article: Introducing the Toews Schedule

His idea is simple. Instead of playing one-offs, why not play series like in baseball? Go to Winnipeg once a year, set up shop for four or five days, and knock out all your road games in one shot. The road trips become longer, but the travel becomes easier.

 

“I don’t think most clubs would embrace that,” NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly told me in Prague.

Some of the reasons are obvious, while some are more subtle.

• Arena availability: In compiling the Toews Schedule, we didn’t take into account NBA games, concerts, political rallies, monster truck shows or pro wrestling events. I’m pretty sure the Bulls would have something to say about the Blackhawks having three homestands of seven or eight games.

• Marketing: Daly said the league has kicked around some of the ideas behind the Toews Schedule over the years, but that the teams prefer variety. They’d rather see Patrick Kane, Connor McDavid and Sidney Crosby come through their town two or three times over the course of a season, rather than for one big weekend.

“I think in some markets, they want the variation of club to club to club, as opposed to having to sell the same club multiple nights in a row,” Daly said.

And in order to make the Toews Schedule work to its fullest, we went back to the pre-lockout style of scheduling, in which you only play teams from the other conference once all season. That means not everybody gets to see Kane, McDavid and Crosby in their building each season, another potential deal-breaker.

• Television: If Toews feels the Blackhawks’ schedule is screwier than most, he’s not imagining it. NBC Sports has a big hand in the schedule, and even though the Blackhawks haven’t won a playoff series in four years, they’re still one of the league’s biggest draws. That means NBC wants them on Wednesday nights against other big draws, which often means shoe-horning those games into already busy weeks. As Daly put it, “We have scheduling obligations vis-a-vis our rights-holders, and that probably makes Chicago’s schedule a little worse than others.”

https://theathletic.com/1331125/2019/10/29/introducing-the-toews-schedule-a-dramatically-reimagined-and-more-player-friendly-nhl-season/

 

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Without posting the entire article, the idea is basically a baseball-like schedule where a team would go into a city for a 3 game series once a year, rather than bounce around. As stated, trips are longer, but less flights.

 

I love this idea, mainly because it eliminates the boredom of an NY/COL Monday night January game. By game 3, teams will hate one another.

Mini series that creates animosity? Cool. Would be cool.

I like it a lot, and am a little surprised the NHL and NBA haven't pushed towards something like this already. Perhaps something to do with spacing out "rivalry" matchups for tv network purposes? Does this hurt revenue? Seems like this would create more rivalries though, which would be good for the sport.

So, an AHL schedule?

I like it a lot, and am a little surprised the NHL and NBA haven't pushed towards something like this already. Perhaps something to do with spacing out "rivalry" matchups for tv network purposes? Does this hurt revenue? Seems like this would create more rivalries though, which would be good for the sport.

 

The reasons they won't do it are laid out in the article and in the quoted text from the OP:

“I don’t think most clubs would embrace that,” NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly told me in Prague.

Some of the reasons are obvious, while some are more subtle.

• Arena availability: In compiling the Toews Schedule, we didn’t take into account NBA games, concerts, political rallies, monster truck shows or pro wrestling events. I’m pretty sure the Bulls would have something to say about the Blackhawks having three homestands of seven or eight games.

• Marketing: Daly said the league has kicked around some of the ideas behind the Toews Schedule over the years, but that the teams prefer variety. They’d rather see Patrick Kane, Connor McDavid and Sidney Crosby come through their town two or three times over the course of a season, rather than for one big weekend.

“I think in some markets, they want the variation of club to club to club, as opposed to having to sell the same club multiple nights in a row,” Daly said.

And in order to make the Toews Schedule work to its fullest, we went back to the pre-lockout style of scheduling, in which you only play teams from the other conference once all season. That means not everybody gets to see Kane, McDavid and Crosby in their building each season, another potential deal-breaker.

• Television: If Toews feels the Blackhawks’ schedule is screwier than most, he’s not imagining it. NBC Sports has a big hand in the schedule, and even though the Blackhawks haven’t won a playoff series in four years, they’re still one of the league’s biggest draws. That means NBC wants them on Wednesday nights against other big draws, which often means shoe-horning those games into already busy weeks. As Daly put it, “We have scheduling obligations vis-a-vis our rights-holders, and that probably makes Chicago’s schedule a little worse than others.”

 

I'd be surprised if anyone could find any real negatives with the "Toews Schedule" but it's really just not practical for the reasons stated above.

