Music: {allcanada} Gretzky says realignment very good for NHL

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

{allcanada} Gretzky says realignment very good for NHL

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NHL realignment will not be a completely ideal or even situation, with 16 teams in the Eastern Conference and 14 teams in the Western Conference, but Wayne Gretzky says it will be a great thing for the league.

"Just speaking from the players' point of view, logistically, it just makes so much common sense," Gretzky told Brady and Lang on Sportsnet 590 The Fan Wednesday. "It cuts down the travel — not that the teams in the East worry too much about travel because you're home quite a bit. Places like Toronto and New York it's a real luxury to play in those cities. The travel is so much easier than playing for a team like Edmonton or (Los Angeles). I think they've done a real good thing in putting Detroit and Columbus in the East."

Wayne Gretzky talks NHL realignment on Brady and Lang

Last week, the NHL approved a realignment plan that will see the league format change from six divisions of five teams to a four-division system.

In the Western Conference, there will be two divisions comprised of seven teams each. One division includes Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, Anaheim, Los Angeles, Phoenix and San Jose. The other has Winnipeg, Chicago, Colorado, Nashville, Minnesota, St. Louis and Dallas.

In the Eastern Conference, there will be two divisions comprised of eight teams each. One has Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, Detroit, Boston, Buffalo, Tampa Bay, and Florida. The other has Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, New Jersey, Carolina, Columbus, Washington and both New York teams.

During Gretzky's 20 NHL seasons he spent time playing in both conferences and several different time zones. Gretzky believes the changes will provide a big benefit to the players, especially those playing in the West.

"You can't even describe to people and you don't even know how to relate to it unless you've been in both scenarios, playing on a West Coast team like say Vancouver, L.A., or Edmonton or playing on an East Coast team like Toronto or New York," Gretzky explained. "There really is an advantage to playing on the East Coast as far as travel goes."

Gretzky also believes realignment can help grow the game in certain markets.

"People often forget that part of the issue for a team like Detroit is not so much the people of Detroit going to their games, but the fact that a lot of their road games wouldn't start until 10:00 or 10:30 p.m. Detroit time and it's hard to get more and more young kids following your team because you can never come out and market your team or the sport enough," Gretzky said.

"Now, with Detroit and Columbus moving to the East, they're going to get a lot more opportunity to play a lot of 7-7:30 games on TV when they play on the road and I think that's great for those franchises."

The realignment plan will see each team play every team in the league at least twice per season.

Teams in the East will play a total of 30 games against teams within their division, 24 non-divisional Eastern conference games, plus 28 games (one home, one away) against the 14 teams in the West.

On the other hand, teams in the West will play a total of 29 games against teams within their division, 21 non-divisional Western conference games, plus 32 games (one home, one away) against the 16 teams in the East.

"The other side of it is I think it's going to create strong and bigger rivalries. With teams like Detroit and Toronto in the same division, the same conference, it's just a positive for the National Hockey League."

The NHL realignment plan will go into effect the 2013-14 season and the NHLPA gave its consent to play under the new alignment a minimum of the next three seasons.