"The NHL's radical realignment will have to wait at least a year.

The league announced Friday that the NHL Players' Association did not give its approval to the realignment plan that it had crafted in December at its Board of Governors meeting. The current divisional and playoff formats will remain for the 2012-13 season.

Penguins CEO and president David Morehouse, who was delighted when the new plan passed last month, declined comment yesterday. General manager Ray Shero, out of town on a scouting trip, could not be reached.

"It is unfortunate that the NHLPA has unreasonably refused to approve a plan that an overwhelming majority of our clubs voted to support and that has received such widespread support from our fans and other members of the hockey community, including players," NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said.

Only two of the NHL's 30 teams voted against the plan.

Penguins right wing Craig Adams, who shares player representative duties with defenseman Brooks Orpik, explained the situation after last night's 3-1 loss to the New York Rangers.

"The issue is that we asked for some documentation to figure out if they had done any travel projections," Adams said. "We wanted to see how it would change the current setup and if it would change financials. Up to this point, they haven't given us (any information)."

Adams said realignment talks aren't dead.

"We aren't turning it down outright," he said. "We just haven't seen anything from them that convinced us that it's a good idea."

NHLPA executive director Donald Fehr, the players' top representative during baseball's 1994 labor stoppage, is dictating the realignment complaint. The NHL's labor agreement ends in September.

"He's the boss," Adams said."