The NHL’s Olympic Blunder or Time to Cash in on Current Events

Readers, I have a confession to make. This isn’t your normal type of confessional. The statement you’re about to hear may shock you, especially those of you who have known me for a long time. I apologize for bringing such information to your attention, but it’s essential for this post. All I ask is that you keep an open mind and remember, I remain the same person I have been my whole life. If you choose to cut all ties with me, I’d understand.

I, Bloggin Hood, watch Hockey regularly. Ah, that felt great to get off of my chest.

What? You thought it was going to be a serious confession? Did you even read the title? Come on, pay attention people.

Now, I won’t pretend I made this change on my own. Maid Megan is an avid fan of the Devils. No, she’s not one of those people who roots for the team because she thinks the colors are nice or one of the players are cute*. She’s a full-blown, diehard fan that can rattle off more facts about the team than the lead announcer. Now, the head announcer is a moron (where as Ken Daneyko is not), but this isn’t any less impressive. She knows her stuff. It’s also fitting that her team name is the Devils because all sorts of evil comes out of her mouth during the game. Don’t let her smile fool you; Megan can out swear even the most experience sailors if the third period is underway.

So in this relationship, I didn’t just acquire Megan, but also Cody Cat (he’ll have his own blog soon enough)** and Devils’ fandom. I can’t quite say the Devils are my team since I joined them so late in life. The Devils are never going to replace the Mets and Jets for me. They will never make me as irrationally angry as those teams do. I also don’t think I’m allowed to lead the parade if the Devils win a title, whereas I’ll probably try to take Sandy Alderson’s place on the float if the Mets ever win one. I’m a Devils supporter at worst, and a fan at best. Relationships are weird like that.

Likewise, Hockey isn’t replacing my three favorite sports. Basketball will always remain king in my heart, even if I don’t actually follow a specific team. I just appreciate good basketball and a good LeBron loss, like any true fan of the game. Likewise, football and baseball will rank ahead of hockey for the foreseeable future. These are the sports I grew up on, and if being angry and depressed for nine months of the year due to my team’s being awful is wrong, I don’t want to be right. Now, with the Devils, I have the opportunity of year round sports depression. It’s wonderful news.

Even if Hockey is just now cracking my Mount Rushmore as the fourth most important sport in my life, that’s not a knock on it. Hockey has plenty of things going for it that other sports do not have.

Fast Pace – The only sport that really has a similar pace to hockey is basketball, but even hoops can feel slow at the end of the fourth quarter or when fouls are being called. Football only has a play every 35 seconds or so and baseball is the slowest event in the world. Hockey will only stop play if there is a penalty, the goalie stops the puck, the puck is removed from play or there is a goal. Otherwise, the clock, and the action, keep going. The action itself is fast for the most part, as players zip all around the ice trying to score.

The only time games are slow is when the puck gets in a corner, and there is a “scrum” for it. Three or more players will gather, locking their sticks together,*** and trying to kick it to a teammate. Sometimes this takes 20 seconds, but it feels like an hour. I actually think this is a testament to hockey – it’s only slow period feels infinitely worse than it really is. The pace is hockey’s selling point as it can keep my ADHD generation occupied by always moving.

Hard Hits – While you do see some hard hits in football, the number are trending down because the NFL is adjusting their rules to help player safety. Whether you think the NFL is honestly making changes or going through the motions to keep their mass appeal, player safety should be the main focus in any sport. Similarly, the NHL has reduced the numbers of dangerous hits. Previously, there were plenty of bone jarring checks, but also a lot of career ending injuries. While the NFL struggles with adjusting to the rules, and concussions continue to rise, the NHL seems safer, yet still brings legal hits into the fold. Injuries don ‘t seem as rampant in hockey, and I think they figured out the balance between hard hits and keeping their players on the ice. Not feeling guilty for watching a sport is always a plus. The only hard hits you get in baseball and basketball are line drives and Lonzo Ball three-point attempts against the backboard, respectively.

