The NHL has announced that the Board of Governors has approved the new plan to realign the conferences and divisions changing the current format from six divisions per conference to only four.
Division A includes the Anaheim Ducks, Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oilers, Los Angeles Kings, Phoenix Coyotes, San Jose Sharks and Vancouver Canucks. Division B is made up of the Chicago Blackhawks, Colorado Avalanche, Dallas Stars, Minnesota Wild, Nashville Predators, St. Louis Blues and Winnipeg Jets.
Division C will showcase the Boston Bruins, Detroit Red Wings, Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs, Buffalo Sabres, Florida Panthers, Ottawa Senators and Tampa Bay Lightning. Division D includes the NY Rangers, NY Islanders, NJ Devils, Pittsburgh Penguins, Philadelphia Flyers, Washington Capitals, Carolina Hurricanes and Columbus Blue Jackets
According to NHL.com, the divisions will be appropriately named at a later date. The new plan ensures that for the first time since the 1997-98 seasons, every NHL team will play in every arena.
Playoff Format
The Stanley Cup Playoffs will still consist of 16 teams; eight in each conference, but the new system will be division-based and implement a wild-card system.
The top three teams in each division will make-up the first 12 playoff squads. The remaining four spots will then be filled by the next two highest-placed finishers in each conference; this is sole based on regular season points and not on division. As a result it is possible for a division to have five playoff teams while the other sends three.
The seeding of each wild card team will be determined by points. The division winner with the most points in the conference will be matched against the wild-card team with the lowest number of points while the division leader with the second-most points in the conference will play the wild-card team with the second fewest points.
For the other four playoff series, the second and third placed teams in each division will face-off against one another. The winners of each series will then compete for spots in the Conference Championship series. The two divisional champions in each conference will then face-off in the conference finals to advance to the Stanley Cup Final.
For example: Pittsburgh wins Division A, while the NY Rangers, Carolina Hurricanes, Philadelphia Flyers, and NJ Devils make up the other four playoff squads in the division. In Division B, Tampa Bay wins the division while Boston and Montreal are the other two winners. In this case, New Jersey and Philadelphia are the wild cards. New Jersey has fewer points than Philadelphia and would take on the team with the most points. If Tampa Bay had more points than Pittsburgh then they would take on New Jersey. Pittsburgh would then get Philadelphia while Carolina and New York would contest each other and Boston would take on Montreal. After those series, the teams with the most points remaining would take on the ones with the fewest.
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