Yeah, so after seeing Puck Daddy's series, every hockey blog on the entire Internet has done one of these. But honestly, what else is there to write about?
1) Reduce the size of goalie equipment. I know they've been working on this one, and I know we've seen worse. But the average hockey fan can't tell who the really good goalies are because so many guys can stop any shot just by getting square to the shooter. Pads are supposed to protect the goalie, not the net. Clearly, we could do a little better in this area. Smaller pads would not only increase scoring, which we all know the NHL desperately wants, but would also separate the elite goalies from the Garth Snows of the world.
2) Ban all non-wooden sticks. It's not fair that everyone dumps on the size of goalie pads when 90% of NHL players have enhanced shots thanks to composite sticks. It's not quite the difference between an aluminum baseball bat compared to a wooden one, but the shooters have an unfair advantage. And if we're going to be reducing the size of these goalies, the shooters have to make a bit of a concession as well. Besides, if I see one more slapshot from the point ruined because a composite stick decides to shatter upon impact, I'm going to scream.
3) Make replica jerseys more affordable. If you enjoy wearing your team's colors, it's going to cost you dearly. A RBK Edge jersey from NHL.com, currently "on sale", costs $114.99. A pre-customized jersey you'd buy at Dick's or Modell's costs $149.99. That's ridiculous. For that price, you could buy two NFL or MLB jerseys. Word-of-mouth advertising - or, in this case, word-of-clothing advertising - does more than anything else to elevate a league. The more someone sees of a league and their apparel, the less likely they are to tune the product out. The NHL could do worse than to see thousands more people wearing their stuff.
4) Get the NHL Network on basic cable. On Cablevision, NBA TV is a top-tier channel and the NFL Network isn't even available. The upcoming MLB Network will be available as a basic channel. The NHL would do well to join them. Not only would this be a bone thrown to the many fans who don't get Versus, but it'd do the league a world of good in terms of exposure. You'd take fans who are completely unable to watch hockey and are therefore unable to get into the game, and you'd be able to transform them into knowledgable, attentive fans. It'd cost money, sure, but the NHL Network has plenty - and I mean, plenty - of ad space to sell.
5) Copy baseball's scheduling format. We can pretty much all agree that the NHL could schedule its games better. They should look at how baseball does it. In baseball, the divisional games are pretty much all played in April, June, and September. The relatively meaningless interleague games are played in May and June, and the other games fill in the blanks. Why couldn't hockey do this? You could play all the divisional games in October, November, and March/April. Throw the inter-conference games in during January or so, when nobody's paying attention to hockey to begin with, and then play the rest of the games whenever it's convenient. This way, you only have teams making one cross-country trip each, and you have the rivalry games when they really matter - at the beginning of the season and the end of the season. Lastly, each team would be required to do one home-and-home series - on consecutive nights - with each significant geographical rival. So while the Islanders might only do one with the Rangers, the Rangers would do one with both the Islanders and the Devils.
1) Reduce the size of goalie equipment. I know they've been working on this one, and I know we've seen worse. But the average hockey fan can't tell who the really good goalies are because so many guys can stop any shot just by getting square to the shooter. Pads are supposed to protect the goalie, not the net. Clearly, we could do a little better in this area. Smaller pads would not only increase scoring, which we all know the NHL desperately wants, but would also separate the elite goalies from the Garth Snows of the world.
2) Ban all non-wooden sticks. It's not fair that everyone dumps on the size of goalie pads when 90% of NHL players have enhanced shots thanks to composite sticks. It's not quite the difference between an aluminum baseball bat compared to a wooden one, but the shooters have an unfair advantage. And if we're going to be reducing the size of these goalies, the shooters have to make a bit of a concession as well. Besides, if I see one more slapshot from the point ruined because a composite stick decides to shatter upon impact, I'm going to scream.
3) Make replica jerseys more affordable. If you enjoy wearing your team's colors, it's going to cost you dearly. A RBK Edge jersey from NHL.com, currently "on sale", costs $114.99. A pre-customized jersey you'd buy at Dick's or Modell's costs $149.99. That's ridiculous. For that price, you could buy two NFL or MLB jerseys. Word-of-mouth advertising - or, in this case, word-of-clothing advertising - does more than anything else to elevate a league. The more someone sees of a league and their apparel, the less likely they are to tune the product out. The NHL could do worse than to see thousands more people wearing their stuff.
4) Get the NHL Network on basic cable. On Cablevision, NBA TV is a top-tier channel and the NFL Network isn't even available. The upcoming MLB Network will be available as a basic channel. The NHL would do well to join them. Not only would this be a bone thrown to the many fans who don't get Versus, but it'd do the league a world of good in terms of exposure. You'd take fans who are completely unable to watch hockey and are therefore unable to get into the game, and you'd be able to transform them into knowledgable, attentive fans. It'd cost money, sure, but the NHL Network has plenty - and I mean, plenty - of ad space to sell.
5) Copy baseball's scheduling format. We can pretty much all agree that the NHL could schedule its games better. They should look at how baseball does it. In baseball, the divisional games are pretty much all played in April, June, and September. The relatively meaningless interleague games are played in May and June, and the other games fill in the blanks. Why couldn't hockey do this? You could play all the divisional games in October, November, and March/April. Throw the inter-conference games in during January or so, when nobody's paying attention to hockey to begin with, and then play the rest of the games whenever it's convenient. This way, you only have teams making one cross-country trip each, and you have the rivalry games when they really matter - at the beginning of the season and the end of the season. Lastly, each team would be required to do one home-and-home series - on consecutive nights - with each significant geographical rival. So while the Islanders might only do one with the Rangers, the Rangers would do one with both the Islanders and the Devils.
If the NHL actually sold ad space to real companies, how would people find out about diamond-encrusted knife sharpeners and the Just Like Me DVD? "I own you!"
ReplyDeleteThey do try to do scheduling like that. For example, the Isles are in Calgary then Edmonton. Last year, the Rangers did them plus Vancouver, and this year the Rangers are doing the Ducks, Kings, and Sharks within 5 days.
Plus, don't you remember the last 10 or so games last year were all against Atlantic Division rivals? I think it was 10 of the last 11 or so for the Rangers.
Hey, those $114.99 jerseys comes out to $103.99 on NHL.com... plus $55 for customization. Total was $170 I think with tax and shipping.
The way they did the schedule last year was the way they should do it every year. But I see them screwing it up now that they have to double the slate of inter-conference games. I loved the Islanders-Rangers home-and-homes down the stretch - how did it take them 35 years to figure that one out?
ReplyDelete