from David Shoalts of the Globe and Mail,

If the latest proposal for NHL realignment is shot down again by the players, the deal-breaker will be the playoff format.

“That’s the big thing, the evenness in making the playoffs,” New Jersey Devils goaltender Johan Hedberg said Monday. Hedberg, though, doesn’t like the word deal-breaker, adding he expects there will be more “tweaking” of the format before the NHL Players’ Association is asked to approve it....

“I’d like to hear some more arguments, for my personal view,” Toronto Maple Leafs player rep Dave Steckel said of the proposed playoff format....

But the players appear willing to put up with travel inequities as long as a wild-card system gives more teams at shot at the playoffs. And for good reason, Steckel says.

“From a player standpoint, some [new] contracts are earned in the playoffs,” he said. “A lot of guys would rather be in the playoffs working for their next contract,” rather than seeing one or two less regular-season road trips.

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