Prior to the 2017 Stanley Cup Final, hockey analyst Pierre LeBrun raised an interesting point about the timing of the annual postseason climax. Two days before Game 1, the TSN network commentator tweeted, “My annual complaint: Really, really, wish the playoffs would be done by May 31. Should be no hockey in June. Start season in late Sept.”
While this may seem like a minor proposition, or even a radical one for those who cannot remember the last time the NHL playoffs did end in May (1990), it would offer a few refreshing benefits. First, by having the playoffs finish before June, the league would give itself and its followers close to a full month between the end of the season and the draft.
As it is, if the 2017 Stanley Cup Final reaches Game 7, the champion would not be crowned until June 14. This year’s draft will occur on June 23, giving fewer than 10 days for the front offices of the two finalists to turn around and focus their attention solely on that. The same goes for fans and media members who are drawn to both events.
Even though the draft is not nearly as great a ratings draw as the championship, it still is one of the largest media events of the year for the NHL. To potentially have barely a week between the end of the playoffs and the draft creates a short and constraining schedule for reporting.
Instead of being able to focus solely on the final, news outlets have to split coverage with the combine and other pre-draft events. By starting the season two weeks earlier, LeBrun has proposed, this overlap could be removed from the scheduling, allowing both events to get their proper coverage.
Furthermore, by finishing before June, the NHL would be able to separate its final from the NBA’s. Although the two sports are fighting for different viewership and playing on different nights every June, it has never made sense to have two professional sports playing their finals in the same time frame. Especially in the current world of social media, giving even a week of separation between the two leagues’ finals would help with the fight for likes and shares.
Fans, national media and two (but sometimes four) front offices have to keep turning the pages back and forth when the late rounds of the NHL playoffs coincide with the draft combine. (Photo by Dave Sandford/Getty Images)
There are, of course, negatives to shifting the NHL season, some for similar reasons as the existing NBA overlap. If the season were to begin in late September, it would put itself deeper into football season. This is a time frame the NHL wants to avoid, as the start of the NFL season consumes the majority of sports media coverage in the United States. The homestretch of the Major League Baseball season is mixed in there as well.
In addition, by ending in late May, the Stanley Cup Final would go up against the majority of network TV season finales. Considering the primary American carrier of the NHL in the is NBC, the last thing they would want to do is create competition between their sports finals and their TV series.
Regardless, the mere act of moving the NHL season to start in September and end in May would not fix an underlying problem. The season is just long.
It is no secret that an 82-game season can be a drag on players and fans, and a team that makes it to the Stanley Cup Final can add as many as 28 games. With that schedule, injuries are inevitable, with some games that prove meaningless causing catastrophic injuries to playoff-bound teams.
Right now, there is no way to reduce the playoff schedule without throwing the whole system off, but the regular season could be trimmed down by even a few games and little would be lost on playoff-bound teams. By keeping the October start and reducing the regular season to 78 games, the NHL could begin its postseason between roughly seven to 10 days earlier.
That alone would allow for the playoffs to wrap up closer to the end of May or beginning of June. This would give the time needed for the draft to get a full news cycle and for the NBA to start its final with no Stanley Cup pattern mixed in.
For now, it looks like hockey will still be happening into June. But in the future, if all of the stars align, the NHL should pursue more breathing room between its championship series, its entry draft and the NBA Final. The casual fan would not notice if the Stanley Cup Final occurred two weeks earlier, and the hardcore fan would not necessarily care when it occurs.
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