Fans in the State of Hockey are wondering why the Wild have so many days off to begin the season.
According to the Wild’s public relations staff, the Wild play 82 games in a span of 185 days this season – last year they played 82 games in 178 days.
Minnesota is the only team in the NHL with both a four-day break and five-day break within the first three weeks of the season. Here’s how many games every team in the league will have played as of Friday morning, Oct. 20.
- Anaheim: 6 (one four-day break)
- Arizona: 7
- Boston: 6
- Buffalo: 7
- Calgary: 7 (one four-day break)
- Chicago: 8
- Carolina: 5
- Colorado: 8
- Columbus: 7
- Dallas: 7
- Detroit: 7
- Edmonton: 6 (one four-day break)
- Florida: 5 (one four-day break)
- LA Kings: 6
- Minnesota: 4
- Nashville: 7
- New Jersey: 7
- NY Islanders: 7
- NY Rangers: 8
- Ottawa: 7
- Philadelphia: 7
- Pittsburgh: 7
- San Jose: 5 (one four-day break)
- St. Louis: 8
- Tampa Bay: 8
- Toronto: 7
- Vancouver: 6
- Vegas: 6
- Washington: 7
- Winnipeg: 6
Yep, 28 of 31 teams will have played at least six games by Friday. The Wild will be alone with just four games played. Crazy.
How does the NHL schedule get made?
The NHL has three guidelines when making a schedule: available home dates, nationally televised games, and fitting in special requests such as Hockey Day in Minnesota.
Because Xcel Energy Center hosts a variety of concerts, events and other hockey tournaments, the Wild, unfortunately, get the short end of the stick sometimes.
