When they meet in Toronto on Tuesday, NHL general managers could start the wheels in motion for a change that might lead to attracting more -- and keeping existing -- hockey fans.
The league's Board of Governors, gathering next month in Florida, could push the concept further.
We're talking about altering the unbalanced schedule, which prevents fans from really getting a close-up look at the national in National Hockey League, except on television. What we really have most of the time is the RHL, the Regional Hockey League. The word is that a discussion by the execs may be all that occurs. Too bad.
The current format requires that teams play eight division games against their division opponents and four games against other teams in their conference. The schedule, which was instituted after the lockout, allows just 10 games against teams in the other conference and has drawn some criticism not only from fans, but from Canucks general manager Dave Nonis.
"We should play every team in the league at least once," Nonis told the British Columbia Chamber of Commerce last week. "We all pay the same dues and right now the Western teams are getting it right in the teeth for no good reason. We fly as much as we ever did and the Eastern teams don't do a bloody thing. I hate the schedule."
