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Traveling in 2024-2025: the CH will cover nearly 17,000 kilometers more than the Senators
Mathis Therrien
Traveling in 2024-2025: the CH will cover nearly 17,000 kilometers more than the Senators
Credit: Getty Images
All NHL teams travel extensively during a season to face each of the 31 other NHL teams at least once abroad.

Obviously, this presents a significant puzzle for the league in creating the schedule and timetable for each team.

Sometimes games must be combined in sequence when they are in the same region to make it logical, but that is not always the case.

One must also remember that in all of this, the availability of different NHL arenas must be considered, ensuring there are no scheduling conflicts with other sports or events/concerts.

Each team, therefore, has its own itinerary in a season, sometimes with quite illogical travel arrangements.

In short, all 32 teams travel a lot during a season, but some cover significantly more distance.

This year, what stands out is the nearly 17,000 kilometers difference in travel between the Montreal Canadiens and the Ottawa Senators.

How is this possible?

How can such a distance in travel separate two teams that are only two hours apart by road?

The Canadiens are the 13th team traveling the most kilometers this season with 43,300, while the Senators are 31st with 32,800 kilometers.

Yet, Ottawa is the closest city with an NHL team to Montreal.

There has clearly been better scheduling organization for the Senators than for the Canadiens.

And we know this, as we have been able to note it for a few weeks, if not a month.

  • On December 14, the Canadiens made a round trip to Winnipeg to face the Jets, then returned directly to Montreal for a game at the Bell Centre against the Buffalo Sabres.
  • On December 29, the Canadiens left Tampa Bay to go to Vegas to face the Golden Knights on the 31st.
  • On December 3, the Canadiens were in Chicago and faced the Avalanche in Colorado the next day, despite the three-hour flight separating the two cities.
  • Last Friday, December 10, the Canadiens went to Washington for a simple round trip before playing the next day at the Bell Centre against the Dallas Stars.

In short, it’s a very questionable schedule.

Moreover, the Canadiens are the third team in the entire Eastern Conference that travels the most this season, only behind the two Florida teams, which logically, due to their geographical position (very far south), are in the top 10.

Ultimately, this shouldn’t change much, and seriously, as Canadiens fans, especially right now, we cannot complain about travel and road games.

It is partly with difficult away games against strong teams that the Canadiens began their incredible streak since December 17.

However, it remains interesting to note how significant a difference in kilometers traveled can exist between two teams that are otherwise so close.


In Brief

– Indeed.

– Worth reading.

– Interesting.

– Noteworthy.

– This will be worth following next season.

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