Every season, Commissioner Gary Bettman-inspired rumblings start again: We need to increase scoring! In order to attract more fans, we need to get some more excitement, and goals sure are exciting. Let's get some more!
It's nothing new. The rule changes following the lockout were intended to impede defensive clutching and grabbing to open the ice for smaller, skilled players like Denis Savard. Letting the skill guys run free from lumbering defensemen and Finnish checking-line forwards was intended to inject some scoring excitement into a league in desperate need of fan base revitalization.
The rule changes worked well. In 2005-06, the number of goals per game increased from 5.14 before the lockout to 6.17 after it. That was the highest level since 1995, when goaltending standards were much lower than they are today. In successive years, however, the number of goals per game has dropped to levels dangerously close to those of the pre-lockout era. The latest victim of this scoring disease is Montreal Canadiens General Manager Bob Gainey.
Gainey made his name in the 1970s and 80s as an excellent defensive forward who had some offensive skill. Soviet national coach Anatoli Tarasov famously called him the best all-around player in the world. The Selke Award for defensive excellence was essentially invented for him. Despite his reputation as a defensive player, Gainey proposed a limitation on shot-blocking at the general managers' meeting last week.
There are two ways to block a shot. The first occurs when a player stays on his skates, lines up the puck and attempts to block the shooting lane while standing or going to one knee. This allows the player to recover quickly and easily. The disadvantage, though, is that this approach inhibits the player from covering a lot of area, and, as Patrick Thoresen would attest, it also opens the player to the frightening possibility of getting drilled in the groin with a slap shot. The second shot block involves diving onto the ice. Although hard to recover from, this enables the player to cut off passing lanes.
Gainey wants to ban the latter type of block by requiring players to keep one skate blade on the ice when blocking shots.
Aside from the obvious enforceability problems, it's a ridiculous proposal. Shot blocking is an important part of any defenseman or forward's defensive arsenal, engrained into many players' games. In any event, Gainey's proposal and the general Bettman-inspired flap about goal scoring is totally misplaced.
The NHL doesn't need more goals. There is virtually no difference in the quality of hockey presented at six total goals per game versus five or even seven versus five.
The NHL will never get to the point where hockey scores look like football scores. Hockey is the fastest and most violent of all the major sports. It should sell itself.
The real way forward is to not worry about the size of a goalie's pads, how people can block shots, or the number of goals scored per game. If the NHL delivers a consistently exciting product, people will be interested.
Hockey is better than ever: Players shoot harder, skate faster and hit harder and more often. Goalies are more athletic and make superior saves. Even a Hall of Fame goaltender like Ken Dryden might find himself fighting for a starting job in the current NHL. The league is doing better, but not well enough.
The problem is not with the on-ice product but the off-ice promotion. The league's attempts to increase scoring or to appeal to some mythical average fan demographic are hurting the league. Half-empty arenas in Columbus, Ohio and Nashville, Tenn. encourage the perception that hockey is a niche sport and is easily ignorable. The league's television deal with Versus instead of ESPN for national games hurts the NHL more than the number of goals scored each game.
To its credit, the league is making a better effort to promote its stars. Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin are getting their due as two of the most exciting young players in the league. But Mario Lemieux and Cam Neeley are still more widely known than the current crop of stars. Other incredibly talented players like Rick Nash, Jarome Iginla and Tomas Vokoun languish in relative obscurity because they play in Columbus, Ohio; Calgary or Florida.
If the NHL wants to stay in nontraditional markets, the players who are on those teams need to be promoted. People may not want to see the Florida Panthers, but seeing Jay Bouwmeester and Vokoun may be worth the price of admission. Nobody will go check out the talent if they have no idea that the talent exists.
The NHL is interested in complicated solutions to simple problems. The league needs better exposure, not elaborate rule changes that are difficult to enforce or are completely ridiculous (curved nets, for example). The NHL can start by pushing its star players nationally, even if the stars play for mediocre teams. The Washington Capitals are mediocre, and the NHL seemed to have no difficulty promoting Ovechkin. Crosby alone can't save hockey, but fortunately there are plenty of other young guys available to help.
