A first match in Utah, the madness of Vegas, the legendary ceiling of Madison Square Garden: as is the case every year, the Canadian will go through a series of intriguing environments this season for players, but also for fans. This schedule, however, comes with a number of constraints, which have the effect of making travel more difficult, which has consequences for the players, but also for the environment. The Press tried to see things more clearly.
The Canadian was not spoiled by the creators of the National League calendar.
A compilation by an independent statistician, Thomas Nestico, placed the Habs at 13e rank among NHL teams in distance traveled by plane for the upcoming season. But in the Eastern Conference, the team comes in 3e rank, behind only the Panthers and the Lightning, two teams used to traveling due to their remote location.
Nestico estimates that Montrealers will travel 69,280 kilometers by air in 2024-2025, but according to our calculations, it will be more like 71,459 km.
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Response from Steve Hatze Petros, NHL Executive Vice President, Schedule and Broadcasts:
“We analyze the travel of the teams over three, even five seasons, and we try to level everything. If the Canadian is traveling so much this year compared to the Senators and the Maple Leafs, it is to rebalance the last few years. »
The factors
If CH players fly away so often, it is due to a variety of factors linked to the schedule established by the NHL.
IMAGE TAKEN FROM THE MONTREAL CANADIEN INSTRAGRAM ACCOUNT
The Canadian will have to make several return trips this season: on 13 occasions, Cole Caufield and his teammates will go on the road for a single game, then return home with their suitcases.
The obligation to face each team
After the 2004-2005 lockout, Eastern clubs only visited each Western city one year out of three. Consequently, they played their division rivals eight times. Nowadays, teams play at least one game in the circuit’s 31 other arenas, and intradivision duels are limited to 26 total (four games against five teams, three games against two teams). Last season, the Canadian faced the Maple Leafs three times, including only once in Toronto. The team therefore traveled as often to California, Dallas and Vancouver as to Toronto, 500 km from Montreal.
Several back and forths
On 13 occasions, the Canadian will go on the road for a single game, then return home. This will be the case for the first three duels of the season on the road (in Boston, Long Island and Philadelphia). The Maple Leafs will only leave seven times for a single game. The Senators will do it 14 times, but gain efficiency in their other moves. Note that in the NBA, where the calendar also includes 82 games, the Toronto Raptors have made only five one-game trips in 2023-2024.
Response from Steve Hatze Petros:
“Game travel is the worst in every way and we try to limit it. But generally, we start the schedule with the teams furthest away, like Vancouver, San Jose and Florida, to make sure they have efficient travel. Next, we organize the schedule of the Eastern teams playing in the East. This is why teams established in more populated areas will make more one-game trips. »
No grouping
PHOTO STEFAN JEREMIAH, ASSOCIATED PRESS ARCHIVES
The Canadian will have to make four different trips to play his matches in the New York region: twice to Long Island, once to Manhattan and once to Newark.
In 2021-2022, the Habs were scheduled to face the three clubs in the New York region (Islanders, Rangers and Devils) during the same trip before Christmas. The Omicron variant of the coronavirus had finally ruined the plans and the matches were rescheduled. No such scenario this year: the Habs will make four different trips to play their matches in the region (twice on Long Island, once in Manhattan and once in Newark). The Senators will face the Devils and the Rangers during the same trip in January. They will also be entitled to a vestige of the 2021 “baseball” style schedule: two games in a row in Tampa in February.
Response from Steve Hatze Petros:
“When preparing the calendar, the teams send us the availability of their amphitheater. In New York, we are prioritizing the Western teams, as well as the two Florida clubs, to allow them to face all three teams at once. Once these matches are assigned, there are fewer dates available to arrange effective itineraries. »
Questionable routes
The inconsistencies are numerous. Just before Christmas, the Habs travel to Detroit for a game on a Friday, before returning to Montreal to meet these same Red Wings on Saturday, then flying to Columbus to face the Blue Jackets on Monday. However, only 250 km separate Detroit and Columbus. Two weeks later, the Canadian will leave Tampa to head west to Vegas, east to Chicago, west to Colorado, and finally east to return to Montreal. This back and forth will total 9670 km in one week. Finally, in California, CH will play in San Jose between its matches in Anaheim and Los Angeles (two neighboring cities), which adds an unnecessary journey of 500 km. The Senators and Maple Leafs avoid this Californian anomaly.
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From December 20 to 23
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From December 29 to January 6
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From February 2 to 5
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Response from Steve Hatze Petros:
« Availability of the Crypto.com Arena [l’aréna des Kings] are the main obstacle, because it is one of the busiest. But curfews at John Wayne airports [près d’Anaheim] and San Jose also add a layer of complications. »
Solutions
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The series of three games in four nights against Detroit and Columbus before Christmas would be easy to simplify. This would involve reversing the order of the home-and-away series against Detroit, and therefore playing on Friday in Montreal, Saturday in Detroit and Monday, as planned, in Columbus. Such a scenario would eliminate a flight segment and nearly 1,600 km in the air. No events are planned at the arenas of these two teams. At the beginning of January, simply by reversing the order of the duels in Chicago and Colorado, this route would have been reduced almost by a third and would be 6840 km. On the other hand, NBA games scheduled at the United Center and the Ball Arena prevent such a reversal.
Response from Steve Hatze Petros, regarding the round trip against Detroit:
“If I don’t schedule the Canadian at home, it would be four Saturdays in a row abroad. We are aiming for a certain balance, because weekday matches are more profitable for the teams than weekend matches. » [Note : le Canadien jouera 13 matchs à domicile et 11 à l’étranger les samedis.]
Constraints
PHOTO GABRIELA BHASKAR, THE NEW YORK TIMES ARCHIVES
Eleven of the 32 NHL teams share their arena with an NBA club, which constitutes a considerable constraint.
We mentioned it previously, but the creators of the calendar must deal with a range of constraints. The availability of arenas is the most obvious, especially since 11 of the 32 teams share their arena with an NBA club. That’s without forgetting the concerts, boxing and, above all, the wrestling shows. The demands of television networks also weigh in the balance. Finally, certain teams have specific requests that the NHL tries to accommodate, like Marc Bergevin who wanted the Habs to start their season on the road in order to help unite their group of players.
Response from Steve Hatze Petros:
“The availability of arenas is really the main constraint, especially Madison Square Garden and the Crypto.com Arena. Plus, we have exclusive TV windows to fill. The case of TVA Sports is unique. His contract provides for 21 Canadian games on Saturdays [le 22e est le match d’ouverture]. There are 26 Saturdays in the season. I can’t put them all. That means I have to skip Saturdays or schedule games in the afternoon. Additionally, Sportsnet broadcasts games nationally on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. In the United States we have them on Wednesday, Saturday and, after the NFL season, on Sunday. »
Elsewhere
The NHL doesn’t have a monopoly on questionable moves, that said. The Formula 1 circuit, for example, presented a race in Miami in May, an event sandwiched between the Chinese Grand Prix and that of Emilia-Romagna, in Italy. We can also recall the Montreal interlude, stuck between races in Monaco and Spain. About as logical as crossing the Jacques-Cartier Bridge to get from Terrebonne to Mascouche.
In baseball, last May, the Blue Jays played series in Washington and Philadelphia, after which they returned to Toronto for three games… before leaving for Baltimore, a city located 60 km from Washington and 160 km from Philadelphia. In addition, on three occasions, they landed in California to play a single series in the Pacific time zone, in which there are six teams.