TWP3's Take: Gary Bettman, OLN, Sidney Crosby & Shootouts: Can the NHL Be Saved?

My brother in law, Ted W. Price III (sometimes known on this site as Paul Winston), was born and bred in Louisiana. Somehow, he became the biggest hockey fan I know. Last year, during the lockout or strike or whatever it was, he got so depressed he started watching Oprah. Everything has bounced back nicely for TWP3 this year. He and my sister in law are expecting their first child, his alma mater, the University of Texas, won their first National title in 36 years and he went to the game, and hockey is back. Or maybe everything is not as great as it would seem on the surface. I asked Ted to do a column talk about his take on the state of hockey, where he sees it going, and what he would do if they would finally let him be NHL commissioner. My only complaint is that my own brother in law does not realize that THERE IS ONLY ONE L in Dils (I had to correct his spelling!). You would not see Getson or BP make that mistake!!! Anyway, here are his thoughts.
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First off - thanks to Dils for giving me the soapbox and providing a break from Duke basketball on this blog. OK, OK, OK, we get it - Duke is the bestest most powerful force in the known universe. Coach Kasuhoieuhnfski is the second coming. We get it! Now, on with the rant:

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Oh, who am I kidding - these are the WORST of times. It was bad enough that the NHL killed any momentum or fan goodwill by taking a year off to accomplish absolutely nothing except pissing off those of us who still cared about the sport. What's worse is that the league is back - and no one seems to care. I mean, here we are taking two and a half weeks off in the middle of the season so NHL players can be showcased in the Winter Olympics - and no one cares. It's especially upsetting when you consider fans of most of the major American sports are ripe for the picking: baseball is in the midst of a scandal it may take years to clean up, the NBA is, well, the NBA, and the granddaddy of them all, the NFL, is close to being a parody of itself. I mean, did you watch any of the playoffs this year? Of course you didn't because every game from the wild card to the Super Bowl was un-watchable.

The NHL was billing this year as the league's renaissance - a return to glory and a relevance it hadn't experienced since the mid-90's. The new rules really do make the game more exciting (thank you Brendan Shannahan and friends). Eliminating the two-line pass was long overdue, keeping the team that ices the puck from substituting forces teams to take the puck out of zone themselves thereby keeping the intensity level up, and bringing the shootout to the NHL level has been fantastic. If you are ever fortunate enough to be in the arena for a shootout, you are in for a treat. Each round is like the bottom of the 9th with two on, two out and two strikes. Everyone is standing, cheering, praying (and this is for a game in November!) And you know that you are either going home happy or feeling like you were punched in the gut. But at least there is an outcome.

Alas, the NHL has become the proverbial tree falling in the proverbial forrest - kinda like the Pittsburgh Penguins. Something needs to be done, or we may really be seeing the beginning of the end of one of the major sporting leagues in the world. So, stealing a line from the league's current marketing campaign, here is MY NHL (thank you Dils for asking):

Sidney Crosby/Alexander Ovechkin: Remember when NBA commissioner David Stern rigged the draft in the early 80's so that the New York Knicks could get Patrick Ewing? Stern knew he had a good thing going with Bird in Boston and Magic in LA, but he also knew in order for his league to return to prominence, he needed a big star in the Big Apple. So, he made sure that happened. Bettman should have done the same. Sidney Crosby is being touted as the league's saviour - and he may be - but it is ridiculous that he is playing in Pittsburgh. The same goes for Ovechkin in D.C. Do yourself a favor and watch either of these guys play (oh, I forgot, most of the country can't - more on that later). This is what needs to be done: Crosby needs to be moved to the New York Rangers and Ovechkin to the Toronto Maple Leafs. That way, you have the league's two biggest rising stars in the league's two biggest cities. Have those two teams play each other 12-15 times a year creating a bitter rivalry in cities that thrive on that. Every game would be on national television And then there's this: you know how the rest of the country can't stand professional sporting teams from New York and their sense of entitlement? That same view is held by the rest of Canada towards Toronto! Imagine an entire country tuning in to cheer for the team from the other country. As much as it pains me to say this, but a sports league is only as strong as its New York franchises. When the NHL was at its peak (early to mid-90's) who was winning Stanley Cups? The Rangers and the Devils. (Editor's note: that goal by Ovechkin from behind his head while he was lying on the ice was the greatest hockey goal I have seen)

