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Sunday, December 01, 2002

By Dejan Kovacevic, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

For years, the NHL has appeared to inch toward becoming Major League Baseball when it comes to an unbalanced financial playing field. Now, the NHL is moving toward an unbalanced schedule which most closely resembles the ones employed by the National League and American League.

The Post-Gazette has learned that the NHL will implement a schedule next season that will place a greater emphasis on divisional games while cutting down those between conferences. A league committee has approved the proposal, which is expected to be ratified by the NHL Board of Governors within a month or two.

Here is how the 82-game schedule will break down, as illustrated from the Penguins' perspective:

Six games vs. each of the Atlantic Division teams, one more than the current number. That accounts for 24 total games.

Four games vs. each non- divisional Eastern Conference team, same as now, plus one extra game against three opponents. That accounts for 43 total games.

One game vs. each Western Conference team. That accounts for 15 total games, down seven from the current number, as the Penguins now play seven Western teams twice.

The switch was pushed mostly by Western teams looking to trim their travel, for competitive as well as financial reasons. Teams such as the Canucks, Oilers and Flames fly roughly four times more than Eastern teams, as they have considerable distances to travel even to face divisional rivals. And, because NHL travel costs are paid independently by each of its 30 members, those teams also bear the greatest costs.

The Penguins' travel schedule already is among the lightest in the league, as Pittsburgh is central to much of the East and not as far from the West as most Eastern teams. Still, they are embracing the plan, for reasons on and off the ice.

"As a team, I'm sure it will help Mario to have even fewer trips out West," said Tom Rooney, head of Team Lemieux LLC. "And from the business standpoint, we feel that the teams our fans know the best are the ones in our division. Unless you're talking about the Red Wings coming in here, there isn't a team out West that can do for us what the Flyers, Rangers, Devils and Islanders do. I'm a big fan of having that tension on the schedule. That makes our games more exciting for everyone."

The other viewpoint, naturally, would be that those who buy season tickets -- especially those with the full 41-game plans -- will have fewer chances to see some of the game's brightest stars. Already this season, the Mighty Ducks' Paul Kariya, the Stars' Mike Modano, the Wild's Marian Gaborik and the Blue Jackets' Rick Nash will not play in Pittsburgh. In 2003-04, the number of teams staying away will grow from four to seven or eight.

This is all a fairly recent trend in the NHL's 86-year history. In the days of the Original Six, of course, everyone played everyone. But even with the expansion of 1967 and the WHA merger of 1979 that swelled the membership to 21, there was little separation between East and West. The Penguins still played the Kings four times a year, same as they played all others in the Wales Conference with the exception of those in the Patrick Division, whom they played seven times.

How long before one conference comes up with distinct rules?

Or before teams in opposite conferences meet only in the Stanley Cup final?

"Yeah, it's a little like baseball in the way it's being done," Rooney said. "But it's more like the way baseball is now with interleague play than it was over the years. We'll still see those Western teams. It will just be more of a special event when it happens."