I see your point. In my way, it would be favorable to intentionally get the 8th instead of 7th seed where you'd get a better draft pick and maybe a better shot at surviving. Another solution could be to make a 3 game series between 5th and 8th seed and between 6th and 7th seed. In order to keep the '5 teams relegating' concept, you could have one game between the two worst placed teams that wins these series, and this game should decide the fifth team that is relegated. Might be a bit too complicated though.