CALGARY — When the NHL decided to change its playoff format to the current one, seeing three teams from each division belonging to their conference and two wild-card teams, the thought process was that rivalries would be en vogue for the playoffs. You can quibble all you want about the previous format — the best eight teams in each conference made it — being better, and you’d have an argument. But the argument for the current format has some merit given the potential for rivals meeting in a high-stakes playoff series.
It’s what makes the current state of the Calgary Flames–Edmonton Oilers rivalry somewhat ironic, even if we’re dealing only with regular-season games.
We’ve seen three games between the provincial rivals this season and all of them have been competitive — each decided by a one-goal margin. But if you were hoping for more fun after Tuesday night’s 2-1 Oilers win over the Flames, you’re out of luck. The season series has already wrapped up with days to go before the new year. It is quite a change considering we typically see divisional opponents play each other four times a year with some games in the second half of the season.
The #Flames outshot the Oilers 47-22 but couldn’t find the equalizer in the third period, falling 2-1 this evening.@McDonaldsCanada | https://t.co/wei5ug38sX pic.twitter.com/pv83jmKUSA
— Calgary Flames (@NHLFlames) December 28, 2022
The Flames and Oilers even met four times before the COVID-19 pandemic wiped away the remainder of the 2019-20 regular season, with a fifth game canceled.
“It’s definitely odd that we don’t play these guys after tonight,” Flames forward Milan Lucic said hours before that third and final game in their regular-season series. “That’s just how the schedule happens. Every couple of years you only play a divisional team three times, so that just happens to be this year against the Oilers. That’s just how it goes.”
The Flames and Oilers aren’t the only rivals or notable divisional matchup to have just three encounters this season. The Toronto Maple Leafs and Boston Bruins only met each other three times this year, with none in the first half of the season, but their games are still spread out across January, February and April. We should also take a moment to sympathize with New York Islanders and New York Rangers fans who have also exhausted the three games in their season — their final regular-season encounter occurred on Dec. 22.
Even if it is a quirk in the schedule, the fact that the games are done before the season hits the halfway mark is an issue. You can say that three games, or five, is a better way to decide a regular-season matchup even if they pale in significance to a playoff series. But there would be less confusion if the games took place in November, December and March as opposed to two games in October and one in late December, just as fans have awoken from Christmas slumber.
“I think I’d be lying if I said it isn’t a little different,” Oilers center Ryan Nugent-Hopkins said. “I’m not sure how it all works out, the scheduling and stuff, but I don’t know if I’ve ever had all our games against the Flames in the first half of the season.”
Flames head coach Darryl Sutter prefers an even number of games if you were wondering.
“To have an odd number is odd,” Sutter said. “Whether it’s four, you’d still like it to be even. That’s what you’d like. Especially when you got even teams in the league and even divisions. So, you’re 32 (teams) and eight (in each division). So it’s pretty easy to go do the math.”
OK, sure. Maybe the Oilers and Flames will have a playoff rematch. But we’d have to wait a few months for it, and it isn’t even a guarantee.
If we consider how good the Pacific Division has been, there is a scenario that sees the Flames and Oilers clawing for a wild-card spot at each other’s expense. However, no more games remain between the two for them to show that desperation against each other. A regular-season game with high stakes, or dare I say a play-in gamewould be a must-watch affair.
We’d never denigrate the work of the NHL’s schedule makers, whose jobs are hard enough as it is, and it is impossible for them to look into a crystal ball to see how teams will play each other. But the odd scheduling of this year’s games signifies a missed opportunity for more fans to tune into what should be the league’s marquee rivalry throughout the season, months removed from a playoff series that saw the teams pitted against one another. Especially when it features two of the league’s best players in Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl and two teams with postseason aspirations.
Now, you can say what you want about the quality of the Flames-Oilers playoff series, a five-gamer that had little to no defense or quality goaltending and deprived fans of an encounter going the distance. But the fact that the series drew as much anticipation as it did is what the league and its fans need.
In a perfect world, the NHL would find a way to emulate the National Football League’s schedule. There is an obvious difference in the number of games in an NFL campaign, thereby heightening the importance of every game, but that league ensures rivalries are played out throughout the season, with some teams beginning and ending their seasons with a divisional opponent.
If the league does go through with expanding the number of NHL games from 82 to 84, as ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski first reported, there is an obvious benefit for regional rivalries. Four or five games should be an ideal number for those games, but the league must ensure they’re spread throughout the season. Better yet, the league has already shown it can get to four or five games without expanding to 84 games.
We shouldn’t have to wait until the playoffs, or a reported Heritage Classic matchup next season, for the Flames and Oilers to meet each other again.
(Photo: Sergei Belski / USA Today)
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