NHL Approves Realignment Scheme

But what do we name the conferences?

So, professional hockey fans, your world is about to be marginally different next year, all due to the Winnipeg Jets coming home to roost this year. The NHL's board of governors has approved a drastic overhaul of the league's layout, introducing a new system that will see the league pare down from six divisions of five teams each across two conferences to four conferences, two with seven teams, two with eight. The plan was approved 26-4, and helps ease some of the concerns that western teams had over travelling. How does it all shake down?

Conference the First: Ottawa Senators, Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, Buffalo Sabres, Boston Bruins, Florida Panthers, Tampa Bay Lightning

Conference the Second: Pittsburgh Penguins, Philadelphia Flyers, New York Rangers, New York Islanders, New Jersey Devils, Washington Capitals, Carolina Hurricanes

Conference the Third: Winnipeg Jets, Chicago Blackhawks, Minnesota Wild, Detroit Red Wings, Columbus Blue Jackets, Nashville Predators, Dallas Stars, St. Louis Blues

Conference the Fourth: Edmonton Oilers, Vancouver Canucks, Calgary Flames, Colorado Avalanche, Phoenix Coyotes, Los Angeles Kings, Anaheim Ducks, San Jose Sharks

Each team will have a home-and-home series with every team that's not in their conference. Teams will play in-conference teams at either five or six times each seaosn. The top four teams from each conference will make the playoffs. Those four teams will battle it out to determine which team wins each conference. The winner of each conference will play in the semi-finals. All in all, it looks like a winning plan, to us at least, as all of the various rivalries are kept in, and it greatly enhances the chances of Canadian teams making the playoffs, especially the Leafs, Habs, and Senators, as they must now only worry about being better than three of the teams in their division. All that's needed now are names for the conferences: Do we go back to the old names for divisions – Patrick, Adams, Norris, and Smythe – or does the NHL give the conferences updated identities, such as the Gretzky (conference with Edmonton, Los Angeles), Orr (conference with Boston), Howe (conference with Detroit), and Lemieux (conference with Pittsburgh)? This is basically the culmination of one of every hockey fan's favourite bar-room arguments, so don't screw this up, NHL.