The NHL will revert to its 84-game regular season since 1993-94, in what is the league’s first test of the format. It marks a significant adjustment in the contemporary NHL season and will create one additional game in each of a team’s seasons compared to the number offered in this 82-game format, that which has been used for decades.
The transfer is part of the NHL’s ongoing evolution of the way it does its regular-season schedule and structure. When no fewer than 84 games are completed, each club will have more chances to qualify for points, to build players and strive for playoff status. Meanwhile, roster development and workforce manipulation will become a bigger factor than it currently has been in the extra games, regardless of the fact that they’ve got to last through a long, grueling season.
1993-94 is an important historical reference. The 1960 season had 26 teams and had the teams playing 84 games. The league grew to 82 games in league, which would ultimately become standard for all of the NHL.
New players might not know the extra effort may be a critical factor in consistency. An expanded schedule, injuries and rotation to line-ups are already important issues that can become more so throughout the course of a season in the NHL.
That change also leaves some more regular-season hockey for the spectators. Each extra game offers another opportunity to see some of the best players, many of the promising young prospects and competing divisional teams battle it out with the possibility of increasing the drama surrounding playoff spots.
Perhaps it is a minor tweak, but an NHL schedule change can have an impact throughout the entire league when it happens in another game. Coaches will need to run their teams differently, while players will get another hurdle to get over and GM’s could put even more emphasis on the depth.
The return of an 84-game schedule links the present day with baseball’s past and provide today’s teams a new challenge. The way it adapts may be a good story to follow the rest of the season.
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