With that caveat let me say this, I’ve never been more
convinced than I am right now that the NHL season is too long. And the NHL, in the infinite
short-sightedness of its ridiculous lockout is the group that persuaded me.
Yes 82 games make great entertainment for the hockey devotees
of the world. Yes there are many of us
that are fully tuned in to watch the Penguins play Winnipeg in October. And by this time in our lives, every one of
us knows that the result of that game does not make a damn bit of difference in
the grand scheme of the sports universe.
We are watching it purely for entertainment value.
I would argue there is more than enough entertainment value
for even the most devoted hockey fans in a 70 game season. And the result would be a significantly
better regular season product. It might
not eliminate the notion of the regular season being meaningless, but it would
cut in to it quite a bit.
Here’s the thing; before this year this concept was mostly
theoretical. But after enduring the
length and breadth of the dumbest labor stoppage in sports history I can
definitively state the following; life did indeed go on for me without the
National Hockey League.
Not only that, there seems to be a great deal of excitement surrounding
the 48 game season. Certainly that is
due in part to hockey fans simply rejoicing over the return of their sport but
I would argue there is more. Simply put,
every game this season will take on infinitely greater significance. You can argue that no one game will make or
break the Penguins season. But you can
argue with equal vigor that there will be no throw away games in Rochester this
season.
My wife Emily discovered two interesting things this week
about her beloved Blackhawks; the season ticket waiting list actually increased
during the lockout and ticket prices on the secondary market are higher than
years past. Certainly this is not the
case in Columbus, Miami, or Phoenix but let’s be honest, things would be no
different in those cities if the season had started in on time. Apparently reports of the NHL’s demise were
premature.
I’m not saying I did not miss hockey during the
lockout. I did...a lot. And like most of the sports die-hard fans I
got angrier and angrier with each passing day.
I’m sure there will be some ramifications to the sport and it may take
several years before we fully understand the depth of them.
The reality however is that I did not truly feel a void in
my life until there was no thanksgiving week Penguin game (for which we subbed
in the infinitely forgettable Byron Leftwich experience). And again, this is coming from a guy who
lives and breathes the NHL. Unlike in
2004 I did not resort to desperation activities like Chicago Wolves games in
Rosemount or for the love of all that’s good and holy…the NBA. I’m not sure what was worse that year;
looking forward to seeing Kari Lehtonen play live in an old airplane hangar or
attending six Kirk Hinrich starts at the United Center (a debate I hope never
to fully engage).
And there were certainly low points during the lockout; the
worst of which came when I found myself watching the Jets and Titans play a
Thursday night game that set NFL football back four decades. How bad is a sporting event when you are
silently begging for Tim Tebow to play, purely for the entertainment
value? But the reality is I had other
options.
I rediscovered something back in October for example. I actually enjoy the baseball playoffs. That’s an easy thing to forget when you grow
up in Pittsburgh and move to Chicago and thus rarely if ever put post season
baseball on your sports calendar. With
no hockey in circulation I found the playoffs a more that suitable substitute
for the aforementioned Penguins/Winnipeg clash.
In past years I would have been watching hockey without a
second thought; especially given that we follow two teams in the HaberSeto household. But I’m definitively in the minority on this
amongst American Sports fans. The simply
reality is that outside of the zealous hockey inter-sanctum, most people will
choose baseball, college football, or even the NBA (at least if TMZSPN has its
way).
The reality is that the NHL should not put fans in that
position. The league gets buried in the
October sports shuffle in part because of its overall ranking but also because
fans realize that the game they are watching is likely meaningless. Yes I once choose the Penguins home opener
over get this, a Pirate playoff game (obviously not recently) but most conflicted sports fans
will choose the more meaningful event.
I also see no need for hockey in June. Most casual fans have moved on by then and
unless their team is still playing, they’ve check out. The Penguins skated their first Stanley Cup
on May 25th, 1991. Quite
frankly, I don’t see any reason the cup should be awarded later than that.
So what’s my solution? Cut the season back to 70 games and remove four weeks from the schedule. Three of those weeks would be on the front end and one on the back. Under that construction this year’s NHL season, sans lockout would have started on November 1st and ended on March 31st. That takes the NHL off the ridiculously crowded October sports calendar and also sets up the annual bash Bettman ceremony for late May.
On top of which the regular season, which is often perceived
as insignificant (see Kings, Los Angeles), will be far more competitive. No a 70 game season will not rival the NFL or
college football for game to game significance.
There will still be a build-up period early in the year. But with 12 fewer
games, teams will have to dig in a lot sooner.
There simply will not be enough time to recover from a bad first month.
The shorter season will also reduce the ever increasing wear
and tear on the players. Hockey is
faster and more physical than ever and concussions are rampant (see Crosby,
Sid). All things being equal, there is
not a player in the league who could rationally object to 12 fewer games.
But therein lies the rub.
All things are not equal. Taking
away 15% of the regular season schedule means taking away 15% of the league’s
revenue (give or take). It also means
the players would have to give up 15% of their salaries. And heaven forbid Ryan Miller has to get by
on only $5.1 Million annually. One canonly imagine his public vitriol towards Bettman if that scenario came to pass.
Which means, at the end of the day there is a greater chance
of Disque and I facing off in a steel cage match for the WWE championship than
there is the NHL shortening its season.
It’s simply not going to happen.
The league wants to maximize every dollar of revenue it can get, at
least in the year’s it’s not foolishly scuttling its product for 3 ½
months. So it will stick with the 82 games no matter
how many times the 8th seed wins the Stanley Cup.
Given that reality, it will enjoy the 48 game mini-season
for the unique, one-time entertainment value it will provide. I have an inkling that after a sluggish
start; you might see some of the best regular season hockey ever played. For once every game will truly matter. Even the ones in Winnipeg.
