Last week I wrote about the NHL and why I think Commissioner Gary Bettman needs to go. If you missed it, here's your chance to get caught up.
Game Seven went off without a hitch on Friday night. Pittsburgh, to the surprise of most, won the game at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit to win The Stanley Cup. It was a huge upset, actually. Here was Pittsburgh - a team that fired their coach midway through the season, winning Game Seven of the Stanley Cup Finals on the road. And not only was it on the road, it was in Detroit - not the easiest place to play if you aren't wearing the home sweater.
The Penguins winning gave Sidney Crosby a chance to skate around with the Cup (and by the way, can the Wings stop complaining about Sid the Kid's supposed snub? He shook their hands. It was later than it should have been, but jeez, he just won the freakin' Stanley Cup!). Crosby is the NHL's version of Lebron James, and by winning on Friday night, Sid has a leg up on Lebron because he actually won a title.
Make no mistake, Friday night was big for the NHL. Pittsburgh is a young team. Not only do they have Crosby, but if you didn't know who Evgeni Malkin was before this series, you sure do know who he is right now. Marc Andre Fleury is one of the better young goaltenders in the game. All three are signed for the next few years. It might be early to suggest, but a team this young and talented could very well become a dynasty, like the Red Wings have done. Again, it might be too early, but you wouldn't be that off base to compare Pittsburgh's trio of Sid, Gino and Fleury to a trio that reeled off a bunch of Cups a couple of decades ago - Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, and Grant Fuhr. Pittsburgh's trio is that talented.
As I said, Friday night was big for the league. But, as is usually the case with the league under Commissioner Bettman's stewardship, it wasn't big enough.
The Penguins winning should be something the league can build on. It should be something that a lot of people are talking about this morning, even outside of Pittsburgh. But it isn't.
My bet is that most of the talk during your coffee break this morning - when it gets to sports - will be about the NBA Finals and the Lakers beating the Magic in five games.
The reason for this is pretty simple. The NBA game took place last night - a Sunday night. Most of America was a captive audience for it. Let's face it - most of us don't go out on Sunday nights. Sunday nights are when you wind down from a long weekend and prepare for the work week ahead.
The NHL played Game Seven of the Stanley Cup Finals over 48 hours ago. Sure, your local sports radio guy may bring it up for a couple of minutes, but it certainly isn't top of mind anymore. That's because the game took place over two days ago. Sure, the ratings were good. It was a Game Seven. I expect them to be good. But it isn't what people are talking about this morning.
I'm not saying that the league should have gone up against the NBA Finals again. We've already seen how that turns out for the league (not good). What I am saying is that Bettman & Company should have scheduled this series a lot better.
So you don't play the game Friday or Saturday. Stretch the series out a couple of extra days (it's what the NBA is great at doing, by the way). Get the hype going. Play it on Monday night.
Not many people are going out Monday night, either. Like the NBA did last night, the NHL would have had a captive audience. People would be talking about it for a full day afterward. It would have created - and maintained - the buzz that the league has been lacking for over a decade now.
It's not rocket science. Any marketing guy would make the same suggestion. There is an appetite - though not on the scale of Kobe Bryant or Lebron James - for Sidney Crosby. He's been hailed as The Next Gretzky, etc. He's the kind of player you build up. And the league hasn't done a great job of building him up.
There would have been no harm into stretching the Cup Finals out a few extra days - especially between Games Six and Seven. It would have given the league a chance to build up Game Seven. As it was, the hype for Game Seven came (strangely enough) from ESPN for the most part (because NBC did a poor job of promoting the NHL, too). The Worldwide Leader was all over it Friday - on all of their media platforms. I guarantee you it won't be like that today. The simple reason is because the NBA Finals (which ESPN/ABC holds the rights to) took center stage last night. It's top of mind. It's what everyone is talking about.
The NHL had a couple of good weeks during the playoffs thanks to the Crosby-Alexander Ovechkin series in the second round. They got a seven game series in the finals. And the new face of the league won the Cup. But there won't be a lot of talk about it outside of Pittsburgh and Detroit because it just isn't top of mind. The NHL almost never is.
