SmartMuffin's right, honestly. Rivalries develop organically, it's really hard to force them.
I'd agree with this, but consider that rivalries develop organically through the playoffs. If you put everyone into a divisional playoff format (I really hope they end up being called divisions, incidentally... 4 "conferences" is deliberately confusing compared to the status quo of the NHL/NBA/NFL), then teams will face each other in the playoffs more often, which will create more of these rivalries. I mean, Canucks/Hawks had a rivalry just because they played each other 3 times in a row, and any other pair of teams in that situation would be the same. All the NHL is doing is trying to create more of those situations.
The reason the "8 divisional games a year" thing failed to create rivalries is because the regular season sucks at making rivalries.
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