You've got some interesting ideas, but I fail to see how the 'Chase' would help at all with the travel situation. Let's take Dallas, arguably the most well-traveled team in the NHL just now. They're spending their time traveling incredible amounts during a season. Now let's say that Minnesota, Vancouver, San Jose, Detroit, Columbus, Calgary, Chicago and Anaheim break the top 10 in the West (debatable, I know...but purely hypothetical). We're now sending Dallas over more than half of the continent to finish up the final 9 games of the season, and then shoving them into the Stanley Cup playoffs to start a fresh run at the cup? I don't see how that prevents fatigue any better than the current schedule...then again, perhaps I misread it.
Great ideas otherwise! Love the idea of dropping a game from the Divisional ties.
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