In addition to hard hits, there are also fights. The fights are even legal! Well, sort of… Fighting is allowed, but at the risk of a five minute penalty for the combatants. Nobody will confuse these scuffs for the UFC – usually they grab each other’s jerseys and miss a bunch of punches. Still, these are exciting and become a rallying point for teams. If a young player or a team’s star gets laid out from a dirty hit, another player on the team will drop gloves with the offender to protect their teammate. I think that’s pretty cool. Plus, it’s a lot better than the benches clearing “brawls” baseball has. Usually those amount to a few choice words and maybe a shove. Basketball players rarely come to blows, except for Draymond Green. As friend of the site Jalen Rose would say, most of the NBA’s fights are for show. Players beg to be held back so they don’t actually have to fight.

Scoring Matters – Hockey has just enough scoring where it’s not a total shock when a team registers a point (I’m looking at you soccer), but it’s also not so common as to numb the excitement. In baseball, homeruns are being hit so often, people are questioning if the balls are juiced, if not the players. We all just watched the Super Bowl, where the Eagles and Patriots punted one time. Basketball is a sport designed for constant scoring, with rules tilting heavily to favor the offense.

While the NHL has changed its own rules to help increase goals, you won’t see a 10-8 game very often. This makes each goal feel important and makes even scoring opportunities feel exciting. Sure, you might get angry when your cleanup hitter strikes out with runners in scoring position, but if your left-wing fails to score on a breakaway, the team might not get another chance to add a goal. It helps keep fans invested.

This doesn’t mean everything about hockey is wonderful, of course. I have my share of issues. I mean, again, it is only my fourth favorite sport.

Firstly, a lot of goals seems like a fluke. There are plenty of beautiful goals, either from an incredibly move, an accurate shot, or wonderful passing. However there are just as many goals that are scored due to a bad puck bounce or a poor/fortunate placed stick, depending on your point of view. The way the puck bounces affects far too much of the action. It’s not skill to have your pass get deflected by a defender’s skate into the back of the net. Or perhaps a defender blocks a shot, but it ricochets right to an opponent who buries the puck. Sure it’s part of the game, but too much of hockey relies on fortune that sometimes, I’m convinced the team who played better lost. I shouldn’t have that feeling after a 60 minute game.

Another thing that always disappoints me is how often players miss the net entirely on shots. I understand this happening from 30 feet out, trying to weave a puck in-between players, but this happens on breakaways and in shootouts too. I get it, the concept of accurately firing a punk while skating around defenders isn’t easy. I know I couldn’t lift a punk in the air on concrete, let alone on ice. But these are the top players in the world at their craft. They miss the net constantly. Players gather the puck in front of the net, and fire it 15 feet wide. On breakaways, star skaters lose control of the puck, which harmlessly goes behind the net. In shootouts, players try to go top shelf and end up clanking it off the glass, nearly decapitating a grandmother of eight. This could be the result of the goalies and the defense forcing this errors. They also may be missing by fractions of an inch, and the results look much worse than they are. But man, sure seems like players botch many attempts.

I don’t like how regular season games don’t have ties anymore. The tie was a unique element. Yes, I know football has it, but at most there are 1-2 ties a year. Hockey used to have a bunch of them. Now, to settle games tied in regulation, there is a five minute 3 on 3 sudden death period. This removes half of the elements of hockey and makes it an arcade game. If there isn’t a goal by the end, a shootout occurs, which removes yet another layer of depth the sport has. While the winning team gets the full two points, a team who loses in overtime still gets a point. If we’re not going to have ties, why are we rewarding the losing team? This is backwards. Either give one point to each team at the end of regulation and call the game a draw, or don’t reward the losing team squat. There’s a chance a team can lose 75 games, all in overtime and make the playoffs. Imagine having a 7-75 record and hosting a playoff game? Browns fans are salivating at the concept.

