There's a lot to like about the new four-division alignment passed by the NHL's board of governors on Monday night.
From a logistical viewpoint, it resolves many western teams' travel complaints without including a drastic shakeup of the Eastern Conference - other than the fact that that name will no longer exist.
From a fan's perspective, it takes us back to the days before the expansion of the late 1990s, when playoffs were contested within divisions, creating intense playoff rivalries.
For a league that appears to be getting out of touch with many older fans, that can only be a good thing.
They also managed to form the new divisions without breaking up any major rivalries, although I'm sure Jets fans would like to see the other Western Canadian teams a little more often.
There are issues with the proposed change, though.
I don't care that they did the same thing 20 years ago - having unbalanced divisions, with some teams having to beat out three clubs for a playoff spot and others, four, is not fair.
Putting both eight-team divisions in the west doesn't look good either.
This could have been avoided if the league had loosely organized the divisions into the old Eastern and Western Conferences and then seeded the top eight teams in the conference, rather than the top four in the division.
Don't get me wrong, I love divisional playoffs, but I wouldn't be too happy right now if my team were in an eight-team division.
Of course, that could easily change if the Phoenix Coyotes end up moving to Quebec City, so maybe I'll be back here writing another column on this a year from now.
Josh Lewis can be reached by phone at 634-2654, by e-mail at [email protected], on Twitter at twitter.com/joshlewis306 or on his Bruins blog at bruinbanter.blogspot.com. Is there a funnier commercial out there right now than the husband telling his wife that her new anniversary present burns fat?
