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New York Rangers: NHL proves once again they do not get it

By Brandon Cohen

NASHVILLE, TN - JUNE 11: Fans of the Nashville Predators are shown during Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final between the Nashville Predators and the Pittsburgh Penguins, held on June 11, 2017, at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee. Pittsburgh won the game 2-0. (Photo by Danny Murphy/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
NASHVILLE, TN - JUNE 11: Fans of the Nashville Predators are shown during Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final between the Nashville Predators and the Pittsburgh Penguins, held on June 11, 2017, at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee. Pittsburgh won the game 2-0. (Photo by Danny Murphy/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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The NHL announced their national broadcast schedule on Monday, proving once again that they do not get what the fans want to see from the league.

The talk of last year’s NHL playoffs were the upstart Nashville Predators, led by one of the most exciting, fan-friendly players in the NHL, P.K. Subban. The Edmonton Oilers also captured our attention, led by sophomore phenom Connor McDavid. How about Toronto Maple Leafs rookie sensation Auston Matthews? What a treat. The New York Rangers were fun to watch, but watching those teams and players were a whole different style of treat.

NBC Sports and the NHL teamed to reward those teams on Monday, handing them a combined 13 appearances on national television.

Meanwhile, the lowly Detroit Red Wings will be playing on national TV 15 times in the upcoming campaign.

Perhaps ‘reward’ wasn’t the right word at all.

Another year, another misunderstanding of who the fans wish to see by the NHL and NBC Sports. Let’s break down the madness.

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Ratings! Ratings! Ratings!

As you already likely know, the NHL and NBC Sports simply want to see ratings. The Detroit Red Wings have fans scattered across the nation, so they bring in ratings. However, it should not be as simple as that.

We saw how the fans reacted to seeing the Predators make a deep run in the NHL playoffs last season. We see how much fans appreciate watching Connor McDavid and Auston Matthews play hockey.

Yet rather than attempting to grow the game through the exciting up and coming teams and players, the league and network wish to work with familiarity.

That means throughout the season we will be seeing Jonathan Toews, Jonathan Toews, and more Jonathan Toews. When we aren’t seeing Jonathan Toews, we will be seeing…..Luke Glendening? Trevor Daley? But don’t you worry, soon enough we will get back to Jonathan Toews.

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The League We Love to Hate

The NHL and NBC Sports love to brand their “rivalry nights” despite boasting matchups such as the Pittsburgh Penguins vs. the St. Louis Blues (RYAN REAVES RETURNS!!) the Detroit Red Wings against the Philadelphia Flyers, and the Boston Bruins against the St. Louis Blues. Everyone knows how much Zdeno Chara and Vladimir Tarasenko want to beat each other, right?

Realistically, the NHL should be aiming to grow the league using their young players. We should be seeing more of Connor McDavid and Auston Matthews, but also more of the newcomer teams such as the Carolina Hurricanes. If the NHL wants to see fans look forward to watching the Hurricanes, they have to throw them a bone first.

Only 11 different teams will be playing on Rivalry Nights. It’s wild how 19 teams are not involved in rivalries!

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Scattered Thoughts

How does the NHL give the Las Vegas Knights only five nationally televised game? The league has been saying all year “look at our shiny, new toy,” but now that they have a chance to share it with us, they don’t want to. It’s absurdly backwards thinking.

Additionally, the league will never grow smaller markets if they insist on showing the major markets all of the time. I know I made that point before, but it’s worth stressing. Detroit will be horrendous this year, and their games will be atrocious to watch. A team like Tampa Bay or Toronto could garner so much more interest if casual fans could see them on a regular basis, but alas. The NHL.

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Finally, I haven’t even gotten into the Olympics. I’ll save that for a later article, but it certainly relates to this subject. Yet another chance to grow the young faces of the league, yet another “nah, we’ll pass.”

I’ll be watching all year, but when the NHL wonders where all the casual fans are, maybe they should consider that they can’t see because they’ve been blinded by the repetitive images of Patrick Kane and…….Nicklas Kronwall?

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