Boston Bruins Holy heck, all these breaks between games ... just wait!

[Salem13]

I became curious as to when we will make up for all this time off.

It all starts February 24th when we play a back to back and then...

...then we have only one two day break til the end of the season!

In fact beginning March 11th (part two of another back to back) from then on Bruins hockey is played on all odd numbered days.

Click to read more...

 

[Eddie Munson]

Saw this. The NHL needs to do a better job of balancing the schedule especially now that there’s the bye week. I can’t see how this helps the product on the ice for the regular season or the playoffs.

 

[JCRO]

Saw this. The NHL needs to do a better job of balancing the schedule especially now that there’s the bye week. I can’t see how this helps the product on the ice for the regular season or the playoffs.

I agree.

However, with the current injuries effecting this Bruins team, they need all the time in between games they can get Not to say even more injuries wont happen later in the season.

 

[Krupp]

Holy heck? More like hell.

With the injury bug being a wanker this year though, i'm okay with the boys taking some days in between before games. These young guns need time to develop and watch tape and practice as often as they can.Bergeron needs time to let his ankle heal up too. And that's not even mentioning rask...or backes

 

[caz16]

The Bruins always seem to have the most games in March. It is brutal leading into the playoffs, it was even worse the year two games were postponed & had to be made up at the end of the regular season. That was the year Toronto took them to game 7, I believe.

 

[ODAAT]

same thing last year wasn`t it? Super light schedule the first few months then hit hard at the end of the season

 

[DKH]

This should be just what the doctor ordered for 4 of Boston's most important 8 players

Bergeron
Rask
Krejci
Backes

Also let's the rookies take a step back and realize where they are and get practice and coaching one on one over their start

I think this is fantastic

 

[Salem13]

This should be just what the doctor ordered for 4 of Boston's most important 8 players

Bergeron
Rask
Krejci
Backes

Also let's the rookies take a step back and realize where they are and get practice and coaching one on one over their start

I think this is fantastic

I agree, right now it's good.

That last month and a half of games is going to be tough, I hope we are ready when it comes.

 

[Hali33]

It's a bit of a blessing from an injury perspective but for me it's been hard to get into the season. Can't believe they don't play again till Thursday.

 

[Dellstrom]

I was wondering the same thing this morning... So weird to have 4-5 day layoffs.

As DKH said though, if it's going to happen, I'm very happy it's happening now. We've had better days, weeks, months on the injury front...

 

[talkinaway]

This is true, but I think it's a league-wide issue. Probably partly due to competition with football and the World Series, and partly to "ramp up" the season, the league doesn't schedule a lot of games in October...not just for the Bruins, but for everyone. Right now, we don't have the fewest games played - that award goes to Minnesota and Carolina. (They'll both catch up with us, and be tied with us at the bottom, perhaps with other teams, when we resume Thursday.) We're also tied with 7 other teams. So, compared to the average NHL team, we're not HUGELY lagging....yet.

When you think about it, March is a good month for the NHL to stuff games in. The only competition is the NBA, and they're always competition except in the very first week of the season. Even March Madness only takes a few days out of the schedule, and I don't think there's a huge college basketball/hockey overlap. Plus, more games later keeps the suspense going - if teams had 4-5 day long breaks in March and early April, it would be both boring and unfair.

That said, I peeked in the schedules for the Atlantic in March, and the Habs, Lightning, and Sabres have a decent-sized break in March. None for the Wings, Panthers, Lightning. Sens have 16 in 31, so it's packed - but a lot of 2-on, 2-off.

That said, schedule making is tough. You have to balance the NHL, NBA, concerts, family shows, and regional events (The Tradition, Beanpot, Hockey East, for example) for every stadium. It could be that the Garden likes the arena packed with hockey fans in March. They do try to make sure teams play approximately the same number of games weekly/monthly and that there's not huge gaps, with the exception of the bye week.

The other thing to consider is that the season started a week early. Not sure if that was in anticipation of a possible Olympic visit, which never panned out, or if it's a change to get fewer back-to-backs in there, or to help with the bye week issues. But that should increase the average gap between games.

 

[ashnathan]

Would rather be getting bashed early in the schedule and have days in between before playoffs than the way our season is now. We’re gonna be coming into the playoffs (should we make them) totally flogged and if we have injuries thats even worse