The NHL is addicted to dumb decisions
the NHL has completely lost the plot with the scheduling of this year’s playoffs and I think it’s really really hurt interest in the game the playoffs have been going on now for almost 2 months if the Oilers manage to win tomorrow night’s game we’ll have a 2mon plus long Playoff round one started April 20th and you know what for the first two round things were good it was a little weird to have overlap between round one and round two but whatever there was a night off as well before for the conference Championship which I thought was fine however after the two conference series were finished on June 2nd we had to wait until the 8th for the first Stanley Cup final game which is insane as the series goes on as well we’re seeing at times 2 days off between games I understand that travel concerns are a thing but the NHL finals and the playoffs as a whole are meant to be difficult and a test of endurance there’s no doubt that even with a Canadian team at play and viewership generally high that interest in the NHL is seriously dwindling as we move deep into summer and we have these massive stretches or at least that’s what it feels like where there’s no hockey I don’t know what the solution is personally I am not in favor of shortening the season whatsoever I think something could be done to shorten preseason if not remove preseason games alt together I also think that these big gaps between series need to go and I understand that the scheduling was done with the potential of game sevens in the Western and Eastern Conference series but this is just not good enough and as we approach July people are seriously going to lose interest with not just other things on TV as well but also you know nice weather
I want to talk the NHL’s completely insane playoff scheduling and how it’s really hurting fan interest in the game.
47 comments
They need to go to a 2-3-2 format for the finals. The travel is absolutely brutal
It's nice having warm nights in Edmonton to watch the games.
3rd round killed a ton of excitement. The Western Conference final was unwatchable. The cup final has been relatively fun except the previous game
Fun fact. If FLO wins G5 the buy out window will open before PLD's 26th birthday, making it likely he's bought out at a reduced rate. If EDM wins G5 the King's are looking at a 2/3 buy out instead of 1/3.
You can only watch so many commercials, its the middle of June and no one cares, and especially no one cares if FLA wins .
It’s the furthest, geography wise, two teams in the cup finals have ever been from each other. Plus Mcdavid needs rest if we’re gonna complete the comeback 😎
Totally agree and always have thought this way. When I was a kid I often missed finals games because my family was on our summer vacation. You know, the one we could take because it was not ICE HOCKEY season.
This ends Tuesday.
I'm pretty sure travel was literally the only reason why it's 2 nights between travel games. It's the longest final distance wise in NHL history, and having to take an 8+ hour flight after a game day, to then play the day after that, is wild. Which is why its 1 night on the first sets of back to back home games.
I feel like they did it so that nba and nhl can have finals at the same time
Tell this to teams like the Stars that played all the hockey while the other teams got a couple/few days off.
this season was kinda like flat beer. Just had no fizz
They just need to shorten the gaps between games. They know it, they don't wanna.
Bad Take. I love hockey going into late June. Nothing else to watch but shitty baseball.
Here is a theory they did this long gap so that Florida doesn’t get tired this time they don’t want Canadian teams to win it’s a damn given at this point
I disagree with your take. It's wrong on a lot of levels.
-players need proper rest to avoid massive injuries and fly really far distances in some cases
-some of us enjoy watching hockey even this late into the year; you don't speak for all of us
-there's also a decent # of us who don't care about the other sports, so the fact that basketall or baseball or football have competing schedules doesn't matter to us. Again, you don't speak for all of us
Note the controversial up/downvote on this one. Better just suck it up & take the L here.
Why not shorten the season? It’s half the length of an MLB season and there’s definitely twice the wear on hockey players that there is on baseball players.
First time I hear someone complain about too much hockey…
lets not forget BULLSHIT scheduling with the NBA, No reason for the Miami Heat and Florida Panthers to be playing at the same time.
You have to take into account that for this round its the furthest apart ever, and on top of a 5+ hour flight its a 3 hour time zone difference. I also like it because the warm weather in edmonton for the watch parties make them so much more enjoyable. But that week off to start the damn final was stupid.
Playoffs should have an element of endurance and determination, every other day at the most
Matches must be limited to 60, and must always have 1 day in between.
Shorten the regular season? 65 games. Teams will be healthier and playoffs will be better.
As an Edmontonian, who wouldn’t love a SCF in June?! 😻
NHL, when you sell exclusively to one provider, end customers have even more reasons to use free streams. In Finland, i would have to pay 45€ to Viaplay. That gives me access to lot of other sport, but i'm only interested NHL. So i use streaming sites, and provider gets nothing. I would like to play 15€ which is case about NBA and Euroleague. But only choise for customer is to pay overpriced fee, or use streams.
My controversial opinion is that the playoffs should shrink to 4 teams per conference, division winners and two wildcards. If you can't be one of the best across 82 games, why should you get a chance at winning the cup? It would fix the length AND make the regular season more important, which are both huge positives in my eyes. But, I also think ties should replace shootouts in the regular season so I'm already in heathen territory.
I looked at the Stanley cup finals between 2000 and 2010 and latest the playoffs ever went was June 13th. The average was around June 8 and there even was a game 7 that were done earlier. What's changed? This never was an issue before
Nobody in Alberta is bored yet…..
it really doesn't make sense imo for ICE Hockey to have their playoffs in June as summer is starting. I think the playoffs should be scheduled to finish by the May 24 weekend, with maybe the regular season starting Labour Day weekend to account for the schedule shift
The season should start 2 weeks earlier. Hockey on September 28th makes more sense than middle/late June. The NHL Finals use to start in the middle of May, it could start May 26th or so if they wanted to increase viewership. With no NBA on for roughly the same time and the conference finals at 2-2 for both East and West, I wonder if the NHL ratings increased compared to the previous couple of seasons? Yeah it did.
To many regular season games!
The schedule is driven by ESPN and ESPN sucks!
For a possible Cup game the pre and post stuff on television Saturday was VERY weak.
I started thinking this too. I'm an oilers fan so It's pretty weird seeing us still playing, but I'm seeing interest dwindle among my friends that aren't as interested in hockey which sucks because we went to a lot of the watch parties so far. I'd just hope next year it goes by quicker
Florida went 3-0. Of course people are gonna lose interest. To most people, the finals are already over.
Msy 28th should be the latest a SCF is played. I said what I said
When I started watching hockey in the 1970s, the hockey was over in mid to late May They had best of threes, and later best of fives in the preliminary rounds.
gotta watch out for injuries.
We waited that much till the finals started so players could get healthy, and prepare for a long travel time.
Like the NFL waits for the superbowl, and plays games every week, so it’s really not bad….
I’m an oilers fan but last year Tkachuk had a broken rib, and he played the finals, stuff like that everyone wants to play everyone at their 100%.
Bad take
Extra days off to recover benefits teams trying to execute historic comebacks.
Besides if you wanna watch something else go ahead. Nobody is holding you or anyone else prisoner. I know its just an opinion but i think it only helps the game being played so why complain?
The panthers will beat them tomorrow in their hometown, there’s no way they lose that bad and it not be a thrown game
Best of 5 except the final best of 7
There have never been teams in the Stanley Cup Finals further away from each other than this year. That is why there are gaps, it takes most of a day to travel between the cities. First world problems Eck. If this series had been played 80 years ago, it would have been a week of travel between games.
No that makes no sense, the cities are 3000 miles apart, they need the rest
82 games in a season is ridiculous. You could half that and still have a fantastic season. Football league in Europe complain about playing 38+ matches 😂
Too many preseason games. Give a team 2 games.
love the schedule. We have outdoor watchparties with warm sunny weather now here in Edmonton, and it also has been keeping us excited for the next game.