Everyone's In Action

I'm not certain why the NHL has decided to put 32 teams in action tonight, October 22, but we'll roll with that decision. After all, everyone loves a good playoff race and/or draft ranking possibility when it comes to games in October, so my congratulations goes out to the NHL for this wizardry. If the sarcasm is starting to bleed through in this paragraph, you have to understand that I do understand that wins in October are just as important as wins in February, but giving me all 32 teams in action on a Tuesday night before the snow flies means I'm probably not going to invest myself into these games as much as I would later in the season. How hard would this be to schedule for a Saturday in late January?

If you're wondering who is playing whom tonight, here's the schedule:

• 6:00pm: Washington Capitals at Philadelphia Flyers
• 6:30pm: Minnesota Wild at Florida Panthers
• 6:45pm: Tampa Bay Lightning at New Jersey Devils
• 7:00pm: Dallas Stars at Buffalo Sabres
• 7:15pm: New York Rangers at Montreal Canadiens
• 7:30pm: Toronto Maple Leafs at Columbus Blue Jackets
• 7:45pm: Detroit Red Wings at New York Islanders
• 8:00pm: Winnipeg Jets at St. Louis Blues
• 8:15pm: Vancouver Canucks at Chicago Blackhawks
• 8:30pm: Colorado Avalanche at Seattle Kraken
• 8:45pm: Boston Bruins at Nashville Predators
• 9:00pm: Carolina Hurricanes at Edmonton Oilers
• 9:15pm: Ottawa Senators at Utah Hockey Club
• 9:30pm: Pittsburgh Penguins at Calgary Flames
• 10:15pm: San Jose Sharks at Anaheim Ducks
• 11:00pm: Los Angeles Kings at Vegas Golden Knights
All games shown are scheduled in eastern time.

Clearly, there are some interesting matchups that the NHL has brought together tonight, but how does the NHL only have four divisional games on this night? That aside, the undefeated Winnipeg Jets and St. Louis Blues will be the game I'm watching tonight, but I will be checking in on the Hurricanes and Oilers as that could be intriguing, the Penguins and Flames could be fun, and the Avalanche and Kraken sounds like fun too.

I'm not certain I'd ever watch a Red Wings-Islanders matchup at any point, and the Kings and Golden Knights start way too late for me, so those games aren't going to attract these eyeballs. I'm hoping for a Buffalo upset over Dallas, a Panthers defeat of the Wild, and an Ottawa win over Utah, but the odds don't look good in those games. Whatever happens in those three games is completely out of my control, but watching the Jets win and those three teams lose would make for a productive Tuesday night for Jets fans.

My question is why the NHL is doing this in mid-October as opposed to later in the season. If the NHL wants ratings and advertising dollars, make this a Saturday thing where they can start games at 2pm ET, and have another kick off 30 minutes later, and so on and so forth. The NHL could run through all 16 games in eight hours, with the final games starting at 9pm and 9:30pm ET. It would be easy to do assuming there are dates free in 16 NHL arenas, but this is something that could and should happen every month in the regular season.

The only major sport the NHL is competing against is the NBA for most of their season, so they just need to find 16 arenas where this could happen. Considering that Canada only has one NBA team, there are six arenas for which they could plan pretty easily. Why are we not doing this "Frozen Frenzy" more often on days where more viewers will tune in? It's a better idea than the outdoor games!

As I alluded to in the opening paragraph, I would be doing this more often if the NHL wants to embed themselves into US TV viewers' minds. Giving me every team playing on one day would have me bouncing between games, especially when playoff spots are up for grabs. 16 games in October doesn't have the allure for a die-hard like me, however, so why not schedule this "frenzy" or one like it for later in the season?

Maybe I should apply to be an NHL scheduler-maker?

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!