Should the NHL season be shifted a month earlier?

[frisco]

Yeah, start the regular season ten days earlier. Don't shorten the regular season and take the ten days out of training camp and the exhibition season which still should start in early September. Finish the same time but work more off days (and less back to backs) into the schedule.

My Best-Carey

 

[Butch 19]

After the deadline the season just feels like its dragging on.

that's just you getting old...

 

[PecaFan]

I've been saying this for years. When I was a kid, they used to hand out the cup in April. Then it became May, and now we're all the way up to mid June. Each time they've added teams so that there were more total games in the league, they've added them to the end of the season by having the start of the season fixed to early October.

For kids, September is the "end of summer", the best time for cold weather sports to start.

The simple, obvious solution is to move the start of the season back 1 week for the next 4 seasons. Voila, Sep-May, perfect hockey months.

 

[MessierII]

Yeah I’d have no problem with it. The way they drag the finals out now it’s running deep into June it’s ridiculous.

 

[POVERTY]

I'm just here to echo the sentiment that the NHL pre-season takes WAY too long.

 

[sawchuk1971]

They should just skip the preseason and start early. Actually the preseason should be banned. Without a preseason we would get more scoring as the teams would have to figure it out as the season goes on.

that won't work because the greedy owners need to generate extra revenue from preseason games...

 

[Nemesis Prime]

Shorten the playoffs to 5 game series. Would also make better playoff hockey.

 

[Oak]

What is it with all this "shorten the season"-guys?

Don't you like hockey?

A shorter season will give a better on ice product in my opinion. Nothing like going to my 1 or 2 games a season at MSG that I can afford and it turns out to be a game that both teams decide to take off and dog it. The NHL season is too grueling and if you watch your hockey team religiously I think everyone can agree that there are definitely games during the season when they are not trying as hard and almost just playing shinny. We know that wont happen though bc at the end of the day it's a business.

As far as the OP, I agree that the season starting earlier would be much better.

 

[Goose]

Earlier start, earlier finish, less pre-season games - as many have said here.

 

[HammertownHockey]

Ive been saying this for years. I cant watch hockey when my team isnt playing and its 30 degrees outside. Hockey should be over by the may 24 (victoria day) long weekend IMO

 

[Pasha71]

Hmm that would make the World Championship an actual best-of-best competition. I'm down.

 

[Seanaconda]

Obviously plus or minus a few days, the season should start September 15th and be done May 15th. Hold the draft June 1st, start the free agency recruiting period June 20th, have 10 days before contracts can officially be signed on July 1st.

One week of training camp in September and one week of preseason games. Start a summer league in a centralized location (similar to how the NBA runs it in Vegas) for the end of August if teams need more time to see prospects/PTOs, but don't call it preseason.

Prospects already have their own rookie camps and stuff , I wouldn't mind shifting the season back a month / shortening the pre season tho.

A summer 3vs3 league would be a cool way to pass the time as a fan tho for prospects and whatever

 

[Seanaconda]

Hmm that would make the World Championship an actual best-of-best competition. I'm down.

Well if you convinced the north Americans to care more about it and go ... maybe with no playoffs they would feel more obligated but it's not like all the best players that don't make it go as it is.

 

[Pasha71]

Well if you convinced the north Americans to care more about it and go ... maybe with no playoffs they would feel more obligated but it's not like all the best players that don't make it go as it is.

At least everyone should have the opportunity to participate. Not everyone went to play in the Canada/World Cup and NHL-friendly Olympics, either.

 

[Seanaconda]

At least everyone should have the opportunity to participate. Not everyone went to play in the Canada/World Cup and NHL-friendly Olympics, either.

Did any north American that was invited turn down either of those ? (That wasn't injured )

I know there were a few euros that thought the world cup was dumb for sure , and jagr has been retired from international play so he would have skipped the Olympics

 

[TequilaBay]

Shorten the playoffs to 5 game series. Would also make better playoff hockey.

I disagree.
In a 5-game series, sweeps would likely become more frequent, as a team would be on the brink after losing only 2 games. A 5-game series could also put too much pressure on the teams as well, so the hockey could potentially become worse, not better.
At least in a 7-game series, there's less pressure during the first 2 games, as a team could easily bounce back if they lose the first 2, as losing another would just push them to the brink and not over the edge.

 

[Hockey4Lyfe]

Meaning preseason in August, regular season going from September to early March, and postseason from mid March to mid May.
This would make it so that the NHL would not have to compete as much with the NBA for ratings. What do you think?

Competing the entire year with the NFL would not work well for the NHL.

I guarantee they see insane rating hikes when the football season is over. Especially whenever the Sunday are open and they can play on Sundays with nothing else going on.

The better question would be for them to move it back a month. They’d never move it forward. Even moving it back a month sounds extremely dumb.

At the end of the day it’s all about money for them and I’d bet they’d much rather deal with the playoffs being the same time as the NBA playoffs than competing the entire season with the NFL.

 

[General Disarray]

Yes but it's nothing to do with NBA. June is just way too late for ice hockey.

 

[end]

I'd rather watch some goofy feeling September hockey than have people showing up to the Stanley Cup Finals in board shorts. That should only happen if the Sun Belt teams make it.

 

[ricky0034]

personally i'd just leave it as is but shorten the season and cut a month off that way

82 games just feels like too many

 

[StreetHawk]

NBA is already talking about cutting back on games. They won’t chop 10-12 right away but could cut 6 games to start first then the rest a couple of years later.

Mainly they want to eliminate as many excuses for Load Management. If this does happen and the NHL remains the same could very well see the nba start in nov vs the NHL which starts in Oct yet the NBA will award their championship earlier.

NHL is going to overlap mlb, nfl and nba playoffs. Just the reality of the schedules.

 

[ManwithNoIdentity]

Meaning preseason in August, regular season going from September to early March, and postseason from mid March to mid May.
This would make it so that the NHL would not have to compete as much with the NBA for ratings. What do you think?

Sounds like a good idea and I think would do wonders for the NHL. Competing with NBA definitely makes our favorite sport harder to get viewership

Also I’d add subtracting a few preseason games

Out of all the off season threads, this is a great conversation to have

Congrats OP!

 

[ManwithNoIdentity]

personally i'd just leave it as is but shorten the season and cut a month off that way

82 games just feels like too many

Less hockey? Absolutely not

 

[PeterSidorkiewicz]

Traditionally yes, but why's that a problem? Ice quality isn't really a problem these days.

The league season should extend by a month. Gives a longer gap between games and therefore players don't need quite as much time off in the summer, the quality of games invariably improves and as it's spread over more months (and more pay days) there are more tickets sold too.

Ice quality in the NHL is pretty awful.

 

[ZzZz]

Long ass wait until the draft and free agency.

I guess there's a long ass wait anyways after that stuff until training camp starts up again.

Only problem I could say is it being hard to have good ice when the weather is so hot out in some places ?

Not difficult to have good ice in hot places when the rinks are indoors, just higher operating costs. That is assuming it is not a shotty facility like the one the Islanders were playing at in Brooklyn, but I think the ice was bad all year round there.