Monday Chum Bucket: How will realignment impact the Sharks?

Realignment is the current topic du jour between the NHL and players’ association, with the sides expected to reach an agreement in the near future about a restructuring of the league’s conference system. The NHL has proposed four new conferences, which are slightly different from the ones it proposed and saw struck down in December 2011. The Sharks would be in a conference with the Ducks, Kings, Coyotes, Canucks, Flames and Oilers. [Puck Daddy]
Ray Ratto on why Hasso Plattner is to blame for the Sharks’ losing skid and should be immediately relieved of his duties is pretty great. [CSN Bay Area]
Ryane Clowe will have his fate decided during an over-the-phone disciplinary meeting with the league at 10AM today. If it’s determined he left the bench illegally to respond to Andrew Shaw, he’ll likely be dealt a ten-game suspension. [ESPN]
So Jeremy Roenick engaged us on Twitter the other day, and you’ll never guess what he was whining about. [Bay Area Sports Guy]
Do the Sharks need more scoring depth? [Great White and Teal]
Could a system for coach’s challenge be coming to the NHL? A measure will be proposed at the GM meetings in March that will allow for coaches to challenge and potentially overturn goal-related errors made by the officials. [The Globe & Mail]
Deconstructing the myth that Randy Carlyle’s system is what’s propping up James Reimer and Ben Scrivens‘ numbers so far this season. [Pension Plan Puppets]
This would be hilarious: are the New York Rangers going to use their remaining amnesty buyout on Brad Richards? [The Hockey News]
San Jose is back to league average in this week’s up-to-date PDO standings, so maybe the regression-induced bleeding is about to stop. [NHL Numbers]
Breaking: most of the “real-time” stats tracked by the NHL are useless. As a side note, the HP Pavilion scorer is particularly terrible at figuring out what a giveaway is, so I’d especially caution against reading into the Sharks’ numbers in that category. [Backhand Shelf]

Talking Points