NHL is damaging its reputation with useless ASG and missing Olympics

[RorschachWJK]

That's pretty inaccurate. Cause, I sure as hell don't want a midseason break where the players for the Leafs risk injury for some nationalistic honor. Go back to a Canada Cup format that doesn't interfere with the season for 3 weeks. No other NA professional sports interrupts its season mid-year, the NHL shouldn't either.

International hockey is the only hockey that is of interest. I don't care at all about NHL, KHL or any of the others. They're just a prolonged practice season that is mainly useful for following NT players development.

 

[snipes]

If the 2010 Gold Medal game didn't do it, nothing will.

I mean, didn’t like 80% of Canada tune into that Gold medal game? I can’t remember the exact number off the top of my end but it was somewhere in that range.

The IIHF WHC viewership numbers on TSN have vastly outperformed the SCF ratings.

The IOC should pony up the dough for travel and insurance though, also give marketing rights to the NHL.

 

[the_fan]

The All-Star game is for kids. It’s a fun event for young fans of the game. It’s not really surprising that adult fans skip it. Young fans matter and it’s fun for them. It helps grow the game that way.

Also, the NHL loves that it’s a huge corporate sponsorship event. It’s still good for the league, even if guys that are so die-hard that they post on hockey message boards don’t care for it.

Bottom line is that the All Stat event is good for the league, even if your average HFBoards poster doesn’t have any time for it. And that’s okay.

It wasnt always like that though. I remember the all star game actually being for kids and adults and it was actually fun. They used to do it the right way where they didnt send a player from every team, but players who actually had an all star season were selected, and it was fun to watch. Now days it's just boring and uninteresting, specially the game itself. Couple of the skill competition is still fun to watch I guess like the fastest skater, hardest shot and accuracy shooting.

 

[93LEAFS]

International hockey is the only hockey that is of interest. I don't care at all about NHL, KHL or any of the others. They're just a prolonged practice season that is mainly useful for following NT players development.

The NHL is one that pays. International doesn't.

 

[93LEAFS]

I mean, didn’t like 80% of Canada tune into that Gold medal game? I can’t remember the exact number off the top of my end but it was somewhere in that range.

The IIHF WHC viewership numbers on TSN have vastly outperformed the SCF ratings.

The IOC should pony up the dough for travel and insurance though, also give marketing rights to the NHL.

It didn't grow the game though in Canada or the United States. This is with the game taking place during good times for Canadians and Americans. Any boost from the Olympics tends to be very short-term.

Just go back to the old Canada cup and don't mess with the regular season. The NBA doesnt, MLB doesn't and the NFL doesn't.

 

[rt]

It wasnt always like that though. I remember the all star game actually being for kids and adults and it was actually fun. They used to do it the right way where they didnt send a player from every team, but players who actually had an all star season were selected, and it was fun to watch. Now days it's just boring and uninteresting, specially the game itself. Couple of the skill competition is still fun to watch I guess like the fastest skater, hardest shot and accuracy shooting.

I watched the NHL ASGs from 1995 to roughly 2005 or so. Why’d I stop? My 20s got in the way. Now I’m in my 30s and I still haven’t got any interest.

Now, perhaps in my 40s, when my sons are 8 and 5 years old respectively, I’ll pick the habit up again.

 

[Anomie2029]

They really need to refresh the All Star weekend. Here is how I would do it:

• Maintain the 3v3 tournament format between the divisions.
• Copy the NBA voting method - combination of fan voting, player voting, and PHWA members. You might get the occasional 'joke' vote, but for the majority this doesn't happen anyway.
• Friday Afternoon - Legends & Celebrity game. Traditional 5 v 5 game, televised, mic'd up celebs and former players.
  
• Friday Night - Skills contest to be contested by any players (not just those elected to teams). Contest winners get a money prize, and automatically get the option to 'defend their trophy' the next year. Contests include fastest skater, hardest shot, accurate shooting, puck handling course, edge work skating (fastest skater but course involves direction changes), shootout (scored by judges on creativity, skill, actually scoring).
• Saturday night - All Star games

 

[JustaFinnishGuy]

Not surprised to see NA fans stumble around defending the NHL of all leagues in favor of the f***ing Olympics.
We're never getting back to best on best competitions it seems.

 

[Pucker Factor 10]

I mean, didn’t like 80% of Canada tune into that Gold medal game? I can’t remember the exact number off the top of my end but it was somewhere in that range.

That number sounds about right, which was also the case for the 2002 Gold Medal game in Salt Lake City.

In this case I was specifically referring to that game and the impact it had on the growth of the game in the U.S. because in Canada you guys don't get beat over the head constantly by the media about how hockey is #4 in popularity. That 2010 game had to logically have had some positive impact for the sport here, even though it's obviously very difficult to measure that in a country of this size.

