Hey NHL, here’s a dead simple solution to your latest scheduling fiasco

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The Battle of Alberta is back on! That became apparent in the 2021-22 season, when the provincial rivals finished 1-2 in the divisional standings for the first time in 32 years, then followed up with the first Calgary-Edmonton playoff series in 31.

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The two are expected to battle again for the Pacific Division crown in 2022-23, the Oilers one year and three playoff series more resolute and battle-hardened, the Flames having done a remarkable job of reloading during a topsy-turvy summer.

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The rivalry was established when the Flames relocated from Atlanta to Calgary in 1980, one year after the Oilers changed leagues to join the NHL and quickly proved the viability of Alberta cities as NHL-class markets.

The following season of 1981-82, the league shuffled its divisions and created an unbalanced schedule based on geography, and it followed that Edmonton and Calgary wound up together. Ever since, they’ve been joined at the hip as constant divisional rivals, be it labeled the Smythe (12 seasons), Pacific (14 going on 15), Northwest (13) or North (1).

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As such the two sides could be assured of meeting fairly frequently. In 41 seasons they have met 256 times, exactly 128 in each city. That’s an average of 6¼ games per season, from a maximum of 10 to a minimum of 4.

In 2022-23 comes the shocking situation that sees the Flames play in Edmonton just ONCE all (regular) season long. In fact, that lone visit takes place tonight, in Game 2 of the fledgling season for both clubs. And guess what, Oilers fans, THAT’S IT. Not another sight of the white-and-red clad Flames for the next six months. 39 home games left, not one of them against Edmonton’s fiercest geographic rival.

It’s a first in the long history of the rivalry. Never before has either of the clubs hosted fewer than two games against its counterpart, but it’s about to happen at a time when the Oilers-Flames match-up is on the verge of recovering its ancient status as the best rivalry in the NHL.

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How the heck did this happen? Sheer number of teams is the primary culprit. There are now 32 such, and it’s no longer possible to meet the old thresholds in a regular season that has stabilized at 82 games.

That distribution has fluctuated over the years, and not always for the better. After the 2004-05 lockout, there was a 3-year span where conference play was a whopping 72 games per season, leaving just 10 games to play for the 15 teams on the other side of the continent. That included one campaign where neither Edmonton, Calgary or Vancouver played Montreal, Ottawa, or Toronto even once all season long!

That’s since been corrected, and properly so in my opinion, to a new normal where every team in the league plays at least one game both home and away against each other NHL squad. Over the course of the season, the faithful season ticket holder gets the opportunity to see every other club in the entire league.

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So that accounts for 31 of the 41 games on each home schedule. It’s what happens with the remaining 10 that’s the source of the problem.

Until Seattle Kraken entered the league in 2021, it was possible for every team to achieve all three of the following (both home and away games included here):

It was right on the line. All teams from the slightly larger Eastern Conference played the following:

Total: exactly 82 games.

Here in the West with one fewer team there was even room for a fifth game against many, even most division rivals. But that changed with the arrival of the Kraken. That balanced the league at a mathematically stable 32 teams, but the 82-game slate was no longer sufficient to meet all the criteria. So the league took this rather curious decision:

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Meaning 1 fewer home game against one division rival, 1 fewer away game against another. With the omissions set to rotate formulaically throughout the division.

Oilers fans will have barely noticed the first year of this new paradigm, when it was the Kraken themselves who played but a single game in Edmonton. But this year it’s Calgary Flames for pete’s sake.

Meanwhile, the team is set to play a pair of home games against each of the Arizona Coyotes, Dallas Stars, St. Louis Blues and Winnipeg Jets. Just one of them is even remotely a geographic rival.

Surely it would be a better idea to “subtract” a game each against a couple of opposite-division squads. Such match-ups would still be assured of facing off at least once in each city. Meanwhile, all teams could be assured of hosting a pair of games against every division rival, every season.

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Such a schedule would mean:

I get that in an 82-game season a balanced schedule is impossible, but I would argue that the playoff structure is such that it is more important that in-division games not be shortened. Consider that just 2 of each conference’s 8 playoff teams are decided by the wild card method, vs. 6 who qualify by finishing top-3 in their division. For competitive balance it’s better that the divisional slate be fully balanced.

It’s also better for geographic and ultimately financial reasons. I sure would like Edmonton’s chances of selling out a second Calgary game this season than a second Arizona game. Alas, that’s not how things are set up.

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Two other possible solutions suggest themselves. One is to tighten up the rotation of “shortened” season series to exclude true geographic rivals. Focusing strictly on the Pacific, how about one group of Edmonton, Calgary, Vancouver and Seattle and another of Anaheim, Los Angeles, San Jose and Vegas. The “shortened” games would always come from the other half of the draw, so to speak. The Oilers might play one fewer game in California, but teams from that state would be guaranteed of playing maximum games against each other. Win win.

The second option is simply to adjust the length of the schedule.

Total: exactly 84 games, a perfectly balanced slate within the established parameters.

An even long slate might not be to everyone’s liking, but there is precedent. The league-wide slate was 84 games in 1992-93 and again in ’93-94 as the league experimented with neutral site games.

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I’d argue that I’d gladly trade 2 preseason games for 2 more regular season games, and fix that scheduling imbalance once and for all, or at least until the next expansion. Given the binary stability of a 32-team league, that won’t happen anytime soon.

That last option is the most mathematically elegant solution. This fan would be just as happy with either of the others, each of which have 2 “shortened” season series somewhere in the conference but do not affect geographic rivalries.

All three are superior to the current mess.

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Three snippets from Friday involving personnel:

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That’s a lot of new scouts! And a couple of very recognizable names in Duncan Keith and (a few days back) Steve Staios to the player development side. Total cap hit: $0.

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The same two players were involved in the reverse transaction before the last game, necessitated by the injuries that both sustained Kailer Yamamoto and Warren Foegele out of Game 1. Shore got the call and played 7 minutes as the eleventh forward vs. Vancouver. His return to Bakersfield surely means at least one of those veteran wingers will be available on Saturday. Sounds like Foegele is the closer.

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Forward lines from Friday’s practice. We’ll follow up with a Game Day update to this post after Saturday’s morning skate.

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