On the NHL | Realignment on table as East's stars shine

0 Comments | Philadelphia Inquirer, The, December, 2006 | by Tim Panaccio

When we last looked at what was bothering the league's general managers and Board of Governors, it was the schedule. Specifically, it was interconference play. Teams in the West feel shortchanged with just 10 games out of the conference each season, which means few chances to see the likes of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Alex Ovechkin.

Last week, the commish, Gary Bettman, held a meeting with representatives from selected clubs to talk about conference realignment. The league's new proposal would add six out-of-conference games to the schedule for each team, bringing the total to 16 games per team per season. The current three-division setup in each conference would be replaced by two divisions, with seven teams in one division and eight in the other. "I don't know it...