How many times can a league manage to shoot themselves in the foot?
Game Seven went off without a hitch on Friday night. Pittsburgh, to the surprise of most, won the game at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit to win The Stanley Cup. It was a huge upset, actually. Here was Pittsburgh - a team that fired their coach midway through the season, winning Game Seven of the Stanley Cup Finals on the road. And not only was it on the road, it was in Detroit - not the easiest place to play if you aren't wearing the home sweater.
The Penguins winning gave Sidney Crosby a chance to skate around with the Cup (and by the way, can the Wings stop complaining about Sid the Kid's supposed snub? He shook their hands. It was later than it should have been, but jeez, he just won the freakin' Stanley Cup!). Crosby is the NHL's version of Lebron James, and by winning on Friday night, Sid has a leg up on Lebron because he actually won a title.
Make no mistake, Friday night was big for the NHL. Pittsburgh is a young team. Not only do they have Crosby, but if you didn't know who Evgeni Malkin was before this series, you sure do know who he is right now. Marc Andre Fleury is one of the better young goaltenders in the game. All three are signed for the next few years. It might be early to suggest, but a team this young and talented could very well become a dynasty, like the Red Wings have done. Again, it might be too early, but you wouldn't be that off base to compare Pittsburgh's trio of Sid, Gino and Fleury to a trio that reeled off a bunch of Cups a couple of decades ago - Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, and Grant Fuhr. Pittsburgh's trio is that talented.
As I said, Friday night was big for the league. But, as is usually the case with the league under Commissioner Bettman's stewardship, it wasn't big enough.
The Penguins winning should be something the league can build on. It should be something that a lot of people are talking about this morning, even outside of Pittsburgh. But it isn't.
My bet is that most of the talk during your coffee break this morning - when it gets to sports - will be about the NBA Finals and the Lakers beating the Magic in five games.
The reason for this is pretty simple. The NBA game took place last night - a Sunday night. Most of America was a captive audience for it. Let's face it - most of us don't go out on Sunday nights. Sunday nights are when you wind down from a long weekend and prepare for the work week ahead.
The NHL played Game Seven of the Stanley Cup Finals over 48 hours ago. Sure, your local sports radio guy may bring it up for a couple of minutes, but it certainly isn't top of mind anymore. That's because the game took place over two days ago. Sure, the ratings were good. It was a Game Seven. I expect them to be good. But it isn't what people are talking about this morning.
I'm not saying that the league should have gone up against the NBA Finals again. We've already seen how that turns out for the league (not good). What I am saying is that Bettman & Company should have scheduled this series a lot better.
So you don't play the game Friday or Saturday. Stretch the series out a couple of extra days (it's what the NBA is great at doing, by the way). Get the hype going. Play it on Monday night.
Not many people are going out Monday night, either. Like the NBA did last night, the NHL would have had a captive audience. People would be talking about it for a full day afterward. It would have created - and maintained - the buzz that the league has been lacking for over a decade now.
It's not rocket science. Any marketing guy would make the same suggestion. There is an appetite - though not on the scale of Kobe Bryant or Lebron James - for Sidney Crosby. He's been hailed as The Next Gretzky, etc. He's the kind of player you build up. And the league hasn't done a great job of building him up.
There would have been no harm into stretching the Cup Finals out a few extra days - especially between Games Six and Seven. It would have given the league a chance to build up Game Seven. As it was, the hype for Game Seven came (strangely enough) from ESPN for the most part (because NBC did a poor job of promoting the NHL, too). The Worldwide Leader was all over it Friday - on all of their media platforms. I guarantee you it won't be like that today. The simple reason is because the NBA Finals (which ESPN/ABC holds the rights to) took center stage last night. It's top of mind. It's what everyone is talking about.
The NHL had a couple of good weeks during the playoffs thanks to the Crosby-Alexander Ovechkin series in the second round. They got a seven game series in the finals. And the new face of the league won the Cup. But there won't be a lot of talk about it outside of Pittsburgh and Detroit because it just isn't top of mind. The NHL almost never is.
How many times can a league manage to shoot themselves in the foot?
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