NHL taking a look at 84-game season, shorter training camp

The National Hockey League (NHL) has been debating an expansion of its regular-season schedule by two games per team, but the league will have to make a concession in order to make it happen, according to Sportsnet’s Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman.

The move, which was first reported on Friday, Dec. 16 by ESPN, has been discussed as a way to offer teams more games against division rivals, who sometimes only face each other three times — with those games against fierce rivals sometimes all taking place before the new year. The Battle of Alberta, for instance, will peak on Dec. 27, when the Flames host the Oilers, having already played two games in October. This makes it difficult for teams to market a rivalry.

By adding two games to the existing 82-game schedule, it would guarantee teams have four games against each division rival, while maintaining the rest of the existing format. The proposed formula would work like this:

• Twenty-eight games (four vs. the other seven teams in your division
• Twenty-four games (three vs. other division in your conference)
• Thirty-two games (two vs. every team in other conference)

“There is a will to discuss this,” Friedman said during the 32 Thoughts segment of Hockey Night in Canada on Saturday night, “but Jeff there are hurdles, including, one, the players.”

Marek said the NHL Players’ Association has not been approached about the change, which the union would have to agree to in order for it to be implemented, though the idea has been discussed informally over the years.

“Fewer pre-season games would be crucial for this to curry favour with the Players’ Association,” said Marek. “As well, a shorter training camp, that might be the path to this new arrangement.”