Expansion necessitates realignment for the NHL. Is a simple shift of the Lightning the way to solve things (temporarily)?
In the past, I've said that the East vs. West conference split in the NHL is not the best of ideas. That opinion and the realignment concept in the article was written in part because of the Detroit Red Wings and Columbus Blue Jackets at-the-time placement in the Western Conference; two teams in the Eastern Time Zone that didn't belong nor want to be in the West. The East vs. West conference split remains a logistically poor idea by way of the fact the bulk of the NHL is in the Eastern and Central time zones.