The NHL loves to run an unbalanced schedule. Teams still play six games a year against each team in their division. A tough division can kill you, a weak one might catapult you into the playoffs.
The NHL has solved the gap created in their schedule for the Olympics by jamming games together. Teams have incomprehensibly long breaks followed by strings of back-to-back games.
Someone should have told them no one cares about all those exhibition games they force on their season ticketholders every year. They should have taken a few of those out of the schedule instead.
Travel throws another variable into how teams will perform on any given night, adding inconsistency to a product I believe the NHL is still trying to sell to people.
The NHL prior to WWII used to have a 10 minute overtime period in the case of a tie in a regular season game; the WHA tried the same thing during their brief tenure (1972-79). The NHL decided ties were unacceptable in the 1983-84 season and brought in a five ...
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Article written by Scott Weldon