NHL Realignment: Bold Changes Will Breathe New Life into Stagnant League

While many have accused the NHL of being behind the times on many topics, the league is breaking ground with a new plan for the way teams are aligned in conferences.

The idea of realignment has been speculation in sports like the NBA and MLB, but those sports didn’t have the guts to pull the trigger like the NHL did.

Despite being built on history and preserving it, the NHL has been very open to changing how it does things since the lockout of 2004. With viewership too low for anyone’s likings, it has become obvious that things need to be shaken up.

It also helps get the plan going when a team like the Winnipeg Jets (once the Atlanta Thrashers) is in the Southeast Division with teams like Carolina and Florida. Things obviously have to be shifted around.

The NHL went back to the drawing board and started fresh with an idea of four conferences based mostly on geographical location.

NHL.com is reporting that the conferences would look like this:

"

* New Jersey, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, New York Rangers, New York Islanders, Washington and Carolina

* Boston, Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa, Buffalo, Florida and Tampa Bay

* Detroit, Columbus, Nashville, St. Louis, Chicago, Minnesota, Dallas and Winnipeg

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

"

This is the kind of seismic shift that opens up plenty of new rivalries and draws interest from thousands of fans wanting to see how it plays out.

While it will cause more travel because every team will face every other team in a home-and-home series in the new plan as well, it will open teams that aren’t regulars in big markets to the bright lights of major-market hockey.

This plan is good for the teams, it’s more exciting for the players and the fans will get to watch the hockey they love in a whole new way. It’s like getting an early Christmas present.

With all of the excitement this realignment plan has created, the NHL’s audiences are sure to grow in the United States.

Check back for more on the National Hockey League as it comes, and check out Bleacher Report’s NHL Page to get your fill of all things hockey.

Follow @Donald_Wood