The Rangers play in the MassMutual Division…really?

The New York Rangers’ East Division naming rights have gone to MassMutual

The hockey world was consumed by the idea that the NHL would allow commercial logos on NHL teams’ gear, settling on only allowing them on helmets.  Now, the NHL has gone out and sold the naming rights to the four divisions for the 2021 season. That means the New York Rangers are playing in the “MassMutual NHL® East Division. ”  Please don’t forget to lose the space between Mass and Mutual and include the trademark please!

In a previous article on Blue Line Station, we had proposed a throwback to the old days of the Patrick, Smythe, Norris and Adams Divisions.  I guess that didn’t get a lot of consideration.  Here are the four new names:

1. MassMutual NHL® East Division
2. Discover NHL® Central Division
3. Honda NHL® West Division
4. Scotia NHL® North Division

They certainly have a ring to it and the question is how often hockey announcers and journalists will actually use those names.  It will show up in all graphics on telecasts, but dollars to donuts the common usage will revert to East Division about ten seconds into the new season.

Let’s not even get into the irony of three teams from New York State playing in a division named after the state of Massachusetts.  There is a relationship to the NHL in the other three divisions.  Discover is already the official card of the NHL.  The Anaheim Ducks play in the Honda Center and the Maple Leafs play in the Scotiabank Arena. and the Flames play in the Scotiabank Saddledome.

In order to get the new names out as quickly as possible, the NHL has launched a fan-generated contest for preseason all-division teams.  For the next six days, fans can selected their favorite all-division team at NHL.com/AllDivisionTeam.

It’s the first time that the NHL has selected what is in essence a division all-star team before the season has even started.  I guess they want you to go in and select your favorite players in the each of the four divisions.  By the way, you can’t pick the players just from the MassMutual NHL® East Division.  You have to select your all-division players from the Discover, Scotia and Honda Divisions as well.

The promotion is just another way for the league to get the corporate names of the new divisions in front of fans.  The marketing folks are calling it the “2020-21 NHL Preseason All-Division Team Fan Vote” and voting is open through January 11.

Hey, while we re on a rant, can we please just refer to this as the 2021 season?  The NHL is still calling it the 2020-21 season, but considering that no games will be played in 2020 this season, it’s kind of a misnomer.

Look, many of the teams in the NHL are in dire financial straits and facing a season with no fans in the seats means a huge loss of revenue from ticket sales and concessions. Many NHL teams also fund their AHL affiliates that are even more dependent on ticket sales for any revenue.  If adding corporate logos improves the overall health of the league, I’m all in favor of doing it, but there are subtle ways to get it done.  Small logos on helmets are fine.  Heck, a logo on hockey pants would work, just keep it off the jerseys.

Re-naming the divisions seems a little bit much, but the NHL assures us that these naming rights for the Divisions are temporary and will go away next season.

Let’s hope so.  If they really go away in 2021-22, it would mean that the NHL is back on the road to fiscal health and that would be a good thing.

While we are at it, let’s give a shoutout to the Rangers for being the only NHL team playing in an arena whose name has not been sold to a corporate sponsor.   Although Madison Square Garden is a corporation, the name comes from the arena and not vice versa.  And for all of you Islander fans who will point to the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, I have to remind you that you will soon be  playing in the UBS Arena.