be left to contend in the playoffs. This is a drastic change in format.

Sharks vs. Kings in the second round. This winner faces another survivor from the other rounds.

Conference A—Sharks

Conference B—Detroit

Conference C—Boston

Conference D—New York Rangers

These teams are then seeded by a determined variable and the survivors face off in the Stanley Cup.

Stanley Cup Final

In the Stanley Cup Final, the two remaining teams will square off for action. This means that two “Eastern” Teams as we know it could square off in the Stanley Cup Final, or “Western” Teams could go at it.

This concept could recreate classic rivalries of yesteryear. The Rangers could face the Bruins, the Leafs, or Canadiens in the Final. New rivalries could also flourish out of this new system.

The draw back could show up in ratings. If you have two West teams, East ratings could plummet and the same could go if a cup featured two East teams for West ratings.

Two Teams to Be Added to the League?

Could the league add two teams?

NHL columnist Andy Strickland believes it could happen.

andystrickland Andy Strickland  League source "don't get caught up in two confereces having 7 vs two having 8 teams...NHL may expand to 32 teams and all 4 will have 8 #NHL

1 hour ago  Favorite  Undo Retweet  Reply

andystrickland Andy Strickland  My guess is Quebec and a second team from Toronto will eventually join the #NHL to equal out the four conferences having 8 teams each

The whole dynamic of the league could change if two teams are added. What markets would you like to see have a team added?

What Else Will Change?

Things that remain up in the air are finalization of the names of the new conferences, the distribution of trophies for each conference, and finalization of the playoff structure.

This will be finalized hopefully by the end of the spring G.M. meetings.

This news came rather quickly and it has turned a lot of heads so far. I am sure that after the changes are implemented, fans will adjust and everything will be fine.

Tom Urtz, Jr. is an NHL featured columnist and New York Rangers featured columnist. For NHL news, updates and alerts about players: