The NHL schedule makers have a twisted sense of timing or they’re really good at having things fall into place with happenings in the league’s offseason. Case in point: The New Jersey Devils visiting the Vancouver Canucks just four games into the season on October 8.
Newest Devils goalie Cory Schneider tells Tom Gulitti of Fire & Ice that was the first game he took note of on the New Jersey schedule.
“I don’t know if the schedule makers are doing me a favor by getting it out of the way early or playing around with me by making me do it so soon,” Schneider said. “I’m sure it will be a big story in Vancouver, but for us it can’t be a distraction. It’s got to be another game.”
Calling it a “big story in Vancouver” is putting it lightly.
With how the Roberto Luongo story has been handled there, seeing the guy who was supposed to be the new No. 1 goalie come back with a different team, it may as well be the Stanley Cup Final. Then again, it’s probably best for both players that they face each other early so the drama doesn’t get out of hand late in the year.
For what it’s worth, they’ll face each other again just 16 days later in Newark.
