Bissurnette Posted April 8, 2020 Share Posted April 8, 2020 (edited) @Provost's thread about rolling the season back to 68 games for this year got me thinking about the number of games played in the NHL regular season. It's a topic that's been brought up before, where the players feel like they play too many games in the season - and I agree. 82 is too many games for a contact sport like hockey. Games would be a little more entertaining as well if they get more rest time. So the owners could benefit too, although they won't like cutting back on the number of games played. With the Seattle expansion in '21-22, that introduces a balanced eastern and western conference where the end result will be 16 teams in each conference with 8 teams in each division. Here is my proposal: Within the division: 4 games/season x 7 opponents = 28 games Other division in conference: 3 games/season x 8 inter-divisional opponents = 24 games Other conference: 2 games/season against 1 division in the other conference -> 2 x 8 = 16 games 1 game/season against the other division in the other conference -> 1 x 8 = 8 games Then you alternate from year to year on which division you play twice in 1 year from the other conference. For example, Canucks play Metropolitan division opponents twice in 1 year, and Atlantic division opponents once. Then vice versa the following year. Hopefully that makes sense. So in '21-22 NHL regular season we play 28 + 24 + 16 + 8 = 76 games. Not too many games lost so I don't think ownership will have any too much of a problem with it aside from not seeing every eastern opponent once a year, but it will allow the games to get slightly more spaced out therefore enhancing the product on the ice with more rest days. Thoughts? EDIT: I have not done any research on whether or not this framework has been proposed yet, so my apologies if I'm plagiarizing anyone Edited April 8, 2020 by Vanuckles 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goalie13 Posted April 8, 2020 Share Posted April 8, 2020 I like the idea of a slightly shorter season. Here's what I would do, unless my math is off... Home & Away against entire league = 62 games + additional home & away against own division = 14 games total = 76 games Maybe a little simpler and you get to see every team in your rink every season / visit every rink every season. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bissurnette Posted April 8, 2020 Author Share Posted April 8, 2020 2 minutes ago, goalie13 said: I like the idea of a slightly shorter season. Here's what I would do, unless my math is off... Home & Away against entire league = 62 games + additional home & away against own division = 14 games total = 76 games Maybe a little simpler and you get to see every team in your rink every season / visit every rink every season. Hmm interesting. So you'd lump opponents from the other division within the same conference with inter-conference opponents. I actually did go down that route, but to me it made more sense to play opponents in your conference more often than the ones in the other conference. Plus it would cut down on travel as well. That said, if it means shortening the season, I don't mind your idea at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goalie13 Posted April 8, 2020 Share Posted April 8, 2020 1 minute ago, Vanuckles said: Hmm interesting. So you'd lump opponents from the other division within the same conference with inter-conference opponents. I actually did go down that route, but to me it made more sense to play opponents in your conference more often than the ones in the other conference. Plus it would cut down on travel as well. That said, if it means shortening the season, I don't mind your idea at all. The way I looked at it was as a choice. Either you could play additional games against the other division within the same conference, or you could play at least home & away with every team in the league. I chose the latter. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Provost Posted April 8, 2020 Share Posted April 8, 2020 I would be all for playing fewer regular season games, but that takes away revenue and salary... so no one would go for it. Have a bigger playoff format maybe with more teams to make up some games. Or do some sort of mini tournament in the dog days of Jan/Feb (like soccer has the Cascadia Cup)... where it is a Division or conference playoff that means something like home advantage in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Anything to make some of those boring mid season games more entertaining 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-AJ- Posted April 8, 2020 Share Posted April 8, 2020 I wouldn't mind playing just a few fewer games--something like 76 would be good. That said, I do think owners would vehemently protest. Despite the perhaps better quality games and healthier players, I suspect they wouldn't feel it's worth the lost revenue of the 6 missing games per team (3 home games, I suppose). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goalie13 Posted April 9, 2020 Share Posted April 9, 2020 5 hours ago, -AJ- said: I wouldn't mind playing just a few fewer games--something like 76 would be good. That said, I do think owners would vehemently protest. Despite the perhaps better quality games and healthier players, I suspect they wouldn't feel it's worth the lost revenue of the 6 missing games per team (3 home games, I suppose). I agree. The only way I ever see this happening is if there was a trade-off, like an expanded playoffs. I have a feeling that with the next CBA they will add 4 more wildcard teams to the playoffs, creating a play-in round. Maybe single game, maybe best of three. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-AJ- Posted April 9, 2020 Share Posted April 9, 2020 13 minutes ago, goalie13 said: I agree. The only way I ever see this happening is if there was a trade-off, like an expanded playoffs. I have a feeling that with the next CBA they will add 4 more wildcard teams to the playoffs, creating a play-in round. Maybe single game, maybe best of three. I wouldn't mind a best of three, but that would make the season very, very long if they still kept 82 games. Best of one would feel a bit too luck-based. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PunjabiCanucks Posted April 9, 2020 Share Posted April 9, 2020 32 team league = 4 division x 8 teams/ division 7 opposing division teams x 4 games per season= 28 games 24 non divisional teams x 2 games = 48 games Total: 76 games Regulation Wins are 5 points OT Wins are 4 points: Shootout Win are 3 points Shootout Loss: 2 Points OT loss : 1 point Regulation Loss: 0 Point Encourages teams to play and win in regulation more Playoff Format: 4 Teams out of each division make the playoffs and play each other Once you have the divisional winner you are left with 4 teams Play the semi finals on a point seeding basis = could have a team in the western time zone to play against an eastern team in semi finals Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ruilin96 Posted April 9, 2020 Share Posted April 9, 2020 if the season is reduced from 82 to 76 games, each team loses 3 home games. So for 32 teams, that is a total 96 games lost. On average base on a quick google search, the profit of an average Regular season game is $1,311,860.16. 96 games multiply by $1,311,860.16 that is an estimated loss of $125,125,938,572.48. You distribute that number to 32 teams, each team would lose $3,935,580.39 in profit per year during the regular season. Let's round this up about $3.9 million each. That would be the amount to sign for an average middle 6 forward or a #4 defenseman. Would be interesting to see if teams would go down this road. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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