[PeteMoss]

Originally Posted by HOWITZER

Before the pitchforks come out, hear me out.

Currently the NHL regular season is 82 games, and has historically been in the 70-82 game range in the past 50 years. One of the immediate thoughts that came out of last night's game (and over the past month) is how much interest is generated when every game is seemingly do or die. Over the course of an 82 game schedule however, there is a significant lull in the season, and interest tends to be low between November and January.

Keeping with the October to April format, would a shorter regular season be more beneficial to keep up interest, and in theory, keep more teams in it longer? Rather than have a game every other night, would a move closer towards football-style week schedules get more people amped for games (especially vs the typical Tuesday night game against Arizona)?

With less games devoted towards the regular season, could the league not coordinate tournaments such as the "World Cup of Hockey" to occur during the season, rather than tacked on during the offseason, further taxing exhausted players who go deep in playoff runs? Or could the league entertain other "club tournaments" where there's a cup championship for all the Canadian teams for example? So, the Canadian teams could be split off into pools and play for a separate trophy, guaranteeing some degree of interest in "playoff-like" elimination games throughout the low points of the season. A tournament in season that sees all Canadian teams play each other for "who's the best" could generate more interest than the once-in-a-decade all-canadian playoff match-up.

In effect, with the above suggestions, the NHL could still have teams play 82 games, but some would not be directly influencing chances at the playoffs.

Discuss.

If you wanted to increase interest you'd keep the end of the season at the same point but move the start forward. With football happening in the fall in the US (Thursday/Sunday/Monday - NFL, Friday - High school, Saturday - College) some teams struggle with attendence early in the year.