Muleskinner said:
Thats the the kind of narrow minded thinking that has this league in the shape its in man!! Of course the "real" hockey fans will always be there.....thats not what we are talking about. You are a case in point as far as Im concerned. The type that would rather keep the statisquo so to speek and just let things be while this LEAGUE needs an overhaul bigtime if it is to generate the $$$ that both the NHL and the players are demanding.
Does anyone here understand this.
Rather be "narrow-minded" (by your definition) than a
sellout. Sure, let's put allllll the gimmicks needed attract the "casssssual US fan," a mythical soul who has never ever had any interest whatsoever in the NHL. As if shootouts, etc. are going to suddenly get Middle America away from milking the cow and turned on to Sergei Fedorov.
Why stop there? Let's copy the XFL. That's coooool. As long as it attracts fans and makes money for the owners, players and TV execs, apparently some "broad-minded" fans will be appeased. In case you haven't noticed, the NHL
has made changes along the way; perhaps you aren't old enough to recall that regular season OT of any kind didn't exist until 20 years ago. NHLers in the Olympics is a newer. The goal lines have been moved back, offsides rules have been changed, as has fighting rules all over the past decade or so. That's change. Now you have 4 on 4 in OT and some are pining for the shootout gimmick. And there's more.
Those of us who want to
move carefully in making changes to this great game, are liable to do a lot less damage than some 5-minute-attention-span-video-age-crazed punks who want to hip hop and bastardize the sport into some unrecognizable form...so it can achieve greeeeeat TV ratings! Whoopee! Than we'll all be popular!
If US fans don't care for the sport (and many don't), you of course try to attract them. But not to the extreme of trying to be another "me too" sellout league.