Players shrug at realignment plans

The NHL’s realignment plan has been the talk of the league over the past 24 hours, but those who play the game have been more focused on, well, playing games. Players, it seemed this morning, had taken only a cursory glance at the new setup and didn’t have much of an opinion either way, but the plan did get a thumbs-up from Terry Murray.

MURRAY: “I just took a look at it here this morning. It makes a lot of sense, there’s no question. It’s not going to probably please everybody, but it’s the kind of alignment that everybody can live with and deal with. I like what it looks like here on the West, for sure. You bring the Canadian teams in. You’ve got a north-south attitude, rather than east-west, and for travel and time zones, it makes a lot of sense to me.’’

Question: You spent most of your career on the East Coast. People in the West talk a lot about the East and how much easier the travel is. Did you notice that, coming West, or do we make too big a deal out of that?

MURRAY: “I never want to look at the travel as (an excuse) for anything. It’s part of the game. When I played on the West, that was the mentality I took as a player, that it’s just the way it is. You’ve got to go play. Get yourself ready and adjust, if you have to, to make those mental preparations, physical preparations. The East Coast, it depends on where you are on the East, too. If you’re down in Florida, you’ve got a three-hour flight up to Boston. So things can be a little difficult there also. I think sometimes it’s overdone. We’ve got an incredible situation here in L.A., with the facilities and where everybody lives and the way we travel today. It’s pretty easy.’’