NHL Realignment: What Works and What Doesn't in the 4-Conference Format

In a stunning move, the NHL Board of Governors approved a radical plan to not only realign the divisions, but to drastically modify the playoff structure.

In the new plan, there will be four conferences based more around regional proximity and time zones than before.

The plan will also go back to the divisional playoff structure that we saw in the old Campbell and Wales Conference days where the top four teams in each conference will make the playoffs.

The first two rounds of the playoffs will be within the conference, and result in a semi-final and Stanley Cup Final.

The schedule will see a more balanced approach where every team will have a home and home with every other team in the league.

So with my very basic overview of the new landscape of the NHL, here is what will and won't work.

What Works: Every Team Plays Every Team Twice

One thing is very true about this realignment, it will allow every single city to see the best and brightest that the NHL has to offer.

No matter what NHL city you go to, there are a ton of people who will buy tickets to see the Penguins play because they want to say they saw Sidney Crosby on the ice.

Those games will naturally get a boost in attendance and help out the revenue on those specific nights.

Beyond just individual players, every city has a fanbase of another city's team. Now they will have a chance to see their team visit their city every year.

What Doesn't Work: Increased Spending on Travel

Part of the downside of making sure every team goes to see every other team is the extra expense that comes with travel.

Yes, teams will play opponents within the division and closer to their region more often than they will go out to the opposite side of the country.

The other part is that scheduling will most likely work in a way that they take care of an entire region before going back home.

Rather than just playing two or three games against, for example, the Rangers, Islanders, and Devils; now you will most likely see a longer road trip to cover the Penguins and Flyers as well.

Longer road trips means more money spent on flights, which could hurt teams that are in smaller markets.

What Does Work: Increased Focus on Regional Rivalries

Since teams will only see teams within their conference more than twice, and the conferences are more centered around region, regional rivalries will be the main thing.

One thing that the governors definitely did right was maintaining those natural rivalries that have always existed.

It would have been a travesty if Detroit and Chicago only played each other twice a year.

What Doesn't Work: Almost Impossible for Inter-Conference Rivalries to Form

Under the new format, if you don't play within the same conference as somebody else, then there is virtually no way for you to be able to form a rivalry with them.

The focus on just regional rivalries is very short-sighted.

All you have to do is look at the Avalanche vs. Red Wings rivalry to know that you don't have to play near somebody in order to have a great rivalry with them.

Rivalries naturally occur within divisions simply because you play each other so much, but the truly special rivalries can come from anywhere, and the NHL is severely limiting itself in that respect with this new alignment.

What Works: Intriguing Stanley Cup Finals Matches

After the conference portion of the playoffs is finished out, the semi-finals and the Stanley Cup Finals have the potential to produce some unique match-ups.

The teams will be re-seeded after their conference playoff rounds for the Stanley Cup Semi-Final.

If we apply this setting to the teams we saw in the final four last year, the match-ups would have been incredibly unique.

Vancouver would have played the lowest remaining seed, which would have been the Tampa Bay Lightning.

This would have given a San Jose vs. Boston semi-final as well.

Meaning that we could have seen a San Jose vs. Vancouver Stanley Cup Final, or Boston vs. Tampa Bay.

The possible of this type of unique set-up works in favor of the NHL.

What Doesn't Work: The Conference Playoffs

The determining of the playoff teams is my biggest beef with the new system.

Determining the eight playoff teams was probably the best thing that the current format had going for it because it guaranteed that the top eight teams made the playoffs every year.

This made for some very exciting hockey coming down the stretch as every team in the conference had to be considered, not just those in your divisions.

In the new format, the top four teams in each new "conference" will be in the playoffs. The problem I have with this is very expertly explained by Greg Wyshynski of Puck Daddy.

If you look at the eight playoff teams from the Western Conference last year in their new alignment, the Los Angeles Kings, who finished last season with 98 points, would have been left out of the playoffs. 

The kicker is that the Dallas Stars, who missed the playoffs entirely last year with 95 points, would have been in the playoffs because of the way their divisions finished.

It does not make sense to bring in a format where the top eight teams are not automatically in the playoffs.

This is not a fair way to determine the playoffs.

In Conclusion

All in all, the restructuring of the divisions makes complete sense.

Putting teams in these new "conferences" that base them around teams that are geographically similar makes a great amount of sense.

Regional rivalries will be encouraged and will hopefully flourish since those will be the only ones that can flourish in this system.

The Stanley Cup Semi-Finals and Finals may create some interesting match-ups that we haven't seen before due to teams being in the same conference; but the fact that the top eight teams won't automatically be in the playoffs is absolutely ludicrous.

Some things will work out, some won't. One thing is for certain, it will be interesting to see how things play out.

Kevin Goff is a Featured Columnist for the Colorado Avalanche and NHL on Bleacher Report. For more NHL news and discussion,