PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. -- After all the buildup, it took one hour to settle. The NHL's power brokers dramatically changed the league with realignment and concluded Day 1 of the Board of Governors meeting with a united message. It was a day of compromise.
"It was a matter of everybody trying to make their points, but I got the sense that people were acting in the best interests of the league," said Winnipeg chairman Mark Chipman, whose Jets set realignment in motion following the move from Atlanta. "You can't satisfy everybody, everybody knew that going in."
So who was most pleased with the sweeping changes? Who wasn't? Here's a breakdown:
Realignment winners
To read more from Craig on realignment's winners and losers, you must be an ESPN Insider.
- Senior NHL writer for ESPN The Magazine
- Wrote for Atlanta Journal-Constitution
- Wrote for The Sporting News
ABOUT THIS BLOG
Craig Custance
Craig Custance joined ESPN in September 2011 as an NHL reporter for ESPN the Magazine, ESPN Insider and ESPN.com. A graduate of Michigan State University, he lived for nearly a decade in Georgia working for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution where he spent time covering the late Atlanta Thrashers. He was the only Thrashers beat writer to get the team to the playoffs.
From 2008-11 he was the national hockey writer for the Sporting News, writing regularly in print and online. A member of the PHWA, he's a proud voter for the major NHL awards and can occasionally defend his selections.
Like hockey, he left Atlanta to return north where he currently lives in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, with his wife Cassie and their three kids.
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