Along with the impending Stanley Cup Finals, the biggest story in the NHL seems to be the rumored deal for the Atlanta Thrashers to move to Winnipeg, giving that city the professional hockey team it has lacked since the original franchise moved to Phoenix in 1996. From reading numerous articles and columns on the subject, the moves seem imminent. Although of course the esteemed commissioner of the NHL, Gary Bettman, denies the fact the move is going to occur soon and holds out hope that the Thrashers will stay in Atlanta (Source)

However it could be said the writing is on the wall. For the purposes of this article, I’ll be looking at possible realignment scenarios if the move takes place. It’s not as simple as keeping the current set. Atlanta is now in the Southeast division and to keep Winnipeg in there would be a geographic and logistical nightmare for inter-divisional travel. Thus I present a few scenarios to remedy this problem, separated into a few categories:

The Simple Solutions

Geographically speaking, the division that makes the most sense for Winnipeg is either the Central or Northwest.

Scenario 1: If they are put in the Central, then the simplest move would be to fill their Southeast spot with Nashville. Another candidate could be Columbus.

Scenario 2: If they are put in the Northwest, Minnesota could then be moved to the Central. This makes geographic sense, plus you’d have 4 Canadian teams in one division and that would make for some interesting games.

The Not So Simple (aka the Detroit) Category

This category deals with some wacky ideas and moving Detroit out of the Central and into the Eastern Conference, which makes sense since they have to travel long distances to play teams on the West Coast.

Scenario 3: Scenario 1 or 3 would work here, but then Detroit would be put in the Northeast, which makes the most sense geographically (notice the theme yet?) You’d then have Detroit playing Toronto and Montreal more and who doesn’t want that? But then someone has to move out of that division, most likely into the Atlantic, and then someone would move out of the Atlantic, creating a chain reaction that the NHL would most likely want to avoid.

Scenario 4 etc: There are innumerable scenarios that could come out of the Atlanta move, but they would likely radically change the divisional alignment and I get the feeling that with the current divisional rivalries, Bettman doesn’t want to shake things up too much. For example, Detroit-Chicago has become a hot rivalry and moving Detroit to the East would broke that up.

Given all the factors involved, if Atlanta does move to Winnipeg, I feel that Scenarios 1 and 2 are the most likely outcomes. Detroit does want to move to the East, but the NHL may leave the issue to be resolved at a later date.