Radical Schedule Change

[FHSrebel27]

So the Dallas Stars' broadcaster has had some time on his hands. He came up with this GREAT idea to mess with the NHL scheduling...

 

(Found originally on the website of the Stanley Cup Champion Tampa Bay Lighning)

 

Mishkin's Moments

Dave Mishkin: Lightning radio play-by-play announcer and tbl.commentator

 

 

Some NHL media folk may be passing the long days of this work stoppage by eating bon-bons and watching soap operas, but not Dallas Stars’ play-by-play broadcaster Ralph Strangis. While awaiting the return of NHL action, Strangis put his thinking cap on and designed a potential new schedule format for the league.

 

 

Understandably, to many of our readers, contemplating a league schedule format might rank as only slightly more interesting than watching grass grow, but Strangis’ proposal really has some teeth to it. Stars’ team president Jim Lites certainly thinks so, although he was skeptical when he first learned of Stangis’ plan. “I said, yeah, yeah, Ralphie, put it on paper and I’ll take a look at it,” Lites told the Dallas Morning News. “But then I read it and it really makes sense.”

 

 

Under the new format, each team would play 76 regular season games (six fewer than the current number). All but 16 of those games would be played against the 14 other conference opponents in the form of two, two-game series (one series at each venue). Two additional two-game series would occur against division rivals. In itself, this format is not a grand departure from the current format, which has the Lightning playing four games against Eastern Conference teams outside the Southeast Division and six games versus divisional foes.

 

 

Where Stangis’ plan distinguishes itself, however, is in how the games would be scheduled. He proposes that the two games be played in the same venue on either back-to-back nights or over a three-day span. Prior to January 1, the series would take place on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday nights (avoiding football conflicts). After January 1, the series would shift to Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights.

 

 

The other 16 games would take place after January 1 against the 15 non-Conference opponents on Monday nights. Teams would play the one extra game against the non-Conference club that matched you in seeding the previous year.

 

 

Strangis’ plan would successfully yield more than a couple of much-needed results. First, it would help eliminate the helter-skelter travel element that currently exists. Last season, for example, the Lightning played a game on every other night from Thanksgiving through the end of the regular season (excluding the All-Star Break). Inevitably, the Bolts were heading to the airport three or more times every week.

 

 

 

With Stangis’ format, prior to January 1, teams would only play twice a week and if they have a “travel” week, they’re only making one trip to and from the opponent’s venue. Even after January 1, when teams incorporate the Monday night non-conference game into the schedule, clubs would have a maximum of two trips a week and those travel-heavy weeks would be few and far between, only occurring when the Monday game and the weekend set are both on the road.

 

 

The lighter travel burden would help players stay fresh throughout the season and result in a better on-ice product. Also, coaches would have the opportunity to schedule more practice time, a most difficult task under the current format.

 

 

From a marketing standpoint, the two-game series format would allow the NHL to promote prime match-ups on a weekly basis, not unlike what we see in the NFL. Players, coaches and fans could get pumped up all week for one opponent, creating greater regular season excitement. Strangis feels that this plan lets the NHL media promote a weekend series with story lines than would run throughout the two-game set. Sounds a bit like what happens during the playoffs, doesn’t it?

 

 

Strangis thinks that a television partner could use the Monday night game to fill the void left by Monday night football and “create an appointment with the hockey viewer,” as Mike Heika of the Dallas Morning News wrote.

 

 

Undoubtedly, this proposal would have its detractors. Owners and General Managers might not be so willing to relinquish the proceeds from three home games. Our Canadian friends at CBC, where the Saturday night telecasts of Hockey Night in Canada are a national tradition, wouldn’t like the notion of dark Saturdays from October until December. Also, for all the schedule format does to alleviate team travel, it could force teams to make several additional cross-country/continent trips for non-Conference games. Last year, for example, the Bolts only made one such regular season trip to western Canada, playing games in Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary during a four-day span.

 

 

Still, what’s important about the proposal is that Strangis, like Brendan Shanahan with his hockey symposium last month, shows us the exciting possibilities that are borne from new, fresh ideas. As Strangis told the Dallas Morning News: “There are 1,000 ways this can help teams out, from an economic standpoint to keeping players healthier to allowing the media and fans to get excited about every weekend series. It’s a radical change, but I think now is the time to look at radical changes.”

[muffin]

I like the way it is played now.LOCKOUT.