Fix the NHL: Go International

Henri Richard prepares to shoot

 

Once upon a time, the National Hockey League was a synonym for "Canadian." Players from the Great North so dominated NHL ranks that it was noteworthy when someone from the U.S. made the roster.

No more. The Stanley Cup-wining St. Louis Blues were an oddball in that of the 34 skaters who laced up for the Blues this year, Canadians outnumbered those from elsewhere by more than 2:1 margin. Their opponents, the Boston Bruins, were more typical; their roster had 16 Americans, 7 Canadians, 7 Swedes, 4 Slovaks, 2 Czechs, and 2 Finns. Overall, Canadians make up just a tick under 50 percent of current NHL players.

Ice hockey has become an international sport. Blame the communists. In 1956, the Soviet Union began dominating the Olympics and International Ice Hockey Federation tournaments, the "world cup" of hockey, winning 10 of the next 12 Olympics. (The two odd d/pucks were the USA in 1960,and1 980, not Canada.) Then two things happened: the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 and Sweden won gold in 1994. The story is the same for the hockey world cup–Canada and Russia have done well, but so have Sweden, the Czech Republic, and Finland. Even Slovakia hoisted an IIHF crown.

Worsely makes save

I love the NHL, but it's woefully behind the times. Both international hockey tournaments and the Olympics offer a far superior spectator product. It's still the case that you won't find a better assemblage of hockey talent anywhere on the planet than at an NHL rink. It's also true, however, that NHL rink is built as if Henri Richard was about to unload a shot on Gump Worsley. If those names don't rings bells, Henri ("The Pocket Rocket") Richard played in the NHL from 1955-75, and Gump Worsley was a goalie who strapped on the pads from 1952-84. Both are in the Hall of Fame and each was just 5'7" tall. Worsley, by the way, never wore a mask. Therein lies the next chapter of the tale.

Zdeno Chara, the anti-Richard!

Notice the size!

I'm not about to launch into one a boorish rant about how things were better in some hypothetical golden age. Things change. If you've ever seen Zdeno Chara on skates, the dude looks like he should be in the NBA. It's not a trick of the eye; he's 7'2" when he's in his skates. The average goaltender is now 6'3"before putting on skates, helmet, mask, and enough padding to make a medieval knight jealous. A guy who is 5'10" tall is now called a "small" player.

All of this begs the question of why NHL rinks still look like they did in Henri Richard's era. Oh sure, those old buildings are long gone (and not necessarily for the better), but the NHL ice sheet is 85' wide by 200' feet long with 11 feet behind the nets. By contrast, Olympic-sized rinks are 100' wide by 200' with 13' feet behind the nets. The latter reward highly skilled skaters, the likes of whom routinely rush down ice at better than 20 mph. For the fan it means a faster-paced game with more scoring opportunities. There are also fewer penalties taken by goons sniping on forwards, not to mention that fighting is an automatic ejection in every league except the NHL.

The NHL has had trouble getting a major TV contract outside of Canada and that's partly because NHL hockey is often pretty boring. The puck is hard to see, even on today's high-def screens because it spends too much time lost in a scrum of big guys pushing and shoving along the boards. The same heavy traffic occurs in front of the net. How often have you not even seen a goal until the slow motion replay runs? We don't see nearly enough beautiful skating with crisp cross-ice passes that result in pinpoint slap shots. The NHL can try any gimmick it wants–Peter Puck or Laser Puck anyone?–but until it unclogs the ice, TV hockey will remain the small domain of hockey nuts. There just aren't enough of them for the major networks to have the U.S. equivalent of Hockey Night in Canada.

Why not just widen the rinks? Money, m'boys. Adding 7.5' on each side of the rink means reducing capacity by eliminating rows of premium seats. Hockey is way more dependent upon attendance revenue than other major sports. Take baseball for example. Attendance has fallen, yet its total revenue has risen. It's not just bums in the seats that generate cash. The Yankees can pack 47,000 people into their ballpark, but 277,000 watch each game on TV. Can you say advertising revenue? Residuals? Merchandise tie-ins?

The NHL finds itself in a vicious circle of its own making. Owners don't want to reduce rink capacity, so we continue to see games on surfaces built for yesterday's game. Today's players are better, but fewer people outside the rink see them because the game has grown duller. NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman hasn't done much right since taking the reins in 1993, but were he to mandate bigger ice surfaces, I'd stamp his pass for the Hall of Fame. Hockey is an international sport and it's time the NHL treats it as such.

Rob Weir