- DEL boss Gernot Tripcke says the NHL set its Dusseldorf dates without asking the German league, its clubs or the federation
- Ottawa and Chicago play Dec. 18 and Dec. 20, two of the best pre-Christmas dates on the German calendar
- Read below for what Tripcke said and why the 2027 games in Munich and Cologne are part of his complaint
Germany’s top hockey league is not rolling out the red carpet for the NHL.
DEL managing director Gernot Tripcke went after the league Monday over the two regular-season games coming to Dusseldorf in December, saying nobody from the NHL checked with German hockey before locking in the dates. His comments were published by the German news agency dpa.
Tripcke was asked how the Senators-Blackhawks games landed on the schedule:
“They announced their games in isolation, without consulting with the clubs, with us or with the (German hockey federation). That conflicts with the schedules of the 28 professional clubs here in Germany. This is something you can handle better.”
The calendar is the real sore spot. Ottawa and Chicago play Dec. 18 and Dec. 20 at the PSD Bank Dome, a pair of pre-Christmas dates that German clubs count on to pack their buildings.
That arena is home to Dusseldorfer EG, a second-division club that now watches two of its best gate nights of the season get handed to an NHL doubleheader.
Chris Johnston laid out the plan in March, when the NHL and NHLPA announced a long-term push into the country:
Chicago had a little fun with the news. Take a look at how the Blackhawks announced the trip:
December is only the start. The league has already booked 2027 games in Munich and Cologne, with JJ Peterka’s Bruins and Leon Draisaitl’s Oilers playing two apiece in their hometowns.
Nobody called him about those two, either. Tripcke wants the NHL to work with the German federation and the clubs so both sides get something out of it, and he said the grassroots side of the visit is still a mystery to him.
He was asked what the league has planned around the games themselves:
“I don’t know what they’re doing around the games.”
The DEL opens its own season this week. Its two biggest December dates already belong to Tim Stutzle and the Ottawa Senators.