Finally, I hate how the NHL reports injuries. It’s like getting a status update from Super Bowl losing coach, Bill Belichick. There is never any real information. All the reports are either “upper body injury” or “lower body injury”. Even the severity is left a mystery. If a player is described as having an upper body injury, it could mean he has a concussion, a scraped elbow or his heart was removed from his chest. All would technically be correct. Similarly, a lower body injury could describe shin splits or a torn ACL. Can’t the fans know what’s wrong with their favorite players as soon as the teams do, like most sports? I have the right to know if the team’s starting defenseman still has all of his limbs attached.

Still, overall I think hockey is entertaining. I won’t pretend I understand any of the penalties or what makes a good player other than scoring a lot of points. I’m also not crazy about a goal counting as much as an assist for a player’s point total****, but, again, it’s entertaining. I would call myself a casual fan, which is rare. Most people either love hockey (the die hards) or don’t acknowledge its existence (ESPN). There are few casual hockey fans out there and its these types that make leagues successful. Boy could hockey use some more of me in their life. I know, I’m very special. The NHL had their opportunity to draw in a new crop of fans but declined it. Instead of sending their players to the Olympics, they decided their keep their niche sports market and pass on free money.

Wait what?

Nobody will ever confuse Gary Bettman with a brain surgeon. Most assume that his brain was removed a long time ago. In fact, test results concluded that Bettman’s brain hasn’t worked since shortly before the NHL lockout of 2004. He does not look at the big picture. There were once rumors that when hockey was getting too popular, former NBA commission/capo David Stern sent Bettman, then a high-ranking member of the NBA, to be the NHL commissioner. It was there that he would destroy the rival from the inside. Based on how hockey has performed since the lockout, I believe this claim to be true. It was Bettman’s call whether or not to send NHL players to the Olympics and he passed. While I think this was a moronic decision, right in line with traditional Bettman logic, let’s think as a team owner for a moment.

For the owners, and the teams themselves, the Olympics are extremely risky. They shell out millions of dollars a year to build their teams, and any injury is devastating. Now, imagine losing the team’s best player from an exhibition competition that doesn’t affect their employer. I know the Olympics are much more than an exhibition, but ultimately, the results of those games have no impact on the player’s franchise. Team owners would rather see their players on league ice, instead of South Korea.

From a league perspective, things are a lot different. Sure, the risk of losing players to injure could happen, but players are equally likely to be injured in an NHL game, or even a practice. Who’s to say Sidney Crosby won’t be lost for the year due to tripping on a rogue marble? The Olympics are a great opportunity to get their players’ exposure on an international level. Of course hockey already has fans, but this is a time where they can get all the advertising they can handle, and it’s free. For a league struggling with finances, isn’t free the price you’d want to pay?

When you think of winter Olympics, hockey does come to mind, but likely after figure skating, skiing, snowboarding and speed skating. It’s not the main event so to speak. The Summer Olympics is stacked and at times, events get lost in the shuffle because there’s just so many. The winter games are more spread out so that each event gets their time in the sun. There’s no reason a multi week tournament and playoff event shouldn’t be one of, if not the, star of the games. The Olympics are built for a competition like this. It could be a part of every day from the opening ceremony to the close without stepping on the toes of other events. It could be the centerpiece of the event but still letting the figure skaters, skiers and snowboarders have their time too. It’s the perfect event for the games. Heck, most people prefer the summer games: a boost to a major event would bring more eyes to the Olympics as a whole. It would help both brands. Think of the marketing.

Who doesn’t think that Crosby vs Ovechkin in the Olympics would be a big draw? How about hyping up the stacked Canadian roster against the rest of the world? They can hype of the stars from other countries and really focus on the pipeline some European countries have to the NHL that are overshadowed by Russia and Canada. And then, of course the USA. They could hype the surprising amount of talent the country has produced, led by Patrick Kane. And the US vs Canada would be a David vs Goliath matchup. Granted, the gap probably isn’t that severe, but it would be built that way. I don’t see how this would fail. Anyone who cares about the Olympics, and that’s the majority of the population, would tune in. Stars would be born and interest in the NHL would start buzzing.

