It is hard to believe that in the season 2016-2017 the two conferences of the NHL had differing numbers of teams, 16 in the Eastern Conference and 14 in the Western. The play-off criteria were the same. Completely bizarre. When did you ever hear a word from any commentator on this subject. The introduction of Las Vegas modestly corrected this inequity to 16 vs 15. Still hard to imagine. The new franchise in Seattle finally evened the two conferences.
The playoff format was and is the same in the East and the West. The first three teams of each Division qualified plus 2 wild cards. Hence in 2016-2017 in the West, each Division had 7 teams, whereas the Eastern equivalent had 8. It then became 8 and one with 7 with Vegas and even at 2023-23.