In other words, Eastern and Western Conference teams will be seeing more of each other.

For the Flyers, that means an increase in games against the West and a decrease against the East. The Flyers will play 18 games against the West (up from 10). Nine of those games will be at the Wachovia Center - contests against San Jose, Edmonton, Phoenix, Dallas, Colorado, Minnesota, Los Angeles, Calgary and Nashville.

The Flyers will play six games (three home, three away) against each team in their division. Last year, they played eight games against each of their four division rivals: the Penguins, Devils, Rangers and Islanders.

"I understand why they're doing it. Fans want to see different teams and players," Flyers coach John Stevens said. "At the same time, I think it's going to be more demanding, physically, because of all the travel. You're going to have a few longer trips, but it'll be the same for all teams."

The scheduling change, Stevens added, may affect the division standings.

"Last year, the races were all pretty tight. Everybody was getting points from each other," he said. "Now, with more games outside the division, it may separate teams more. That's just a hunch I have."

The Flyers' schedule includes home-and-home matchups with three Western Conference teams: Los Angeles, coached by former Flyers assistant and one-time head coach Terry Murray, San Jose and Colorado. They play one regular-season game against the Stanley Cup champion Red Wings, a March 17 matchup in Detroit.

Sentimental Kelly. Former Flyer Bob "Hound" Kelly sounded sentimental when talking earlier this week about plans to tear down the Spectrum.

"We won two Stanley Cups and went to four finals," he said of his tenure with the team from 1970 to 1980. "We beat the Russians there and had a 35-game unbeaten streak. It was a big part of so many of our lives because a lot of us played there for a lot of years."

Kelly paused.

"I know one thing: Schultzy will probably want the penalty box."

He was referring to Dave Schultz, the Flyers' enforcer from 1971 to 1976 and a man who made the penalty box his second home. He even recorded a hit song about it.