Bettman and Fehr likely to battle over re-alignment.

BOCA RATON, Fla. -- The political prison that has caged the Winnipeg Jets in a geographic and competitive disadvantage will soon face the full scrutiny of NHL commissioner Gary Bettman. His goal is to end it.

One way or another, the 2012-13 season will be the last for the Jets as a member of the Eastern Conference's Southeast Divsion. The Jets, misplaced in the Southeast, will be moved if and when Bettman has his way.

"We want the realignment plan the board adopted. Listen, getting a board to adopt a realignment plan as easily as we did tells you this is a really good plan that the board is committed to having," Bettman said at the NHL's winter GMs meetings Wednesday.

"That's what the board wants. I just decided I didn't want to have a confrontation or a fight with the (players') union at this place. So we'll talk about it. Ultimately, we want to get to that place." More…

Shacks’ Take: I’ve mentioned this before but I’m terrified of the collective bargaining that’s about to happen this summer.  Put two lawyers in a room whose only concern is how to squeeze an extra dollar out the negotiations and there could be a long stalemate.

Hockey fans should be very afraid of these two men.

 For those of you unfamiliar with Fehr, he was the long time MLB Players Association rep that in 1994 had the players walk out mid season in order to avoid a lockout the next summer, which cost MLB the remainder of the season.  Baseball remains the only pro sport without a salary cap because of Fehr and any Blue Jay fan who would like to see the Jays make the playoffs in this generation will tell you how that works out for competitive balance. 

I’m very scared to put the Evil Overlord Gary Bettmen in a room to negotiate with the soulless Donald Fehr, this could get ugly.  Re-alignment should be a no brainer, instead it’s just another bargaining tool.   What really concerns me though is that the good of the game does not seem to concern of either of these men only their own agendas.