But Gary Bettman past on the opportunity. He thought the players would be best staying in the NHL instead of being showcased in front of the world. Instead of seeing stars who could easily become household names, and instead of carrying those fans over to his league, Bettman decided to not send any pros. The tournament will be filled with players years away from making a name for themselves, and has beens who are retired now. Ironically, Jaromir Jagr might be eligible to play now that he was released from the NHL. That would be a big name to grab some eyes. Too bad he’s like 93 now.

And you know what? Most years, I think I could side with Bettman. Bizarre right? Seriously though, the league matters more than the Olympics… for the people who own the league. It’s a business, and it doesn’t make sense for their best employees to play for free. However, people want to see the best in the Olympics, and I’m one of them. But it’s more than that. This was the year the NHL could have made strides, and cut themselves a bigger slice of the ratings pie. There are fans available for the taking, and the NHL is going pass that opportunity so they can keep two weeks of hockey uninterrupted.

Ok, saying I could side with Bettman is a huge stretch.

The NFL, still unquestionably the nation’s most popular sport, is in a bit of a decline. Research indicates that ratings were down all season, and the target demographic, ages 21-49, are not as rabid fans as they used to be.***** I believe at least part of this is concussion related. There’s some guilt in watching a sport where practically every game, someone is hit hard in the head, and knocked unconscious for a few seconds. In the 90s, we didn’t know all the effects, but we should have known this was bad. Now a days, the concussion protocol seems to be taking the affected player into a blue tent and debating if they can get away with putting him back in the game. It’s disgraceful.

There’s also the fact that NFL product wasn’t good this year. The overall play was down, and games weren’t very entertaining. Just two years ago, I was a fantasy football junkie that couldn’t wait for his next fix. Now, I’m lukewarm on it. Sure, I still play, and I like ranking my own players (hello August’s columns), but I’m nowhere near as into it now as in the past. My sense is a good chunk of America feels the same way.

Similarly, basketball, currently in the best place it’s been in since the 90s, isn’t for everyone. Players rub the casual fan the wrong way, and the overuse of whistles favoring superstars takes away from it’s fast pace appeal. I actually believe in a decade, basketball will be the nation’s favorite sport, but that will rely on football’s decline and several rule changes. Also, I like basketball, so it’s clearly wishful thinking.

Baseball is strictly a regional sport. If you grew up with a local team, or a close relative enjoyed the game, you’re likely a fan. If you didn’t grow up with baseball you find it boring. Games take far too long and big events may not occur for an hour or more of real time. Plus the teams play every day. It’s a marathon. Personally, I can’t get enough of the batter vs hitter cat and mouse game, but I understand it’s not for everyone. How anyone could find this man boring is confusing.

With football showing cracks in its popularity, and basketball and baseball not capable of taking on the full market share, this was the time for hockey to make it’s move. Put all of their best and brightest out on an international stage and steal the Olympic spotlight. If hockey became the marquee event, people would become attached. After the Olympics, they would follow the players to the NHL. Ratings would go up, and at the start of the 2018-2019 season, hockey would have an influx of something they’ve lacked since the lockout cost them a full season, the casual fan. It’s not just that casual fans can become hardcore ones; it’s that casual fans mean more eyeballs, more discussion and more social media mentions. Sports don’t grow because of the die-hard fans, they grow by bringing on new viewers who then tell more people. It’s like a legal pyramid scheme.

Alas, Gary Bettman, visionary of our time, decided to not increase viewership or generate hype for his league. He chose to keep Crosby and Kane in the states while Joe Hockey and Bill Defenseman play for the gold medal. It’s sad in a way. And sure, people will tune in to the hockey. Olympic Hockey is a lot of fun, but it won’t be the same. Once viewers realize it’s not the stars of the NHL in the games, they might still watch, but there won’t be new fans of the NHL to scoop up.

