The bottom line is that the NHL is a dying sports league. Everybody already is aware of the troubling labor issues the NHL has to deal with and getting slammed with a boring Finals will do nothing but dig the hole deeper. Barry Melrose may be on the streets in a year if nothing is done to rectify the situation.To most sports fans, hockey is supposed to be a game of hard hitting, bone crunching, medal grinding action on ice. It’s extremely difficult for the NHL to live up to that standard when the Stanley Cup Finals are being played between two small market franchises that nobody cares about.
Someone please tell me, when was the last time we saw a compelling finals matchup such as the Flyers and Red Wings, or Avalanche and Toronto? Far from my lifetime. If the NHL wants to keep it’s league intact, they may want to do something about this mockery.
This year the two teams competing in the Stanley Cup Finals are the Calgary Flames, and the Tampa Bay Lightning. Who did you say they were again? As far as I can remember, the Flames and Lightning weren’t very successful teams in the NHL. These teams lack the pure excitement and pedigrees of other, more popular clubs, such as Colorado, or Detroit.
Despite the likes of Martin St. Louis, and Jerome Iginla, the sports world still doesn’t care about either of these teams. This series is just as exciting as watching a turtle cross a desolate road. Although these teams do deserve to be in the finals, (Tampa Bay was the best team in the league, and the Flames are the storybook team in 04), nobody wants to see them.
How many retired hockey players can you name? Let’s see, Gordie Howe, Wayne Gretzky, Patrick Roy, and Mario, that’s about it. The NHL has no history, no pastime, and no players to look back on and look up to. Unlike baseball, football, and basketball, hockey hardly has any players that anyone remembers. Hockey needs a history and some background before it can develop into a successful sport in America.
As we all know, the NHL has been dealing with some troubling labor issues, and getting slammed with a boring finals won’t exactly aid the situation. Recent rumors have been circulating about a possible players strike. Even if that event doesn’t hold water, some sort of adjustments to the league will be made, whether permanent or temporary.
Contrary to the efforts put forth by ESPN and other sports stations in their attempts to try and add some zest to the Finals, this Stanley Cup Finals could be a potentially devastating blow to the NHL at a financial standpoint.
It would have been much better for the league at an economical standpoint to see the Flyers advance over the Lightning; more people want to see the Flyers win. Philly is a proven team in this league and if they had advanced, more tickets would have been sold, and more casual fans would become interested in the Stanley Cup. Instead of that we get stuck with the Florida team that shouldn’t even be playing hockey. Isn’t hockey supposed to be played in the cold? Florida should stick with football and baseball and leave hockey for the northern states.
I like hockey in America, I believe it’s good for the country. And as any sports fan with half a brain would, I rooted whole-heartedly against the Lightning in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals. The Lightning advancing to the Finals over the Flyers was a disastrous event that sprinkled more salt into hockey’s already inflamed wound.
For the most part there are a few select teams that the country knows well and enjoys watching. Those teams are the Red Wings, and Avalanche out of the West, and the Flyers, and the Maple Leafs out of the East. Do the math and tell me how many times any of these teams have appeared in the Stanley Cup Finals in the last four years. The answer is two. Only twice in four years have the elite teams made the Stanley Cup Finals. In my mind that’s pathetic. That is a huge reason for why the NHL is a dying sports league.
What the NHL needs to start doing now is foreshadowing ahead into the future. They need to develop a plan that would take a long term approach to ensure that the league would be safe. What that plan may be I have no idea, but action needs to be taken in the near future because the direction hockey in America is heading, they may be running out of time.
For all you die hard, always believe hockey fans that still believe the NHL isn’t in any trouble, and that the Stanley Cup Finals won’t hurt the league, I ask of you only this: mark your calendar after the last game of the Stanley Cup Finals, because that may be the last NHL hockey game you will ever see.
13 replies on “NHL slain by Lord Stanley- again”
Hockey has a storied history, just not in America Hockey is the equivalent of baseball in Canada and has a great history. The problem in America is that nobody knows or cares about it. There is too much entertainment now for hockey ever to break the established sports in this country like the NFL and MLB. America grew up on these sports and too few of us grew up as NHL fans.
One should enjoy hockey for what it is. A fast paced game of action played by individuals with tremendous heart and will. These guys play for the Stanley Cup and don’t give a damn who is watching. Yes hockey will never be baseball or football to America, but lets hope the NHL comes back so the people who do enjoy the game can watch the chase for the Cup all over agin.
