Dec 2, 2011; Buffalo, NY, USA; Buffalo Sabres defenseman Christian Ehrhoff (10) checks Detroit Red Wings left wing Henrik Zetterberg (40) during the third period at the First Niagara Center. Red Wings beat the Sabres 4-1. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Hoffman-USA TODAY Sports

To many fans’ surprise, the NHLPA gave their approval to the NHL’s proposed re-alignment plan, which will be put to use starting next season and reevaluated after the 2014-2015 season.

This means that the Detroit Red Wings now belong to the Eastern Conference in the Central Division that consists of Boston, Buffalo, Florida, Montreal, Ottawa, Tampa Bay, and Toronto. While a vote from the NHL Board of Governors still has to make the plan official, it’s time to finally get excited.

How can we even contain our excitement? While the Original Six rivalry with the Chicago Blackhawks may become a little less intense, there are now three other Original Six teams in our division. And two of them are Canadian. And Canadian fans are intense.

It’s going to be good.

Here are just a few reasons why this will be a good thing for the Red Wings.

1. 7:00/7:30 PM Game Times

No more late-night, west coast, western Canada road trips! Well, not as many as before, at least. We are now in a division where all the teams are in the Eastern Time Zone. No more 8:00pm start times either. Rivalry games will all be in our own time zone, and fans will only have to suffer through one long west coast road trip.

2. Home & Home Series with Every Team in the Western Conference

This has been the bane of my existence for quite some time. In the current set-up, the Red Wings see every Eastern Conference team once with a handful of them twice, once home, once away. With the one-time teams, one season they’ll play away, the next they’ll play home – which is why the Red Wings still have yet to play in Winnipeg.

With the new set up, each team plays each other at home and away. So we still get our lovely dose of teams like the San Jose Sharks, the Anaheim Ducks, and Chicago. And let’s not forget the Nashville Predators! Those teams we love to hate, we’ll still be seeing quite a bit of them.

3. Old Rivalries

Namely: Pittsburgh. Of course, we see them twice a season already because the NHL likes to call back to the 2008 and 2009 Stanley Cup Finals. And we’re all sick of it. But remember those fun games against Pittsburgh since then? When Jimmy Howard face-washed Sidney Crosby with his glove? Or when the Red Wings were down 4-0 in the first and took it all the way to a shootout? As much as we may dislike the Penguins (or at least their fans), the games will be entertaining.

4. New Rivalries

The division the Red Wings are moving to includes three Original Six teams: Toronto, Montreal, and Boston. I already thoroughly covered how awesome a rivalry with Toronto could be. The rivalry with Chicago was so intense because they were both Original Six and in our division. Imagine how ridiculous it’s going to be when there are three other teams with those same credentials. Canadiens fans will be swamping the Joe every Red Wings/Montreal game and it will tick us off. But it will lead to a ridiculous rivalry.

5. More Down Goes Brown!

If you are not familiar with Sean McIndoe, aka Down Goes Brown, shame on you! But please go read this article: A Hockey Fan’s Guide to NASCAR. Down Goes Brown is a Maple Leafs satire blogger, and his posts and tweets are just hilarious. But because his focus is mostly on the Leafs and their rivals/Eastern Conference Teams, there are not a lot of posts/comments related to the Red Wings.

That will change. And that should make a lot of people happy…or at least chuckle.

Feb. 9, 2012; Ann Arbor, MI, USA; National Hockey League alumni Red Kelly (left), Ted Lindsay, George Armstrong, Alex Delvecchio, and Kris Draper pose during an NHL press conference for the 2013 Winter Classic between Detroit Red Wings and Toronto Maple Leafs at Michigan Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

6. The Winter Classic

This would have happened whether realignment had gone through or not. But the 2014 Winter Classic will take place in Ann Arbor against Toronto. It was already calling back to the olden days of hockey with these two teams playing against each other. It only makes it better.

—

The thought of finally joining the Eastern Conference is an exciting one. With how the Red Wings have played lately, this is one of the only bright spots on the horizon for fans. A change would do them good, in more than one regard.

