Starting next season, the NHL will introduce four new conferences, a new scheduling format, and a new playoff format. Here's another NHL link on the realignment news. Teams in a 7-team conference will play their rivals 6 times a year (teams in a 8-team will alternate between 5 and 6 games) and all teams out of conference will play a home and home. The new (well old) playoff format will see conference games 1 vs 4 and 2 vs 3 in the first round and the winners face in the second round. The four conference winners will reseed and battle it out Final Four Style for Lord Stanley.
