The ideal NHL, eh?
<pulls out soapbox and steps up thereon>
First: Bettman goes. This is absolutely non-negotiable.
Second: so do Andy van Hellemond and Brendan Shanahan. Van Hellemond was incompetent on the ice and is worse as an administrator. Shanahan's bias is as evident as a neon sign at midnight.
Third: roll back the rules (except for face shields and helmets) essentially to those of 1986-87. Particularly, I speak of repeal of the instigator rule, repeal of the idiotic trapezoid, sky's-the-limit stick blade curve, and no, repeat no regular season overtime (clearly the shootout is relegated to museum piece status). OT will be purely a creature of the playoffs. There is no need, if a game can't be decided properly in 60 minutes during the regular season, to extend it with artificial playing rules or a skills contest.
Fourth: officials will be subject to annual review by players and coaches.
Fifth: no more two referees. One is just fine.
Sixth: relocate most of the more southern franchises, and eliminate two altogether. I mean Tampa Bay, Florida, Nashville, Phoenix, Anaheim, along with makes-no-earthly-sense Columbus. Those should be replaced by Québec, Seattle, Hamilton, and Milwaukee (see below for comments re: Baltimore). That accounts for four of six; pick any two for contraction.
Seventh: realignment, thus:
Adams Division
Boston
Quebec
Ottawa
Montreal
Toronto
Hamilton
Buffalo
Patrick Division
NY Rangers
NY Islanders
New Jersey
Philadelphia
Pittsburgh
Washington
Carolina
Norris Division
Detroit
Chicago
Milwaukee
Minnesota
St. Louis
Dallas
Winnipeg
Smythe Division
Colorado
Los Angeles
San Jose
Seattle
Vancouver
Calgary
Edmonton
Eighth: fix the schedule. Play your division opponents seven times each year (four home/three road or vice versa; alternate which teams get three home games in the series in alternating seasons); teams in the other division in the conference four times (two home/two road); teams in the other conference once. Total: 42+28+14= 84 regular season games.
Ninth: adjust playoff seeding. Division winners don't get a top seed automatically. The best eight teams in each conference make the playoffs with seedings strictly according to regular season points with tiebreakers built in (they'll be needed at some point).
Tenth: no more poster boys/golden boys. Yes, I mean Cindy Crosby. He has to take his lumps like anyone else, and his endless whining is going to earn him two for unsportsmanlike conduct.
Postscript: I excluded Baltimore specifically because that city doesn't have an NHL-worthy arena. The Baltimore Arena (originally the Civic Center) was opened in 1962 and is, in a word, primitive. The lighting is terrible; there are columns in some of the sight lines; all the seats face straight ahead instead of the center of the playing surface; one entire end is occupied by a blank wall with a permanent stage more suited for a large high school. It's a total dump. I should know: I grew up in Baltimore and watched numerous AHL games there.