2. Use wood sticks. In a concession to goalies, it is no fun to have small equipment when a puck is fired from a stick made out of kevlar or space shuttle tiles - who knows what these sticks are made out of. At least when a player uses a wooden stick, I know that comes from a tree. What is kevlar? The puck gets fired around so quickly nowadays, it looks like a videogame out there.
3. Shorten the season. I love hockey... but watching the Stanley Cup Finals in June is crazy.
4. End each season with the World Championships. This is a great tournament that is overlooked since it coincides with the Stanley Cup Playoffs. If the Stanley Cup were given out by the end of May (it used to be this way) then the world's best could compete for their country in June.
5. Make divisions meaningful. This doesn't happen by playing multiple times in the regular season. It will happen by making teams fight for the same playoff spot. If the top half of each division went to the playoffs, and the bottom half stayed home, a division would mean something again.
6. Seed the playoffs 1 - 16. Why shouldn't the two best teams be allowed to compete for the Stanley Cup? How great would an Oilers-Flames Cup Final have been? How about a Rangers-Devils Cup Finals? Letting the two best compete for the Stanley Cup eliminates the anti-climatic finals which have been seen numerous times in recent years. The classic 1980 Flyers-Islanders Final was the result of 1 - 16 seeding. Under today's system, this would not be possible.
7. Bring back Winnipeg and one other Canadian team. By ripping the NHL out of Canada, the heart of the game was removed. Having 32 teams would also make the previous plan of having the top half of each division make the playoffs feasible.
8. Reduce the roster size. 32 teams of 18 players would result in roughly the same number of jobs for the NHLPA. Smaller rosters would also allow fans to be more familiar with their team's players.
9. Stop giving out a point for losing in overtime. How can one game be worth 50% more than another game? The old W-L-T in the standings was classic to hockey. Go back to this format. Have a three round shootout. If the game is still tied, the game ends in a tie. This way, the shootout remains, there will be fewer ties, but hockey will retain its distinctive format.
10. When a team wins the Stanley Cup, the Stanley Cup should remain in the champion's building for all of its home games the following season. The fans should be allowed to take pictures and touch the cup. Why not let the fans that support the team feel like they won the cup also?