Pierre Lebrun confirms a major NHL schedule change is in the process due to the excessive preseason injuries
The NHL & NHLPA are expected to discuss the idea of reducing the number of pre season games when they begin CBA negotiations in 2025 which has been a hot topic in the past few days.
This year's preseason has been really rough in terms of injuries especially to well known players and thats causing frustration for fans across the league. While injuries can happen anytime even during summer training the number of injuries this preseason has been unusually high.
Some of the players who have already been injured include Drew Doughty (fractured ankle - month-to-month), Ryan Lindgren (upper-body injury - week-to-week), Patrik Laine (sprained knee - out 2-3 months), and David Reinbacher (knee surgery - out 5-6 months). Recently, Tim Stutzle, Brady Tkachuk, Thomas Chabot & Artemi Panarin also suffered injuries but their status is still unclear.
The high number of injuries has led to increasing calls from fans and media to shorten the preseason. Some teams are playing as many as eight preseason games, which many feel is too much.
According to TSN's Pierre LeBrun, the NHL and NHLPA have already discussed reducing the preseason schedule and will address it more seriously during CBA talks after January 1st. One proposal is to cut the preseason to four games per team while adding two games to the regular season, bringing the total to 84. The NHL has had 84-game seasons before, in 1992-93 and 1993-94, with the extra games played at neutral sites.
That's the idea anyway. We'll see where it goes in CBA talks." LeBrun said.
It will be interesting to see if both sides can agree on reducing the number of games. If changes happen they likely wouldn't take effect until after the 2025-2026 season which is when the current CBA expires.
