Read an article on ESPN that the NHL is considering making their regular season 2 games longer to allow balanced scheduling/matches within the divisions. Two games is two games but, my god...the NHL regular season (and MLB/NBA) is torturously long as it is. Obviously it's a revenue driver to have two more divisional games, as they indicate in the article. I'd prefer they jettison the 2nd games played against the other conference teams if they add two more to balance the divisional matchups and then expand the playoffs by two teams in each conference. A 68 game regular season (still LONG) with an expanded playoff field is more interesting to me, as a fan. They can go back to alternating years for the home team inter-conference games.
My preference though is completely unrealistic as no team will be willing to give up the revenue from 7 home games, let alone the money they get from the TV rights.