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F A I L E D    M I S S I O N S - December 5, 2006 Suddenly I am seeing a lot of stories about the NHL schedule. Some teams like it. Other teams hate it. The idea was to reduce travel and increase rivalries by having more divisional and conference games. The downside of that arrangement is less, if any, games against teams from the other conference. Right now Western Conference teams are double losers. Their travel itinerary is awful when compared to teams like New Jersey, New York and Philadelphia. In addition it seems there are more young stars playing in the Eastern Conference. Which means fans in the west might only see these gate attractions once every 3 years. The downside might be bearable, if the upside was working as planned. The simple fact is that the rivalries anticipated have not evolved. In fact the exact opposite is true. Fans are getting turned off by seeing the same teams play over and over again. Television ratings have dropped off compared to last year. How can one explain this miscalculation by the NHL? The key factor is the way the game is now played. Fighting is down. Physical play is down. Use of the stick as a defensive weapon has been all but eliminated. When those three factors were a regular part of the game, it would enrage both players and fans equally. Crowds would become unruly. Tempers would flare. Players would run around looking for the big hit. Gloves would be dropped. Toe-to-toe battles would ensue. There was usually a victor and a loser identified. Which meant payback was always a factor when the two sides met again. This still happens on occasion, but for the most part physical payback is a thing of the past. Instead teams try and “settle the score” by putting a few more pucks in the net. That too is satisfying but doesn’t do much for the fan that wants his team to beat them in the alley. The type of player now needed to play in the new NHL is more interested in playing wide-open hockey than getting a good hit in. So the mindset of the players has changed dramatically as well. There is some talk about altering the schedule to ensure that every team plays each NHL opponent at least twice per year. This would be a move in the right direction, but not enough. To ensure that all fans get a regular look at all the players, teams should play each other at least four times per year. This would mean that each team would visit each city at least twice. Of course some teams will whine about travel costs. To which I say create a league wide travel fund and share the overall costs evenly. Some teams will say their travel schedule would bring on too much wear and tear. If the owners and players weren’t so greedy for money they wouldn’t have to play 82 games. They created the problem, so they can live with it. The NHL’s mission to create rivals has failed. Frequency isn’t the key component to a good rivalry. After all, the NFL has some excellent rivalries and they only meet each other twice each year. A good rivalry is based on playing each other when the game has critical importance. So play the other divisions often at the start of the year, and save your own divisional games for the stretch drive when every game becomes huge. The playoffs will take care of the rest.

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