 

[DistantThunderRep]

I watched the NHL ASGs from 1995 to roughly 2005 or so. Why’d I stop? My 20s got in the way. Now I’m in my 30s and I still haven’t got any interest.

Now, perhaps in my 40s, when my sons are 8 and 5 years old respectively, I’ll pick the habit up again.

Damn son, you old.

I'm joking, I'm close to the same age, no kids yet but the all-star break just angers me now because I don't have any hockey to watch and I have to pay attention to my wife and job.

 

[snipes]

It didn't grow the game though in Canada or the United States. This is with the game taking place during good times for Canadians and Americans. Any boost from the Olympics tends to be very short-term.

Just go back to the old Canada cup and don't mess with the regular season. The NBA doesnt, MLB doesn't and the NFL doesn't.

I’m with you on the Canada Cup style format.

I just want true best on best hockey.

 

[acor]

Now, what every hockey fan in the world is waiting for is the best on best Olympics hockey.

Can you please not speak in the name of every hockey fan in the world??? I don't give a f*** about neither ASG or Olympics. Both are gloryfied exhibitions...

 

[Honour Over Glory]

They need to make it after the season the way the NFL does. Not copy a joke like the NBA or make it a bigger farce than it already is with the NHL has been doing. Players don't like to go or the timing of it in an 82 game grind and then the playoffs is just hard for players and it's why so many are wanting to skip it or find a way out of it.

After the season though, I bet more would want to do it and they can make a bigger spectacle out of it, also the voting would be different and based more on a full season's worth not the halfway point.

 

[Chimpradamus]

The data DOES exist and the people who have access to the data ( like say one Bill Daly) are on the record as saying that the NHL has never seen a bump from participation.

People who pretend to like hockey for a week every four years and not a day in between are NOT the demographic that the league should be chasing.

The Olympics are a two decade failure at promoting the NHL.

The nhl wised up, finally.

You and the suit and ties don't understand what the olympics does. It makes kids pick up the game of hockey in countries that can't watch the NHL, because it's in the middle of the night and maybe their parents don't pay alot of money to watch the league. Kids need idols and role models to imitate.

The reward for the NHL participating in the olympics is the growing number of talented players the league can poach in the cattle draft a decade+ later. Sweden winning gold in the 2006 olympics with a NHL roster is paying off for the NHL just about NOW.

Hockey is in a steep decline in Europe and the NHL doesn't help one bit with that. In Sweden for example, there is a huge dip in the number of kids participating in sports. That kids cannot watch the best hockey talent the country has to offer is a problem. Then they pick another sport instead, if they want to play sports.

But I understand it's impossible to justify such a long term goal, in the extremely short sighted system we live in today, where the next quarter report is as far you look.

The NHL crying the viewer ratings don't go up because they participate in the olympics, is so narrowminded it's mindboggling.

 

[ramdm5]

Not surprised to see NA fans stumble around defending the NHL of all leagues in favor of the ****ing Olympics.
We're never getting back to best on best competitions it seems.

And with NHL getting more and more talent diluted with more teams and cap you get star player stuck in shit teams...

 

[Reality Czech]

Not surprised to see NA fans stumble around defending the NHL of all leagues in favor of the ****ing Olympics.
We're never getting back to best on best competitions it seems.

Not surprised to see Euro fans act like the Olympics are superior to the NHL, which is just simply not true. But if you wanna be angry with someone, blame the IOC, not hockey fans.

Threads like this are annoying. People who visit this site need to keep in mind that they don't represent the majority of mainstream hockey fans. Just because the ASG doesn't appeal to you doesn't mean that nobody else is interested.

 

[kilowatt]

The Olympics are great. It’s a shame the NHL doesn’t participate. It was always my favorite event to watch, even more than the Stanley Cup most years.

My family - who mostly don’t care about hockey - loved it too.

 

[RorschachWJK]

The NHL is one that pays. International doesn't.

Doesn't change anything from my perspective. Hockey is merely entertainment. I peruse many forms of entertainment, international hockey is one of them. Club hockey is not.

 

[sandysan]

You and the suit and ties don't understand what the olympics does. It makes kids pick up the game of hockey in countries that can't watch the NHL, because it's in the middle of the night and maybe their parents don't pay alot of money to watch the league. Kids need idols and role models to imitate.

The reward for the NHL participating in the olympics is the growing number of talented players the league can poach in the cattle draft a decade+ later. Sweden winning gold in the 2006 olympics with a NHL roster is paying off for the NHL just about NOW.

