NHL BOG Rejects 84-Game Schedule For '08-09 Season

Daly Says NHL BOG Rejects Idea Of Expanding Season By Two Games

NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly yesterday said that the NHL BOG has "rejected the idea of expanding the season by two games a team because of complications and timing," according to Allan Maki of the Toronto GLOBE & MAIL. Daly, in an e-mail, wrote, "I think it was a combination of it becoming too late in the scheduling process for next season to effectuate a change, as well as the fact that we weren't agreeable with the union's condition that it be changed on a one-year, trial basis only." However, Daly said the expansion "remains a possibility for the 2009-10 season." Maki notes the NHLPA will not "commit to an 84-game season on a permanent basis unless teams are guaranteed home-and-home games with every team in the league." The NHL also has "yet to agree to that." The Red Wings first suggested the 84-game concept, and NHLPA Exec Dir Paul Kelly "endorsed" the idea (Toronto GLOBE & MAIL, 4/17).