How compressed is the 2021 schedule?

While the New York Rangers 2021 schedule is very ambitious it is not unreasonable

The 2021 season for the New York Rangers will begin on January 13.  The estimated date for the season to end is May 8.   That means that the New York Rangers will have to play 56 games in 116 days.   It’s an ambitious schedule, but even with COVID-19 issues, they should be able to get it done and start the playoffs in a timely fashion.

Consider this, the Rangers played 56 games last season in 126 days.  The previous season it took them 123 days.  That means that the 56 game 2021 season will have to be played in less time than it took to play the same number of games each of the last two seasons. Then again, when the NHL played  48 game season in 2012-13, they did it in 98 days.

The NHL believes that the compressed schedule will be offset by the lack of intercontinental travel. Last season, the Rangers had three long road trips to the west coast or western Canada.  They also had that bizarre stretch last October when they played two games, were off for six days, played one game and then were off for four more days.  Take those ten days out of the schedule and the time frame was similar to the projected 2021 schedule.

Another factor is that teams will play multiple games against the same teams when on the road.  Teams will be highly restricted in what they can do when they travel. Reports are that they will limited to stay in their hotel, no dining out, no housekeeping etc.   The Rangers will travel to Boston, play two games in two nights living in a virtual bubble and then return home or go to the next city.

So, take out long travel and play back-to-back games against the same teams and the schedule should be do-able. Not so fast.

Pandemic issues

While the NHL will be taking the most stringent precautions when it comes to COVID-19, there will always be the possibility of an outbreak, especially considering that when the teams are in their home markets, they will be living with their families.

Look at the experiences of some Rangers prospects in Sweden where the Swedish Hockey League (SHL) has been playing since mid-September.  Nils Lundkvist (Luleå), Adam Edström (Rögle) and Calle Själin (Leksand) have each had six games postponed since the start of the season.

Karl Henriksson of Frölunda has been the most fortunate with only three games postponed, but the player himself tested positive and was taken off the WJC roster for Team Sweden.

In Finland, the top Liiga suspended play for three weeks in December under orders from the Finnish government.  Every team has had games postponed since the season began in October.

The KHL experience

The Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) in Russia ha been playing since September 2.   With teams based in five different countries, the league has had to deal with numerous pandemic issues.  Kunlun Red Star was not allowed to play in China so they have played all of their home game in Msocow.  One team (Admiral Vladivostok) chose to not play this season.

They’ve administered 70,000 tests through December 18 and 529 KHL players and personnel have tested positive. They are getting test results back in four or 12 hours and there has been discussion about the entire league getting the Russian Sputnik-V vaccine.

Teams have played as many as 39 games (Ak Bars) to as few as 31 (Jokerit).   Jokerit is based in Finland and when a number of players tested positive, their early schedule was completely postponed. So far, 29 KHL games have been postponed with 21 rescheduled.  It should be noted that KHL teams tend to play two or three games a week, unlike NHL teams who play a heavier schedule.

Make-up dates

While the date for the end of the 2021 season is tentatively set for May 8, there has been no date released for the start of the playoffs.  There had been discussions of leaving a week or more open for teams to play make up games.

The NHL has committed to awarding the Stanley Cup before the start of the Tokyo Olympics on July 23.   It took 48 days from the first game of the First Round to the seventh game of the Finals last season.  If the league wants to award the Cup this season by July 20 and they budget 48 days, the playoffs don’t have to begin until the first week of June.

It’s obvious that the NHL wants to get the league back on a “normal” schedule as soon as the 2021-22 season.  If  they can start the Stanley Cup Playoffs in mid-May, they could plan a schedule that could see the Stanley Cup awarded by July 1.  A mid-May start would allow for enough time for teams to make up games that may be postponed due to the pandemic.

There are still a lot of questions to be answered and the schedule-makers must be working overtime. One thing is for sure.  The regular season schedule will be a throwback to the days of the Original Six when teams played more games against fewer teams.

The last time the NHL played a season like this was in 1948-49.  Each team played a 60 game schedule and there were six teams in the league.  The Rangers played each of the other five teams in the league 12 times and had eight series of back-to-back games.   The big difference is it took the league 167 days to play those 60 games.

No matter what, it’s going to be great.