NHL approves the realignment plan.

[Headshot77]

http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=660138&navid=DL|NHL|home

As an NHL fan, I am really glad that some teams are going to have their travel issues resolved. As a Pens fan, I'm glad our rivalries remain, and we are going to face every western conference team twice (home and home), and I feel like games with the Red Wings and Blue Jackets will be great for different reasons. Red Wings games will be just as epic as our other games against heated rivals (Rangers, Flyers, etc.), and I think the Pens could really help the Blue Jackets organization with ticket sales.

However, we see that the western conference has two less teams, and to me, that is a sign that the NHL will expand. And for geographical regions, I would think Seattle and Kansas City would slide right into conferences A and B, respectively.

[ivand87]

Seattle looks like a total no brainer right now. It's a really big market with plenty of white people. It's a market the NHL should have probably expanded to before they ever had teams in places like Phoenix and Nashville among others. And they would have a great geographic rivalry with the Canucks. Sid recently commented on this and he was dead on.

Certainly in the long term, both conferences should have the same number of teams but I don't think it's a big concern.