Looking ahead to the 2013/14 NHL season
There’s less than two months now until the puck will drop at Bell Centre for the start of the 2013/14 NHL season.
Hockey that early may seem like a novelty after the utter debacle of last year’s lockout, but it’s great to have a full 82-game schedule to look forward to once again.
Three games are set for opening night on the 1st October; Montreal versus Toronto, Edmonton hosting Winnipeg and the champions Chicago Blackhawks against Washington.
Even before that there’ll be actual training camps and pre-season games to take an interest in rather than the abrupt relief of a new CBA deal and the action beginning a week later. Building up is part of the fun right? I can’t wait to get excited over completely irrelevant exhibition scrimmages.
The regular season breaks down a little differently after the league’s recent realignment, there are now only four divisions instead of six, with troublesome newcomers Winnipeg moving West and Detroit plus Columbus switching to the East. You’ll notice the disparity in conference size as a result of that, if speculation about expansion is true that may not be the case for so long. Here’s how the divisions look for the coming year at least:
East – Atlantic – Boston, Buffalo, Detroit, Florida, Montreal, Ottawa, Tampa Bay, Toronto
East – Metropolitan – Carolina, Columbus, New Jersey, NY Islanders, NY Rangers, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Washington
West – Central – Chicago, Colorado, Dallas, Minnesota, Nashville, St Louis, Winnipeg
West – Pacific – Anaheim, Calgary, Edmonton, Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Jose, Vancouver
To make up the 82 games, each club will play either four or five games against divisional opponents, three games against the remaining sides from their conference and to ensure a visit to every arena; two meetings with all teams from the opposing conference.
On the shape of the realignment itself no solution was going to be perfect, but the insistence on preserving some of the iconic Eastern rivalries is to the detriment of Florida and Tampa Bay as they will rack up the most air miles in the conference by far. The burden of travel has been eased for a lot of the West though and perhaps even more importantly a lot of the time zone crossings.
Playoff structure is also slightly altered to accommodate the new format, however despite the difference in numbers the East doesn’t get any extra spots. The top three finishers in each division will qualify automatically along with two “wild card” places for the next two teams regardless of division, so potentially five clubs from the Pacific could progress for example. In the first round division winners face the wild card teams and 2nd takes on 3rd, guaranteeing series between major rivals. That has to be the big plus of realignment for me, it should set the postseason off to a great start.
Other news you may have missed:
- Olympics Presence Confirmed
In other good news the NHL’s participation at the Sochi Winter Olympics was confirmed after typically drawn out negotiations. Soon after the major nations announced the invites to their preparatory training camps which gave an insight into the strength of the favourites. As you’d expect Canada look extremely strong managing to leave the likes of Jamie Benn and Jason Spezza of the list, their goaltending situation was the major debate however and the likes of the US and Finland have the edge in that department. Now that’s all sorted though we can look forward to a great tournament.
- Kovalchuk Retires
Undoubtedly the shock story of the offseason was the retirement of New Jersey Devils forward Ilya Kovalchuk, from the NHL at least. The Russian is believed to have been hankering for a move back to his home league the KHL since his enjoying a brief stint during the lockout A staggering 12 years and $77 million remained on his highly controversial contract with the Devils but even those numbers pale in comparison to the rumoured $20 million he’ll be earning every year with SKA St. Petersburg. Although the split with New Jersey seems amicable enough losing their prize asset out of nowhere for nothing will surely rankle and it really left them in the lurch ahead of free agency.
- Feast Of Outdoor Games
Finally as it is always looking to build on promotional opportunities, the NHL has really expanded on the success of the Heritage and Winter Classics to six outdoor contests this coming season. The Winter Classic on New Year’s Day will remain the centrepiece though they are always great spectacles and hopefully it won’t be an overkill that takes away the uniqueness of open air hockey.
Winter Classic – Toronto at Detroit – Michigan Stadium – January 1st
Anaheim at Los Angeles – Dodger Stadium – January 25th
New Jersey at NY Rangers – Yankee Stadium – January 26th
NY Islanders at NY Rangers – Yankee Stadium – January 29th
Pittsburgh at Chicago – Soldier Field – March 1st
Heritage Classic – Ottawa at Vancouver – BC Place – March 2nd
