NHL travelling schedule has been revealed which shows Bettman's bias
Over the past couple of years, fans and the media have made light of the favoritism and bias that has been plaguing the NHL regarding no income tax states and who are the Stanley Cup winners.
Another aspect is the NHL travel schedule. It seems that certain NHL teams have far less travel to do than others and this became another issue during the NHL Stanley Cup final this year as it was the longest traveling distance between 2 cities in NHL history.
The number one travelling team in the NHL was the Dallas Stars at 56,700 miles and the Florida Panthers at 51,100 miles. Compare this to the Ottawa Senators at 32,800 miles and the Pittsburgh Penguins dead last at 31,700 miles.
These numbers show how the NHL divisions are set and how geography plays a huge factor as the bottom tier teams in travel are all within a very short distance of one another on the East Coast. The western teams have far further to fly or in Florida's case is the furthest team in the NHL.
It's hard to say if the travelling aspect does affect performance as the Florida Panthers won the Stanley Cup and the Edmonton Oilers went on significant run, but it's safe to say that travel does affect the players from their mental health, being away from their families and just the rigors of travelling long distances within a short time span.
It's quite doubtful that this will be changed anytime soon.
Source: Hockey Patrol
Gary Bettman shows absurd favouritism with NHL travel schedule
| POLL | ||
Do you think the NHL travel needs to be more balanced? | ||
| Yes | 72 | 93.5 % |
| No | 5 | 6.5 % |
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