People want a chance to see the stars and transplants want to see their home towns.
You don't care about the Hurricanes or Canadiens but the Crosby and Ovechkin games are games that other fans want
Home and Home for non-conference teams - 32
Home and Home for non-division teams - 16
2 home and 2 away for divisional rivals - 28
76 games of balanced schedule and then
6 games left over for regional/historical rivalries
I guarantee you that this is a slim minority of fans that the NHL is catering to.
I can bet your ginger beard that if you were to poll the entire NHL that fans would want less East vs West games if they got more divisional games. Division games are where the emotion truly is.
Everyone here gets a certain buzz to their day if the Kings are playing Canucks Oilers, and even the Ducks still because f*** vatrano.
Staples atmosphere when the oilers are there is a complete different animal then when some random team like Lightning or Islanders are in town. No one cares except transplants and they shouldn’t even be a target audience. You don’t target 18-25 year olds for a cigar lounge if you’re trying to make your product pop.
No one cares about Sebastian Aho over here.