How I Would Change The NHL

It's all-star break for the NHL, there are plenty of people chiming in about the state of the game.  The biggest conversation is around the new uniforms, of which you can find my opinion here.  Although most people gave their two cents after the lockout on how to improve the NHL...I am going to give mine now. Here are a few things I would do to help spark a change in how the league is percieved and presented. 

• Contraction.  There are currently 30 teams in the NHL, which means at any given time, the teams employ 21 players each for a total of 610 players that are on active rosters.  Add to that the 2 or 3 players each team rotate in and out through the injured list and that total is quickly approaching 700 players.  Bringing the league back to pre-90's expansion levels is not feasable (as that was only 21 teams), however a total of 24 teams would work well with each conference sporting 12 teams each.  30 teams spread into markets where hockey just doesn't belong (Nashville, Phoenix, Florida) is not working with many of those clubs struggling to survive, despite being competitive.
• Expand the minor league system.  Due to major expansion, the minor league system has been reduced in size and the amount of talent it sports.  As recently as 2001, there were three competing major minor leagues (AHL, IHL, ECHL), now there are barely two, with the ECHL having been reduced to an extreme minor league.  With the above contraction, at least 6 teams would disappear, making at least 145 players available to work in the minors.   The minor leagues could actually move to cities across the US that make sense for them...developing local support for a national league team, similar to baseball. 
  
• Discuss the relegation/promotion league system.  Most European leagues have relegation and promotion between its worst premier league performers and its best minor league performers.  A system such as this adds a level of excitement to the lower tier teams that simply does not exist in North American sports.  It makes a long season mean something at the end for the majority of teams in the league.  It would be a great way to innovate and introduce something new to the North American fan, as there is no such promotion/relegation system in place today.
• Expand the Canada fan base while solidifying the American fan base.  The NHL has far too long relied on a steady Canadian fan base for its revenue, while struggling to grow the average American fan base.  The answer is to relocate 1 or 2 teams into Canada to expand the flat fan base in Canada and try and maintain hockey hotbed cities within the USA.  Many cities are available and willing to take on a team, the most obvious would be Winnipeg and Hamilton.  Keep your American fan base in the northern portion of the country...with the exception of Texas and southern California.  Hockey in Florida just doesn't work...admit it.
• Re-align the divisions.  Each conference should have a Canadian team dominated division; 4 teams from Canada with 2 US based teams to fill in.  The other division would be US team based.  Keep the original 6 teams together in divisions, where possible. 
• Market the sport and players. 
  
  • First...use your best asset, the players, to your advantage.  The NHL is getting better at this, but needs more.  One problem with the NHL is that the players are too 'boy next door-ish'.  Some people say that is a strength...it is actually a weakness in terms of TV coverage.  What sells?  Craziness.  Everyone (in the USA) knows who Terrell Owens is...not too many people know who Markus Naslund is.   
  • Hockey is the original extreme sport.  Skating...speed...violence...all play a major part in this game.  Hockey could be the first team sport to become a popular extreme sport, if it is marketed that way.   Kid's love extreme sports because they are rebellious...hockey could be that rebel sport, because their parents watch boring old football and basketball.
    
• Change the way you do television.
  
  • Hockey should only be in HD.  The number one complaint from friends of mine are, 'I can't see the puck.'  My argument is, 'when you watch football, do you watch the ball?'  Answer is usually, yes (to my surprise).  I don't watch the puck when I watch hockey...I watch the players and where they are on the ice...maybe that separates me from most people.  Showing the game on HD can help change that, the puck is much more visible on the HD screen.
    
  • The NHL should be the first league to release games on the internet, minutes after it is played.  The Google deal was a start, but games aren't released for ages after they have been played...the thrill is gone by that time.  The NHL should also charge for high quality, well seeded torrent files.  Sort of like the Center Ice Package...pay a one time fee for access to all games.  I've be all over it, if they were all HD quality!!
  • The NHL should pay ESPN to go back on the air with them.  The current USA television contract is a joke.  At the same time...they should work very hard with NBC to make that contract work...and NBC should be rewarded if things do turn for the better.
  • The NHL should insist that any of its broadcasters can never make a comparison to another sport when describing the game to fans. 
  • All broadcasters should be forced to watch Jim Houghson do play by play of a television broadcast...don't yell at the viewers...please!
  • Televise and promote the World Junior Championships and the NCAA Frozen Four inside the USA...it should be included as part of any NHL broadcasting package.
• Some rule changes...
  
  • Reduce equipment size.  Especially for goalies.  With technology, there is no reason why a goaltender today should have thrice the protection of a goaltender in the 50's.
  • Require all players to use wooden sticks.   Just like baseball.
  • Eliminate the Instigator Rule.  It's just a dumb rule.  Fighting is a part of the game...and that is a part of the 'extreme' element to the sport.   Referees should be allowed to judge the intent of a fight and use the game misconduct rule where necessary to control the flow and the feel of a game.
  • No-touch icing
  • Change off-sides from the blue line, to the center-red line.  Radical?  Maybe...but has anyone ever tried this??  This would eliminate the 'neutral zone' as we know it.  My vision would be the puck would have to proceed the player over the center line, and then the puck would need to go over the blue line within 10 seconds. 
  • Change the game to two 30 minute halves.  Another radical sort of idea an done I don't think has been tried.  It would work far better for television...for the casual fan, the 3 period thing is just, strange.  I know...what about cleaning the ice between periods?  My question is...is the Zamboni REALLY the best way to clean the ice?  Technology people...there has got to be a better, more efficient way to clean ice.
  • Penalize players and goalies for freezing the puck...keep it moving.

There you go...it's long...but there is plenty to think about in the NHL.  Of all of this, my top three would be; Contraction, Re-Alignment, Reduced Goalie Equipment.

Let's hear your idea's...

Comments

[Stevo in Taichung]

All makes sense except getting rid of the Zamboni, nothing like a beer and a Hebrew National while watching the Zamboni going round and round.
What's your alternative? a bunch of Mexicans with brooms?

[FlyRice]

Stevo - I laugh.

I like the ideas...one question. I know who Markus Naslund is...who's the other guy??

[John Bollwitt]

Daunting, but not too far off your rocker. I'm very much for bringing teams further north. Canada is where people breathe hockey. I'm not opposed to KC getting a team, but that's right on the border of how much further south I'd like to see the league be right now.

Marketing hockey in the U.S. needs to seriously be overhauled. It sucks and makes the sport weak. In Canada, it's marketed as a legacy. U.S., it's shock and awe, and I can't say that it works except in the immediate markets. And screw OLN! My hockey buddies back in the states complain that there is no where to watch games unless you pay the extra cash for the cable channels.

What's really sad is the World Jr.'s are watched in Canada with passion. The boys who took it this year are immortalized, especially on the scoreboard, during the national anthem, at GM Place. If the U.S. wins the gold in that tournament, no one is going to care. And as much as those kids, and their families, go through and sacrifice just to be there, that's depressing, not that there is a whole lot to do in North Dakota other than play hockey.

What needs to be done is a bigger push for youth hockey, and I mean on the elementary school, national level. Timbits Hockey is the root for so many kids in Canada. The NHL should push for a better program like that in the U.S. with strong investors. If you want strength in the U.S., you have to plant the seeds.