Let's talk about the preseason for a minute. Everyone talks about how long the NHL Preseason is. This is a topic that everyone can agree on. It's very long, and that can change.
As TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun and other hockey insiders, including Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman and Fourth Period's Dave Pagnotta, have reported, the NHL is looking to reduce the number of preseason games.
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As LeBrun noted outside the Board of Directors meeting this past Tuesday, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and the Governors agree to shorten the preseason and add two more games to the regular season.
And that makes sense, too. The league will seek to make up for the lost money. But that can only be done once the new CBA is confirmed.
Remember, owners receive 100 percent of the revenue generated during the NHL preseason. They don't have to split that with the players as part of the CBA 50/50 Hockey Related Revenue.
So, it makes sense in that sense. Not to mention that if the NHL eventually goes to 36 teams, there will be a need for 84 games to balance the divisional games.
However, the topic of reducing the number of NHL Preseason games to reduce injuries is hard to buy. Some of these accidents are unexpected. Drew Doughty has a rare injury in the regular season. Same goes for Macklin Celebrini who gets tripped up, loses the edge, and goes into the boards.
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That can happen at any time. Similar to what we saw between Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Cedric Pare and Montreal Canadiens forward Patrik Laine. Laine even admitted that she would have been better off going one way to avoid a knee-to-knee collision.
Even if the rosters are balanced in the NHL preseason, that knee-to-knee play can happen regardless. It is different if a player intentionally kneed to injure another player. This injury is in vain.
However, what happened on Tuesday night between the Montreal Canadiens and the Ottawa Senators is not part of the game. Arber Xhekaj performed without Ridly Greig's song on Kirby Dach. Greig later faced the music, but Xhekaj beat Tim Stutzle and was on top. Xhekaj ran at Stutzle violently, and it took Stutzle out of the game.
Granted, Stutzle's stick caught him in the face, but that kind of violence isn't part of the preseason. It's not part of the regular season, either. So, those things won't help slow down the NHL preseason.
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If the NHL cuts back on the number of preseason games, could we see injuries crop up in training camps like the New York Rangers' Artemi Panarin is experiencing? He was unable to complete two preseason games.
We see it in the NFL all the time. These guys don't play and get injured quickly because they jump into the game without preparation. Whether it's a hamstring quad or some other type of injury. Players are injured.
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The first four weeks of the NFL season are the preseason. Hockey is different, but it takes time to get in shape for the game, and hockey players want to play. We didn't see the COVID-shortened preseason and the shutdown of the 2012-13 season. It worked well because the players entered the training camp in good shape and played in other areas.
The NHL has to find the right balance for the number of preseason games. What is the whole number? Four, as many have suggested. We know that many veterans want to play only three. Goalkeepers want to get a full game before they start the real thing.
It seems like we're headed toward the end of the NHL preseason, not ending it, but reducing it to at least four games. That way, the League could have more regular season games.
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