What do Edmonton Oilers, Boston Bruins, Vancouver Canucks, Ottawa Senators, and especially Montreal Canadiens fans all have in common?

They all know that the NHL preseason is far too long.

Apparently, the league even knows it, too. Potentially shrinking the preseason and expanding the regular season is “on a list of things to think about” in the next CBA, as discussed at the NHL’s Board of Governors meeting this past week.

Quite frankly, shortening the preseason should be at the top of whatever to-do list the NHL has assembled because this year’s preseason was nothing short of a disaster. Let’s do another list.

Pius Suter, Artemi Panari, David Reinbacher, Patrik Laine, Macklin Celebrini, Tim Stutzle, Thomas Chabot, Brady Tkachuk, and Drew Doughty. What do all those players have in common? They were all injured in what should only be referred to as the Preseason from Hell.

Sure, all those players’ injuries are for varying lengths of time, but they’re still all on the shelf at the time of this writing, and for what?

The NHL’s preseason has overstayed its welcome, especially this specific edition of it.

Aside from the players getting hurt, the hockey we’re subjected to year after year is, for the most part, very boring. Veteran players are clearly going through the motions, knowing that these games don’t count. Teams’ preseason scoring leaders are often among those cut from the final roster. These games couldn’t matter less if they tried. Sure, we get some fun moments, like Canucks prospect Vilmer Alriksson getting into a game, throwing a hit, and recording his first fight on the ice at Rogers Arena.

We get to see standout prospects like Kirill Kudryavtsev and Jonathan Lekkerimäki play games that matter slightly more than those they play at the Young Stars Classic, but is that really worth the extra games?

Veterans like Canucks defenceman Carson Soucy understand the preseason’s purpose, but that doesn’t mean they don’t want to just get it over with like the rest of us.

“I think it could be one or two games shorter,” Soucy told CanucksArmy. “I see a positive to it as well, getting ready for the season, but I think one or two games wouldn’t hurt to shorten it up. I think that might even ramp up the intensity a little more in those certain games. I see benefits to both sides.

“It’s not all about us [veteran players], I was there once trying to make a team and I think that benefited me. There’s benefits to both sides. My position right now, I’d lean towards less, but as guys trying to make the team, it’s nice to have those extra games to show what you’ve got.”

While Soucy is right in the fact there are two parties with different interests — the young players trying to prove themselves and the vets who know their spot on the roster is secure — there’s a third party involved: the fans.

While fans may want to see some top prospects and young players get into a game or two, there’s no reason for B or C level prospects to get into more than one preseason game, if that.

Now, to say there are only three parties to worry about here is just incorrect. In fact, there’s a fourth party, and it’s really the only one that matters whether we like it or not, and that’s the NHL owners. The reason much of the current discussion around shortening the preseason also comes with the caveat of expanding the regular season by a couple of games is so teams can cash in on that sweet, sweet extra gate revenue.

While the Canucks played six games — which certainly felt too long — teams like the Oilers played eight. That’s just way too many, no matter how much extra money it brought them. In reality, the NHL preseason should likely only be however long the players feel it takes them to get ready for the season, plus one or two games for the young players to get into. For Soucy, that number is around three.

“I think year to year it kind of depends how you’re feeling. I think after the first two games I felt like I’m ready to go for the regular season. I think three is a nice number where that first one you kind of get woken up to the pace of the play, the second one you start to feel a little better, then by the third you’re ramping up and it almost feels like the first game of the season. Anything more than that it’s just wearing on you a little more with the physicality being four games into an 82 game season.”

So, NHL, if you’re reading this, can we agree to bring the preseason down to four or five games maximum and not have it last more than a week and change?

We all know this current preseason format has overstayed its welcome. Let’s shorten this thing up and get the meaningful games started sooner.