Should the NHL change its schedule?

The back to back nature of the draft lottery, the Stanley Cup playoffs and finals, Award Season, the Draft, and Free Agency day creates a needless crunch and has events overshadowing and overlapping each others.

You can tell the league, the teams, the journos and to a lesser extent the players are all rushed as the league tries to keep fans interested and engaged in the whole proceedings.

Combined with all the travel required for teams involved in only half of these, it's no wonder some teams have asked to make the draft virtual.

How would you go about fixing this?

in hockeyby IBorisMTL - NHL

32%

neek555

FLA - NHL

I’m sure there are so many factors into making an NHL schedule, but I was saddened to see five players enjoy their Stanley Cup parade on Sunday and gone on Monday.

rakkquiem

VGK - NHL

They should have won it in 5 then /s

neek555

FLA - NHL

My cardiologist agrees.

KF7SPECIAL

TOR - NHL

June 24th is just way too late for a Stanley Cup presentation. I'm not sure what section of the schedule needs to be cut, but the season is way too damn long. Us folks in Canada only get like 10 days of warm weather and I don't want to spend them watching hockey.

Thankfully I'm a Leafs fan so I'll never have to worry about it, but still, too long.

NatalieDeegan

BUF - NHL

That’s why I didn’t watch much bubble hockey. As great as it was to be entertained, the summer weather that year for me was actually pretty great and I spent a lot of time outside.

Loudmouth_Malcontent

Brandon Wheat Kings - WHL

70 games would be fine.

SgtFuryorNickFury

13h

For the Canadian snowbirds, not an issue

0-90195

FLA - NHL

The timing was a huge buzzkill.

ziggyy77

SJS - NHL

It's actually an ongoing discussion with the NHL and NHLPA... Nothing can be changed until next cba but they are looking to start the season as early in October as possible, take away a preseason game or two, and award the cup earlier in June to avoid a week like this year

SJSragequit

WPG - NHL

They want to remove 2 pre season games but also add 2 regular season games, so those will cancel eachother out

hullkogan

PIT - NHL

The season used to start the first week of October and end the first week of June. I know the CBA required week off necessitated extending the season, but maybe bump up the start of the season to late September.

realdeal411

PHI - NHL

From what I read, ESPN is the reason for it being pushed back from the first week or October because of playoff baseball

ImmortalMoron3

COL - NHL

You could do that because the pre-season really doesn't need to be as long as it is. Most teams know what their opening night roster is gonna be well before it even starts.

FuckYeahGeology

Carleton Ravens - OUA

The NHL Awards should be between the end of the regular season and the playoffs. They're all regular season awards, award them at the end of the regular season. One problem solved.

Playoffs have gone on for too long, unfortunately. Having that much space between games and rounds is insane and really spread things out.

NandomRameGeneratorr

IMO, just kill the awards show and have the awards handed out at the earliest home game after the regular season ends, whether that’s game 1, 3, or next year’s home opener. Gives the home fans a chance to celebrate their star player and no one will miss the awards show.

PreviousTea9210

WPG - NHL

Yup, I lose interest in the playoffs by time the conference finals roll around. I tuned in for SCF Game 7, but that was it.

Educational-Head2784

-6

Round 1: best of 3. Round 2: best of 5. Remaining rounds: best of 7.

FuckYeahGeology

Carleton Ravens - OUA

I would do best of 5 the first two rounds, but either way the NHL would never approve of that. It takes away from ticket sales which are typically sold at an extra premium because it's the playoffs.

korko

It is because ESPN wanted the start of the season pushed back because of baseball playoffs. Push the start back up to where it was, stop giving extra days off for “travel” in the playoffs and either kill or shorten the all star break.

specifichero101

NJD - NHL

They really should cut out at least 3 pre season games. Having 7 is way too many, even when doing split squads. Ending in the last week of June is way too late. 20 years ago a 6 or 7 game final was still ending around June 6th. It’ll probably be bad this year with the 4 nation event and still having an all star break.

SJSragequit

WPG - NHL

For the next cba they do want to reduce pre season to 4 games, but increase regular season to 84

Maxpowr9

BOS - NHL

Yeah, even the NFL wants to cut preseason down to 2 games but make it an 18-game regular season.

machagogo

NYR - NHL

It will never happen, but the answer is a shorter season and/or possibly shortening at least the first round of the playoffs.

With a gate driven league, that's just not happening.

Apocalyptic0n3

DET - NHL

Actually, early reports of CBA negotiations (see this thread ) suggest the NHL and NHLPA are planning to do the opposite: increase it to 84 games to fix some weirdness in the schedule. But they'll reduce the preseason and start the season earlier with the aim of finishing in early June rather than mid-to-late June.

BananApocalypse

COL - NHL

They could easily shorten the playoffs without reducing the number of games.

For example, the conference finals ended on June 2 and the Cup wasn't awarded until June 24. Why have a week off between rounds and 3 days between games in the final?

machagogo

NYR - NHL

I'm guessing that was due to facility schedules while simultaneously trying not to compete with other sporting events for the week. Otherwise I'm as equally baffled.