The reasons they won't do it are laid out in the article and in the quoted text from the OP:

 

 

I'd be surprised if anyone could find any real negatives with the "Toews Schedule" but it's really just not practical for the reasons stated above.

 

Whoops. I'm guilty of reading the first quoted sentence, then scanning the article for the proposed schedule.

i'd hate it. it don't want to see the same team 3 times in a row. even during playoffs I get a little bored when playing the same team 5 to 7 times

i'd hate it. it don't want to see the same team 3 times in a row. even during playoffs I get a little bored when playing the same team 5 to 7 times

 

I think...this might be...the minority opinion, lol.

I think it's what makes the playoffs so great.

im the majority cause Bill Daly agrees with me and he has more leverage :)

The reasons they won't do it are laid out in the article and in the quoted text from the OP:

 

 

I'd be surprised if anyone could find any real negatives with the "Toews Schedule" but it's really just not practical for the reasons stated above.

 

The first one is critical. This is a novel concept on paper, but it completely crumbles when you realize that most teams share arenas and book concerts and events most nights of the week. It's a lot easier for a ballclub to do this than it is a baseball/basketball arena.

I think...this might be...the minority opinion, lol.

I think it's what makes the playoffs so great.

 

Imagine you lose Zibanejad for a week while you are playing a division rival 3 times in a tough playoff race.

 

When the team goes out west, it suuuuuucks. I feel like every week we resemble that. And then the Rangers would have to pay 2 games in 1 day on shitty MSG ice in early October because its the only time available.

I honestly hate the baseball schedule. I think its boring watching the same teams play each other 3 games in a row, unless its playoffs. Plus, come the weekend, for a Friday, Saturday and Sunday game, I'd rather see other teams than watch the Panthers 3 games in a row.

Imagine you lose Zibanejad for a week while you are playing a division rival 3 times in a tough playoff race.

 

When the team goes out west, it suuuuuucks. I feel like every week we resemble that. And then the Rangers would have to pay 2 games in 1 day on shitty MSG ice in early October because its the only time available.

This was my exact thought. Having a player down while facing pens and islanders 6 straight or so is killer, spacing matches out in the regular season is important. The reason of a regular season is to determine playoff teams, thus why playoffs are situated differently

 

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Doesn't really appeal to me. I like b2bs and all, but series'? Nah.

 

Rangers travel sched is very advantageous, not sure why we'd support mitigating that.

Doesn't really appeal to me. I like b2bs and all, but series'? Nah.

 

Rangers travel sched is very advantageous, not sure why we'd support mitigating that.

 

Because November games in Calgary suck...Until it's game 3 of Lemieux vs Tkachuk.

Because November games in Calgary suck...Until it's game 3 of Lemieux vs Tkachuk.

 

I'm not staying up that late 3 out of 4 nights to watch that. If I saw the first 2, no chance I'm watching that third 10:30pm start

Because November games in Calgary suck...Until it's game 3 of Lemieux vs Tkachuk.

 

but they wouldn't be playing 3 games vs. Calgary. They'd just play a series vs. the Eastern Conference teams.

However it would suck to have to watch/go to 3 straight games vs. the Ottawa Senators.

but they wouldn't be playing 3 games vs. Calgary. They'd just play a series vs. the Eastern Conference teams.

However it would suck to have to watch/go to 3 straight games vs. the Ottawa Senators.

I don't think that's true, I think they talked about going out west once a year. Point being, by the third game of the Ottawa series those teams would hate each other.

I don't think that's true, I think they talked about going out west once a year. Point being, by the third game of the Ottawa series those teams would hate each other.

 

We dont see that during 7-game playoff series.

We dont see that during 7-game playoff series.

AV gone.

i meant league-wide.

Last season we had one with Reaves and Kane. I dont remember any others.

I don't think that's true, I think they talked about going out west once a year. Point being, by the third game of the Ottawa series those teams would hate each other.

 

Quoted from the Athletic article

 

The new schedule breaks down as follows:

Divisional: Six games

Conference: Three games

Cross-conference: One game

 

Yeah they would probably have a longer road trip but it wouldn't be any sort of series vs. western conference teams. They pretty much play Ana, LA, SJ on a road trip.

Quoted from the Athletic article

 

 

 

Yeah they would probably have a longer road trip but it wouldn't be any sort of series vs. western conference teams. They pretty much play Ana, LA, SJ on a road trip.

Gotcha. Point RE: rivalry still stands...even vs Carolina, for example.