Pros and cons of increasing the number of NHL regular season games

The Vancouver Canucks will complete their preseason schedule on Friday night, when they host the Edmonton Oilers in their sixth game and final game ahead of the regular season. After winning their first two they have lost three straight, albeit the last one on Monday night versus the Oilers was via a shootout.

For some, preseason games are an important part of the preparation for the season ahead. For others, the NHL plays too many meaningless games ahead of the real action.

In this respect, the possibility of reducing preseason games is back on the table. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman admitted as much to the media, at the NHL Board of Governors meeting at the Westin New York on Tuesday.

Subtraction AND addition

However, as per David Satriano of NHL.com, Bettman also said increasing regular season games is on the list of things to talk about. The thinking is to reduce preseason games by two, and increase regular season games by the same number.

Given that this is the thought process, you can rule out the argument right away about reducing preseason games to guard against injuries. This was what was attempting to be implied, after Patrik Laine suffered a knee injury versus the Toronto Maple Leafs, which will keep him out of the Montreal Canadiens lineup for two-three months.

The Canucks have had their own initial worries about injuries during the preseason, including with Pius Suter. As we wrote about on Wednesday, he was surprisingly evaluated after a seemingly minor scuffle with the Oilers' Corey Perry, but has subsequently only been listed as day-to-day with an upper body injury.

Money is the main priority of the NHL

Regardless, the point is that you can't try to argue reducing preseason games is about player safety, when you're also looking to increase regular season games. Pure and simple, this is all about money.

Now we appreciate that fans don't have as much interest in preseason games, but does adding two regular season games instead really help that much? We would contend that the NHL regular season is already too long as it is.

If the league was really concerned about player safety, and also wanting to enhance the quality of their product on the ice, they would actually decrease the number of regular season games. One figure we've previously heard mentioned is 70, which sounds about right to us.

Of course, what people such as this particular writer think, just doesn't even remotely matter at the end of the day. All the NHL and their owners want to do is make as much money as possible, which would certainly be the case if they added two games to the regular season schedule.

A discussion for some time

As we wrote back in July, this subject of more regular season games has been speculated about for a while now. At the time, as per TSN's Pierre LeBrun, it was one of the topics discussed during very preliminary talks about the next Collective Bargaining Agreement between the league and the NHL Players Association.

We would note that the other topics mentioned by LeBrun, we are actually in favour of. These include beginning the regular season in early October and awarding the Stanley Cup earlier in June. (We'd actually shoot for late May, which would be feasible if the number of regular season games were reduced!)

Returning to the reduction of preseason games, one other thing we'd like to add, is how unfair this would be on fringe players and young prospects trying to make the team. No matter how much someone can show during training camp and scrimmages, it just doesn't compare to actual games, even if it's only preseason action.

Overall, we already know where this is all headed, but it doesn't mean we have to agree with or like it. However, with money as always being the most important thing to those in charge, it reminds us of the saying that sport often reflects society, with the NHL being no different to the other North American professional leagues.

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