The morning skate, which was created some time in the 1970s and might now be on its deathbed, was essentially a curfew. “You want to be ready to go for the game, not so much for the morning skate. When it did become standard, the morning skate was at first a leisure skate. Over the last several years, the morning skate has become more of an optional skate for everyone but fourth-liners and healthy scratches. “You’ve got fatigued teams, teams that aren’t practising as much and scoring’s up,” San Jose Sharks head coach Peter DeBoer said.

Source: National Post February 10, 2017 18:56 UTC