With the National Hockey League's schedule release planned for this week, there will be one extra home game and one extra away game for every franchise. As a part of the most recent collective bargaining negotiations, the NHL Players Association agreed to the adjustment, in return for a shorter pre-season. It's great news for the owners, because regular season games generate a great deal more revenue than pre-season ones, but what does it really mean for the players?
Tiny numbers add up
Two games is not a massive increase, but there will be direct effects driven by this change. As a percentage increase, the two games equates to 2.44%. It doesn't seem like much, but the Edmonton Oilers missed capturing the Pacific division title by 2.11% last season. The LA Kings were only 2.17% behind the Anaheim Ducks, and that difference meant they faced the Colorado Avalanche. It also meant Edmonton didn't get their perennial Round 1 opponent, and who knows what the results might have been if the matchups were different.
In Major League Baseball, they play a whopping 162 games. The sport is, perhaps, less taxing on the players, allowing them to fit so many matchups into their schedule. But the percentage matters there too. In 1992, the year the Blue Jays won their first ever World Series, they beat out the Milwaukee Brewers by 4 games for the final playoff spot. That 2.4% difference altered the franchise's destiny, because without the first championship, it's possible the second one never happens either.
Wear and tear
The 4 extra standings points are undoubtedly going to be in play when this season ends, and there will surely be wildcard spots that change hands in Game 83 or 84. The clubs on the losing side of those swaps will miss out on a postseason they would otherwise have been a part of. But it isn't just about the standings.
The trade of pre-season for in-season games isn't exactly equal. Few players play pre-season games at maximum intensity. Unless some bubble player feels the need to make an impression by knocking out a star, pre-season injuries usually happen on fluky plays, But in the regular season, especially with the Stanley Cup Playoffs around the corner, players will be going all out. That raises the likelihood of injury right at the point when even a short term recovery can have huge effects on a team's fortunes.
Admittedly, the reverse may be true. If Leon Draisaitl had two more regular season games to heal up, he might have been even more impactful in Round 1 against the Anaheim Ducks. The same goes for Jason Dickinson, who reaggravated a late season injury with his early return. But more minutes means more exposure to the risk of injury, and fate will surely be unkind to the fans of some NHL franchise. Let's just hope it's not the Oilers.
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