A look inside Chicago Blackhawks' 2018-19 schedule
The NHL released the 2018-19 schedule Thursday and for the second straight season the Chicago Blackhawks will not have a long road trip.
The Hawks have four three-game trips, the first of which comes Oct. 31 at Vancouver, Nov. 1 at Edmonton and Nov. 3 at Calgary.
All the back and forth last season - when the Hawks' longest trip away from the UC was four games - really started grinding on some players.
"I feel like our schedule has been pretty bad," backup goalie Anton Forsberg said in March. "I would love to be gone for a week, be home for a week instead of just go for one or two days and come back. … This year has been worse travel than last year when I was playing in the AHL."
The Hawks open the season on Oct. 4 at Ottawa, then play at St. Louis on Oct. 6 and have their home opener against Toronto on Oct. 7. Here are some other takeaways from the schedule:
• They will play back-to-back 14 times.
• They'll square off against the Blues three times in the first 11 games.
• They don't see Nashville until Dec. 1, and close the regular season against the Predators on April 6.
• They face the defending champions Washington Capitals on Nov. 21 (away) and Jan. 20 (home).
• They have just one game at Vegas, on Dec. 6.
• They play the Bruins on Jan. 1 at Notre Dame Stadium at noon.
• Heated rival Detroit is at the UC on Feb. 10 for a 2 p.m. puck drop.
• The longest homestand is four games (Dec. 12-18).
• They have no games between Jan. 23-31 (all-star break right into the bye week).
Finally, getting off to a hot start would seem to be a must because between Nov. 14 and Jan. 1, the Hawks play 17 of 24 games against high-quality playoff teams like the Jets (three times), the Golden Knights (twice), the Predators (twice), the Kings, Capitals, Lightning, Penguins and Sharks.
Trade Hossa?
During his teleconference with reporters Thursday, general manager Stan Bowman didn't have much to say when asked to react to Marian Hossa's comments made on May 19 about not playing hockey again. However, Bowman did indicate he is looking at all options as far as being able to trade Hossa's contract.
To do so, Bowman must likely find a rebuilding team that would like to add Hossa's $5.275 million cap hit so it can get to the salary-cap floor, which will be $58.8 million next season.
"If you're going to make a trade of that sort, you have to find a willing party," Bowman said. "There's nothing to report on that front. Whether that will come to be, I can't really predict. The way you handle that is you have a lot of discussions with teams and see if there's a fit."
Hossa's actual salary for the next three seasons is $1 million. If Bowman can't move the contract, the Hawks can gain cap relief by once again placing Hossa on long-term injured reserve.
Salary cap going up:
The NHL announced that the salary cap will rise from $75 million to $79.5 million next season. It is the largest increase since going from $64.3 million in 2013-14 to $69 million in 2014-15.