Over the past few seasons, fans, media, and even some teams have agreed to reduce the preseason schedule for a number of reasons - primarily preventing injuries in meaningless games. Veteran Oilers reporter Jim Matheson says the longer preseason is just a money grab from ownership.
Matheson makes a good point too that the Oilers especially don't need a longer preseason after playing so many playoff games. Also a team consisting mostly of veteran players, they can get themselves ready for the year without such a long runway in preseason.
Of course, there's also the argument that more hockey is always better. The preseason is a great opportunity for fans to see new roster players for the first time, and also see prospects pushing to make the team. It's entertaining for the hardcore fans, but anyone can also admit that the first few games of the preseason is a lot of choppy and unorganized hockey.
Whether you believe 8 preseason games is too much or too little, any hockey fan is simply wishing for the season to return at this point. It's only 46 days until the Oilers kick off the preseason now!
POLL | ||
AOUT 7 | 139 ANSWERS Oilers media argues team is putting players at risk to make extra money Do you think the preseason should be more or less than 8 games? | ||
More than 8 games | 8 | 5.8 % |
8 games is perfect | 56 | 40.3 % |
Less than 8 games | 72 | 51.8 % |
See Results | 3 | 2.2 % |
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