As of September, teams will be split into two conferences of five, with the Renfrewshire side given a seemingly easy group.

As well as Hull Stingrays, Drew Bannister's side will come up against Edinburgh Capitals, Dundee Stars and the Fife Flyers four times home and away next term.

They will also play the remaining sides – Belfast Giants, Nottingham Panthers, Sheffield Steelers, Cardiff Devils and Coventry Blaze – twice at home and on the road before heading into the play-offs.

However, despite Clan finishing above their four conference counter-parts last season – 20 points ahead of seventh-placed Hull – Braehead winger Walker refuses to accept his team have been dealt an easy hand.

He said: "I think you can look at it two ways. Okay, the teams in our conference often finish below us and the other teams often finish above us.

"You can say there won't be that many competitive games, but if you look at how last season finished up, we lost a fair few games to the Scottish sides.

"Our record against those 'lesser' teams isn't great, they were generally all close games.

"It doesn't really matter to me what conference we go into. The only team we didn't tie a series with was Belfast.

"The way it goes we are going to prepare for every game exactly the way.

"The fans will always come and see us no matter who we play. They are just so happy to have ice hockey in Glasgow.

"I think all you can do as a player is prepare for the season."

League bosses have also made a change to the amount of import players each team can have, raising the limit by one to 11.