NHL’s version of jumping the shark

globeandmail.com: Globe on Hockey – Shoalts: NHL’s version of jumping the shark:


All right, this outdoor game nonsense has to stop. Now they’re talking about putting one of these abominations in a domed stadium next year.

When reports first surfaced that the college boys planned a game between Michigan and Michigan State next December at Ford Field, with the Detroit Red Wings and possibly the Toronto Maple Leafs making it an NCAA-NHL doubleheader, I didn’t think much of it. The Red Wings said talks were “extremely preliminary,” while the Leafs said no one had called them.

Then I ran into Leafs general manager John Ferguson last night. The Leafs still haven’t been asked but it was clear that if the Wings come calling, they will get a receptive audience. Figures, since Ferguson was a college player at Providence.

If this comes off, it will be the NHL’s version of jumping the shark, even if a new record for attendance at a game is set.

Okay….. So, it doesn’t matter that it’s popular. Or that’s it’s REALLY popular. Or even “setting records” popular.

David Shoalts doesn’t like it, so it sucks. Evidently the only opinion that matters here is his.

God help us that the NHL does something that people like, and creates an event that spurs interest in the league. It might actually get media attention — and that might draw new fans. And that would suck, because then what would people have to complain about Bettman over? (answer: bettman can’t win; they bitch at him for not doing enough to grow the sport and expand it’s market and exposure, and then they bitch at him when the league does things like this and the trips to Europe where they actually seem to be creating interest and doing things that seem to be growing the sport and expanding its markets. In one case, he’s being ripped for not being innovative — and when he’s innovative, he’s ripped for what he’s doing not being traditional. Go figure.

Personally — I’d love to go to one of these thing, for the same reason I went to a Grey Cup (yes, I’m an american. so?), went to the All Star Game in San Jose, and want to get to a Brier — they’re great events. Shoalts is being way too pissy here, frankly. It’s good for the game, and it’s fun, and it’s something that generates interest. Stop thinking so hard and just let people enjoy it, for goodness sake. When it stops being fun, people will stop going, and the league will stop doing it. horrors that the league has figured out how to get 70,000 people to go to a damn hockey game. How terrible.

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