Yet again in 2024-25, the New York Rangers will have one of the easiest travel schedules in the NHL. But is this as big an advantage as we may think?
Adding up the total miles for all 42 away games, the Rangers are looking at 35,300 miles of travel this upcoming season. The only teams with less are the Columbus Blue Jackets (33,400), Ottawa Senators (32,800), and Pittsburgh Penguins (31,700).
That’s nothing new since the Blueshirts are a short bus ride away for road games against the Islanders and New Jersey Devils. And being situated in the Northeast, road trips to Boston, Montreal, Philadelphia, Washington, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Toronto, Ottawa and Columbus are all quick flights.
Eastern Conference teams, in general, have it easier than their counterparts in the Western Conference, which is more spread out.
The Dallas Stars have the furthest travel distance in the league this upcoming season 😳✈️
(via @TJStats) pic.twitter.com/nLmauNO4Yv
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) July 21, 2024
But is traveling fewer miles during the season really an advantage? Traveling can take a toll on players over the course of a season, for sure, but charter flights, sleep coaches and all the perks of being a professional athlete can mitigate some of that.
Nothing beats sleeping in your own bed, which the Rangers get to do more than most teams thanks to postgame flights home after games played in the Northeast.
But does that correlate to team success?
Does traveling less give Rangers an advantage in NHL?
Worth noting about the Dallas Stars and Florida Panthers, the top two teams on this list, is that they will be playing in Finland this season. That adds quite a few added miles onto their totals, though the League is good at making sure that teams which travel to Europe get appropriate days off to recuperate. But each of these teams still has a good amount of traveling to do in North America nonetheless.
Being in South Florida, means that the Panthers have far fewer quick trips than, say, the Rangers. The Panthers are second this upcoming season with 51,100 expected miles to travel. Of course, they still found a way to win the Stanley Cup last season despite so much travel, and an added 5,000+ miles with two round trips to Edmonton in the Cup Final.
Speaking of the Edmonton Oilers, they always have a brutal travel schedule, being located in the Northwest. This upcoming season, they are fourth (50,000 miles). That wicked travel, topped by 7,500+ round-trip miles in the Cup Final, certainly didn’t hurt them last season, though.
The Devils and Sabres, will add a few extra miles compared to other Northeast teams because they will open the season playing each other in Prague.
While it can be debated if there is a true correlation or not, the Rangers will have the advantage over the majority of teams in terms of accrued travel time. True advantage or not, it will be nice for the Blueshirts to spend less time in the air and more time recovering and preparing during the grind of the long season.
Of course, it it was a real major advantage, perhaps the Rangers wouldn’t be on 30 years since their most recent Stanley Cup championship in 1994.
