Travel distance is a factor that often goes overlooked when it comes to the lives of professional athletes, except for occasions wherein a team spends a whole day changing places only to have to play a game that night.
However, B/R Open Ice pointed out that the total distance travelled over the year favours some teams more than others. The Canadiens are the latter. The Montreal club will travel 43,000 miles (or 69,684) kilometres next year.
This ranks Montreal as the team that will travel the third farthest in the Eastern Conference, behind both Florida teams who will fly approximately 51,1000 (Panthers) and 44,500 (Lightning) miles respectively. The compiled data also shows that the flights will affect the Western Conference significantly more, considering that eight out of the ten farthest-travelling teams are from said conference.
There remains a fair amount of optimism among the fanbase for the upcoming year, despite the air miles. While nobody is anticipating a Stanley Cup run or even a playoff spot, the hope is that the team sees a solid jump in production and that the highly anticipated up-and-coming prospects finally arrive.
It’s also accurate to say that travel distance isn’t what worries fans. A mostly healthy roster would be a huge relief. In the meantime, just pray that the Habs choose a reliable airline (insert Spirit joke here).
Source Agencies