Small Market Teams Yes, I will give you that the TV ratings for the Finals were pretty sad in part because of the small market Lightning and the small market Flames. However, the biggest problem the NHL had was not the cities where the teams were, but the style of play they used to get there. The downfall of the NHL began in 1995 when the “trap” emerged. New Jersey’s neutral zone trap slowed down the high-flying Red Wings. Since then, New Jersey has won a couple more Cups, Dallas “trapped” their way to the Finals a couple of years, and teams like Buffalo, Carolina, and Calgary used defense to advance to the finals. If the average playoff score was 5-4 instead of 2-1, TV ratings would have been much higher. (As a little side-note, the NBA should watch out, or they could face a similar problem if teams start emulating the Pistons’ style of play.) The NHL has many problems, and you did a great job outlining many of them, but the biggest problem is a lack of scoring, more so than the labor dispute, success in small TV markets, etc..
The Devils ruined the NHL you are absolutely correct. The trap made the 3rd period of every devils game in which they had a lead just unwatchable. What kills me is that the final minutes of a hockey game are light years more exciting than an NBA game (timeouts galore) but the casual sports fan loves the NBA because in between those 20 time outs, you can have 5 lead changes in the last minute. In hockey, if it’s 1 goal or tied game, then it’s exciting but NJ managed to ruin all that with the trap.
I will also say that one of the problems with the NHL finals was no that Tampa Bay was a small market team but that it was a don’t-care-market team. Calgary was a great story despite being one of the smallest markets in the NHL. Nobody in TB really cared so the rest of the country didn’t either.
best athletes I always hear NBA commentators (Doc Rivers) saying how basketball players are the best athletes. I think that distinction easily goes to hockey players. Considering what it takes to score, it’s amazing it’s done consistently and well.
hockey isn’t storied in america As stated in my article, how many former NHL players can you name? Unless your a hockey guru the answer is probably not many. Other sports stars, such as football for instance, are known all around the world. And besides were not in Canada are we? Maybe in Canada hockey is appreciated but not in the US. I am talking about the NHL’s status in America. The only thing ppl do in Canada is watch hockey. Maybe the whole league should just move to Canada, at least some ppl would watch. Besides, what do you care about the Canadaian sports history. america is where it counts. If you can survive in america u can survive anywhere.
hockey isn’t storied in america As stated in my article, how many former NHL players can you name? Unless your a hockey guru the answer is probably not many. Other sports stars, such as football for instance, are known all around the world. And besides were not in Canada are we? Maybe in Canada hockey is appreciated but not in the US. I am talking about the NHL’s status in America. The only thing ppl do in Canada is watch hockey. Maybe the whole league should just move to Canada, at least some ppl would watch. Besides, what do you care about the Canadaian sports history. america is where it counts. If you can survive in america u can survive anywhere.
w/e listen loser u have a gay name.
I dont care about what you say as long as there is still and nhl
Finals Not the Death of the League “To most sports fans, hockey is supposed to be a game of hard hitting, bone crunching, medal grinding action on ice.
First off, how is “hard hitting, bone crunching, metal (sic) grinding action on ice” equated to the geographical location of the competitors? One of the concessions about these teams I will make is the series wasn’t as wide open as everyone had expected. Leading up to the finals, both teams combined good hitting with their strong offenses. The finals did turn into a more defensive series, but there were glimpses from Richards and from the Flames who are looking like their more successful predecessors from the 80’s and 90’s than the Devils of well, every year. If there are any teams who can make the move to repair some of the “trap” damage, it could be these two. They combine the defense that has improved over years and the offensive explosions of the past decades. Remember, hockey isn’t going to change itself overnight, it’ll take a while for the damage that is the “trap” to undo itself.
Someone please tell me, when was the last time we saw a compelling finals matchup such as the Flyers and Red Wings, or Avalanche and Toronto? Far from my lifetime. If the NHL wants to keep it’s league intact, they may want to do something about this mockery.
And do what? Fix the series so only geographically desirable teams make it into the playoffs. No wonder Darryl Sutter went all psycho-paranoid this summer with people like you thinking this way. There was never a problem with hockey during the Gretzky years when he was winning in Edmonton.
These teams lack the pure excitement and pedigrees of other, more popular clubs, such as Colorado, or Detroit.
Pedigree?? Again you’re thinking geographic location is something it’s not. Throughout the finals I argued with a friend who told me he wanted Calgary to win because (1) He really like Jerome Iginla (2) Tampa Bay didn’t deserve to win (although I’m not convinced wasn’t just bitterness from his team losing the Super Bowl).
I had to explain over and over again, it’s not the city you’re rooting for but the team.
How many retired hockey players can you name? Let’s see, Gordie Howe, Wayne Gretzky, Patrick Roy, and Mario, that’s about it. The NHL has no history, no pastime, and no players to look back on and look up to. Unlike baseball, football, and basketball, hockey hardly has any players that anyone remembers. Hockey needs a history and some background before it can develop into a successful sport in America.
