What’s wrong with a week off?
NHL’s new byes blamed for losses — and health worries
On paper, the NHL’s new bye weeks would seem to be a good thing for its players, some of whom will follow 82-game regular seasons with two months of Stanley Cup playoff games. But most of the 20 teams that already had their byes — five mid-season days without a practice or game — have come to believe the format might not be so great for their immediate fortunes.
After Sunday’s games, NHL teams have gone 4-12-4 in their first game back from the bye. Saturday was particularly bloody, with the Montreal Canadiens, Washington Capitals, Chicago Blackhawks, Tampa Bay Lightning and Nashville Predators all losing in their return to play.
The 16 teams that lost have been collectively outscored by 37 goals, and even when you throw in the four teams that won, the goal differential remains minus-30. Ten of the losing teams either scored just once or not at all. Rust is obviously a big factor. “It’s a situation — you’re in the middle of your season, it’s a challenge and it’s a challenge all of us in the league have to face. We didn’t master that task. You’re in a situation where you go full tilt on the treadmill to nothing, to vacation,” said Devils head coach John Hynes, whose team lost 4-1 to the San Jose Sharks on Feb. 12 in its first game off the bye.
“You’re coming into a team that’s in that mode of practice and games. A lot of times, it’s not an even playing field for either team, but it is at the all-star break. We have to find a way, if it happens again, to perform better. It’s a new challenge for everyone in the league.”
Some coaches say the bye weeks are even bad for player health — which is the reason they were instituted in the first place. Giving teams five days off in the middle of the season means everything else on the schedule is compressed, leading to more back-to-back sets of games and fewer practices so that players can rest. The problem was compounded this season because it started a week late because of the World Cup.
“We’ve had fewer practices than any time I’ve ever been a coach in this league,” Minnesota Wild head coach Bruce Boudreau, whose team will finish the season with 20 games in 35 days, told the Buffalo News last month. “We finished nine games in 15 days and we never practised the other six days because you can’t kill the guys, especially your better players.”
Said Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Mike Babcock, also to the News: “I think it’s 100 per cent wrong for player safety. You’ve got so many games in such a short period of time and you’re jamming in more.”
Most observers feel the league will have to revisit the issue in the off-season. One suggestion, by Calgary Flames assistant general manager Craig Conroy and relayed by Adam Gretz of Pro Hockey Talk, is to have each conference take its bye at the same time and have those teams play only within the conference in the first game back.
“Obviously, it was kind of tough,” said the Capitals’ Alex Ovechkin, whose team entered its bye week on a 17-2-1 run but lost consecutive games for the first time since December upon its return. “Five days’ break, sometimes it feel like, ‘You ever play hockey or not?’ ”