The Pros and Cons Of A 48 Game Season

As we all are very aware, the NHL is back in business. With a new CBA signed for 10 years, it's nice to know I'll be well into my 30's before another possible lockout. It was announced yesterday that training camp would begin either late this week or early next week with the 48 game season starting on January 19th.  The past 113 days have been real tough for all of us, but we are all very pumped for a NHL hockey season that will last until about late June, when the Stanley Cup will once again be handed out. There are many pros and cons to a 48 game season in my mind. I'm going to re-kick the blog with the goods and bads of what we will see this season!

I'll start off with the bad so we can end with the good. As I see it, a full NHL season is 82 games plus playoffs, with the season starting in late October and ending mid-June. In anything other than 82 games, there has to be a asterisk next to that year in the books (and no Devils fans, this has nothing to do with you winning in 1995). It's a shorter season and more condensed, making it way different for both the fans and teams in  many different perspectives. One of the major perspectives within that is the injury factor. Teams will be playing every other night, mainly against division rivals. This will probably to lead to way more injuries based off of the shorter training camp and preparation period plus the condensed schedule. In other words, this season isn't going to be "normal." It will be much different than what us fans normally see in a full, 82 game season. Many fans will agree with me that it slightly taints that year, but many will also not agree thinking it's an NHL season, it counts; I respect both those opinions.

Now to the good. It's a 5 and a half month season packed with just 48 games plus playoffs and it is going to be pure mayhem. To start, talks are that each team will play the teams in their division 7 times! They will then play the other 10 teams in their conference 2 times each. That means nearly 60% of the games played will be against a division rival. As a fan of the New York Rangers, all 4 teams in the division are rivals and the games get heated. Plus playing all the other conference teams will make the season crazy. Teams will need a hot start and a solid few months to make the playoffs and then take their battered bodies into a possible 4 rounds of playoffs. There will also be tons of games every night making any die-hard hockey fan the happiest person on earth. It will be a fun ride and in June we will see who wins the dash.

There are some pros and cons to the 48 game season. I'm very happy the NHL is back nonetheless. It will be fun watching hockey every night as I do every season, with millions of other hockey fans. It will be a battle to the finish and I'm excited to see who is going to get the early jump off the start on January 19th. Enjoy the season hockey fans. The blog is back and I'm truly pumped for NHL hockey!