How Do You Like the Realignment Plan?

Gary Bettman finally got his wish Monday when NHL officials officially approved of a new realignment system that would eliminate the two conferences (East and West) and create four new conferences.

These new conferences guarantees that all teams would have home-and-home series with all the other teams, a change that I'm especially glad with because I want to see every team this season and not just some teams from the East.

There was another move that would've been okay with the league too. They considered moving the Jets to the Central Division and either Detroit or Columbus to the Southeast. This was a move, I thought, would never work, because Nashville is closer to the Southeast than Detroit or Columbus.

One bad factor of the new realignment is that there will be more travel, especially for Eastern Conference teams, who will now have to travel West a number of times as opposed to two or three a year. The good factor is that some East Coast Western Conference teams can now cut down on some travel, such as Nashville, Detroit, or Columbus.

"More teams are going to have to do more travel. Detroit general manager Ken Holland said. "From the Detroit Red Wings perspective, we like it."

And why shouldn't they? I like it when more teams travel. It excites more fans to see their teams in cities that they never really see them all that much. And even though I live in Southern California and generally root for the Ducks, it always does good to see some good teams, like Boston, Toronto, or Montreal come out here every year and play.

"I think there were more than two or three teams not happy with the current situation," Columbus general manager Scott Howson said. "This was a compromise that really satisfies everybody to a large extent."

Teams will have to understand: this is for the good of the league. There was no way it was going to stick in the same format and a new format was needed to provide for the newest team in Winnipeg. And, that team's location needed to be addressed.

But there's still one new issue: What will happen to the realignment plan if the Phoenix Coyotes indeed leave the desert next year? Well, that's still the question. The NHL will now continue to control the team next year, so it will have to sell it to somebody, even if it means relocating it to a city like Seattle or Quebec City.

Lot of looking up from here. The new realignment plan will open up for more teams to go West and East and it should make for some fun games. Whether or not it is a good idea or not, the deal has been done and there's going to be a shake-up. Get prepared for some fun, new hockey ahead starting next season, puckheads!