Hockey fans, we have a problem.  We've been complaining for a while now that the NHL Regular Season schedule is bogus.  It's time to do something about it.  Our main man, Gary Bettman (#### extraordinaire), has 30 teams in the NHL, running an 82-game schedule, but we don't see all 29 opposing teams in a season.  Further, there are teams who are in the playoffs today who really don't deserve their slot.  We'll address these problems today, and come up with some possible solutions.
 
Each year, your team does not play one division in the other conference.  Each year, you do not see 5 teams in the NHL, unless you meet them in the Stanley Cup finals.  We play 10 games a year against opponents outside of our conference; five at home, and five on the road.  Incidentally, each division has but five teams.  Now, I know you're all saying, "But wait, Mr. Chaas.  That doesn't make sense!"  And you're right.  Of 29 opponents, we play 10 different opponents once, for a grand total of just over 12% of the season.  Brilliant!
 
To compound this brilliance, we face the same 14 teams about 87% of the season.  And we face 5 teams 0% of the season.  Now, I did some math.  We have 29 opponents, being a 30-team league.  We have 82 games in a season, which averages out to just below 3 games per opponent, were we to play everyone an equal number of times (See NHL Schedule prior to 2000).  Now, I have no problem seeing my conference a few more times than the other conference.  But let's get realistic here.  We have 14 opponents in our conference, and 15 in the "other" conference.  I have a solution that will blow your collective minds.  Ready?  Here we go.
 
Play the "other" conference teams twice each, for a total of 30 games.  This way, your fans can sample more hockey than just 4 to 14 teams each season.  Now, we have 52 games left to play.  For each of the 14 teams in our conference, we play them three times for 42 games.  We have 10 games left to play, and 10 teams outside our division?  Oh hey, let's just play those 10 teams one more time, and call it a schedule.  Problem solved.  Consider your collective minds blown. 
 
But, there's another problem.  For teams like the Edmonton Oilers, who have the longest travel time to any opponent, playing in South Florida twice a year becomes quite a chore.  It's not quite as bad for the Panthers or the Lightning visiting Edmonton, but it's still a lot of time on an airplane.  However, that doesn't mean these teams shouldn't play each other. 
 
Some time ago, the League decided to rename conferences to East and West (As opposed to Campbell and Wales).  This simplified things for the casual fan.  However, boundaries were drawn, which made things ... uncomfortable.  Folks, Nashville and Columbus aren't exactly considered Western.  Heck, Detroit and Chicago are East of a lot more than they are West.  What it comes down to, really, is the Conferences don't make a whole lot of sense to me.  So, I've decided to do a few things about it. 
 
I'm thinking about doing something along the lines of the old two-division conferences.  We're going to cut a line across the map, which will divide our teams into four, seven- or eight-team conferences.  One of these Conferences will consist of the current Northeast division (Buffalo, Boston, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto), with the addition of the two New York teams (Rangers, Islanders) and the New Jersey Devils.  The other Eastern conference will combine the Southeast division (Atlanta, Carolina, Florida, Tampa Bay, Washington) with the Flyers, and Penguins.  In addition, we'll be moving Nashville into this Conference.  The Western Conference will undergo similar tweaks.  Edmonton, Calgary, and Vancouver will join Detroit, Columbus, St. Louis, and Chicago.  Colorado and Minnesota will join Anaheim, Phoenix, Los Angeles, San Jose, and Dallas. 
 
At a glance, one might thing I'm anti-western hockey, for stealing one of their teams.  I have nothing against the Western Conference as it is today.  But, Nashville is in Tennessee, which is very much on the Eastern side of the continent.  By that logic, I'd like to put Detroit and Columbus in the Eastern conference too.  Unfortunately, we're all used to thinking in East-West terms.  I'd like to change that.  Let's get rid of the Longitudinal thinking.  This is Hockey, not Geography class.  While I can't very well take away all the teams East of the Rockies, moving the Predators into the Southeast conference makes sense.  After all, it's in the Southeastern part of the continent.  
 
So, for simplicity's sake, we're going to call these four conferences Northeast, Southeast, Northwest, and Southwest.  We have 15 teams in the Northern conferences, and 15 teams in the Southern conferences.  To accomodate travel time for everyone, we're going to make it pretty simple.  You play each team from another conference at home once, and away once, for a total of 58 games.  If your team is in the south, you play one more against each of the Southern conferences.  Same thing for the North, against the North.  That leaves us with 10 games left, which will be randomized.  Playoff spots will be very simple.  The top two teams from each Conference will be ordered by points, and will be bracketed the same way our conference playoffs are bracketed (1-8, 2-7, 3-6, 4-5).  Winners will be re-seeded after their 7-game series has been played, and we'll continue until we have a champion. 
 
I think this would work, but I'd love to hear some critiques.