TV Deal: Did you know that NBC will be showing more Arena Football games this season than hockey games? ARENA FOOTBALL - are you kidding me? Oh, well, at least there's The Outdoor Life Network - home of Ted Nugent and the Tour de France. I get that the league was in a tough spot - the lockout ended at the last possible moment so there wasn't much time to line up any deals. But come on - OLN? That's the best Bettman could come up with? OLN is owned by Comcast who says they want to use this as an anchor to build up their channel and compete with ESPN. Hey Comcast - why don't you do that with someone else's league. You know why no one competes with ESPN? Because no one can. It's like saying Dils wants to be the sports leader on the Web - can't be done (editor's note: just watch me, baby!). Did you know that in Canada, they have the NHL Network (one step further - in Toronto, they have the Blue and White Channel - 24 hours of nothing but Leafs Hockey. Canada's version of the YES Network - and you wonder why everyone else hates them)? Same concept as the NFL Network and NBA TV, except for the fact that you can't get it in the US. There's another opportunity wasted. Wouldn't want to showcase your league in the country that has 80% of your teams. I bet you if the NHL Network were to come to the US, it would be on more cable systems than OLN is on right now. I also think as a show of goodwill, the NHL should have worked with the satellite and cable companies to make the NHL Center Ice package free this season - get people watching again and reminding them why they loved the game in the first place.

Contraction: I was a shocked as you were that every team came back from the lockout. The salary cap will help - but financial reasons are not the point. Some markets just don't deserve teams. I advocate getting rid of 8 teams, but to be more realistic, I will propose eliminating 4: Florida Panthers, Atlanta Thrashers, Phoenix Coyotes and Anaheim Ducks. All are in markets that are not supporting their teams - and let's face it - all are in markets that just have bad sports fans in general. Miami won't support their baseball team that has won two World Series. Atlanta fans won't go to Braves playoff games, no one is originally from Phoenix, so their allegiances are elsewhere, and don't get me started on LA (that's another guest column). By the way, the other 4: Carolina Hurricanes, Nashville Predators, Pittsburgh Penguins, Columbus Blue Jackets. And Bettman - if you are reading this, please make sure that when the Penguins do leave, they don't go to Kansas City. The last thing you need is another small to medium market. Have them move to Houston creating a natural rivalry with the Dallas Stars or Seattle creating one with the Vancouver Canucks.

Shortened Season: Every year for Memorial Day, I join my wife's family in Indianapolis to witness the Greatest Spectacle in Racing - the Indy 500. I shouldn't be seeing the ending of the Conference Finals or the start of the Stanley Cup at the same time. It is ridiculous that any games are played in late May not to mention June. Shorten the season and have the playoffs over before Memorial Day - I would prefer before the end of April, but I am flexible. And now there is talk of some owners wanting 10 teams in each conference in the playoffs. Are you kidding me? 2/3 of the league in the playoffs? Not only would that render the regular season pointless, but the Stanley Cup wouldn't be over until my birthday in August. Shorten the season - make the games count - and get out before the ice melts.

Bigger Ice: This is the one that I KNOW will not happen, because it means removing seats (the expensive ones) from the arena. But, if you watch the olympics, you will notice the ice surface is much larger. This gives a lot more room to your faster, more talented skaters creating a more exciting product. More skating, less grinding. If this won't happen - the league should consider going to 4-on-4 during regulation. Watch a game in overtime - the pace is quicker, there seems to be more room and there are fewer whistles.

I love hockey. I think it is the most beautiful, exciting, fastest, most demanding - physically and mentally - sport we know. It pains me to see the best talent in the world wasting away on a network no one watches and in a league no one cares about. They say if you take someone to one game live, they are fans for life. We need that now more than ever. I realize all of this comes and goes in cycles. Every league has been down and up again. After the baseball strike, it took two steroid-enduced home run-only hitters to bring people back. Maybe Crosby and Ovechkin are our version (minus the juice and having actual talent). Something needs to happen soon... real soon.