Old NHL back or not?

After the smoke cleared last Sunday night, many a media pundit was touting that the old NHL had returned. That because the Rangers, Avs, and Flyers landed big name, big dollar free agents that the big markets had returned with a vengence. The "small" market teams on either side of Manhattan from the Rangers weren't spending much, and were getting taken apart pretty much. That didn't seem to matter to the ones writing the articles, though. The Wings dipped into the UFA pool for one big signing, didn't seem to matter to "them," though. The Leafs signed...um, well, didn't matter to "them" for all their "Old NHL is BACK!" articles.

Then it happened. July 6th the traditional big market, "buy up all the talent we can" Edmonton Oilers made a $50 million, 7 year offer sheet to Thomas Vanek. Vanek's current employer, the big spending, money is no object Buffalo Sabres matched the deal, there by locking up Vanek for 7 years.

No Rangers, no Wings, no Stars, no Avs, no Flyers...so no articles about how the system is broken and the small markets will once again be shut out. Kevin Lowe may not have made the brightest move in the world, and may have irked every team in the league in the process, but he also didn't fit popular opinion very well. Nary an article about how the big spending Oilers were screwing up the league. Nothing about the big market Sabres returning spending to its pre-lockout levels. Come on, guys, where are your panic inducing columns?

Will the deal handcuff the Sabres for the next 7 years? It certainly won't help them, especially with the annual salary cap rise. I don't think the market size is the big player here as much as raising the cap beyond a number of teams' budgets every year. The cap will keep one or two markets from snapping up all the high dollar talent, but the league is going to have some explaining to do if they continually claim higher revenues when you see tons of empty seats in a number of markets and know there's no TV deal to speak of. The resurgence of the Canadian dollar against the US dollar has helped, but even that's not going to continue forever.

All in all, I'm willing to give the New NHL another season or two before calling it dead and burned in a pile of money in Madison Square Garden. These long term, front loaded deals might not work as well as planned. Even with a higher cap, planning ahead and drafting will is still going to be the key to winning for more than one season. And who knows, the big money Flames might make an offer sheet to Sidney Crosby that the big spending Pens will have to match...

Versus goes on

So, we get disconcerting news last week when the NHL All-Star game drew less than 500,000 viewers on versus. That the game that is to be the showplace of the sport, where Rick Nash and Brian Rolston, American, have monster games, but not monster enough to knock Daniel Briere's 5 points from the MVP status isn't even able to draw more than a .7 share. That viewership is down on both sides of the border. All this is such solid news that the NHL renews their contract with Versus through 2011.

2011!?! Hockey is stuck promoting itself on channel 185 of most cable systems until a year AFTER Sid, Alex, and the other big guns play in the Olympics in Vancouver?? The NHL is on Versus until 3 years into the next Presidential term? The guy (or girl if we get Pres. Clinton, part two) who holds that office will be starting the re-election process before the NHL gets to negotiate a deal with any other channel?!?!?

Personally, I have no problems with the Versus production of the game, or their handling of the game. My issue is with the exposure, or lack there of, that the NHL receives by being aired there. If you want a sport to gain popularity, you need to get it in front of the fans. The couple years experiment with Versus was nice, but they're network isn't growing like they or the NHL had planned. Bass fishing, climbing, bull riding, cycling - it sounds like ESPN's line-up on Sunday mornings between 6 and 9.

Why not stop with the exclusivity crap, Gary, and go the way of the NFL and the NBA - get your sport on as many channels as you can. Go back to USA for a bit, a natural since it's in the NBC family of channels. Hit Ted Turner and the boys up to carry a few games. Grovel at the feet of Mickey Mouse to get a game on Wednesday nights at 10PM on the dEuCe. Do something, ANYTHING to expose the sport to more people.

And another thing, while I'm tossing out brilliant ideas, stop running the Ovechkin commercial only during hockey broadcasts. As it turns out, the 400,000 or so people south of the border that tune in to your broadcasts know who Alex is. Pay the NFL a couple bucks, air it there. Buy a slot during 1 vs. 100. During Deal or No Deal. Put AO in front of people who DON'T know who he is.

You shut us out for a year to make the game better. Well, in this fan's opinion, the game is better. But apparently me and roughly the population of Mesa, AZ are the only ones tuning in.