Pre-season Does More Harm Than Good

While training camp and exhibition games are a means for players to rid themselves of any off-season rust and learn the new systems their teams may be implementing, this year’s rendition has brought about problems that can’t be fixed with a simple video session.

With puck drop on the 2014-15 regular season just days away, the anticipation is building but the injuries are piling up. Each team plays roughly seven games during the pre-season, on average. It begs the question: is it really worth playing exhibition games when players who play significant roles for their teams suffer long-term injuries? So Andreas Matsoukas, the answer to your question is no.

I consider myself a hockey fan, but I’m not naïve. The business aspect of the sport rears its ugly head once in a while when an expiring CBA comes to the forefront, but realistically it’s always around lurking in the shadows. Playing exhibition games allows prospects to prove themselves to their aspiring coaches and hopefully grab a strangle-hold on the one or two spots available for opening night, but the revenue teams bring in by selling the stars of tomorrow does more harm than good.

The NHL is all about marketing their key stars and in the case of the Detroit Red Wings, their best player, Pavel Datsyuk will miss the first four to five weeks of the season with a second-degree separation in his right shoulder after a hit from Pittsburgh Penguins defenceman Rob Scuderi took him out. The Wings are blessed with depth with the likes of Henrik Zetterberg and company, but for a team like Carolina Hurricanes in a tough Metropolitan Division.

Jordan Staal broke his leg in his first pre-season game after he got tangled up with Buffalo Sabres defenceman Josh Gorges. He’ll be on the shelf for three to four months recovering because of a freak accident that could’ve been avoided.

Those kinds of injuries happen, but the NHL is surely more prone to injuries when you enclose 10 guys with a set of boards chasing the little black puck around a 200×85’ foot rink. When you take a look at the other major sports leagues in North America, the only other association that comes anywhere close to matching the intensity and the physical demand of the NHL is the NFL. That isn’t any disrespect to the NBA or MLB, but the pressure for lower-tier prospects to stand out results in the need for finishing every hit, fighting when called upon and being the kind of role player that every team is looking for. Thus for the first handful of exhibition games, players are doing everything expected of them and more to avoid having their name called in the first round of cuts.

The problem is teams are inviting more players to camp that are truly necessary. I’m all about creating competition within your organization, but take the Toronto Maple Leafs for example, who brought 60 players to the start of training camp in September. How many realistic roster spots to do they have up for grabs – two, three, at the most? It then takes seven to nine games to make the final decisions for the opening-night rosters. More like seven to nine excuses to rake in as much additional revenue as possible. Don’t waste my time. I’d rather watch three to five games of the team I know is going to hit the ice on opening night so they can work out any chemistry with players brought in over the offseason or any system changes.

There is some good news: games actually mean something starting Wednesday.