TORONTO — We're going to need a new term for the portion of the NHL schedule that covers January and February next season.
Traditionally referred to as the "dog days" — the grinding, monotonous slog before playoff races heat up — those months will now be thought of as a recovery period thanks to the creation of a five-day break for every team.
The concept is akin to the reading week most universities give their students. It's an opportunity to step away, refresh and prepare for a strong push to the finish.
What it should also be seen as is a reward (reprieve?) for the NHL's top players, many of whom will participate in the World Cup prior to the start of the 2016-17 season and then be expected to attend All-Star Weekend in January.
Of course, they'll also have 82 regular-season games and the playoffs to contend with as well.
Each team's break will fall between Jan. 1 and Feb. 28, 2017, according to sources, and the players will be completely off during that period. Should the schedule include a game on the sixth day, the team can't practice until after 4 p.m. on the fifth.
The agreement doesn't affect any other rest periods already built into the schedule. There will still be a four-day all-star break for most of the league, along with the CBA-mandated four days off per month.
While the new break will probably result in a slightly more compressed schedule of games, it should mean fewer practices for teams throughout the year. That's a tradeoff the vast majority of players will gladly accept.
Plus, there is an evolving attitude toward rest in the NHL these days anyway. Some teams have started routinely cancelling morning skates on game days, while more and more are closely charting and adjusting workload in practice with heart-rate monitors and GPS trackers.
In theory, more time off should equate to healthier players and a better on-ice product. Come next season we'll get to see if that's the case.
Just like the new 3-on-3 format created for All-Star Weekend, the five-day break is being introduced on a one-year trial agreement between the NHL and NHL Players' Association.
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