Don’t worry, you’re not going crazy. The New York Islanders aren’t back on the ice until Friday when they face the Colorado Avalanche on the road. This isn’t some scheduling flaw. This is the NHL’s bye-week.
The NHL schedule is one heck of a marathon. An 82 game slog stretched out over seven calendar months. And then if you’re one of sixteen teams, here’s hoping the New York Islander will be, then you might just get another two months – there’s overlap with April – worth of games.
Oh, and if you’re a good enough player you might have played the month before the season started at the World Cup of Hockey and likely play again during the All-Star Game.
For John Tavares, that could mean his 2016-17 NHL will go from September to April at the very least. If the Isles get in gear and continue winning they might add May and even June to that calendar. September to June. Ten whole months of grueling competitive hockey.
Here’s the Islanders upcoming schedule for the week:
That’s tough on players. So, the NHL added a bye-week to the schedule to give the players a chance to sit, relax, and heal, before getting back to it.
The Islanders are one of the first NHL teams to get the bye-week that will run through Jan 1st to Feb 28th 2017.
It’s a great idea with a number of advantages. The only disadvantage to us fans, is that we have to go a full week without seeing our team. Who wants to watch the Devils play the Hurricanes tonight? Boooring. The trap meets a word that rhymes with trap that describes the Hurricanes.
You can be mad that there isn’t anything to watch on TV, but be glad that the players won’t be worn out come March. We need Anders Lee to keep up his ~50 goal pace if we want to make the playoffs this season.
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