Now I’m not here just to present problems. At Bloggin Hood, we look for solutions as well. I have two proposals for what the NHL should do for the 2022 games. Let’s face it, it’s a little late now, but they might be able to salvage some fans in four years when the NFL is forced to move to two hand touch.

Option 1) – The NHL stole a concept from the NFL and employs bye weeks. Teams have a schedule time off of about 5-6 days where they don’t play any games and rest up. Why doesn’t the NHL put all the bye weeks aside during the Olympics and stop play so their stars can represent their country and showcase their skills on the biggest stage?

You might think this would be too lengthy of break for the season, and perhaps it would be, but I think it’s a risk the NHL should pursue. The players competing in the Olympics will remain in shape as they will be up against the best players in the world. The remaining NHL’s athletes can still practice with the team, and perhaps scrimmage against a few teams in close proximity to stay sharp. Maybe this is the time for some exhibition games against teams from other countries, and let the world get a glimpse of international hockey on both sides. This keeps all the players from getting too rusty, and while the play may suffer for the first week after the Olympics end, it shouldn’t be too bad. Make sure you don’t have any divisional games during that first week of resumed play, and bam, problem solved.

Option 2) – This one is a bit messier. If play cannot stop, and the league must go on, mostly due to stadium contracts and ticket sales, why not try a completely different approach? The NHL should play in the Summer Olympics. Now, this might sound crazy, but it’s not as if basketball is played during the summer months either, and they get lumped into those games. Both sports play at the same time. Why not flip the basketball event to the winter, and the hockey event to the summer? I know, the ice really fits the winter games theme, but this will give more exposure to hockey, and give countries full access to all the NHL’s players. Even in a crowded Summer Games schedule, Hockey would stand out as the long, tournament style event, and for contrasting everything else with a ice rink. I imagine basketball will be willing to shut down for it’s best to play in the Winter Games, and it’ll become one of the headline acts of the Winter Games immediately. I think this would benefit both sports on an Olympic level, and really help to propel hockey.

Most American’s first thoughts of hockey is the 1980 Olympics, where the USA managed to beat a heavily favored Russia team, and went on to win the goal. This is where the classic Al Michaels call “Do you believe in miracles?” came from. This is not to confused with all of Al Michael’s gambling references on air, which tie for second on his pantheon of broadcasting moments. However, 1980 was seven years before I was born, and for most millennials, this event is more akin to history than a lasting memory. Some might think it only took place in a Disney movie. And no, I don’t mean the Mighty Ducks… At least not yet.

For most from my generation or younger, one of the standout moments in US hockey is when TJ Oshie scored the game winning shootout goal against, you guessed it, Russia in the 2014 games. It was a moment mot of the country watched and cheered. It did not lead to a gold medal, but it was a memorable play. At the time, the nation wasn’t ready for hockey to be a major sport. Partly because the team didn’t medal after an iconic moment, and partly because football was too popular. Now… If Oshie buried that goal in this Olympics, we could have a huge group of kids following the sport. Alas, this moment too will pass. I’m sure Gary Bettman won’t even notice.

These are the times where sports can captivate the nation, and propel it into the nation’s consciousness. Think of soccer. Sure, Americans don’t really care for soccer, but every four years, the World Cup captivates us as we root for our country. In 2018, the USA hopes to…

Oh…

Well, hey, at least we’re sending a Hockey team to the Olympics, so that’s a start.

 

*She better not think one of the players is cute

**I offered Cody to opportunity to write a blog, but he declined. Would have been a Hell of a guest column

***Hey now

****I think it should be one point per goal, and half a point per assist. This keeps goals, the main focus of hockey, more valuable on a player’s stat sheet. This is especially relevant when a player gets credited with the second assist, and may not contributed anything to the scoring opportunity other than touching the puck at the right moment. I get that deflections make hockey scoring a bit trickier, but I think goals should count as more.

*****If you’re expecting me to cite sources you’ve come to the wrong blog. My source is the interweb.