Tuesday the NHL announced that a sales deal had been reached between the Atlanta Thrashers’ current ownership group Atlanta Spirit and True North 
Sports and Entertainment (TNSE) meaning TNSE would move the team to Winnipeg for the 2011-12 season.
With Atlanta now moving west, there is going to be an imbalance between the NHL’s Western and Eastern Conferences meaning that the NHL is going to have to do some divisional shuffling.
This divisional shuffling won’t happen until the 2012-13 season because the NHL claims the schedule for the 2011-12 season is almost complete. However when this does happen it is assumed that the three teams most likely to move to the East are the Columbus Blue Jackets, the Nashville Predators and the Detroit Red Wings.
Now if Detroit or Columbus were to move East they would more than likely be inserted into the Northeast or Atlantic division with Boston switching to the Atlantic Division or the Rangers moving to the Northeast Division. If Nashville were to make the jump they would probably take Atlanta’s spot in the Southeast division with no other teams switching divisions. Out West Winnipeg would go into the Northwest division with Minnesota taking the spot of the Central team making the jump to the East.
As far as those potential teams making the jump to the Eastern Conference (Detroit, Nashville, Columbus) the general consensus among NHL analyst is that Nashville would make the jump since they would fit nicely in that Southeast division and no other movement would have to be made. However the drawback to Nashville making the jump is they would be the only Eastern Conference team in the Central timezone which could cause some game time difficulties. For Detroit, they have longed desired the move to the Eastern Conference, well before Nashville and Columbus were even in existence. Detroit however is a huge draw for teams like Phoenix and Los Angeles so you would think Gary Bettman would keep Detroit in the Western Conference. Columbus may be tempting to move into that Atlantic division to form a rivalry with Pittsburgh, however this may force a team like Philadelphia or New Jersey to make a move to the Southeastern division.
There have been rumors though that the NHL could undergo a huge revamp to how their conferences and divisions are set up. They could potentially do away with the whole East/West concept in favor of a North/South conference alignment. Or they could do away with the directional conference setup for an American/National alignment similar to what the MLB and NFL does.
So what could this potential huge revamp to the NHL conferences look like? Lets take a look at what they could do if they go for a North/South format and an American/National format.
North Conference
Great Lakes Division
Detroit Red Wings
Chicago Blackhawks
Minnesota Wild
Buffalo Sabres
Toronto Maple Leafs
Northeast Division
Montreal Canadiens
New York Rangers
New York Islanders
Boston Bruins
Ottawa Senators
Northwest Division
Winnipeg Jets (assuming they will be called the Jets)
Calgary Flames
Vancouver Canucks
Edmonton Oilers
San Jose Sharks
South Conference
Atlantic Division
Washington Capitals
Pittsburgh Penguins
Philadelphia Flyers
Columbus Blue Jackets
New Jersey Devils
Southeast Division
Florida Panthers
Tampa Bay Lightning
Nashville Predators
St. Louis Blues
Carolina Hurricanes
Southwest Division
Colorado Avalanche
Phoenix Coyotes
Los Angeles Kings
Anaheim Ducks
Dallas Stars
To make things a little more original, I will forgo the National name in favor of the Canadian Conference.
Canadian Conference
Canadian East
Boston Bruins
New York Rangers
Florida Panthers
Ottawa Senators
Buffalo Sabres
Canadian Central
Toronto Maple Leafs
Montreal Canadians
Detroit Red Wings
Chicago Blackhawks
Pittsburgh Penguins
Canadian West
Vancouver Canucks
Edmonton Oilers
Calgary Flames
Winnipeg Jets
Colorado Avalanche
American Conference
American East
New York Islanders
Tampa Bay Lightning
New Jersey Devils
Carolina Hurricanes
Washington Capitals
American Central
Columbus Blue Jackets
Nashville Predators
Philadelphia Flyers
Minnesota Wild
St. Louis Blues
