1. Realignment:
Last season the NHL and NHLPA officially approved realignment for the 2013-14 season. Winnipeg has moved over to the Western Conference and Detroit and Columbus moved to the East.
The move now gives the NHL 16 teams in the East and 14 in the West (more on that later).
The Red Wings will join the ‘New’ Atlantic Division which is really the old Northeast Division, plus Tampa Bay and Florida.
‘Lumbus joins the brand, spankin’ new Metropolitan Division (yes, that is really the name) which is really just the Old Atlantic Division, plus Carolina and Washington.
The Red Wings and Blue Jackets are the big winners of the new Eastern Conference because their fans don’t have to stay up til 10 PM to watch their team anymore. The losers are the Lightning and the Panthers who will have to fly over several Metropolitan Division cities to play their inter-division opponents. (That Tampa Bay-Buffalo division rivalry is going to be DYNAMITE.)
Over in the Western Conference the Northwest Division is no more, while the Central and Pacific Division names are grandfathered in.
The orphans of the Northwest have been dispersed among the two withstanding divisions. Colorado and Minnesota go from the Northwest to the Central. They are joined by Dallas who will move from the Pacific, and Winnipeg who comes over from the now defunct Southeast Division.
Calgary, Edmonton, and Vancouver will move from the Northwest to the Pacific, where Phoenix, San Jose, Anaheim, and Los Angeles await them.
