Calgary and Edmonton only play 3x this season. Is this enough evidence this schedule/division format needs an overhaul?

[LightningStorm]

Funny enough I think the hardest area is the South West and Central area.

The East at least IMO is pretty easy.


- Toronto/Ottawa/Montreal/Buffalo
- Florida/Tampa/Carolina/Washington
- NYI/NYR/NJD/Boston
- Detroit/Columbus/Philly/Pittsburgh

Then in the West you have one easy one:

- Calgary/Edmonton/Vancouver/Seattle

After that it gets funky. The 3 California teams make up 3/4ths of one division but do you stick Arizona or Vegas with them? Colorado sticks out like a sore thumb at this point as well. I think the move would be:

- LA/SJS/ANA/Vegas
- Winnipeg/Minnesota/Chicago/ St. Louis
- Arizona/Colorado/Nashville/Dallas


But it's kind of ugly compared to the East.

In theory, this geography would be simple. But once you factor in historical rivalries and wanting to preserve them, it gets more complicated. For example, for the 3 NYC area teams, putting them with Boston makes the most pure geographic sense. But in practice, they all mostly have much stronger rivalries with Washington and both Pennsylvania teams. Another example is the Cowboys being in the NFC East cause no way would the NFL break up the rivalries they have in that division.

In the west I do think there's a stronger correlation between the rivalries and geography.

 

[BlueDream]

But hey the NHL created these new divisions and playoff format to create rivalries!! Are you saying it doesn’t???

 

[Jimmy Firecracker]

Come on, you need at least 4 so each team has two home games.

 

[Machinehead]

That's arguably one time more than I want to see them play.

I never understood the idea that saturating a rivalry is good for the rivalry.

 

[Walkingthroughforest]

Guys, come on. You’re being Mulletman’d hard here.

 

[JianYang]

I thought all division teams play each other at least 4 times.

Does anyone else recall their team only playing a divisional team three times over the past few years?

 

[Man Bear Pig]

Is the league still doing the whole home and away for every team I.e every team must play against each other in their own building? Because that's going to account for a lot of games, and quite frankly, I really am not buying tickets to see the Ducks, Kraken or (name a team here) that isn't a rival. I don't think the average Kings fan cares if the Leafs are in town and vice versa. I wanna see my team play Ottawa and Montreal.

 

[Rubi]

After last night the Flames and their fans are disappointed they only get to play the Oilers 3 times.

 

[23Monahan]

I like division rivalry, and like seeing the battle of Alberta as much as possible.

I also like the fact that every team plays everyone 2-3 times, which makes the league much fairer, as you cant be padded by a weak division, and make it into the playoffs over a better team.

But only 3 games, with none after Dec 27 definitely is shitty. Pros and cons I guess.

 

[PatriceBergeronFan]

Scheduling has been terrible ever since they changed it away from division rival games. The excitement of seeing Arizona rather than Montreal an extra game....

 

[Mickey Marner]

I thought you had to play your own division 4-5 times.

 

[JKG33]

No, the sign this format needs an overhaul is the constant playoff seeding imbalances we see every single year.

Compared to the shitty playoff format, only getting 3 games between these two is inconsequential

 

[StreetHawk]

I thought you had to play your own division 4-5 times.

Only if you limited play within the other division in your conference to just 2 games, that will be 48 games vs. the other 24 teams. Left with 34 games to play amongst the remaining 7 teams in your division. 6 teams 5 times each and 1 team just 4 times.

Right now, they do 32 vs. other conference. 24 with other division for 56 games. The balance of the 26 is spread among the 7 teams in your division. so 6 teams at 4 times and 2 teams at 3 times. Which is why Edm/Cal are only playing 3 times this season. It's their cycle to play only 3 times.

 

[kvladimir]

Blah blah, schedule + playoff format needs more consistent relevance, blah blah better for rivalries / fan interest / travel, blah blah, ruining potentially good rivalries for the sake of simplicity, blah blah here's my graphic, once again (A Rival = 6 games / year, B Rival = 4 times / year):

 

[Mobiandi]

Play each team twice for 62 games and go back to 1-8 conference seeding for the playoffs.

I really don't need to see Dallas or St. Louis 3 times a year or 4 games against Seattle

 

[tmurfin]

If they’re only going to play each other 3 times, whatever. But no games after Dec is a f***ing travesty. I want that playoff preview, jostling for standings position game at the end of the season.

 

[kvladimir]

- Toronto/Ottawa/Montreal/Buffalo
- Florida/Tampa/Carolina/Washington
- NYI/NYR/NJD/Boston
- Detroit/Columbus/Philly/Pittsburgh

So, without any debate whatsoever, you want to break up: PHI/NYR, PHI/NJD, PIT/WSH, PHI/WSH, DET/TOR, BOS/MTL, and BOS/BUF?

If the NHL did the 6/4/2 matrix with 8 divisions of 4, the East would be much better off like this:

TOR/DET/BUF/OTT
MTL/BOS/TBL/FLA
NJD/NYI/NYR/CAR
CBJ/PIT/PHI/WSH

Impossible to maintain all of the rivalries I listed above, but this works much better, no?

