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The relocation of the former Atlanta Thrashers franchise to the current Winnipeg Jets in 2011 prompted the league to discuss realignment. On December 5, 2011, the NHL Board of Governors approved a conference realignment plan that would eliminate the current six-division setup and move into a four-conference structure from the 2012–13 season. [1]
Locations of National Hockey League (NHL) teams, marked by conference, of the proposed 2013–2014 realignment. US states/Canadian provinces with teams marked. (New York State has teams in two different divisions, so it has been marked with stripes) Date
The March 2011 announcement that the Big Ten Conference would start sponsoring men's ice hockey in the 2013–14 season, which came shortly after Penn State had announced that it would upgrade its team from club to full varsity status effective in 2012–13, led to a major wave of conference realignment in that sport.
However, disagreement between the NHL Board of Governors and the National Hockey League Players' Association (NHLPA) caused it to be pushed to 2013. On December 5, 2011, the NHL Board of Governors originally approved a conference realignment plan to move from a six-division setup to a four-conference structure. [5]
Men's ice hockey was also significantly affected. The Big Ten Conference announced that it would begin sponsoring that sport in the 2013–14 season, which resulted in a chain of conference moves that led to the formation of the new National Collegiate Hockey Conference and the demise of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association .
The Atlantic Division is a name used by the National Hockey League to describe a division of teams in the Eastern Conference.. The original Atlantic Division, the predecessor of which was the Patrick Division, was formed in 1993 as part of the Eastern Conference in a league realignment.
A new playoff format was introduced as part of the 2013 realignment. Under the new post-season system that was first used during the 2014 Stanley Cup playoffs, the top three teams in each division make the playoffs, with two open wild cards spots in each conference for a total of eight playoff teams from each conference. [2]
The 2014 Stanley Cup playoffs was the playoff tournament of the National Hockey League (NHL) for the 2013–14 season. They began on April 16, 2014, and ended June 13, 2014, when the Los Angeles Kings defeated the New York Rangers four games to one in the Stanley Cup Finals .