2013-14 NHL Season

Goes back longer than that...there were 14 in the AL and 12 in the NL from '77 until '93.

 

But remember, until recently, baseball didn't have interleague play, so that necessitated an even number of teams in each league. I thought 14 and 14 was just right and have no idea why they broke that up. With 15 teams per league, you have to play an interleague game every day. For some of us old timers, that takes a lot of getting used to.

Hockey didn't have that sort of scheduling problem. Every team could still play 82 games and with a little tweaking, a schedule could include at least one game against every other team. Playoff format was fine; no taking multiple teams from a bad division while more deserving teams get left out. As it is now, if I'm an Eastern Conference team, I feel screwed because I have two more teams battling for playoff spots than my colleagues in the West do.

I've gone over this time and again and I just don't see an advantage to doing it. I know certain teams (Detroit, Dallas, Winnipeg, maybe others) didn't like the alignment, but that would have been easy to fix.

I really hope they don't add any more teams. Have enough trouble finding and keeping quality markets as it stands now. Adding more teams in marginal markets is going in the wrong direction, IMO.

 

What are your thoughts on Ference being named the captain, Beef?

 

I'm OK with it. Still not a big fan of his contract, but he should be fine as captain. He's a place holder really for when Hall or Eberle is ready to be captain. Ference is that older vet who can still play a bit, has a cup ring and has been to the final three times. There's a lot the young guys can learn from him. Giving him the C takes some pressure off of Hall and Eberle and allows them to just worry about playing without the weight of the C on their jersey, though they'll likely both be assistant/alternate captains.

 

“@Real_ESPNLeBrun: Players approve via yes vote hybrid icing - NHLPA confirms”.

You for it, or against hybrid icing?

 

League should have gone to no-touch icing years ago.

 

Agreed

 

I'm fine with no-touch icing or hybrid icing. Seen too many bad injuries of players getting rammed into the end boards.

 

I'm happy they have switched over to a college-esque rule.

 

It's about time they made the switch. Mind you, this will give Don Cherry another thing to puff his chest out about after calling for it to be changed for at least the past decade.

 

Multiple reports are suggesting that Phil Kessel and the Maple Leafs are close on agreeing an extension worth 64 million dollars over 8 years.