And the West would probably need to be:

VAN/SEA/CGY/EDM
(which stinks for SEA, since they would have so many somewhat irrelevant games vs non-rival Canadian teams CGY and EDM, instead of SJS/LAK/VGK)

ANA/SJS/LAK/VGK
(no way to keep ARZ/VGK together without forcing VGK to be rivals with 2 Central teams, unless you did ARZ/VGK/COL/DAL, ANA/SJS/LAK/SEA, VAN/CGY/EDM/WPG, and MIN/CHI/STL/NSH, which is all sorts of crazy and rivalry-breaking)

WPG/MIN/CHI/NSH
ARZ/COL/DAL/STL
(or WPG/MIN/CHI/STL, to maintain CHI/STL and MIN/STL but sacrifice DAL/STL; or ARZ/COL/WPG/MIN to maintain COL/MIN, CHI/STL, and DAL/STL but sacrifice MIN/CHI and COL/DAL)

I thought all division teams play each other at least 4 times.

Does anyone else recall their team only playing a divisional team three times over the past few years?

This has only happened since Seattle joined. And they chose to do 4 games x 5 Div. rivals + 3 games vs 2 Div. rivals + 3 games vs all 8 Conf (non-Div) teams, instead of 4 games x all 7 Div. rivals + 3 games vs 6 Conf (non-Div) teams + 2 games vs 2 Conf (non-Div) teams. Because I guess 3 BoA games is better than 2 CGY/NSH and EDM/MIN games?

 

[kvladimir]

If they’re only going to play each other 3 times, whatever. But no games after Dec is a f***ing travesty. I want that playoff preview, jostling for standings position game at the end of the season.

One idea I have been thinking about since the bubble playoffs, is this:

1. Assuming we keep the 4 divisions of 8 as-is, reduce the regular season to 76 games (4 x 7 Div. rivals (28) + 2 x all 24 other teams (48) = 76)

2. After these games conclude, the 4th and 5th place teams in each Division play a best of 5 qualifying playoff series

3. While this happens, the top 3 teams in each Division play 6 additional games (3 vs each other), with home ice determined by position at the regular season conclusion (1st plays 4 home, 2 away, 2nd plays 3 home, 3 away, 3rd plays 2 home, 4 away).

These games count as though they are regular season games (adds to pre-existing regular season totals rather than outright determining which team finishes in which spot on its own), but because they are directly against the other 2 teams in the top 3, they will usually have deciding potential, making for meaningful games and probably better revenue vs regular season stretch games too.

4. Winners of each wild card play in series earns the #4 seed in each Division, and the playoffs proceed as normal, with Divisional brackets, no Wild Card playoff spots necessary.

So in this idea, BoA is always going to be 4 times per year minimum, plus possiblly an extra 3 competitive and relevant games (followed by a best of 7 playoff series later on, maybe), if not straight up a best of 5 playoff series to get in, every year.

 

[Pierce Hawthorne]

One idea I have been thinking about since the bubble playoffs, is this:

1. Assuming we keep the 4 divisions of 8 as-is, reduce the regular season to 76 games (4 x 7 Div. rivals (28) + 2 x all 24 other teams (48) = 76)

2. After these games conclude, the 4th and 5th place teams in each Division play a best of 5 qualifying playoff series

3. While this happens, the top 3 teams in each Division play 6 additional games (3 vs each other), with home ice determined by position at the regular season conclusion (1st plays 4 home, 2 away, 2nd plays 3 home, 3 away, 3rd plays 2 home, 4 away).

These games count as though they are regular season games (adds to pre-existing regular season totals rather than outright determining which team finishes in which spot on its own), but because they are directly against the other 2 teams in the top 3, they will usually have deciding potential, making for meaningful games and probably better revenue vs regular season stretch games too.

4. Winners of each wild card play in series earns the #4 seed in each Division, and the playoffs proceed as normal, with Divisional brackets, no Wild Card playoff spots necessary.

So in this idea, BoA is always going to be 4 times per year minimum, plus possiblly an extra 3 competitive and relevant games (followed by a best of 7 playoff series later on, maybe), if not straight up a best of 5 playoff series to get in, every year.

The league will never reduce the schedule at this point. That reduces revenue which I dont see the players or owners being interested it. Especially as the players are reportedly not happy with how much they make relative to other sports leagues.

On the other hand, even increasing the schedule by just 2 games, could lead to as much as $100M+ in additional revenue.

 

[Gaylord Q Tinkledink]

Yepp the new way they make schedules sucks...It totally takes away from good rivalries...let's go back to playing division rivals 7 to 8x a year...you might even see more fights and hitting.... Gasp !

That's probably why.

The NHL doesn't want to be known as an exciting league, it wants to be bland like basketball, or baseball and with no personality.

Even the playoffs are starting to suck for entertainment purposes

 

[Sabresfansince1980]

I'm all for a division-centric schedule. There's just too many teams in the league now to try and get home and away with all of them, and for the most part fans don't care a lot about games with opposite conference teams, and those games also have no playoff impact.

division games - 6 games each (42 total, 3 home and away every season)
other division - 3 games each (24 total, flip which team gets two home games every season)
other conference - 1 game each (16 total, flip which team is home every season)

This set up can stay the same and be predictable every season. Division rivalries stay hot, and the relative impact on playoff seeding stays proportionate.

 

[hamzarocks]

Leafs vs Pens we only play 3 times all in November

Weird schedule

 

[snipes]

After last night the Flames and their fans are disappointed they only get to play the Oilers 3 times.

That game really was your Stanley Cup lol

Oilers will take the next 2 in Calgary anyways.

 

[GOilers88]

Pretty stupid, these rivalries are always the best games. There is a real hatred between these teams.

I get the feeling that the fans hate each other more. At least around these parts

 

[Three On Zero]

Curious the viewership for last nights game, I feel like the BoA isn't as big of a draw that some think it is. Although I could very well be wrong on that.

Something tells me a game like Edmonton Vs. Pittsburgh would likely draw a bigger audience