NHL Season too long?

[NyQuil]

>>For me, I could understand an 82 game schedule more if the President's Trophy meant something. But it doesn't. The NHL regular season is just an 82-game first round of a knock-out tournament, as far as I can make out.

Well, they have a trophy and everything, just like in European soccer, but it doesn't mean anything because the Stanley Cup means so much more.

The FA Cup has a lot of prestige, but is it more important that the Premier league championship?

That's really a difference in culture. The Stanley Cup has been around a lot longer than the President's Trophy. Introducing another trophy wouldn't change the mentality where the CUP is everything.

Reducing the number of regular games would certainly make games matter more, as playoff placement races would occur much earlier in the season.

I'm just used to what is, I suppose.

The regular season does, of course, matter to teams like Calgary, who made the final this year after not making the playoffs since 1997. There are teams for whom the regular season is extremely important, particularly if they are on the verge of the final playoff position. (Rangers, Islanders, Sabres, Flames, Oilers)

If every team made the playoffs, you'd have a much stronger argument in this regard, particularly as most of the weaker teams (expansion) are improving and making it much more difficult to make the playoffs.

>>I'm still not sure I agree with this. The sport has changed so much over the years, that records are already difficult to compare.

That is, of course, a valid point. Goalies with GAAs under 3 were considered abnormally good. Now, you can't win the Vezina without being under 2.

However, similar season sizes does allow some basis for comparison without having to change statistics into "points per game", "goals per game" mathematics.

>>Czerkawski and Oliwa in national team! This is all!

Both players are good at what they do and would be assets to the Polish team.

Anyway, I DO think that having the NHL start in October is late. The regular season should start by at LEAST mid September.

[Graham]

NyQuil said:

The FA Cup has a lot of prestige, but is it more important that the Premier league championship?

No, but it means a lot more to English football fans than the President's Trophy means to NHL fans. No club in England would regard a season where they finish 8th (out of 20) in the Premiership, but win the FA Cup, as a disastrous season. Only the top 3 or 4 clubs would regard as anything other than a great season. Even winning the 3rd tournament is regarded as a good season.

In the NHL, any team that wins the Presidents Trophy but then goes on to lose in the first round (or even second round) would not regard it as a good season.

That to me is the difference. It's not about having a trophy that's more important, it's about the difference in importance between the two.

And more importantly, I think that shorter seasons also prolong the playoff race. The difference between 8th and 9th in the Eastern Conference, or 3 wins. Reduce the number of points to fight for, and you reduce the gaps. Go from 82 games to 58 (once home and away against everyone else in the league), that gap would have been down to 2 wins...

And while we're at, let's get rid of the ridiculous rule that says all three division winners must be seeded 1,2 and 3 and make them seeded on their real positions...

Graham.

[NyQuil]

Graham said:

In the NHL, any team that wins the Presidents Trophy but then goes on to lose in the first round (or even second round) would not regard it as a good season.
Graham.

There's nothing one can do to change that attitude. The regular season is the regular season, and the playoffs are the playoffs. Call it the North-American sporting culture. They give out pennants for winning divisions, but does it really matter?

European soccer does not have a playoff, so in some cases, like this year in the Premiership, Arsenal ran away with the league championship with many games remaining. How exciting is that?

As for your comment about the divisional leaders, I have no problem with all 3 divisional leaders being represented, but I believe that they should be seeded according to points, with the 8th spot reserved for one of them should they not finish in the top 8 in points.

[diabolik]

i think the season is too long , and i am completely agree with Graham

[marrella]

First, I'm an American who lives in a warm season town. Second, I agree with Gurj on the following points ...

1. Reduce the preseason games to 6
2. Start regular season no later than 10/1
3. Reduce regular season games to 76

However, as a full season ticket-holder to the Carolina Hurricanes, I can tell you I was really sick and tired this season of seeing our SE Division rivals so many times. Frankly, THAT'S what got boring!!! I like seeing other teams ... I like the challenge that brings to each and every game.

Now, you may say that's because we're in the SE Division and the teams aren't that great. But that's not true. We have the Stanley Cup Champs, Canes went to finals 3 years ago, Caps were a good team until this season and ATL has incredible potential (if they can just beef up their defense). So it's not that the level of play was bad and the games themselves unexciting .. it's that seeing the same teams over and over and over gets old ... at least for this fan.

[Graham]

NyQuil said:

European soccer does not have a playoff, so in some cases, like this year in the Premiership, Arsenal ran away with the league championship with many games remaining. How exciting is that?

The Premiership was exciting this year. If nothing else, there are different prizes in the league; qualifying for the Champions League, the UEFA Cup and avoiding relegation. The relegation battle this year was especially tense.

Graham.