Montreal Canadiens: Schedule Going To Be Ridiculous When Covid Break Ends
The Montreal Canadiens schedule was supposed to be quite busy through April and May.
With the schedule set up for teams to play sets of games against each other, it reduced travel and also reduced the number of days off for each team.
The original schedule had everyone playing 56 games in 116 days. That’s a game every other day, with four extra days off mixed in, which is a really busy season for a short one.
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With the Canadiens entering Covid-19 protocol and being shut down due to a positive test, their games this week were wiped out. They had to postpone three games with the Edmonton Oilers and one with the Ottawa Senators. Currently, the Habs are scheduled to return to action on Tuesday night against the Sens.
That will happen if there are no more positive tests, and they are trending in the right direction as there haven’t been any additional positives since the first one was announced on Monday.
So, best case scenario is the Habs play Tuesday. They have played just 31 games so far this season and will need to play another 25.
Rumours last week suggested that the NHL schedule could be pushed back to May 11, which is supposed to be the first day of the postseason. If the last game of the regular season gets moved to May 11, and the Canadiens return on Tuesday, they will have to play their final 25 games in just 43 days.
That’s basically three games every five days or 18 games per month.
What’s odd about the Canadiens schedule is that their only two lengthy breaks were very early in the season. After playing just six games, the Canadiens had a four day break. About a month into the season, they had six days off in a row.
I know it can’t be easy to make a schedule for a seven team division where teams are often playing series against each other, but it would have been nice if the Habs had a four or five day break later in the season, in case of this exact situation where games need to be rescheduled.
The Canadiens were only scheduled to have one more three day break and it is right before the final weekend of the regular season. Aside from that, they are only scheduled to have consecutive days off one other time.
An insanely busy schedule is about to get even busier for the Canadiens. Somehow, they need to fit these four postponed games into a packed calendar.
The Canadiens depth will be tested, but they have added a few more pieces in the past few days. Eric Staal was acquired for depth down the middle. Cole Caufield just signed his entry-level contract and it wouldn’t surprise anyone if he were to playing NHL games in the near future.
Next. Drouin proving his worth under Ducharme. dark
The Canadiens still have 25 games to play but will have just 18 days off in that time. They are going to need everyone pulling their weight when this unscheduled break ends.