Less Is More in NHL, At Least It Should Be

Why do we let the NHL have control of anything?  The Winter Classic is perhaps the best thing that league ever did.  The NHL finally had a signature event to call its own.  So, of course, they had to ruin it by having their quasi-annual lockout.  Then you figured the lockout would be settled in time because there was no way they would cancel the Winter Classic.  Wrong.

After canceling this year’s Winter Classic, they did the right thing and announced that the same two teams–the Red Wings and Maple Leafs–will play in the 2014 Winter Classic at the same venue–The Big House at the University of Michigan.  Well done, NHL.  Likewise, the Heritage Classic will return next season with the Senators visiting the Canucks.  (Sidebar, why did they wait until after Vancouver hosted the Olympics to make BC Place an open-air stadium?)  Then they got carried away, announcing the creation of the NHL Stadium Series.

How do you take the luster off your signature event?  By completely eliminating the novelty of it.  Along with the occasional Heritage Classic, the Winter Classic was the only outdoor game on the NHL schedule.  That’s exactly why it worked.  It’s the NHL’s Super Bowl.  It became the event that everybody wanted to host, even places where playing a winter sport outdoors makes little to no sense (I’m talking to you, LA).  Way to take something great and completely destroy it.  One or two outdoor games equals must-see TV.  But seven?  Seven is overkill.

Instead of being the only outdoor games next season, the Winter Classic and Heritage Classic will bookend the NHL Stadium Series, which also includes games in LA and Chicago, as well as two in Yankee Stadium.  I get what they’re trying to do with the Stadium Series.  I really do.  They’re trying to capitalize on the Winter Classic’s popularity and give other cities the opportunity to host (they’ve been wanting to have a Winter Classic at Yankee Stadium for a while anyway).  But I think we might be looking at too much of a good thing here.  When it comes to outdoor NHL games, less is more.

It’s not as if I have a problem with any of the games they’ve chosen.  The Penguins and Blackhawks are two of the best (and most popular) teams in the NHL, and that could easily be a Stanley Cup Finals rematch.  And like I said, they’ve been wanting to have the Rangers host the Winter Classic in Yankee Stadium for quite some time.  They were supposed to host one at the Old Stadium before it closed, and they haven’t been able to at the new one because of the Pinstripe Bowl (don’t get me started on how stupid I think that game is).

Now they’re taking advantage of Super Bowl fever (again, don’t get me started; I might be the only person in New York who’s anti-Giants Stadium Super Bowl) by staging not one but TWO hockey games at Yankee Stadium during the lead-up to the Super Bowl.  And all three New York hockey teams will get to participate.  The Rangers will be the visiting team in each, taking on the Devils first, then the Islanders.  This isn’t really where my problem lies.

My problem lies with the Ducks-Kings game at Dodger Stadium.  Again, the matchup is a good one.  Two rivals, both of which happen to be really good, in a historic venue.  But sunny Southern California isn’t exactly the first place that comes to mind when people think about outdoor hockey.  (Until Wayne Gretzky came to town, the idea of even playing hockey period in Los Angeles seemed somewhat ridiculous.)  Canadian kids out there with their wool hats in freezing temperatures.  That’s the grassroots, remembering why you fell in love with the game element that they were going for when they first conceived of the outdoor games.  Not random dudes wearing shorts and sunglasses with their hockey jerseys on a 70-degree day.

I’ll never forget that first Heritage Classic.  It was a Saturday night in Edmonton, and to say it was cold would be an incredible understatement.  You could see the players’ breaths, and the indelible image of that game will always be Jose Theodore wearing a touque over his goalie mask.  Or that first Winter Classic in Buffalo.  When it started snowing in the middle of the game.  And everybody loved it.  Somehow, snow made it better.  Well, that ain’t gonna happen in LA.  And you want to talk playing conditions?  Good luck keeping the ice playable.

In my opinion, the NHL is biting off more than it can chew here.  They’re trying to overcompensate for losing last year’s Winter Classic and build some momentum heading into/out of the Olympics (even though they haven’t officially committed to playing yet).  Maybe the Stadium Series will work and multiple outdoor games will become the new norm.  But I hope not.  The Winter Classic and Heritage Classic should be special.  That’s when the NHL brings its game outside.  Why can’t it stay that way?  And if you’re going to play outdoors, at least do it somewhere cold.  Like Canada.  Not California.