The NHL has discussed expanding its regular season from 82 to 84 games in an effort to create more regional rivalry matchups, sources confirmed to ESPN.

The league has been considering alternatives to its current schedule after some teams complained about an imbalanced number of divisional games against rivals.

Currently, each team plays either three or four games against divisional opponents, for a total of 26 games; they play three games against nondivisional teams within their own conference, for a total of 24 games; and they play two games, home and away, against opponents from the other conference for a total of 32 games.