Fraser's New and Improved National Hockey League: Part Four

I'd also make other changes to the playoff format and to the schedule. 

Recent events have shown that there is no perfect scheduling formula. Staying with the conference was done after the lockout in 1994. A schedule was tried that had a rotating element after the lockout in 2004, but it seems the best the format is to ensure each team plays each other at least once.

Now that we have increased the number of teams by 10, what is the right number of games to play to ensure a properly weighted schedule?

1) New NHL Regular Season Schedule.

How many fans agree that playing hockey into June is stupid? I for one think hockey should be over by either the Victoria Day Holiday in Canada or Memorial Day in the U.S.  I believe that the Canadian Hockey League does it the best, with regards to when its season ends.

The Memorial Cup final ended on May 24, this year, which is the Sunday of the long Memorial Day weekend.

Ok, so we are adding 10 more teams and having the season end between three and four weeks earlier. How do we accomplish a full season and playoffs and have the season end sooner?

The season generally lasts between 185 and 190 days or roughly 27 weeks. NHL training camps are generally three weeks in duration and on average, an NHL franchise will play seven preseason games. 

The playoffs last for nine weeks, if the Stanley Cup Finals goes the full seven games.  So in total, the NHL season must be fit into 273 days or 39 weeks.   

My schedule would be formatted has follows; each team will play 80 games. A decrease of two games per team but the total schedule would increase from 1,230 to 1,600 games. More games, more total revenue.

I would break down each team's schedule as follows: six games against teams in your own division (three home and three road games), two games against the other teams in your conference (one home and one road game), one game against every team in the other conference (10 games to be played at home and 10 games to be played on the road, on a rotating basis each season), and an additional game against a six perceived rivals in the either conference (three home and three road games). 

For example, fans in Western Canada would want to see teams like the Maple Leafs and Canadiens, every year. So that would take care of the five of the six extra games for these two teams. Each team would play a grand total of 40 home and 40 road games.

2) New NHL Playoff Format.

With 40 NHL clubs, how can we have a safe and fair playoff system to decide a Stanley Cup champion and have it finish in nine weeks?

Most fans agree that there needs to be a reward for where you finish within the division and also the conference. With four divisions instead of three and an extra five teams in each conference, the format is going to have to change. 

Currently, 16 out of 30 clubs make the playoffs or 53 percent of the clubs but there have been rumors of trying to adding four more teams to the mix. I would have 18 out of 40 teams make the playoffs or 45 percent of the clubs making the playoff. 

I would have automatic berths for the four division winners in each conference. Then, the next two best records within the conference would gain an automatic berth. 

So, we have 14 of the 18 teams automatically making the playoff. How do the other two get into the dance? We have rewarded the top eight teams in each conference with playoff spots. Then, out of the 22 non-automatic playoff berths, I would rank them based on points, regardless of conference. 

I would take the top four teams here and seed them by points, again regardless of conference. I would have them play a best of three preliminary round series to drop four teams out. This series must be completed in four days. 

The two winners of these series earn the eight seed within each conference, and I would seed again by points and I would have the lowest-seeded team go into the conference that had the President Trophy winner and rotate from there.

So now we have seven teams in each conference. For the next round, or the conference quarterfinals, I would play a best-of-five series and have the series played in seven days.    

For this series, I would have the conference champ gain an automatic bye into the conference semifinal and have the other six teams play in three quarterfinal series and then take the three winners, along with the conference champ and based on their previous seeding move on to play in the conference semifinal.

The conference semifinals would become a best-of-seven series and this format would remain the same until the Stanley Cup champion is crowned. I would want these series completed in at most eleven days. I would allow a two-day break between each series if any series, in any round, goes the maximum. 

The Stanley Cup Finals would start on a specific date and that date would be the first Wednesday of May. That way the season would always end by Victoria Day in the Canada, which is the third Monday of May.

3) Breakdown of the Season.

Based on having the season end by Memorial Day, here is the breakdown of major dates that would become set in stone;

July 1 is the start of the free-agent period and the unofficial start of the new season.  Interestingly enough, July 1 is Canada Day and the celebration of Canada’s Confederation or Independence from Great Britain.

NHL training camps would open on the second Monday of August. 

The first Tuesday of September would be the start of the regular season and the regular season ends on the third Tuesday in March. Total length of the season is 196 days.

The third Thursday in March would be the start of the preliminary round and the start of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. 

The fourth Tuesday in March would be the start of the conference quarterfinals.

The first Wednesday in April would be the start of the conference semifinals.

The third Monday in April would be the start of the conference finals.

The first Wednesday in May would be the date set for the game one of the Stanley Cup championships.

Victoria Day or the third Monday in May would be the date set for Game Seven of the Stanley Cup championships.

The NHL Award Celebration would take place on the fourth Friday on May and the NHL draft would take place on the first Friday and Saturday in June.

So there you have it. The NHL becomes a more regional league but it's still in the states that have a history and are showing significant growth of the game within the region.

For Texas and California, the season should be over before the weather gets too warm with these dates set in stone.

There will be a better selection of players for annual World Hockey Championships that generally starts near the end of April or the beginning of May. Thus, allowing the IIHF members countries a greater selection of players to fill their rosters.