The American masses continue to reject a self-described, “Three-two shutdown league” as evidenced by last Saturday night’s abysmal prime time failure on NBC. A reasonably attractive matchup of the Philadelphia Flyers and New York Rangers produced an entertaining game that was worth watching and won by the Flyers 4-2. Yet the game could muster nothing more than a 1.0 national rating.
There have been too many times in the past that American’s have clicked on boring 1-0 and 2-1 games that have turned them off from giving the NHL another chance. On far too many nights, guys watching basketball games see 1-0 third period NHL scores on the bottom crawl, giving them little reason to flip over to the NHL and give the game a chance.
The problem remains the real men of genius on the NHL competition committee that continue to tailor rules to cover each other’s rear ends and team needs, rather than open the game up. The game continues to be the stranglehold of shutdown clod general managers and head coaches that eternally plot its suffocation with insufferable misery.
If you go back a generation to the 1992-93 season, you would see a scoring race that boasted a top 20 in goal scoring that had a minimum of 45 goals. The top 20 in overall scoring had a bare minimum of 100 points. The league average for goals per game 3.53 per team. The league was an exciting up and down and attacking 4-3 league. Today the NHL average goals per team is 2.55 per game, a Dead Puck Era level.
Apparently, only someone from the outside can see the problem. The insular clods of the NHL are happy with their new mega bucks contracts with NBC and Rogers. Those contracts are the worst thing that could have happened to the growth of the game, at least in the United States, were there are significantly more entertainment options than watching a “3-2 shutdown league.” The Cave Men can now cash big checks for the next decade, regardless of their product’s lack of mass appeal.
When the NHL faced a real crisis after the lost season of 2004-05, and getting justifiably kicked to the curb by ESPN for its dreadfully boring product, it did respond legalizing the two-line pass and some modest goaltender equipment issues. Unfortunately, it has proven to not be enough, as goal scoring is at Dead Puck Era levels.
The NHL patted itself on the back when it forced goaltenders to trade in their California king-sized mattress pads for mere king-sized mattress pads, oblivious to equipment engineering development opportunities.
The NHL also quivers in gutless terror of the Player’s Association and its head Donald Fear, the man that helped bring us roid rage baseball. This prevents taking real measures at goaltender equipment rules.
Anyone with imagination would see that there are opportunities to open the game up and create a product that has increased mass appeal beyond the tiny cult of current American hockey fanatics.
But the NHL has always been penny-wise and pound foolish. Beyond that, with less scoring, there is less reason to have to pay high scoring payers, even as revenue would increase.
While I am loathe giving the NFL credit for anything, the fact remains that it became the king of sports because it has always been aggressive about keeping the game exciting for its paying customers. The NFL has never cared about whining coaches. It cared about those who pay its bills.
Radical rules changes in 1974 and 1978 that favored more offense helped pave the way for its meteoric rise. The NFL did not become king by offering an endless array of 10-7 games and with clueless clods that proudly proclaimed it to be a shutdown league.
College football has become the number two game in the United States based in large part because of electrifying offenses and high scoring games.
Nobody is asking for the NHL to become the NBA. Scoring a goal should be a significant matter. But a wide open 5-4 league with superstars in hotly contested scoring races is going to be far more conducive to growth and better TV ratings than a “3-2 shutdown league.”
Larionov’s Brilliant Assessment
Hockey Hall of Famer Igor Larionov recently came out in criticisms of how today’s shutdown clod coaches suffocate player’s creativity. In a post at The Players’ Tribune, he railed against the stifling nature of today’s game and how drone like systems have smothered player’s ability and freedom to create, not to mention USA TV ratings.
The Money Quote
Larionov nailed it when he said, “It’s easier to destroy than create. As a coach, it’s easier to suffocate the opposing team and not turn the puck over.”
There you go. That’s our NHL. Well, at least Mike Babcock is pleased. Because to the NHL, keeping shutdown clods happy and employed is far more important than growing the damn game.
