Full text of NHL/NHLPA MOU for new 2020 CBA - analysis and discussion

[LadyStanley]

Most of the time, I see teams with at least a day off at home before first game.

16.5 demands minimum four days off/month, with two of those days on the road.

16.8 is about day-of-game required travel (more than 2.5 hours -> travel day before).

But I do not see any restrictions (2013 version) that mention anything about crossing time zones relating to travel buffers.

 

[LadyStanley]

BTS trade call

 

[mouser]

So I was under the impression that according to the CBA, that if you crossed more than one time zone for an away game, the road trip had to last at least three games, or something to that effect. However, Utah is playing in Detroit tonight followed by Chicago tomorrow night before coming back home. We had last played at home against New Jersey on Saturday. In that case, am I mistaken, or are there exceptions to the rule based on how many days off you have before and/or after the road trip?

There are no road trip time zone constraints in the CBA proper so far as I’m aware.

The NHL certainly has policies on scheduling road trips. It’s possible the NHL and PA have collectively bargained aditional scheduling rules outside of the CBA itself, but with the full power as if they were part of the CBA.

If you asked me to guess, I suspect there are agreed upon non-binding scheduling guidelines with the PA that the NHL does its best to observe. Sometimes that might not be possible or practical for the schedulers to honor.