No history??? Hockey has a great deal of history, not only in Canada but also in the US. Just because (Orr) you can’t (Mikita) rattle off (Hull) names doesn’t (Richard) mean there(Bossy) isn’t anyone who can (Harvey).
The NHL has one of the best and oldest championship trophies in the Stanley Cup. Everyone knows Jerome Iginla wasn’t supposed to pick up the Western Conference Championship trophy; it’s a storied superstition. What’s football’s jinx, the cover of the Madden? History? Philadelphia had the Broad Street Bullies before there were any Bad Boys in Detroit.
Also, it might not have occurred in the NHL, but the 1980’s Olympic Gold medal is a huge event in our culture that went so far beyond hockey.
Reply The finals were not the only contributing factor to the death of the league, they just helped with the pathetic tv ratings.
The big view is that nobody cares about hockey. say wat u want, ur probably a die-hard hockey fan, but the general public could care less.
The names of the NHL are not household names that every true American family knows (w/ the exception of Gretzky). Mabe nobody cares cause nobody remembers the past.
And all im saying about this boring finals matchups is that they are ruining the league at a financial standpoint.
And those dumb Canadians can take their hockey, the US doesnt need it. The common public doest know who you are talking about (orr, richard, bossy, harvey) i only happen to no because i am a sports guru, even if i dont care about that current league.
Bottom line: nobody cares about hockey in AMerica, and eventually ur oh, so precious league will be down the drain and gone forever.
dude, this isn’t America… …it’s the internet. Your blanket statements that people don’t care about hockey are ignorant at best. In your column you never said, “in America, people don’t care about hockey”, which is undeniably true for some parts of the country at least. But anyone speaking English might read your column, including many Canadians like myself. If you’re going to be writing on the internet, you’d better be clear where you’re coming from, or you’re going to make yourself seem uninformed.
Would you also say, “nobody cares about soccer”? Because in the US, that’s largely true. But there are millions of people around the world who would disagree with you. And they would be right.
At any rate, claims that hockey has no history (which is what you claim in your column, no matter your subsequent comments) is simply wrong. You are ignorant of the game about which you write, and that is not good. Why don’t you leave the hockey writing to those who know of what they speak?
How much more history could hockey need? Did you know that the first fully-professional hockey league was based in the US? The Bruins have been around since 1924. Is 80 years not enough history for you? The Rangers have been around since 1926. So have the Red Wings and Blackhawks. Just because the NHL itself does not market its own history (which is another issue entirely) doesn’t mean there isn’t one. Your column is full of ignorant comments.
I could say a lot of the same things about the NBA, because I don’t care about the NBA and have never followed it. But I do not say things like that, because I realize that it would not be fair, because I don’t know anything about basketball. You obviously know little about hockey, and I wish you would have the same respect: don’t write about things you don’t know about.
dude, im not a hockey writer rather, i am a hockey basher. I despise the NHL and everything they have done in my short lifetime. If you must know, i am not a regular hockey writer, this was teh first hockey column i have ever done. I could care less about wat goes on inside the rink, i am simply bashing the NHL from an outsiders perspective. And with that, no knowledege of the sports history is required.
I could care less wat ppl in other countries think about my writing. They should write their own pieces that prove me wrong. I, personally, have little regard for wat other ppl think about me or my writing. Just as long as it isnt against the law.
Wat i am saying is that to the common public in the US, nobody knows hockey compared to other sports. Everybody knows jordan, Ruth, Montana, not as much have heard of Gretzky. I do agree that i should have probably explained myself better but i cant help that now.
then why are you writing about hockey? Reread your article. You said that the NHL has no history. In fact, you meant, “I don’t know anything about hockey’s history.” How is that a fair comment?
Outsider perspective is very valuable, so long as it is from an informed outsider. Comments from those who admit they despise the NHL and know nothing of its history are, simply put, useless because they have no idea of the context. If Joe Shmo comes along and says, I think hockey would be better if they eliminated the goalies (as some SI hack did some years ago), why should anyone listen? He doesn’t know anything about the game.
As for people in other countries, I think you should really consider what Canadians have to say about your writing. As you say, they don’t know hockey in the US. But in Canada, it’s part of life.
The thing is, it in undeniable that hockey is not popular in the US, relative to the other three big sports. That’s true, I just don’t think you expressed yourself very well. When you have a good point to make, many people will miss your point if you have erroneous statements elsewhere in your piece.
If you want to write another hockey article, I’d be more than glad to provide some context of the NHL and its history.
Only a one time thing i dont plan on writing about the NHL anymore. i admit my opinions on this subject may be a little biased, but i dont really care. I write what i want to say, regardless what other ppl have to say about it.
Thanks for the advice.