NHL Season Starts January 13. 4 Divisions: EAST Boston Buffalo New Jersey NY Islanders NY Rangers Philadelphia Pittsburgh Washington WEST Anaheim Arizona Colorado LA Kings Minnesota San Jose St. Louis Las Vegas CENTRAL Carolina Chicago Columbus Dallas Detroit Florida Nashville Tampa Bay NORTH(all Canadian division) Calgary Edmonton Montreal Ottawa Toronto Vancouver Winnipeg Regular play is with in division only 56 game season(East/West/Central play the other 7 teams in division eight times)/North plays 4 of 6 teams in division nine times and 2 of 6 teams ten times. Regular Season ends May 8th. Should be some great rivalry games.
The NHL has made it very difficult for a Canadian based team to move into the playoffs by aligning them all into 1 division, although it will increase rivalries. I have always felt the NHL should cut back to a 70 game schedule but we all know the Jewish owners are all for the money, not the quality.
That's because "non-essential" travel between Canada and the U.S. is a major problem. I like the idea of all the Canadian teams being in one division, though travel back and forth within such a large country will be a big-time headache. I just hope the NHL can survive another season of few or no fans in the stands without too much financial damage as it's more dependent on ticket revenue than the NBA, NFL and MLB.
Philly wins the first game of the season 6-3 over Pitt in the battle of Pennsylvania. Sidney Crosby scored at least.
