I would love to see an all-star game like competition with the top all-stars from each league (SEL, KHL, NHL, etc) in an olympic like single game elimination tournament once in a while. Of course the NHL team would be the favorite, but I think every once in a while you'd see an upset occur and that will really energize the winning league's team.
Keeping the best players (NHL) players in the olympics is another big step. If the owners truly do have the fans best interests at heart like they say, they will keep allowing their teams to send players every 4 years. The owners won the last big PR campaign during the last lockout by making it out to be that they had the fans best interests at heart. I would imagine the PR backlash by pulling out their players in 2018 would be a step backwards for everyone and would make them look like the bad guys.
But I think more exposure of leagues overseas would be huge. Some of us know the big names in the KHL and SEL, but really fans here don't know much about those teams and players. Even some small things like more media reporting on their league standings, player awards, and championships might have more fans here interested in what goes on in Europe. Maybe even something like the league MVPs every year in the various leagues overseas are offered an NHL tryout contract as a reward. Or the league champ plays vs the Stanley cup champ. More intercontinental games (not necessarily the WC) would be good for everyone.
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