Two bids for new NHL teams, one in the east and one in the west. Is re-alignment necessary? Scheduling for the league may make it that way.
One point of fixation regarding NHL expansion talk (since it started in earnest in 2014) was about realignment of the NHL if and when the league added franchises. This was spurred along by the fact all the early talk, speculation, reports and rumors had latched on to Seattle, Washington and Las Vegas, Nevada as the future destinations of NHL teams. Two additional teams in the West, the Conference alignment would go back to even - as many teams in the Western Conference as there are in the Eastern Conference.