It’s been talked about quite a bit over the last three weeks that with the NHL expected to start the playoffs in early August (now revealed to be July 30). That means that the Stanley Cup is likely to be awarded in early October, which means that the offseason and draft would occur in mid-October before training camp for the 2020-21 season would begin in December. That would set the NHL to begin its season with the Winter Classic on Jan. 1, 2021.
That might seem strange, but what choice does the league have? However, there is little to no conversation of making the 2020-21 season (or the 2021 season) shorter to return back to the league’s standard schedule. Instead, there has been some chatter in which many have suggested the NHL might be better off permanently starting their season on Jan. 1.
In an article earlier this month, The Athletic’s James Mirtle (subscription required writes there definitely are some advantages to moving their season until January. First and foremost, the NHL has quite a bit of competition in the first half of the season, competing against the NFL, college football as well as the NBA. A January start would avoid quite a bit of that competition, while moving the playoffs into July and August would allow the team to play in the summer, often a slower time of the year for sports with the exception of baseball. On top of that, many teams see an increase in gate attendance after Feb. 1, suggesting it could be financially beneficial to many teams to move the start date.
Of course, there are other questions that could arise as well, meaning ice conditions may not be as good as teams get deeper into the summer, while there are questions whether people would really follow hockey in the deep summer. Players also may not want to change their permanent schedules and play deep into the summer, while many fans would still prefer to keep to their traditional October to June schedule. There is always some middle ground though with others suggesting that moving the season up to a November start date might make some sense as well.
So, the question is, should the NHL begin the season on Jan. 1 permanently each season?
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thing is i dont see them reeling any extra fans in with changing the timeframe of the season. honestly, hockey is a niche sport, and i dont see changing the timeframe of the season making more fans want to watch. id be curious to see the full numbers before and after Feb. 1st though – stadiums and tv that is.
No. Sadly hockey and basketball have it worse with covid. They will end up with 2 seasons cut short.
HELL NO!
Just cancel this season already and pick things back up in the fall.
I’m not entirely sure we’re going to be any better come fall. Though, I also don’t think that the season should continue either…
One of the NBA or the NHL should do this.
It makes WAY more sense for the NBA to do it, given that hardwood doesn’t get harder to play on during the summer like ice does, but..
If they don’t do it…baseball is such weak competition. A good portion of baseball’s remaining popularity is as simple as it’s the only team sport played in the summer. The NHL would have to consider it.
But, it would be much better if the NBA moved and the NHL moved back to a semi-normal schedule.
This would totally screw the AHL.
move AHL up and then the all Star game is scrapped for NHL training camps lol
Moving the schedule doesn’t just affect the NHL. It affects the AHL & ECHL and playing into August doesn’t really work in those leagues. Several of those markets also compete with minor league baseball and that would really affect attendance. Also, a lot of the minor league teams do a lot in the community, especially with children, around Christmas time. Moving the season to January takes that work away.
I’ve always said the NHL schedule should be Oct 1-April 1. From 11/15-1/5 and 2/15-4/1-only inner conference games with the last 4-5 weeks divisional games. 4 games a week with limited travel. Trade deadline 3/10. Holiday trade freeze remains. Clubs can take on all of a player who they trade’s contract and clubs can exceed the cap by $10M but with a penalty of $1M to a players association charity. Clubs must be under the cap by opening night of the following season. So if you want to load up and go for it,it will cost you in players picks and money.
Also implement a dead salary-you can trade your bad contract and eat up to $10M of it.
That’s what the players want. The bad contracts pod and others getting big contracts.
No. Hockey should always start in October or, IMO, after the World Series. Albeit, I can understand making the exception for the 2020-2021 season.
In a word, NO!
Celebrating the Cup champion during the World Series in baseball? Bad idea. What the NHL needs to do and easily could do is shorten the season by a month. No need to have 4 or 5 day breaks between playing games and each team taking a week off during the season. I think players would rather have an extra month off during the off-season anyway.
It would mean no NHL players again at Olympics and World Championship. It would also be very difficult for players to figure out schooling for their kids. Start last week of September, shorten training camp, keep the breaks between games to allow timing for Olympic break in February