The reason why the Dallas Stars and NHL will never catch the Mavericks and NBA | Opinion
No league rams its collective head, neck and face into the promotional wall more than the NHL, and that it’s where it is says more good than bad.
And yet every spring passionate hockey fans, or zealous NHL front office executives, watch Stanley Cup playoff games with the conviction that this time both the sport and the league is moving up.
The reason why hockey and the NHL rank a firm fourth, and probably closer to fifth, among the major sports in the United States is not complicated. Outside of the “51st state,” the NHL and hockey should not be as high on the list.
To all hockey fans, find something else to worry about. Hoping that the NHL and hockey will move beyond the NBA and basketball, or baseball’s MLB, is not the bonehead’s errand but more like a bad case of drunk muscles.
“I’m gonna kick your @%$! I just gotta get up off the bathroom floor, and find my teeth.”
The NHL’s ratings issue
The Dallas Stars moving into the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs for the third consecutive year, this time to face the Winnipeg Jets, is Broadway-caliber theater minus the musical numbers. The Stars won Game 1 on Wednesday night in Winnipeg, 3-2.
Stars forward Mikko Rantanen scored a hat trick for the second consecutive game, with all three gioals coming in the second period. He is on a historic playoff heater right now.
You either “get it,” and love it, or it’s just not your thing.
These teams respective first round series, particularly both Game 7s., was just more proof that the best postseason in sports is the Stanley Cup playoffs. It is also the ideal time for an NHL team to create new fans, and more importantly secure season-ticket renewals or sell packages to first-timers.
Since the mid ‘80s, when Wayne Gretzky was in his prime with the Edmonton Oilers and an international star, hockey and the NHL have aimed for a wider audience beyond the 18,000 in the building. If you look at the TV ratings, an NHL game will routinely get beat by the NCAA softball world series on ESPN, or an episode of “My Sister’s 800-lb Hot Boyfriend” on a channel you never knew existed.
The ratings for this year’s playoffs average about 716,000 viewers per game, according to Sports Media Watch. That’s down 20 percent compared to last season. Of the eight remaining teams in the playoffs, three are Canadian, where the ratings look more like the Super Bowl.
None of this is new for the NHL, where, outside of a few matchups, ratings never look good when compared to MLB, the NBA or NFL.
The NHL’s reality
The NHL hired former NBA senior VP Gary Bettman in 1993 as its commissioner, and one of the smartest things he’s done was convince the league to “compare ourselves to ourselves.” It’s akin to saying, “Coach your own team,” or “Focus on your own mat.”
Following Bettman’s edict, the NHL is a stable success despite realities that it is increasingly vulnerable to falling behind soccer and MLS.
No. 1: Hockey is expensive
Between paying for the surface to play on, as well as the gear, the grass roots element of hockey in the U.S. is saddled with more challenges, and expenses, than just about every other sport.
The single biggest reason why soccer is the most popular game in the world is that it’s the cheapest; all you need is a ball and ground.
No. 2: The best players in the game can be hard to find, may only play 1/3 of the night
A shift in hockey is exhausting, and short. When the Stars came back from a two-goal deficit in the third period of Game 7 of their first round playoff series against Colorado, Stars forward Mikko Rantanen scored a hat trick in the final 12 minutes of the game.
He played a total of 19 minutes and 58 seconds.
And hockey culture is horrendous about promoting its star players; the desires of the team president, the league and TV executives is a bicycle colliding with an 18-wheeler.
The 18-wheeler is the team general manager, head coach and locker room that say the name on the front of the sweater is the only one that matters.
No. 3 The brilliance of the game is too fast for the human eye
Unlike a 75-yard touchdown run, a triple to the gap, or an alley-oop dunk, the best plays in hockey all require instant replay to appreciate.
The puck is small, moves faster than a person can process, and there is often so much congestion in front of the goaltender that it’s hard to see in real time what just happened.
When Winnipeg came back from an 0-2 deficit with two goals in the final two minutes of their Game 7 against St. Louis on Sunday night, the tying goal with 1.7 seconds remaining was a result of passing that was so fast that it required multiple replays to admire. No other sport has hockey’s TV problems, that HD did not solve.
In the 2010 Stanley Cup Final between Chicago and Philadelphia, Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane scored the series-winning goal on a shot where only he realized the puck went through the narrowest gap between the goal post and the pads of the Flyers goalie.
On the telecast, you can hear Kane celebrate while NBC announcer Mike Emrick had no idea the goal was scored, and neither did anyone else in the building. It required a replay.
Despite these realities/challenges, the NHL is a 32-team league with local, and national TV contracts, buildings that fill up (mostly), and an overseas audience.
For those who love the sport and want a wider audience such as aspirations are noble, but on this topic just focus on your own mat.
This story was originally published May 7, 2025 at 12:17 PM.
