(This is an extended version of my Extra Point that ran in the Bona Venture two weeks ago. I felt this would be a good time to add to it and run it on the Blog with the labor deal impending and all.)
As Yogi Berra once said “it’s déjà vu all over again!” For the third time in 18 months North American sports fans face the possibility of a lockout. This time the perpetrators are the players and owners of the National Hockey League.
Every time a labor dispute occurs in professional sports, sports fans hear the same complaints. The talking heads remind us how millionaires and billionaires are fighting over money, and it’s the fans who really get hurt. For the most part, the pundits have been right. The NBA and NFL walked away from their respective lockouts stronger than ever before. However this may not be the case for the NHL.
For the past 20 or so years, the NHL’s status as a major sport in America has been debated. The average sport fan greeted the last lockout with yawns and shrugs.The NHL walked out of that one as weak and unpopular as ever. And their last image to the public was Todd Berttuzzi paralyzing Steve Moore with a blow to the back of the head.
The past seven seasons worked the NHL into mainstream popularity, and this season should have been the apex. Between 2006-2011, ratings for the Stanley Cup Finals tripled and game 7 of the 2011 finals was the highest rated hockey game in America since 1973, according to CBC Sports. Ratings dipped a bit in 2012, but important things still took place.
The Los Angeles Kings shocked the world by winning their first Stanley Cup and simultaneously making hockey important in the second largest market in the country. Meanwhile, the New York Rangers reached their first conference finals in over a decade, and added the top offseason prize (Rick Nash) to their squad. This ensured America’s two largest markets would be invested in the season. Both teams have some of the game’s most recognizable players in a league starved for stars.
But these were not the only developments in the league’s favor.
Two highly touted free agents, Zach Parise and Ryan Suter, signed in Minnesota, ensuring one of America’s most loyal hockey markets would recieve plenty of press. Meanwhile, teams that consistently win and have recognizable stars emerged, giving the league legitimacy among casual fans.Teams like Boston and Philadelphia made their bones with a tough, physical style that forces them to either be loved or hated. All the while teams like Pittsburgh and Vancouver garnered popularity with high-profile finesse stars. Even Carolina is putting together a pretty fierce scoring attack. Also, potential stars are emerging all over the league. Shea Weber and Drew Doughty have established themselves as the league’s best young defensemen while Zdeno Chara isn't quite done yet and Erik Karlson will surely be a force to be reckoned with. Jonathan Quick and Pekka Rinne seem to be the franchise goalies of the future and Henrk Lundqvist, Tuuka Rask and Carey Price won't be ignored. The league has an all-time great player/villain (Sidney Crosby), a Pippen to Jordan sidekick (Evgeni Malkin), the alleged lazy talent (Alex Ovechkin), evil twins (Sedins) and of course the young gun/best natural scorer (Steven Stamkos.)
The 2012-2013 campaign could be one when even more stars such as Tyler Seguin, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins or John Tavares make names for themselves. It could be a year where the largest markets in the country begin to care about hockey as much as other professional sports.
It could be a year where a tortured fan base like Minnesota, Toronto or Buffalo finally hoists Lord Stanley’s Cup. It could be a year where the NHL breaks through to mainstream America and asserts itself as the fourth major sport. Instead, because of some labor dispute, 2012-2013 likely will be without hockey.
So, who’s really getting hurt here? Sure the fans will miss the games and the players will miss their paychecks for a short while. But the real loser of this labor dispute will be the legacy of the NHL.
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