The NHL "could be ready to make drastic changes with a major realignment for the 2012-13 season," according to Bruce Garrioch of the OTTAWA SUN. Two league execs said that NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman "presented a proposal during Tuesday’s board of governors meetings in New York to scrap the current format used by the league." Sources said that under Bettman’s proposal, the league "will have four divisions: Pacific, Midwest, East and South." It is believed that the Red Wings and Blue Jackets "would both get their wish to move to the East conference." Teams "would play a balanced 82-game schedule with home-and-home against teams outside their division." The "top four teams in each division would make the playoffs." The first round "would be divisional play, the teams would then re-seed for conference play" (OTTAWA SUN, 6/23). In St. Paul, Brian Murphy reported the Wild are "among several Western Conference teams driving" the realignment debate. Wild Owner Craig Leipold "wants his club out of the Northwest Division, with its high-maintenance travel through Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary and late-night telecasts." Also, the Stars are "unhappy about being stranded in the Pacific Division with Los Angeles, Anaheim and San Jose, almost 900 miles from their closest competitor, Phoenix" (ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS, 6/23). A Stars official said the team has told the NHL, "Get us out of the Pacific." In Ft. Worth, Mac Engel noted the "hangup appears to be" the Coyotes, who are going to be in Glendale, Ariz., for one more year but "no one is sure where they will re-locate." So "any type of schedule and or conference re-alignment has been delayed until the Phoenix situation is resolved" (STAR-TELEGRAM.com, 6/23).
