I suggest 4 divisions, 30 divisional games, 40 inter-divisional games, 56 inter-infra-divisional-conferencial games, 89 inter-minor-leagues games...Heck, how could the NHL season structure be so complicated ?? We're still talking about HOCKEY, right ??? As far as I know, hockey is a nice sport with simple rules, so let's make the schedule simple too, at least easy to understand. Forget about the inter-conference games, forget about the divisional games : we've got 30 teams, splitted in two conferences (East and West) of 15 teams. Seriously, what else do we need ? Each team plays 84 games, meeting the other teams in their conference three times at home and three times on the road. Top eight teams in number of points are offered a place in playoffs, with seed advantage for top three teams etc.
So, convinced ?