TSN reports that the NHL Players Association has opposed the league’s planned realignment from six divisions to four conferences for next season…
“Players’ questions about travel and concerns about the playoff format have not been sufficiently addressed. As such, we are not able to provide our consent to the proposal at this time,” union head Donald Fehr said in a statement.
“We continue to be ready and willing to have further discussions should the league be willing to do so.”
The new plan would have put the Rangers into a new seven team conference which included: New Jersey, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, New York Islanders, Washington and Carolina.
…while I really didn’t have many complaints with the proposed changes, my one main concern was the possibility of teams with lesser points getting into the playoffs over teams with more points. From the above quote it looks like that was one of the NHLPA’s sticking points as well.
…not sure why they just don’t flip Nashville for Winnipeg and be done with it. To help with travel they could move Dallas to the Central Division, put Winnipeg in the Northwest and Vancouver in the Pacific. Not that difficult.
…i was looking forward to Washington being back in the Rangers division.
For further analysis on this decision click the “Read More” tab below.
The NHL Network analyses this decision…
Remember to follow me on Twitter & Facebook or e-mail me at [email protected].
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
