The Philadelphia Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins have joined together to fight the Gary Bettmans endorsed NHL Re-Alignment plan to protect the Flyers -Penguins rivalry. The reason there is talk of re-alignment is the Winnepeg Jets return to the NHL. They Jets are currently in the Eastern Conference, but should be in the Western Conference. the Columbus Blue Jackets currently play in the western Conference, but should be in the East. See the really easy solution to re-alignment? Apparently its just too easy for the NHL to switch the Jets and Blue Jackets, no they have to re-align the entire league. According to the plan that both the Flyers and Penguins want to fight to protect their rivalry would go back to the old days when there were only two divisions in each conference instead of three. It would also move teams to different divisions breaking up rivalries like the Flyers – Penguins because each team would every team in its division six times, and play every other team twice.

Here’s what the divisions in the Eastern Conference look like now, and what they would look like if the new plan is approved by the NHL Board of Governers in December. The plan would go into effect in the 2012/13 season.

Eastern Conference Before Re-Alignment:

Northeast                   Atlantic                    Southeast

Boston                         Flyers                        Hurricanes
Montreal                      Penguins                    Lightning
Buffalo                         Devils                        Panthers
Ottawa                        Rangers                     Capitals
                                   Islander                      Jets

Eastern Conference After Re-Alignment

Division 1                                    Division 2

Flyers                                           Penguins
Hurricanes                                    Blue Jackets
Capitals                                        Maple Leafs
Rangers                                        Canadiens
Islanders                                       Bruins
Lightning                                       Sabres
Devils                                           Senators
Panthers

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