sirwin31

"The opinion of the uninformed"

Calgary, AB • Canada • 24 Years Old • Male

Scheduling

Now, I know that everybody is aware of problems with the current schedule and that the NHL has taken steps to try and rectify it. However with the Flames current road trip, I was curious about why the league would schedule them to have two separate road trips out to the East coast.

The Flames have to travel for a 6 games in 11 nights swing, including three of the five South East Division opponents. Then in March, they get to travel out to play Washington and Atlanta in a four game road trip. What?!?

Here are some looks at the rest of the NW division, and some other teams not located in the middle of North America.

NW
- The Oilers have one 5 game road trip in January, where they play all of the SE teams with a five day break after the last game.
- The Canucks had to play Carolina and Washington in a four game road trip in October, where they had to fly back to Detroit in between these games. And then in the beginning of February, they travel back to the East coast to take on the other three SE teams, with a trip back to Dallas in the middle of those games. All with only one day of rest between departure and arrival back to Vancouver, in both cases.
- The Wild play all five of the South East teams inside of six games. They do have to fly back to play at the Excel Center between those games however.
- The Avalanche have a five game road trip where they play four of their games against the SE, and then play the remaining team in a quick trip after playing in Dallas.

Pacific
- Anaheim: Game against Pittsburgh on the way back from the UK, and then one four game swing against the rest of the Atlantic division.
- Dallas: One six game road trip playing all five Atlantic teams ...in 9 days.
- Los Angeles: 8 game road trip in 15 days playing all 5 of Atlantic teams.
- Phoenix: One Atlantic team at the end of a four game road trip, and then the other four teams in 6 nights.
- San Jose: 8 game road trip in 14 days playing all 5 Atlantic teams.

Atlantic
- Philly: Three games in seven nights to start the season, and then a quick two in three nights before heading back to the East with more than two days rest between the next game.
- Pitts: Two in three nights, and then 3 in four nights, all followed by games back in the Eastern time zone with one to three days rest.
- NYR: Back-to-back games in early December, before heading up to Western Canada for three in four nights and then heading back to the East.
- NYI: Four games in seven nights against the North West, and then a quick trip to Minnesota before getting back to the Atlantic.
- NJD: The three Canadian teams in 6 nights before a 5 game break back in the East; then two in three nights with a four day break before their next Eastern time zone game.

NE
- Boston: five games against the Pacific to start the season in 9 days...followed by a five day break.
- Buffalo: Three games in four nights to the West coast, and then a 2 game in four night trip followed by four days off.
- Montreal: They play one Pacific opponent in the middle of a 6 game road trip; then play the other four opponents in 7 days, with no significant rest between their next game.
- Ottawa: They play one Pacific opponent in the middle of a 5 game road trip; then four in 6 nights with only a two day rest until their next game.
- Toronto: Back-to-back games against the Pacific, with two days rest until their next game, and then they play the other three teams in four nights with days off on either end of the trip.

Central and South East travel to close locations, so a lot of their games are one game road trips since they don't have to travel as far this year.

I guess nothing really came out of this. I already knew that the Western teams have to travel, and that the Eastern teams have to travel but their trip length in days on the road is usually less. So really, the only thing I got out of this is:

1. The Flames aren't alone in their traveling woes, and I can concentrate on other conspiracy theories designed to keep them from winning (like how someone isn't allowing them to give a full effort for 60 minutes), and

2. The league needs to reduce the number of games. There simply isn't enough time to play 82 games in the 185 days or so set up for regular season play. The season is already long enough so lengthening it is not an option, but only playing 74 games(30 inter-conf, 24 divisional and 20 conference games) would allow for more time between travel and ease of scheduling.
-------> Four home games of revenue would be lost, and the owners would complain - but I say don't sign Scott Gomez to 10 million dollar deals and you might not have to worry about that "lost revenue".

But I guess I already knew that anyway.

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