Here's a letter I fired off the the NHL

"Recent changes made to the NHL hockey season schedule have made it so that teams play their conference and division teams more often. This is at the expense of seeing any action against teams in the other conference. I don't think this is fair to the fans. The NHL has been going on about trying to implement changes that the fans would appreciate and this is an example of a change that I don't think the fans are crazy about - especially in Canada and the locales of the oldest American teams.

Before the Oilers or Flames or Jets, Canadians across the country only had two or three Canadian teams to cheer for - the Habs, the Leafs and the Canucks (and for a while, the Senators). The point is that many hockey fans across our country developed a love for the older teams back when they were the only choices. But even now, with the addition of
(relatively) newer teams like the Oilers and Flames, those old allegiances still exist and have bred new generations of fans of the old teams. Don't take my word for it. Back when the Leafs and Habs travelled across the country at least once a year, the hometown jerseys were often outnumbered by the visitor's jerseys in the seats because the fan base is that huge. If the majority of western hockey fans had dismissed their old ties to the senior teams in the league, this wouldn't be an issue. But Fans of the Original Six teams across the country - even in the northern US states is still prevalent. I have often heard of the Habs' visit to Calgary on New Year's Eve spoken of as a tradition.

I would venture to say that if the Los Angeles Kings never visited Raleigh, North Carolina, nobody would notice or care. But a lot of people notice when the Leafs don't visit Calgary or when the Habs don't visit Edmonton, etc. I hope the NHL reconsiders the cultural significance of allowing Canadian teams to visit their counterparts country-wide and makes concessions for the return of cross-country tours in future seasons."