If $ wasn't an issue: The right length for the regular season

[AHB*]

This. 60 games was a good amount. Combined with the playoffs - it's a good number.

Agree with this. Too many players are completely dead by the playoffs. I'd rather have them somewhat fresh. 48 is too little though.

 

[Filatov2Kovalev2Bonk]

Wasn't Alfredsson saying that most NHL players would actually prefer a shorter season?, anyways the only thing i find ridiculous is when I see the SCF playing in June cuz at that point your just begging for it to be over. So a slightly shorter season with the SCF ending around the beginning of May would be ideal.

Think Alfie was feeling tired/old at the time.

I'd go 60-64 games. Season ends around February/March, playoffs end in May or so.

 

[dogbazinho]

I'd go with ~ 50 - 60 but keep the length of the season the same to have more games on weekends and less back to backs.

 

[The Underboss]

82 games.

I feel the same.

 

[Tom ServoMST3K]

Same length with more breaks would get better hockey IMO.

 

[Seedling]

I like it the way it is but there needs to be more teams in the playoffs so an additional round there.

Also, start the season in September. There's no need to be playing hockey in June.

 

[Shrimper]

My roommate had an interesting idea when we were taking about this the other day. Make it similar to nfl. Every team plays Monday, Thursday and Saturday. Games would be more important and thusly, more excitement, build up, etc.

Not possible due to other arena events.

 

[RJ8812*]

Same length with more breaks would get better hockey IMO.

more breaks? then the season wouldn't end until August

 

[613Leafer]

Id really enjoy a 30-45 game season. I like the idea of each and every game being more meaningful. Just look at how big an event every game is for the NFL.

 

[Mypetrobot]

I'll go contrarian here. Expand to 32 teams goto 78 games season. Every team "qualifies" for the playoffs and record determines seeding. Owners still get 42 home games(guaranteed possible extra 2-3 "playoff games") and if anything bring in more money for the bottom line. So 32-16 then 16-8 etc...

 

[Captain Bowie]

Retract to 28 teams.

4 divisions of 7 teams.

2 home/2 away vs. each divisional team = 24 games
1 home/1 away vs. every other team = 28 games
Total games = 52 games.

3 points for Reg/OT win
2 points for SO win
1 point for SO loss
0 points for Reg/OT loss.

Division winner clinches top-2 seed, top 8 in conference in playoffs.

No more back-to-back games.

Season runs from early October-mid March. Playoff done in May.

 

[Captain Bowie]

I like it the way it is but there needs to be more teams in the playoffs so an additional round there.

Also, start the season in September. There's no need to be playing hockey in June.

Equally no reason to play hockey in August for training camp and pre-season.

 

[Dr Robot]

Bump the regular season down to about 68-74 games and move the start date back a few weeks. The NHL really needs to get the playoffs wrapped up before May.

 

[Ohashi_Jouzu*]

The "right" answer totally depends on the number of teams in the league, divisions/conferences, and perhaps a fair balance between number of home and away games. In a 32 team, 4 division league, you could have 2 home/2 away against 7 division rivals (28 games) and 1 home/1 away against the other 24 teams (48 games), which gives 76 games total. Hard to come up with anything else that justifies a 4 division system with inter-conference play (as opposed to simply 2 conferences, possibly totally separate, or whatever number of divisions/conferences I guess).

With 30 teams, I'd prefer 2 conferences with 3 divisions of 5 teams each. Then you could have 16-24 division games, and 50 games against the other 25 teams, for 66-74 games. Division leaders and one "wild card" make the playoffs (seeded 1 vs WC, 2 vs 3).

 

[SJSharksfan39]

82 games.

I hate this talk about shortening a season. I like Hockey and I like to watch hockey. Lockout or no the NHL provides the best hockey in the world and I like watching it. To say let's start the season in December or whatever makes me watch less hockey and I like variety with the football.

 

[Farnham4top6]

580 games

 

[Jumptheshark]

Retract to 28 teams.

4 divisions of 7 teams.

2 home/2 away vs. each divisional team = 24 games
1 home/1 away vs. every other team = 28 games
Total games = 52 games.

3 points for Reg/OT win
2 points for SO win
1 point for SO loss
0 points for Reg/OT loss.

Division winner clinches top-2 seed, top 8 in conference in playoffs.

No more back-to-back games.

Season runs from early October-mid March. Playoff done in May.

Vancouver and toronto retracted?

 

[Paranoid Android]

I really like the simplistic idea of a 2 game series with every team and 1-16 playoff seeding. Elegant solution on paper.

 

[Dave is a killer]

Home and away with every team in the league (58 right there)

1 more time vs each team in your team's Conference (13 for WC)(it'll eventually be evened out)(15 for EC)
Agree with the no back to backs
End the playoffs by end of May

 

[Howboutthempanthers]

Vancouver and toronto retracted?

Exactly what I was going to say.

 

[NHL Dude 120]

58 games, every team plays home and away.

- playoffs are best of 5 (still continous OT)
- all teams play on the last day of the season
- a week long break between the regular season and the start of the playoffs.

- best 8 teams in each conference make the playoffs, and the NHL will determine the match ups by a lottery at the same time as the draft lottery. first game matchup plays the second matchup, i.e. Sens vs Leafs (1) play Bos vs Habs and so on and yada yada.

playoffs ends no later than May 1st.

free agency still in July 1st the draft is always on June 25th , if June 25th is on a weekend then it will be moved back to a friday.

 

[LGB51]

With how tight the playoff races are in the Spring every year, I think 82 must be pretty close to the right number. I like hockey. A lot. I'm happy to watch a game every single day. I haven't suffered any fatigue from an 82 game season yet.

They should go to the baseball (162 Game) schedule lol, no but seriously 82 is fine, just shorten the number of playoff rounds. That you can follow MLB's format for, if you do use a 4 round system make the first a 1 game playoff round, just allow less teams to make the cut.

-Wild Card 1 game winner advance.
-First round divisional round best of 5.
-Second round conference final best of 7.
-Third round SCF best of 7.

 

[glovesave_35]

65 games sounds about right to me, but that's not because I agree with the "too much hockey in warm weather" garbage. I'm not even sure I would shorten the calendar length of the season by more than a week or two. 65 games is still a lot but is significantly fewer than 82. The best reasons I can think of for shortening the season is for player health and recuperation in preparation for the SC playoffs, and putting more importance on each game from the start of the season. In this scenario I would also hope to do away with the hockey sham that is the shootout, or at least change the point system to reflect how winning a game via this method is an asterisk of a win.

 

[Mickey Marner]

I think for a 6 month season 70ish games (3 per week) is the sweet spot.

 

[NeverForget06]

I loved the 48 game season. The only tricky thing would be figuring out if you wanted to start at the same time and spread the games out or started in January and have them clustered.