A Look At Realignment

from Cam Cole of the Vancouver Sun, Among the many theories on how the National Hockey League governors will vote to revise the league’s division format and schedule when they convene on Dec. 5, this is the one that makes the most sense: It will depend on the weather at Pebble Beach. If it’s nice out, they will trade Detroit for Winnipeg and go golfing. If it’s blowing a gale and the rain’s coming in sideways, they will heave a sigh of regret, call for the coffee cart, don the brass knuckles and get down to a serious attempt to leave the most influential teams happy and everyone else grumbling…. Still, you can tell it’s going to be a test of Bettman’s clout to see if he can assemble the required 20 votes to push through any realignment plan, even his own, when getting a two-thirds majority of governors to agree that it gets dark at night is a challenge. The commissioner has proved he can rally the owners in sufficient numbers to back him in a war with the players. But that was e...