What if rather than each conference getting 2 WC teams what if there were just 4 League wide WC teams? Could result in 3 or even 4 teams from the same conference, but that is fine in my opinion and opens up some interesting possibilities.
- For starters it makes the race so much tighter. It makes games down the final stretch more interesting and some games more important.
- Results in less lame duck teams making the playoffs and fanbases complaining about how weak the other conference is and unfair it is.
- Could result in teams playing on the opposite side of the Bracket, which I think creates some interesting situations that seems really goofy on paper, but could be cool.

I understand this is very unrealistic, but what do we think?

In addition to this I think that you PWHL system to make the bottom feeder teams compete harder in the final stretch. I think that this makes April an even more mad stretch that is basically playoff hockey.

Travel would be the biggest issues.
Let's say the Rangers win the presidents trophy. So their prize for being the best team all season is to (instead of playing the capitals) travel across country to St Louis to play the Blues while while every other team is travelling inside their conference/division.

I thought about that, but I don't know that it would really be that bad at most like 4 flights in a series. You could add in some travel rest days if neccessary. St. Louis is about as close as something like Miami anyways. The real issue would be California to New York Series, but if its possible for the Finals I don't see why it could be an issue in the first round.

I'm not sure that really makes a difference, the 2 WC spots for conferences already eliminate the bad division problem and I don't think there's really ever been a year with a bad conference

Most years there is a team who is in the top 16 but doesn't make the playoffs, bc of the conference they are in.

The more important part is that I think it makes the Wild Card race more competitive than it currently by giving everyone more teams to compete with. For example right now if Detroit and St. Louis played each other and were tied in the 3rd they may play it really safe and try to get to overtime, because their points aren't racing each other. However if they were vying for the same spots they would be much more aggressive about not letting the other team have a point.

The timezone change alone make it an issue. It would be an advantage to finish second in the league than travel est to pst 4 time in a week and a half.

I don't think there's anything wrong with the current playoff setup. It makes for better matchups in the first round. Sure there's some quirks with the bottom of the metro, but that would still exist in your proposed system.

The east wild card race this year is actually pretty compelling.

The change I would like to see happen is the weighting of the schedule. The last 10 games should all be inter divisional games. This would make every game in the end of the season 4 point games and increase the likelihood of winner take all games down the stretch. It almost becomes a play in round without a play in round.

I actually like the inter divisional weighting towards the end of the season. That accomplishes the goal I was really trying to achieve just in a different manner.