from Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic,

The question is whether teams, players and fans are tired of this format, and whether they would prefer going back to the conference playoff format the league had before: 1 versus 8, 2 versus 7, etc.

I posed that to team presidents around the league over the past few days. I asked them because this is a Board of Governors matter, not a GMs matter.

“I understand the thought behind the current format to create rivalries between divisional opponents; there just isn’t as many regular-season divisional games like there used to be,” Boston Bruins president Cam Neely said via text message. “I’d like to see how a conference format would be received by hockey fans.”

Another Hockey Hall of Fame player turned team president, the Los Angeles Kings’ Luc Robitaille, said he doesn’t have a problem with the current playoff format but does wish there would be more divisional games in the regular season. Still, like Neely he would be open to having the discussion.

“Honestly, this is the first year where I feel like people are talking about that,” Robitaille said over the phone. “It seems to be more vocal. I have not looked into it, in terms of what it would do with everything around it, the big picture of it all. But like Cam, I would listen at least and study it, yes.”

A dozen or so other team presidents and governors requested anonymity in their responses, as the commissioner prefers this subject not be hashed out in public by teams.

Of those, the majority were in favor of going back to the 1-8 conference format or at least having a serious conversation about it.

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