The Sharks Schedule

[chrisdetroit 189]

The Sharks have benefitted from the NHL schedule makers for once with a season long road trip of only 5 games in mid-February while the SAP Open tennis tournament holds court at HP Pavilion. The Sharks have also reaped the rewards of other teams playing back-to-back games with Anaheim or Los Angeles before traveling to San Jose. As teams have had to consolidate travel days to squeeze west coast swings into the schedule, 6 teams will play Anaheim this season before traveling the next day for a game in San Jose and 3 will play the night before in Los Angeles. To date, opponents have a 4-5-1 record after playing back-to-back games in LA or Anaheim before traveling to HP Pavilion (3-1 against LA).

Must be nice.

[HOCKEY MATTERS 167]

and yet the wings still dominate.

[Echolalia 2,961]

Its quite difficult to balance all 30 teams' schedules evenly, especially when taking into account venues that have more than one purpose besides playing hockey. Also its not likely that the Wings will get the benefit of an easier schedule, especially because we just won the cup. The Sharks should also get credit where its due, as they're taking full advantage of other teams when they're tired. We've failed to do that a couple times this year, I believe, but I may be mistaken.

[Earthhuman 8]

Good for the sharks, they're still a great team and they're still scary in the playoffs.

[Chunkylover 26]

I don't believe there is any premeditated favoritism in the scheduling. The arena owners all have to plan way in advance and deconflict when possible. Up to this point LA only had ten road games. Last year New Jersey started with like ten road games. That's just the way it is.

However, let's imagine there is some huge conspiracy. Let's say the evil Bettman (or Colin Campbell, whoever) did instruct the officials to give Anaheim all the breaks they would need so Burke could get his cup. Then lets say they gave Sidney Crosby's team all the breaks they would need, but gave the Wings just a little bit more so they could make the ultimate matchup in the Finals, would we really want anyone to know about that?

It would destroy the credibility of the league and make it more difficult to watch the game. Owners would lock the buildings in a power struggle to supplant Bettman (aka that evil guy). Players like Chelios would go on insane rampages while many big name Europeans would just go back home where they could play without interference.

I say, if there is a secret conspiracy, may it live long and prosper.

[b.shanafan14 733]

This is more a question of luck and geography, not a question of favoritism, tho I don't think thats what the original poster was suggesting. It is working in San Jose's advantage for sure and as the Wings go, they usually don't have great schedules purely because of geography since the Wings are one of the Eastern most teams in the widely spread Western conference, which results in many long home and away stands instead of more interchanging home-away games. Its just the nature of the beast, better to go play Dallas, Colorado, LA, Anaheim, and San Jose all at once and Edmonton, Vancouver, and Calgary too instead of flying to California for a game or two, then flying back just to do it again the next week. So we see another reason why the Eastern Conference is so much easier then the West, much less travel.