What Could Realignment Mean for the NHL?

Gary Bettman, along with the NHL's Board of Governors, have reportedly been talking about the possibility of realignment for the 2012-13 NHL season

Over the past week, and just days succeeding the NHL’s Board of Governor’s meetings, the story had broke from multiple sources that the NHL is looking at what would be a drastic realignment of their current divisional and conference format.  Many of the reports, including those from the Ottawa Sun’s Bruce Garrioch and ESPN’s Pierre LeBrun, have stated that the NHL is looking for a format that would separate the two conferences into four divisions.  On the heels of the Atlanta Thrashers move to Winnipeg, and the Jets subsequently taking on the role of the fifth team in the current format’s Southeast division, the current format has put the first-year team into a travel nightmare.

The current format, which features six divisions (Northwest, Pacific, Central, Northeast, Atlantic, Southeast) consisting of five teams and three of these divisions in each conference (East and West), is not without flaws and the NHL is very aware of this.  Situated in the Western Conference, both the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Detroit Red Wings are located within the eastern time zone thus playing the majority of their contests outside their natural zone.  On top of playing outside their natural zone, the Red Wings and Blue Jackets have to deal with the fact that televising their games and drawing viewers is made more difficult by having to broadcast the games outside of the ideal time — between 6:30 and 7:30 pm.  Additionally, they will play home games either half or a full hour later than teams within their own division.

Many had believed that realignment was going to be transpire because of the relocation of Atlanta.  It was thought Winnipeg would be shifted to the Western Conference with one team moving back to the Eastern Conference to even both Conferences at fifteen teams a side.  That said, there are very few who believed it would be taken to this extreme.

But what will the realignment do for the National Hockey League?

Inter-Kontinental: KHL Off-season In Full Swing

On a previous, now defunct blog, I was the author of a weekly feature regarding the action in the Kontinental Hockey League. The league itself — though often regarded as shady, low-level, and a clear-cut second or third fiddle to the NHL — houses some of the greatest talent in the world, whether the North American audience wants to accept it or not.

One of the primary features of Cycle Down Low going forward will be the ongoing coverage of all things KHL from the perspective of someone who is themselves in the process of learning the ins-and-outs of a league that keeps itself and its dealings behind closed doors, far away from the prying eyes of media.

Throughout the past year to year and a half stories have come out of players being released from their contracts unjustly, the loss of funds that lead to the collapse of one of the most storied Russian hockey clubs of all time with Dynamo Moscow, and the belief that some players were being run around by the clubs when it came to receiving compensation for their efforts on ice. However, as a hockey fan, the better stories have taken place on the ice.

From the outstanding play of Dominik Hasek, the sure fire first ballot Hall of Famer, as one of the elder statesmen of the game to the development and maturation of Alexander Radulov, the once rising star of the Nashville Predators. It was

Coming off of a year where former LA Kings goaltender Erik Ersberg backstopped a Salavat Ufa Yulaev club that included Radulov, Patrick Thoresen, and Oleg Tverdovsky to their first Gagarin Cup in their post-RSL existence, the playoffs gave way to outstanding performances by Gregory Gelashvili, Pavol Demitra, and an impressive eight goal performance by Lokomotiv defenseman Karel Rachunek, formerly of the NHL’s Ottawa Senators, New York Rangers, and New Jersey Devils.

Many attack the level of play of the KHL, stating that it’s second rate players — at best — playing against weak competition in a league that lacks physicality and allows players who would be jettisoned by NHL teams to the farm system to flourish, but those are nay-sayers unwilling to appreciate a game that is played with a different skill-set.

Speed and stick-skills dominate the KHL and, while at times it can be a bit shoddy, the goaltending can be quite spectacular.  I will admit that if, in any aspect of the game the KHL is lacking, it is between the pipes.  The goaltenders who make their living in the K, however, are often prone to dealing with defenseman who are geared towards the offensive side of the puck.  The summation of the KHL is as such; great offensive talent and a truly wide-open game.

If the NHL was striving for a product as such, the KHL is where they could have easily looked.

It is a truly astonishing on ice product, one that any hockey fan could appreciate if they took the time to do so.