New York Islanders Schedule Pre-Release Speculation

The New York Islanders 2017-18 scheduled is…scheduled to be released tomorrow. Last year we saw the Isles go on a crazy nine-game road trip. Any of that in store this season?

Last season the New York Islanders schedule wasn’t perfect. To be fair, if you ask all other 29 teams in the league they’ll probably say something similar about their schedules.

For the New York Islanders the scheduling issues revolved around two “blips”. The league mandated bye-week and that monster nine-game road trip. Thanks, Ringling Bros.

I get it. It’s not an easy task to schedule 82 games for what was then 30 teams. In buildings that sometimes accommodate another professional sports franchises, like the Barclays Center. There’s also shows and concerts that muddy the scheduling waters. It’s a tough gig.

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Issues Last Season

Last season the Isles had two big qualms with the schedule (and maybe a few minor ones). The first was the scheduling of the bye-week.

Every team in the NHL had a five-day bye. For the Isles that happened the first week of January. No issue there, right? Gives the guys a nice holiday break? Except for the fact that it was bookended by a West-coast road trip.

Games in Minnesota and Winnipeg to close out the calendar year. And then back-to-back games in Colorado and Arizona after not being able to practice or visit a rink during those five days.

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The second and bigger issue was that nine-game road trip from Febru

ary 21st starting in Detroit and ending on March 11th in St. Louis.

Before the trip, the Isles were one of the worst road teams in the league. With playoffs hanging in the balance the road trip was going to decide the season.

Thankfully the large interruption to the Islanders schedule brought about by the Ringling Bros. final stand in Brooklyn ended well. With the Islanders going 5-3-1 and staying in the playoff race. Though eventually bowing out on the before last day of the season.

Same Issue This Year?

Who knows what the NHL is going to do with the Isles bye-week this season. Hopefully, they make it work better than last year. But we won’t know until we see the actual schedule.

But in terms of record-setting road trips, the Barclays calendar looks fairly clear right now. From March 6th to March 10th 2018 the Barc is booked with a “TBD” start time for the ACC’s Men’s Basketball Tournament.

Outside of that, there are only a few concerts sprinkled across October through April. Now dates can be added to the calendar after the fact. But NHL dates don’t get rescheduled unless you’re the Carolina Hurricanes and the ice is absolutely unplayable.

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We’ll get to see the schedule Thursday, so long as you have access to the NHL Network, but as it stands there shouldn’t be any cause for concern on the mega long road trip front.