Written Option 2

I would change the meta structure of the NHL, the low hanging fruit is the playoff format, going from divisional seeding back to a straight first through eight seed and revising the tiebreakers (this current season lol)

I would rather see a full first through sixteenth seed format, better rewarding the top few teams regardless of conference and allowing for the regular season to mean more for the teams that perform well before the playoffs. To build on that I'd also change the regular season format to be 84 games: 

70 games, three in conference games and two interconference games, like the current regular season
14 games, dubbed "The Push", where teams get a home and home with a day's rest in the middle against every team in the division, culminating in simultaneous play on the final day of The Push. The Push is unique because of it's higher point structure. The first 70 games are scored 3/2/1/0 for W/OTW/OTL/L, but the push is 4 points or nothing, with playoff style overtime. This allows for high stakes divisional rivalry games, while keeping the postseason fresh and unique in it's matchups - see NCAA sports for examples of that in action.