NHL Scheduling is patently stupid

[Monahammer]

I have been commenting on this all season, but again today is a premium slot Friday. Nothing else going on.

There are 3 NHL Games tonight. There were 11 scheduled for a random thursday yesterday. This on off of 11-14 games vs 1-3 games has been going on all season. I started noticing because I'm finding it ridiculously frustrating starting guys in my pools, but it got me thinking: why the hell are they doing this?

It must be crippling their viewership numbers... you can't even watch other games if you want because they're all playing at the same fricken time. Then you have other weird schedule anomalies like Calgary going on a ~10 game road trip 4 games into season, or having a stretch with 1 game in 9 days. No division games. It is just ridiculous.

[agulati]

Yeah the scheduling this year has been absolute trash. I wonder if it is a request by venues to have fridays available for concerts etc?

[Samonadreau]

It does allow for 13 games for Saturday tomorrow.

[dino7c]

Yeah I think it has more to do with Saturday being the big hockey night

[getbak]

I think it's obvious from the scheduling that the NHL doesn't consider Friday a premium night.

For as long as I've been watching hockey, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday are the big nights for the NHL.

[TrentCrimmIndependent]

ot, but "patently" is a cringy word

up there with moist

only on cp do you witness such words being used on the regular .. it is interesting

[Johnny Makarov]

Does anybody really watch NHL games that aren't of their home team or a hated rival?

[jkstuart12]

Originally Posted by Johnny Makarov

Does anybody really watch NHL games that aren't of their home team or a hated rival?

Yes

[dino7c]

Originally Posted by Johnny Makarov

Does anybody really watch NHL games that aren't of their home team or a hated rival?

maybe not the entire thing but I jump around tons of games every night that I am home

[bigrangy]

Agree. There should be a hockey game on TV at every hour between 5 pm and 11 pm on weekdays and noon to 11pm on weekends. Stagger the starts to avoid having to sit through intermissions. Always give someone flipping through the sports channels an opportunity to see what you’re about.

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by Johnny Makarov

Does anybody really watch NHL games that aren't of their home team or a hated rival?

I think it depends if you're a hockey fan or a fan of your team. Personally, I'm a Flames fan not a hockey fan. I don't watch other NHL teams, world juniors, etc. I watch/follow the Flames and that's it. Now that the Wranglers are in town I'm watching them for Flames prospects.

[albertGQ]

Originally Posted by getbak

I think it's obvious from the scheduling that the NHL doesn't consider Friday a premium night.

For as long as I've been watching hockey, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday are the big nights for the NHL.

Yeah. Its always been like this. Not sure why people are getting bent out of shape now

Saturdays are the biggest days. I think Thursday is slightly bigger than Tuesdays

The rest of the days are typically light. I think the Leafs went decades without having a Friday night game

[topfiverecords]

Originally Posted by Johnny Makarov

Does anybody really watch NHL games that aren't of their home team or a hated rival?

Yes, tons.

[AC]

Originally Posted by TrentCrimmIndependent

ot, but "patently" is a cringy word

up there with moist

only on cp do you witness such words being used on the regular .. it is interesting

I don't know why. It's a perfectly cromulent word.

[Icantwhisper]

I’m sure it’s already a logistical nightmare to schedule the games as it is, now we have to alter start times to appease 4 time zones? I got bad news for you, we live in the least attractive time zone so we’d get the worst start times

[Erick Estrada]

I imagine Friday night games aren't viewed as great nights for professional sports in the USA or the NFL would be all over that as it would give teams another day over Thursday.

[powderjunkie]

The night before the US midterm elections the NBA did something neat: tip offs every 15 minutes starting at 7pm ET. All 30 teams playing so that everyone would have the day off to vote (probably more accurate to say to advertise voting, but I digress). A bit of a March Madness thing. Neat.

The other Big 3 have all expanded their playoffs and tinkered with schedules much more than NHL in recent years.

Meanwhile, the NHL has done nothing other than expand to the point that 50% of teams qualify for playoffs. There have been two other seasons ('74 and '75) in the last 80 years that were 50% (never any lower).

We can maintain the lore of 4xBo7 series, but we're missing out on a better way to get to that final 16. The NBA actually nailed it with their new format, even though it seemed a bit weird at first.

[Johnny Makarov]

Originally Posted by bizaro86

I think it depends if you're a hockey fan or a fan of your team. Personally, I'm a Flames fan not a hockey fan. I don't watch other NHL teams, world juniors, etc. I watch/follow the Flames and that's it. Now that the Wranglers are in town I'm watching them for Flames prospects.

Yeah this watered down 2020 product is hard to watch. Like you couldn't pay me $100 to sit down and watch 2.5 hours of Carolina vs Columbus. Or LA vs the Sharks.

I'm watching USC vs Utah right now and it's highly entertaining even though I don't know any of the players on either team. lol

[Kasi]

I am curious how much the big sports coordinate? I know for sure all the sports tend to stay clear of NFL games. For example NBA does matineee games much more often after NFL season is done. I wonder how much coordination there is between the NBA and NHL as well. It does seem to be random at times but I’m sure there is some negotiation between the major sports leagues to make sure they maximize their TV viewing and revenue.

[bc-chris]

Originally Posted by Johnny Makarov

Does anybody really watch NHL games that aren't of their home team or a hated rival?

i "watch" tons. i pvr lots of games (why not - i'm paying for centerice) and then have games on all day while i work. the games might be a day or two old, but i don't care - i just want some back ground noise while i'm working and only really pay attention when you hear the play-by-play guy get excited.
my only beef with centerice is i wish i could pick the feed. i enjoy watching the oilers lose as much as the next guy, but can't stand their broadcast - really wish i could get the feed from the other team for those games.

i think one of my favourite broadcast crews are the group from carolina. the play by play guy has some great lines. one from earlier this season was when there was an awesome saucer pass and he belted out something like "that sauce was so good my grandma wants the recipe!" ha ha! i love stuff like that!