Realignment

Today, I was thinking about talking about ways to make hockey a more known product in the United States just by simply promoting the American-born stars more, but the bit of news that a plan for realignment of the teams has been approved, so that demands time on here.  During the Board of Governors meeting that is ongoing this week, a realignment plan was approved yesterday and now awaits Commissioner Gary Bettman's action.  So, what will the new alignment look like?  Well, the divisions and conferences haven't been given names for the new alignment yet, but the alignment will look like this:

A: Anaheim, Calgary, Colorado, Edmonton, Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Jose, Vancouver
B: Chicago, Columbus, Dallas, Detroit, Minnesota, Nashville, St. Louis, Winnipeg
C: Boston, Buffalo, Florida, Montreal, Ottawa, Tampa Bay, Toronto
D: Carolina, New Jersey, NY Islanders, NY Rangers, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Washington

What does this mean?  Well, the two teams that will be most affected in travel will be Florida and Tampa Bay, as they will have the most miles to travel against division rivals.  Dallas' travel is reduced in the sense that under the new alignment, their closest rivals are Nashville and St. Louis, as opposed to Phoenix in the current alignment.  Many of the West Coast teams are grouped together, which will dramatically help the Canadian teams in travel.  Much of the Eastern Conference alignment is such that the mid-Atlantic teams are grouped together and the current Northeast Division is now simply adding the two Florida teams.  Dramatic change?  Yes.  Does it make the most sense?  I would also say yes to this question.