[MicroBob]

naj - my greater experience is with college hockey and I really don't know squat about the NHL so maybe I'm way off in my perception.
But at the beginning of the year I thought the players tended to be more tired after the games and the coaches had an awareness that shorter shifts could be necessary.

they're kind of easing their players into it from what I saw.

My guess is that if NHL players had to play a 3 OT game in a season-opener like they sometimes have to do in the playoffs things would get ugly really damn fast because they would be pretty much falling over each other.
By the time the post-season rolls around they are able to suck it up and actually do it although they are clearly dying out there somewhat.

Teams are rusty and not as strong at the beginning of the year generally and it doesn't just come from having gone awhile without games...it also comes from not being at the same level of tip-top shape that game after game brings you to and to your legs.

I think a similar thing happens in soccer too fwiw. 2nd half of the first game of the year the players simply run out of gas faster.

I might be way off on these though. The players themselves could tell you better. This is one of the types of things where the player's input would actually be accurate I suspect.