Should the NHL Look at Reducing the Number of NHL Preseason Games?

TSN: Martin Biron and Craig Button discuss if NHL stars should sit out preseason games to avoid injuries like NHL players do. The segment was recorded after Drew Doughty’s injury but before the results were known, and before Patrik Laine’s injury on Saturday.

** NHLRumors.com transcription

Gino Reda: “Joined by Marty Biron and Craig Button. That nasty looking Drew Doughty injury put the NHL preseason under the microscope again. The CBA says the NHL teams have to dress at least eight veteran players for every single preseason game. But seeing what happened to dowdy guys, does the league need to change this rule to protect its stars, Marty?

Biron: “Well, I think it’s a freak incident, right? It’s not like Doughty wasn’t playing hockey and didn’t get hit from behind. He went for a puck and was trying to finish a check and he got hurt.

NHL Rumors: Toronto Maple Leafs, and the Los Angeles Kings

I don’t think you need to change the rule of eight veterans per game, because you still have to dress a, you know, good lineup, but I think they played too many preseason games. When you have six to eight preseason games and then you have an 82-game season, it’s too much. Should be three or four preseason games. That’s it.

In the 2012-13 season, that was a lockout-shortened season, and then the COVID season, where there was no preseason games in either one of them, there’s not one player that complained. ‘Oh man, I really wish that we had preseason games so I can get going.’

Coaches complain, right? Owners complain because they didn’t get the gates and the money that they get in preseason. But no players complain that they weren’t ready for Game one because they didn’t play a preseason game or two.

But I think you got to shorten the preseason and maybe you add a couple of regular season games. The NFL did it, and they found a sweet spot. So I think there’s more to be done.

But the eight veterans you still have to dress and line up that fans are coming to see, and that’s why I think that should stay.

Button: “I’m going to preface this first, Marty, I love you for many reasons, and this is just another reason I love you. Because I agree with you, 100%. Not 99, 100%.

The players are so well conditioned. They’re fit throughout the season. They come into training camp and all they want to do is get ready, get ready for the regular season. We know that the regular season has a lot more importance from Game one than it did in previous years. So those players, those veteran players, want to get up and running.

They want to, and they know that an 82-game schedule is long and hard. We talk about difficulty of schedule. We talk about how many back-to-backs, and three in fours.

Well, why don’t we alleviate a little bit of that early preseason pressures on playing and allow those players to find their moments? To your point, they’re going to come in and practice. You can get comfortable with contact and everything that goes with it, but they’re ready to go from Game one.

And I know that there’s some economics to this with the preseason, but at the same time, I’d like to see a reduction in the preseason games. And understand that an injury that happened to Drew Doughty. It happened to Aaron Rodgers in his first game with the New York Jets. What are we going to do? Take out the first game of the season when somebody gets hurt, it happens, and it’s unfortunate.

There was nothing nefarious or evil about the about the play. It was just a play that went bad for Drew Doughty. Hopefully, it’s not any, anything that’s going to really impact the Los Angeles Kings for a long time.

Reda: “Okay, guys, I understand, though I agree fully with you. Players are now coming in ready to play, and rosters are pretty much set for the most part. Maybe two or three guys at the very most trying to earn jobs.

But isn’t this really just a cash grab? I mean, Marty, with HRR and the players getting some money even from the preseason games. Are players, are owners, are teams, willing to sacrifice dollars for the safety of their players, Marty?

Biron: “Well has it be right, you know, like the preseason gates and all the money goes only to the owners, right? The players don’t have anything when they look at HRR from preseason.

So when you move forward, you can reduce the number of preseason. Nobody’s gonna complain about it. And now what is also important to notice is that, you get into camp, you have your medicals, you have your fitness training, you practice for two days and, boom, you already have a preseason game. Like nobody wants to play in the first week.

Sidney Crosby hasn’t played a game yet. Evgeny Malkin hasn’t played a game yet (hit was recorded on Friday, both played on the weekend). You know, you look at the veterans, Connor McDavid played. The only reason he played this because the Oilers and the Flames did the split-squad game, if not, like they would have ran out of players, so he had to play a game.

But the stars don’t want to play. They may want to get the last preseason game and right into the regular season, and at the end, the NHL, the NHLPA, are going to have to sit down, because it comes down to the separation of the money. What goes to the owners, what could come to the players, and if it makes sense.

But it makes more sense to me, as a former player, to say, I don’t care if there’s one or two preseason games. I only care about the regular season.

Button: “And Marty, the owner, shouldn’t care. And I’d like to hear one owner of the National Hockey League say, ‘You know what, we need the revenue for the preseason games, and I’m not worried about losing one of my key players during the regular season that might impact my ability to make the playoffs, where the cash cow is really significant.’

What could Patrik Laine’s injury mean for the Montreal Canadiens?

That’s where the focus should be, Gino, and that, to me, is that there’s not an argument economically for this.