The NHL Board of Governors have approved a four-Conference alignment format and authorized Commissioner Gary Bettman to implement the proposal.
There will be two eight-team conferences, and two seven-team conferences (they are yet to be named) which will debut for the 2012-2013 season.
Conference A: Anaheim, Calgary, Colorado, Edmonton, Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Jose, Vancouver
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Conference B: Chicago, Columbus, Dallas, Detroit, Minnesota, Nashville, St. Louis, Winnipeg
Conference C: Boston, Buffalo, Florida, Montreal, Ottawa, Tampa Bay, Toronto
Conference D: Carolina, New Jersey, New York Islanders, New York Rangers, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Washington
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Every team will play a home-and-away game against every other team outside of its division.
The two seven-team conferences will play fellow conference members six times each, and the two eight-team conferences will play intra-conference opponents either five or six times each season.
The top four teams in each conference will make the playoffs, with the No. 1 seed taking on No. 4, and No. 2 battling No. 3, with the winners meeting in the second round.
The winner of Conference A will then meet the winner of Conference B, and the champion of Conference C will meet the champion of Conference D.
Those two winners will then take part in the Stanley Cup Finals.
Stay tuned with CSNCalifornia.com as more details emerge.