Reading on Puck Daddy that a 48 game season would be 7 games against all your division opponents and a home and home with intra conference teams. First day would be all the rivalry games including Leafs/Habs, Flyers/Pens, and Wangz/Hawks.
Would lose some fun matchups, but I think its what you have to go with if you want to get a semi-honest playoff bracket. On the plus side, this also means 20% of Detroit's season is against Columbus.