I liked this message (and also agree with OP), but I don't really agree with the last idea .
Yes, regular season in Lite should have more games in it (if or when it has the most teams playing, after all). 26 or 30 games in regular season is good I think. Then just cut down the number of teams getting into playoffs if you have to, or create some fancy creative qualifier rounds for playffos for those teams that are in the bubble (to make games more meaningful for them).
Furthermore, regular season success within your own division should matter more (and this is where my own opinion/experience comes more to live, since my team somewhat suffered from this in ECL7). If you end up in a division that is very competitive in regular season (just look at the point percentages per game, not anything else), you don't get good seedings in the playoffs. And yes, I understand that you have to be able to win any team to win it all, but still as we are now, regular season in Lite doesn't matter much at all.
Personally, I loved the last season of ECL Lite because the division in regular season that our team played, was in my opinion the most competitive/fair in a long time in Lite. The level of skill for most teams against were roughly the same, so you had to earn every goal, win and point in the standings. But the chance to end up into that kind of division in the next ECL is probably pretty slim.
And that is all I'm after in EASHL (&ECL's): Meaningful and hard-fought tight 6-vs-6 games, not blowout losses or easy wins.