Pretty much everyone is in agreement that the NHL's first "bye week" experiment has failed.
With a staggered bye week for all 30 clubs, we've seen many teams stumble out of the break and take multiple games to get back up to speed. As of Thursday, only eight of 26 teams won their first game back from the bye week (the Blue Jackets, on the other hand, went 5-1-1 off their bye) and many looked dreadful in the process.
Speaking at the NHL's GM meetings in Boca Raton, Fla., commissioner Gary Bettman said changes are coming for 2017-18, and if it doesn't go well, the league and NHLPA may go back to the drawing board on the topic.
Next season, the league will have two bye weeks in total: 15 teams will get one week off, and the other 16 will take another. The hope is that some of the competitive imbalance caused by staggered bye weeks can be curbed, but we'll see.
What are your thoughts on the bye week? Keep it, scrap it, change it?
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