Nathaniel

Shockey

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April 28, 2008

The Bloated NHL Learns Its Lesson (I Hope)

The 2004-2005 National Hockey League lockout had a crushing effect on the sport of hockey. America went from having a solid three-and-a-half major sports to just three. But in a way, hockey had it coming. It expanded too quickly. Here’s a brief look at the new teams in the last 17 years.

1991 – San Jose Sharks

1992 – Anaheim Mighty Ducks

1992 – Ottawa Senators (after a 70-year hiatus)

1992 – Tampa Bay Lightning

1994 – Florida Panthers

1998 – Nashville Predators

1999 – Atlanta Thrashers

2000 – Columbus Blue Jackets

2000 – Minnesota Wild

There were other franchises jostling for non-existent burgeoning NHL locations, but the above amounts to nine new teams entering after 1990. So the league went from 21 teams to 30 teams, a 42 percent increase. I believe the only time this sort of expansion worked in America was McDonalds, Target, Wal-Mart and Starbucks. Nine teams ago in Major League Baseball, by comparison, would take you back to 1969. In the National Basketball Association, you’d have to go back to 1976, and even this expansion was a result of a merger with the American Basketball Association. In the National Football League, you’d have to go all the way back to 1970, which was also a merger year with the American Football League. These are the successful American sports leagues.

So what is hockey thinking, adding so many new teams so quickly? And on top of that, take a look at the cities, and then quickly review your geography. There’s a reason Russians and Canadians are good hockey players. San Jose? Tampa Bay? Florida? Nashville? Atlanta? And if you’ve got to make a Disney movie into a professional sports team (a complete bastardization if you ask me), it’s a real shame it always has to end up in Anaheim. The movie took place in Minnesota, which is why The Mighty Ducks the movie made money.

Looking at the ridiculously quick expansion rates and the mind-bogglingly illogical placement of new teams, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand why a strike completely deflated a league full of hot air.

And what were the players thinking – that 60 goals should be worth the same money as 60 home runs? Someone should have reminded them that money and value rarely parallel. Or perhaps a conversation with WNBA stars would have dissuaded them from striking for more money. Here’s to unions.

Hockey was headed for a meltdown, and there is a reason your cable package has to have at least 1,500 channels in order to watch the NHL playoff game of your choice.

For me, former Philadelphia Flyers forward Jeremy Roenick is a sort of microcosm for the NHL. I was a huge fan of his. He was exciting, he had personality, a definite edge and I’ll never forget that goal he scored in overtime against the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2004 – taking the shot instead of passing with the two on one. It is still one of my favorite memories in Flyers history. But he was also the proud spokesperson for a players union that would have fared considerably better keeping its mouth shut.

A lot of hockey fans, like myself, loved watching the league gain prominence throughout the 90s, and you’ll have to forgive me for not knowing what was going on as I was more than a little distracted by a team that would eventually reach the Stanley Cup Finals in 1997 (only to get swept by the Detroit Red Wings). But what we didn’t realize was that, despite being able to watch hockey on the major television networks such as Fox, ABC and ESPN, the league just didn’t have the depth of support that the naïve hockey mega-fans assumed it did.

So when, as with Jeremy Roenick, we saw the true colors of hockey in the U.S., it was hard not feeling duped. Simply put, it feels like the NHL lied to us. And boy did I feel empty watching Roenick demand more money when he probably should have earned less.

Quite frankly, the NHL is a lot less than the big three and only a little more than Major League Soccer.

Hopefully, the NHL learned an important lesson about how and when to expand. They’re paying for it now, trying to support a giant league with a few, misshapen pillars. What’s that saying again? Oh yeah. Three’s company, four’s a league with an ego problem.

If the Flyers hadn’t been so consistently competitive as I was growing up, there’s no telling if I would have spent the rest of my life with a hockey puck-sized soft spot in my gut. But in the future, I’ll certainly be more cautious when it appears that a particular sport is gaining prominence. At this point, I’m grateful I can watch the Flyers at all, even if it does require a trip to the local sports bar and a few over-priced drafts.

© 2008 North Star Writers Group. May not be republished without permission.

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