Tuesday, November 27, 2007

NHL Schedule Still A Sore Spot

Scott Burnside at ESPN.com writes that the NHL's board of governors, who will meet in posh Pebble Beach, Calif., on Thursday and Friday, will almost certainly come up with a new plan to replace the much-battered current schedule that emphasizes divisional play...

"...By reducing the number of divisional games, NHL teams will play every club at least once a season. It doesn't guarantee a home date with Sidney or Alex and the boys every season, but it does assure there won't be the three-season drought the current schedule imposes.

There is a possibility that the board of governors could adopt a schedule that included a home-and-home with every nonconference team, but that would mean going to an 84-game slate, and that will be a tough sell unless the owners and union could agree to cut the preseason schedule dramatically...

...Assuming the NHL sticks with an 82-game schedule, the new format would include six games against divisional foes (for a total of 24), four games against remaining conference teams (two home, two away, for a total of 40) and one game each against the 15 nonconference teams. So the problem becomes the three "wild-card games" that would round out the schedule..."

...I had written about this in an earlier post (see here). And I haven't changed my opinion. Change back to the old format please.

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