Back to the Future: The New NHL Schedule

The notable philosopher George Santayana once said that "Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it." And for the first time since coincidental penalties were reverted back to a 4 on 4 affair, the NHL it seems like the it has recognized that the present may not be an improvement over the past.

While many of the post-lockout changes have clearly improved the quality of the NHL product, the current, regionally-intense schedule has been a topic of debate since its initial inception. Feedback from fans and players alike has prompted the league to change the format for next year's 2008-2009 NHL season, which will adopt the following structure:

24 divisional games (3 home/3 away vs. each team in division)
40 in-conference games, but outside division (2 home/2away vs. other 10 teams)
15 non-conference games (1 game vs. each team, alternating home/away yearly)
3 non-conference "at-large" games

The new NHL Players' Association executive director Paul Kelly explains the motivation behind the new scheduling format as reported by tsn.ca:

"The reason the players feel this is one; they're tired of seeing the same guys week after week," Kelly explained to reporters on Thursday. "(And) two; they believe the fans in their buildings want to see the star players in other teams and they themselves would like to like to see other cities."

The current schedule, its third and final year, will go the way of the Dodo, the Cuban Spider Monkey and the Emperor rat. It seems unlikely that anyone will miss the schedule as much as those extinct animals but one never knows. Maybe New York area residents have enjoyed the ability to see so many Devils, Rangers and Isles games in such close proximity. Although, on second thought, it might be easier to fly from Newark to Chicago as it would be to drive from Newark to Uniondale for an after work game.

Labels: new format, new nhl schedule, NHL, rinkrat, schedule, the rink rat

posted by therinkrat @ 2:19 PM