The NHL preseason was shorter this year, and I'm sure there weren't many fans complaining about that. Everyone had four games to get through, make their cuts and start playing meaningful hockey. Sounds pretty good when you're sitting at home waiting for the regular season to start. What about the players though? The Edmonton Oilers [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/edmonton-oilers#google_vignette] lost 6-5 in overtime to the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday night, and Tristan Jarry brought up the shortened preseason afterward, albeit without making it an excuse. “It's the first game of the season. It's always always tough,” Jarry said. “It was a short preseason, so I think just learning from every game, whether it's the ups, the downs, and just being better every single game.” Well, it was definitely short. The NHL cut the preseason to four games this year as part of the new Collective Bargaining Agreement, extending the regular season going from 82 games to 84. The league's preseason schedule lasted eight days, beginning Sept. 19 and ending Sept. 26, before the regular season started three days later. That left the Oilers with four games and a handful of practices to prepare for game No. 1. Veteran players weren't necessarily playing all four of those games either. Under the new CBA, players with at least 100 games in the NHL are restricted to two exhibition games, meaning some players entered the regular season with two preseason games and a few weeks of practice together. Oilers Lose Another Key Forward as Zach Hyman Not With Team In Vancouver [https://deweb-519a7.b-cdn.net/post-images/92db78bd-3315-4e8b-bc25-9c4d4c4bfd3e.jpeg] Oilers Lose Another Key Forward as Zach Hyman Not With Team In Vancouver Edmonton’s mounting injury crisis hits a breaking point as the star winger joins five other sidelined forwards, forcing a depleted lineup to face the Canucks without reinforcements. [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/edmonton-oilers/latest-news/oilers-lose-another-key-forward-as-zach-hyman-not-with-team-in-vancouver] Jarry also spent the entire offseason working on his game with goalie coach Pete Aubry. Babcock talked prior to Tuesday night about Jarry improving his conditioning and stabilizing his game, but even he only got five periods of preseason before the games started counting. That's not a lot of hockey before somebody asks you to start an NHL season. The same goes for everyone trying to learn Babcock's system. Edmonton has a new head coach, players moving around the lineup and several injuries that forced Babcock to spend camp trying different combinations. Then suddenly it's Sept. 29 and Vancouver is in town. The old preseason certainly had its problems, though, don't get me wrong. Nobody needed weeks of random hockey, and fans weren't exactly sitting around in June counting down the days until preseason started. Oilers Not Where They Thought They'd Be For Game No. 1 [https://deweb-519a7.b-cdn.net/post-images/0710f9aa-97ea-437f-8bba-6a0698a82ca6.jpeg] Oilers Not Where They Thought They'd Be For Game No. 1 The <a href="https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/edmonton-oilers">Edmonton Oilers</a> lost 6-5 in overtime to the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday night, so does that make them almost as bad as the Canucks? [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/edmonton-oilers/latest-news/oilers-not-where-they-thought-theyd-be-for-game-no-1] So fans got what most of us wanted. Preseason ended quickly and the regular season started sooner. Four exhibition games might sound like plenty when nobody cares about the score. That said, it might feel a little different for the guys expected to have everything figured out the second those games start counting. However, it is up to the team itself to maximize it's preseason, and if the Oilers failed to properly prepare their players for this season, they can hardly blame the CBA. See more of The Hockey News on Google and save us as a preferred source [https://www.google.com/preferences/source?q=thehockeynews.com]. Get the latest news and trending stories by subscribing to our newsletter here [http://eepurl.com/i7OC4I]. And share your thoughts by commenting below the article on THN.com or creating your own post in our community forum.
