Before I get called out as a bias Chicago Blackhawks fan, I’m not making this proposal because they’d be in the playoffs. This is an idea that will limit the travel by eliminating the rest of the regular season.
The playoffs should straight right away, with 24 teams being put in the playoffs. My idea will have all four rounds of the playoffs, after a “play-in” round.
The “play-in” round starts is six teams who are bidding for the top two wildcard spots. The current teams in the wildcard spots for both conferences (Jets, Predators, Hurricanes, and Blue Jackets) wouldn’t start playing until the bottom four teams were done.