Starting in the 2016-2017 season, each NHL team will reportedly receive a bye week during the regular season.
The NHL has often borrowed from other sports leagues. They’ve borrowed playoff formats, all-star game ideas, and countless other things from the NFL, NBA, and MLB. They’ll be adding an NFL feature to the regular season next season that players will undoubtedly support: a bye week.
From ESPN:
"The league and the NHLPA have committed to building a “five-day bye week” for each team into the schedule next season. The league will schedule one for each club between Jan. 1 and Feb. 28 next season.Players won’t have to report for practice until after 4 p.m. on the fifth day if they have a game on the sixth day, a source said. If the players don’t have a game on the sixth day, they would have the entire fifth day off."
This is something that should benefit the NHL for several reasons. Giving players extra rest will most likely help the league create a better product on the ice. Hockey is a tiring and tough sport to play. Players get fatigued as the season goes on. Allowing players to rest and recover from their inevitable injuries should create a better on-ice product that could contend with the NBA and NFL.
Secondly, this could make NHL players more willing to participate in the All-Star Game and other NHL-sanctioned exhibition events. Their stars constantly miss out on the All-Star game because the players (and more importantly their teams) would rather rest than play in an exhibition game and risk injury. The All-Star Game could be much more entertaining and watchable if more of the stars attend.
Lastly, giving the players a five-day rest period probably helps the owners’ case when the two sides have re-negotiate once the current CBA runs out. It gives them a bit of goodwill and that’s never a bad thing when you’re negotiating a CBA.