Hockey is in a steep decline in Europe and the NHL doesn't help one bit with that. In Sweden for example, there is a huge dip in the number of kids participating in sports. That kids cannot watch the best hockey talent the country has to offer is a problem. Then they pick another sport instead, if they want to play sports.

But I understand it's impossible to justify such a long term goal, in the extremely short sighted system we live in today, where the next quarter report is as far you look.

The NHL crying the viewer ratings don't go up because they participate in the olympics, is so narrowminded it's mindboggling.

It is not the charge of the NHL, a private for profit league, to grow the game worldwide. Just becuase it has the best players doesn't mean that everything about the game falls on its shoulders.

It's job is to promote the NHL. If they get little alexi from Kiev to get excited and pick up the game and he ends up playing in some middling lower league, that doesn't help the NHL one iota.

Extremely short sighted? That's rich. The nhl tried this little experiment for two freaking decades with no benefit. 20 years! No bump and you and your ilk want them to keep doing it on some half baked unrealized lie that somehow somewhere the NHL magically benefits.

The idea was worth trying, it kinda makes sense that it would help the league. But the data is in, and it hasn't.
Imagining that the reason it hasn't is that the league just hasn't done it long enough is akin to a degenerate gambler on a losing streak thinking that the next hand is gonna be the big one.

All of this falls on the uber corrupt IOC who has no problem acting like a business when it comes to dealing with its broadcast partners but when it comes to dealing with the draw, pulls out its pockets and cries poor.

Screw the Ioc.

 

[sandysan]

They need to make it after the season the way the NFL does. Not copy a joke like the NBA or make it a bigger farce than it already is with the NHL has been doing. Players don't like to go or the timing of it in an 82 game grind and then the playoffs is just hard for players and it's why so many are wanting to skip it or find a way out of it.

After the season though, I bet more would want to do it and they can make a bigger spectacle out of it, also the voting would be different and based more on a full season's worth not the halfway point.

Nobody cares ( or wants to play) in the pro bowl.

 

[JustaFinnishGuy]

Not surprised to see Euro fans act like the Olympics are superior to the NHL, which is just simply not true. But if you wanna be angry with someone, blame the IOC, not hockey fans.

Threads like this are annoying. People who visit this site need to keep in mind that they don't represent the majority of mainstream hockey fans. Just because the ASG doesn't appeal to you doesn't mean that nobody else is interested.

''Olympics aren't superior to the NHL''
I am rightly mad at you for this very stupid statement you seem to think is true. The NHL is not the best it could be, but it is the best league we're offered. They hamper their coaching market by employing only NA coaches that ''coach the right way'' for absolutely no reason at all outside of ''we have always done it this way and we won't change because it clearly works'', they don't give a shit if a players get hit by unnecessary hits like Lindgren on Donskoi, (3rd man in, no time for the player to brace himself at all and no suspension to the hitter despite clear head contact immediately on impact), the teams' talent pools are distributed all around the league in soon-to-be 32 teams and 4th line plugs play on every team as if it was a rule, the long season of 82 games makes a huge amount of games a battle of 2 tired teams and the on-ice performance is impacted greatly as a result.

The Olympics aren't perfect but if the NHL is not going to create a true best on best tournament in any form, I am not going to just accept it, and I will comment on it being a f***ing shameless cash grab that the World Cup was and will be in the future.

 

[Allie Kitsune]

If the 2010 Gold Medal game didn't do it, nothing will.

2010?

Nobody wants to see Canada vs. the USA. Nobody wants to see the US National Team period, unless they just exist to get obliterated.

Only Canada vs. Russia.

There doesn't need to be NHL Players in the Olympics.

There just needs to be two games every offseason.

Canada vs. Russia and Sweden vs. Finland.

 

[93LEAFS]

Not surprised to see NA fans stumble around defending the NHL of all leagues in favor of the ****ing Olympics.
We're never getting back to best on best competitions it seems.

We had best on best long-before the Olympics. Why not have it in September so it doesn't stop the season mid-year, and is on at times consistently in the two markets the NHL focuses on. Its ridiculous for contending teams having players risk injury before the final stretch of regular season or having their starting goalies eat up extra games during a condensed tournament when significant playoff revenues are on the line.

Why pad the pockets of corrupt IOC members, and help the IIHF who have been dicks about paying for reasonable demands.

 

[Nihiliste]

I used to like the ASG as a kid but I feel like stars used to actually show up. East vs West was a better format. Players never took it seriously but it was always fun for kids, I remember Nolan calling his shot - iconic moment in a meaningless game

 

[Honour Over Glory]

Nobody cares ( or wants to play) in the pro bowl.

Apparently not many of the veterans want to play in the NHL ASG either, Sid and Geno escaped that joke of a game and Ovechkin even peaced out.