jkrdevil

Kovalchuk needs to be put back on left wing. That needs to be move 1.

I read somewhere that the Stars have a stretch of 10-of-11 at home in March, and the Blackhawks open with 2-of-12 at home because of the circus or whatever, so I don't think it's standard per se - though probably more standard in the east than the west.

Edit: To answer you question about the Rangers, they've got more "long" road trips and home stands:

2 home stands of 3 games
1 home stand of 4 games
1 road trip of 4 games
2 road trips of 3 games

Interestingly, their three "long" home stands are in the early part of the season (last one is the four-game, and it ends on March 5th), and their three "long" road trips occur after their three "long" homestands have occurred, later on in the season.

I don't know for sure, but I'd guess teams that share arenas generally probably have more long home stands and road trips. I imagine the Devils have greater scheduling flexibility due to no dates being taken by an NBA team.

The Garden is always busy between Rangers, Knicks, Big East tournament and circus in March. That would explain that scheduling