The National Basketball Association (NBA) and the National Hockey League (NHL) have long been sport siblings. The NHL was founded in 1917 and by 1942 had 6 teams. The owners of these hockey arenas were looking for ways to use those arenas when the hockey teams were on the road. In 1946 they started the NBA to do just that. The first NBA game was held on November 1, 1946, at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto (home of the NHL Toronto Maple Leafs) between the Toronto Huskies and the NY Knickerbockers.
Therefore, it should not be a surprise that the NHL and the NBA have parallel seasons. Both start and end their seasons within a few weeks of each other. Each play 82 games (41 at home and 41 on the road). The teams play back-to-back games scattered throughout the season, share similar travel challenges, and normally play in the evenings. Both leagues have teams scattered from the east coast to the west coast of North America. There is a lot of travel involved and fatigue is a growing issue in both leagues. Teams tend to focus on fatigue when playing on the road and back-to-back games, but sometimes the first home game after a road trip can be even worse.
Both leagues often create (due to scheduling issues) advantages and disadvantages to certain teams throughout the season based on fatigue levels. The key is to discover those disadvantages and implement mitigation strategies before fatigue becomes a major issue for the teams. This is normally done at the beginning of the season. Here is a good example.
The NHL’s Vancouver Canucks have headed out on an eastern road trip where they play 5 games in 8 nights. This is standard fare in both the NHL and NBA. The Canucks play Ottawa on October 17 then fly right after the game to Boston, arriving at around 1 am hopefully getting to sleep by 2 or 2:30 am. They have the rest of the 18th off and play Boston on the evening of the 19th. They fly post game on the 19th to Buffalo arriving after midnight, hopefully getting to sleep by 1:30 or 2:00 am, as they play Buffalo later that evening on the 20th.
The Canucks fly after the game from Buffalo on the 20th, arriving in Detroit after midnight and having the rest of the 21st off to rest. They play Detroit on the evening of the 22nd then fly to Minneapolis arriving after midnight again. They have the 23rd off and then play Minnesota in the evening of the 24th. The game starts at 7 pm and 4 hours later they should be on a plane for the 3.5 hour flight home arriving at 2:30 – 3 am. Once they land, the players must clear customs, collect their bags, get a ride home and hopefully get to sleep by 4 am on the 25th. That would be 2 am Vancouver time. Even though that is not an unusual arrival time, the players are still experiencing plenty of sleep loss from that road trip and a lot of jet lag. The players have the rest of the 25th off and then play Washington at home on the 26th.
The sleep loss and jet lag accumulated on that road trip cannot be overcome by resting/sleeping on the 25th. It would take at least 3 nights of good sleep to overcome the loss of sleep and reaction time.
| Date | Vancouver | Washington |
| Oct. 17 | @ Ottawa | Home vs. Toronto |
| Oct. 18 | ||
| Oct. 19 | @ Boston | |
| Oct. 20 | @Buffalo | @ Detroit |
| Oct. 21 | Home vs. Florida | |
| Oct. 22 | @ Detroit | |
| Oct. 23 | ||
| Oct. 24 | @ Minnesota | |
| Oct. 25 | ||
| Oct. 26 | Home vs. Washington | @ Vancouver |
Contrast that with the Washington Capitals’ schedule. When the Canucks are playing in Ottawa on the 17th Washington will be at home playing Toronto then they have 2 days off, fly to Detroit (1.5 hours away) and play there on the 20th. They fly back from Detroit post-game, for a home game against Florida the next night on the 21st. They then have 4 days off before playing Vancouver on the 26th. Washington will have time to fly to Vancouver, overcome jet lag and sleep loss, get in a few rounds of golf and wait for the Canucks to return home.
Regardless of their opponent, ending a road trip with only one day off before their home game will be a challenge for the Canucks. There is too much sleep loss, too much jet lag, and not enough time to recover.
However, to make matters worse for the Canucks, Washington is a powerhouse team this year and is predicted to be one of the top contenders for the Stanley Cup. The Capitals were the President’s Cup winners as the top team in the NHL the last 2 seasons. Vancouver, on the other hand, is predicted to be one of the worst teams this season. Last year they came second-to-last in a 30 team league. Despite all this, Vancouver can still win the game!! There are lots of reasons why teams win or lose games, but this game will definitely be a challenge. So what can the Canucks do to mitigate the situation?
There are really only two available mitigation strategies. The Canucks could stay over in Minnesota and travel the next day (the 25th) back home. By doing this they could gain at least 3 hours of sleep, but that has never been a popular choice after a long road trip. Players and staff want to get home, but that is their only choice to mitigate the sleep loss. Second, the Canucks could learn from this and lobby the NHL to prevent having to play a game at home with only one day of rest after an eastern road trip.
NHL and NBA teams should examine their schedules to find the many anomalies and inequities built into their season. With proper pre-planning there may be effective strategies that can be implemented to mitigate the fatigue problems and an opportunity for the leagues to understand and correct these problems. Game scheduling will never be perfectly equitable but teams can identify inequalities based on fatigue levels and take back some of those disadvantages.