Season Format
The start of every NHL season is always very exciting every year to see new and old players battle it out on the ice. The regular season always starts at the beginning of October and runs all the way until the middle of April. The regular season consists of eighty-two games that decide who will make the playoffs and attempt to win The Stanley Cup Finals. The NHL has 32 teams who are battling for the sixteen spots in the playoffs which includes eight teams from each of the two conferences. The Stanley Cup playoffs begin in April and last up until the Stanley Cup Finals are over in June. The NHL is the only major professional sports league in North America to refer to its playoffs by the name of its championship trophy because the Stanley Cup is America’s oldest professional sports trophy. The playoffs consist of four rounds that are each best of seven series. This is a fairly new format that was just implemented in 2014 because fans were not happy with the previous format and the NHL decided to vote and create a new format to use.
Current Division Leaders
The NHL is split into two conferences with two divisions each totaling four divisions. The two conferences are the eastern and the western conferences. The four divisions are the Atlantic and Metropolitan divisions in the Eastern conference and the Central and Pacific divisions in the Western conference. The top three teams in each division automatically qualify for the playoffs and the top division winner in each conference will play the second wild card team. These two teams are the lowest seeds that are in the playoffs and have a huge disadvantage against the number one and two seeds. This makes teams at the top of the league really fight for the top two spots so they can hopefully play a team who they have an advantage over.
Devastating Injuries
The NHL can be one of the most dangerous sports in the entire world if proper safety measures are not taken. There are many different ways that players get injured in the NHL but the number 1 way that injuries are caused is by players that body checking each other. Adam Johnson, who is well known NHL player, just recently passed away during an NHL game. He had played for the Pittsburgh Penguins for 13 years and he also played in the English Ice Hockey Association for 3 seasons. He passed away in a freak accident during a collision with another player and a skate blade that had sliced his neck. He was given emergency treatment in the rink and was then rushed to the hospital, but they were unable to save him. Fans all around the league came together to support his family and his friends during this time. The EIHA and the NHL are coming to together to improve their safety rules for the players. Starting in 2024, the EIHA will require all players to wear neck guards during games. The man who’s skate blade cut Adam Johnson’s neck has now been arrested for manslaughter. The arrest comes more than 2 and a half weeks since the police began investigating the incident that led to his death.