Jan 7, 2012; Toronto, ON, Canada; Toronto Maple Leafs center Matthew Lombardi (15) loses the puck as he drives to the net on Detroit Red Wings goalie Jimmy Howard (35) at the Air Canada Centre. The Maple Leafs beat the Red Wings 4-3. Mandatory Credit: Tom Szczerbowski-USA TODAY Sports

We’ve all done this dance before when it’s come to realignment discussions. Detroit Red Wings fans have wanted to move to the Eastern Conference for decades now. Get rid of those pesky West Coast and Western Canada, late-night road trips, and have the majority of the games played in our own darn time zone. Is that so much to ask?

The answer is yes.

When the Atlanta Thrashers moved to Winnipeg to become the Jets, fans hoped that it would be a simple swap – Winnipeg move to the West, Detroit move to the East.

The thought outraged Columbus Blue Jackets fans and Nashville Predators fans. Why don’t they get a say? Columbus is in the Eastern Time Zone, too, and has just as many Western road trips as Detroit. Nashville is closer to the Florida teams and mid-Eastern teams than Detroit and Columbus.

The last proposal for realignment was shot down by the NHLPA because, well, the NHL didn’t really supply any information on how travel would work and the PA felt that the NHL made it up with the owners’ profits in mind and not the players and teams.

The latest proposal is a little varied from the last one, and a little more appealing. The “Central Division” would consist of Detroit, Boston, Buffalo, Florida, Montreal, Ottawa, Tampa Bay, and Toronto.

From what I have seen, many Red Wings fans are pleased with this new alignment. Others, however, have voiced their disappointment. The biggest problem: Losing the division rivalry with the Chicago Blackhawks. In recent years, that rivalry has grown and become something both loved and reviled (not as much as the old Colorado Avalanche rivalry, but along that same line of hatred). “Chelsea Dagger” by the Fratellis haunts our dreams.

The realignment plan would make us lose one Original Six rivalry. But it would give us another to replace it (three actually, but I’m only focusing on one): The Maple Leafs.

Feb 23 2013; Ottawa, ON, CAN; Toronto Maple Leafs right wing Phil Kessel (81) during warmup prior to game against the Ottawa Senators at Scotiabank Place. Mandatory Credit: Marc DesRosiers-USA TODAY Sports

Canadian hockey fans are crazy, sometimes overtly annoying, but when they’re in your arena and they’re being good sports, they are awesome. Your shared passion for the sport just seems to make everything better and while your teams may hate each others’ guts, you can bond about how much you hate Sunbelt teams. Or the shootout. Or, you know, anything else.

If you have never been to a game at the Joe against the Maple Leafs, you’re missing out. I try to go to those anytime they come around. The atmosphere in the building is electrifying, even during the warmups. And the fact that the attendance is nearly divided evenly between sides always astounds me (though it really shouldn’t). I mean, I have a video up of the alternating “Let’s Go Red Wings!” “Go Leafs Go!” chant at a game. It was awesome. (This was the same game where two separate fights broke out between fans in the stands.)

Going to a game against Chicago at the Joe still has electricity, of course. But it’s different. It’s not as intense. It’s still an Original Six rivalry, but because we see them so often, it’s not as prevalent. It’s almost… disillusioning.

Don’t get me wrong – if we end up in a division with Toronto, the lack of Original Six magic will probably happen with them, too. But a change of scenery might be nice. And let’s not forget – if we have a consistent, solid rivalry with Toronto, the hilarious tweets and articles from Down Goes Brown will make everything even more awesome.

(On a negative note, we would have to deal with Canadiens fans, who are legitimately crazy, especially if they’re at the Joe and winning the game.)

If we want to get really crazy with realignment plans, say this one gets denied by the NHLPA, too. What if they made a division that was all Original Six teams, plus one or two of the second expansion teams to fill up the quota? How magnificent would that be to bring back that bit of NHL history? It will never happen in a million years, but we can dream, can’t we?

So what say all of you: Chicago or Toronto rivalry? Which would you rather have?