TheHemskyShow

-1

EDM - NHL

I wouldn’t care all that much if the owners jacked up ticket prices to compensate for a reduced schedule. Fans would just save more and go to fewer games, but they’d make it count where they could.

Imagine having an atmosphere like on NFL Sundays for most nights of the hockey schedule? 😭

Perducian

Brantford Bulldogs - OHL

It is desperately needed.

friskyjude

VGK - NHL

Probably, but ESPN has baseball, so as long as they also have hockey, them working around baseball will always dictate the schedule in that regard.

Mission-Carry-887

EDM - NHL

Reduce regular season schedule to 70 games.

PerfectPlan

VAN - NHL

This is really simple. Start the season in Sept. so that the Cup is awarded in May like it was for decades before they extended out the playoff schedule.

They always give the excuse "but we don't want to compete with baseball", but they're literally always competing with someone. Either NFL, MLB, or NBA is going on at the same time no matter when you play.

EatonHass_24-7

Saguenay 98.3 FM - LNAH

Each and every player is injured by the end of the season, it's just a question of how badly and whether or not they will need surgery. The league should go easier on them. The best fix would be to reduce the number of games during the season, thereby drastically reducing travel and the physical toll on the players. Cut the season down to 50 or 60 games with more time between games, fewer back-to-backs, more efficient travel, and so on. Keep the playoffs more-or-less the same.

Counterargument? Money.

korko

People also like watching hockey, that seems like a counter argument as well.

EatonHass_24-7

Saguenay 98.3 FM - LNAH

I can live with fewer games if it means fewer injuries.

korko

discofrislanders

NYI - NHL

The only way this would happen realistically would be if you eliminated cross conference play, and that would suck for every single fan.

FineCryptographer650

The finals should be wrapping up end of May. Drags out a few extra weeks in my opinion. But who am I

Donkilme

TOR - NHL

I'm convinced they start as late as they can get away with solely to avoid the juggernaut that is the NFL.

Critical-Potential67

Move the draft to the 1st week of July, followed by the development camps in the 2nd week. Move Free Agency date to August 1st.

This will spread out the events over the summer helping to keep the NHL in the public eye and relevant in the same way that the NFL spreads everything out.

HockeyBabble

LAK - NHL

THEY ARE ALREADY ARE PREPARING TO ALTER THE SCHEDULE BUT THIS IS “FULL ON NEED TO ADDRESS AT CBA TIME

The first story said they want to start first week of October/last week of September and possibly go to 84 Games to prepare for expansion to 36 teams and ANOTHER realignment/Maybe 6 divisions again.

Drawing board stage but “The Hockey Guy” predicted that move

CabbageStockExchange

LAK - NHL

It would be nice to let the cup victory, free agency, and draft all have a bit of time and space to marinate. It’s fun in football or basketball for example how you have this time to speculate and let your imagination go wild with possibilities. You don’t get as much of a chance to do that here yet

shorelined

Manchester Storm - EIHL

I don't want to watch a hockey game in June ever again, it just feels wrong.

Unfortunately the Leafs have obeyed the letter of this request rather than the spirit of it.

TheHemskyShow

EDM - NHL

Let’s mimic the MLB schedule.

At least that way Edmonton/Winnipeg/Calgary/Ottawa will have the weather advantage over the Florida teams/Dallas when the games are played in the summer instead of the winter. 😂

crap4you

VAN - NHL

Would cut some regular season games.

CarefulSubstance3913

I want visiting teams to play atwo games 1 day apart while in town

tampapat54

FLA - NHL

I’ve always thought FA should come before the draft personally. Just makes more sense in my head

jay5627

NYI - NHL

In sports like football, where 1st/2nd round picks are expected to play, I'd agree.

Hockey, like baseball, teams aren't drafting for this year's needs so I don't see FA needing to be first here

doubeljack

A fix to shorten how long the playoffs take is switching to a 2-3-2 format instead of the current 2-2-1-1-1. This would eliminate a couple of travel days when a series goes 7 games.

korko

Or just get rid of the travel days. It was never a thing before, why did they start adding extra days off for travel?

BaldassHeadCoach

Detroit Cougars - NHLR

The 2-3-2 format was a thing for a few years back in the 90s, but only for Central and Pacific division teams, with the higher ranked team choosing to start the games at home or on the road.

Agreeable-Bid-4535

Should drop 20 games from the season...but it'll never happen.

Educational-Head2784

Award the Conn Smythe at the NHL awards show along with all the others to avoid the awkward (but understandable) moments like this year’s.

ductulator96

CHI - NHL

Who cares. I kinda like having a crazy week like last week.

I feel like everyone's logic for getting it done earlier is just 'June is hot month. Hockey is cold sport" and that's about as deep as it goes.

Only two teams play in June anyways, every other day at most. Unless your team is in the finals, its something you can just passively watch two to three times a week and not obsess about while enjoying other things. It's not that much of a burden on your life because the finals are in June.