The NHL’s tightly-compressed schedule has been a bone of contention for quite some time. And on Saturday, a Sportsnet report posited that the league may be willing to start the regular-season at least a few weeks earlier – perhaps as early as the start of September – to ease the considerable toll the current schedule takes on players and teams.
The Sportsnet report – which followed up on an Athletic report earlier this month – also threw out the possibility of an 84-game regular-season schedule and a shortened pre-season schedule. And in this writer’s opinion, those plans all sound like terrific improvements on what the NHL has right now.
Yes, it’s true that, by moving the start of the regular-season back to September, the NHL would be going up against the start of the NFL season and the end of Major League Baseball’s schedule, but the NHL needs to have confidence in its product, as hockey fans will find time in their plans to attend NHL games and watch them on TV no matter when the season begins.
Thus, asking hockey fans to tune in a month earlier than they currently are is not too big of a request by the NHL. However, the biggest reason the NHL needs to go to September to start its season is that it would cause notably less grind from the current highly-condensed schedule.
Unfortunately, we’re not going to see the NHL playoffs end sooner than it currently does, as league commitments to mid-season, high-profile events like the Olympics or 4 Nations Face-Off tournaments virtually guarantee the Stanley Cup playoffs will always end in late June. However, if the NHL schedule began in September, we just might see fewer injuries with fewer back-to-back games and less plugged-up schedules.
This is how the proposed 84 game schedule would be structured. Makes sense, tbh. Really like less preseason games. pic.twitter.com/dAaTCL9gNk
— NHL Watcher (@NHL_Watcher) December 18, 2022
Moreover, the idea of going to 84 regular-season games is also a great one, as it would mean fewer useless pre-season games, and no more pretending that NHLers need pre-season games to get into shape. As well, the two additional regular-season games could help add to the rivalries the league always says it wants to build. Eighty-four games isn’t a huge increase, and anything that curbs the number of NHL pre-season games is an idea that should be welcomed with open arms.
All things considered, a less-condensed schedule has far more benefits than drawbacks. We might not see a less-condensed schedule and an 84-game schedule happen until a new collective bargaining agreement is ratified in 2026, but certainly, momentum among team owners and the NHL Players’ Association could build in the next year regarding these concepts.
We don’t need as many back-to-back games, as it ultimately hurts the product, and we definitely don’t need to tell hockey fans they need to pay for as many pre-season games that have no impact on the NHL’s standings. The evolution of the NHL schedule is pointing in one direction, and that direction is all about less-condensed schedules and slightly more regular-season games. In the opinion of many, the league and players’ association needs to make those concepts a reality sooner than later.
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