NHL sees incredible discrepancy in travel distances next season

With 32 teams in the NHL, teams are always going to have to deal with long travel days throughout an 82 game regular season, but now one social media user has compiled all the data into one place, and the travel distances are certainly telling.

With a majority of the Eastern Conference teams bunched into the North East, it comes as no surprise that the 10 teams travelling the least in 2024/25 come from that area, with the Penguins travelling the least as a team with just 31,700 miles throughout the season.

Unfortunately for the West, that means that those teams will have to travel a significant distance more, with the No. 1 team the Dallas Stars almost doubling the Penguins distance, expected to be over 56,000 miles. Given all of the talk about competitive balance in the NHL with states having no income tax being at a huge advantage, this shows just how different things can be for teams from something as simple as travel.

However, two of the top four teams in travel played in the Stanley Cup Finals this past season, so with talent, depth and the right coaching, this can certainly be overcome, but it's hard to look past the NHL's bias with these numbers.

Source: Hockey Latest
New report reveals significant differences in travel for NHL teams next season