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hockeygodNHL governors approve four-conference format for 2012
David Shoalts, Globe and Mail, Dec. 05, 2011
The NHL will have a new look next season.
After a surprisingly short and amicable discussion over two and a half hours Monday night, the NHL’s 30 governors voted to abolish the Eastern and Western Conferences and go with four geographically-based conferences next season.
This will allow the Detroit Red Wings, Columbus Blue Jackets, Dallas Stars and Minnesota Wild to all play more games suited to their time zones.
There will be two conferences of eight teams and two of seven, with each team playing one game at home and one game on the road against every other NHL team. The rest of the schedule will be played within the conferences.
The governors coming out of the meeting said the plan was adopted so smoothly because NHL commissioner Gary Bettman did his usual masterful job of laying the groundwork for a solution before the meeting. He was familiar with what each team wanted and managed to work around that with the four-conference plan.
“This makes sense for our league,” Toronto Maple Leafs president and general manager Brian Burke said. “It helps a couple of partners.”
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