One of the parts of the NHL season I find fascinating is the grind that comes with 82 games over 6 months. It's a lot of work particularly when you factor in the travel but it's also the one aspect that is almost aways overlooked when hockey improvements are talked about.
Right now is the all-star game break where players have 5 days off and most of them are jetting across the continent to get some rest, usually in a warmer climate. It's not long enough and when you consider the regular season grind and now the world cup tournament being touted by the NHL, how much more can the best players give with their bodies.
That's what I find so fascinating- shouldn't exhaustion be on the radar of the Office of Player Safety? If fans want to see the best players should the league not structure the season to allow for rest and recuperation? If the league can shut down for 2 weeks for the Olympics why can it not do something like that for 7 days every year?
What if every year at this time the league shut down for a full 7 days. The last games would be played on Tuesday night and would resume the following Wednesday the next week. It would be like giving the NFL Pro Bowl some fans. The break would also allow for some much needed time for aches and pains to heal, and in my view that's good for the game.
If the league could not find a way to do that perhaps it could do a rolling 'bye-week' like the CFL and NFL. In this case one conference does not play games for a week and over a 4 week period all 4 conferences would have a break. This option would keep games being played but also achieve the same result of rest.
There is more being asked of the NHL players particularly the best ones to play more games outside the regular league ones. Imagine a the two teams in the Stanley Cup finals end in mid-June and 10 of those players are now suiting up in late August/early September for more hockey? It's not enough time to recover, especially now that off seasons are far from beer and lake time.
I guess with more and more revenue being extracted from the game of hockey I question whether the product will be good enough to justify it. If the NHL wants it's piece of the pie from a revenue stand point for all the international hockey using 'its' stars I'd suggest the league balances out on the other side.
All Star Draft
Friday night was a comedy show and you can't tell me that players are not aware of the news, commentary, and countless thoughts away from the locker room. Toews calling Kessel the most coachable guy in the league was hilarious and then doing a Kessel for Seguin trade was better. The fact that Ovechkin wanted a Honda Accord was even funnier. What was not so great was the hosting though. It was worse than C-list quality.
The NHL has stumbled onto something that draws interest into a rather uninteresting event but it has to work to make it better. One way would be getting better hosts who can talk with the players in fact let the players be the hosts, they were far funnier than anything NBC put on the stage. Why not let Luongo do it, or let the captains of each team talk to the guys as they arrive on the stage.
Also, why were the captains situated on the other side of the stage away from their teams? Maybe let them all be together cracking jokes and showing their personality. Then there were the 'jersey girls' the ones in platform heels from Frederick's of Hollywood and cocktail dresses that seemed not to fit. They sure provided value. If the idea is to use games and events like this to grow the game and interest those two ladies had no reason being there. A better use of that role/duty would be to let a kids team deliver the jerseys and maybe ask some questions.
Now the game, it's a gong show of what anyone would call hockey but it has to be there so it's time we make it more interesting. Would moving it outside and taking up a Winter/Heritage classic feel help? If done right it could be a huge draw especially if you brought the fan experience down closer to ice level. If it is 'for the kids' as most of Twitter was saying to all the critics these past few days then the NHL should get more kids involved in the process, more importantly that's where the sponsors should push.
Can the game be meaningful?
29 goals were scored yesterday and clearly there was not a lot of effort being put in to make the game resemble and actual hockey game. There was effort but only applied to 'not getting hurt' and that's okay but that challenge affects the game.
If I'm a multinational company sponsoring the game and event I'm not donating a car as Honda did to the last two players picked in the draft of the two teams. While there was a heartwarming story attached to Ovechkin, certainly an under exposed personality in the league, it should have been a story of the event as it happened. Ovi makes 9 million a year he can buy a car, van or plane for the charity he supports but why not let a league of millionaires sponsored by billion dollar companies do that and get all the good will?
Take the draft event. Between picks is the perfect time to talk about each charity that the players are going to play for during the all-star game. A short 30 second profile would bring amazing awareness and attention to many causes that deserve notice. The bigger picture is what happens during the game and this is where the sponsors come in. Instead of cars, in this case a roughly $80,000 retail value, allow donations for goals and saves.
$1000 dollars to the player who scores the goal for their charity $500 for an assist $500 for a save.
Just for the scoring alone the total would only be $58,000 if 2 assists were given per goal. For the saves it would be an additional $31,500 donated and imagine if these amounts were matched in some way by the players or other entities?
The point here is the all-star game is not about hockey as it's normally played but it can have far greater meaning without providing increased risk of injury to players. In fact the NHL could score a lot of points by bringing a charitable aspect front and centre to the audience at the events and on TV. It's a paradigm shift and a culture change all in one but if there is any league that could use more help and options to extend it's brand, it's the NHL.
Remember, with the World Cup of hockey being announced all we heard was how the NHL wants to expand it's brand. That's starts at home first if you plan on being successful.