[eleven24]

The NHL's TV ratings declined again last year. Pretty bad when you consider the WNBA was attracting more viewers than the NHL.

In my opinion it's because the games are so low scoring. And why are they so low scoring? One word: Expansion.

When the league keeps adding teams, the talent pool gets thinner. Not to mention that every team now runs four lines, which was not the case years ago. I remember the late 80's Flyers playing with only 4 d-men each game.

With the talent pool thinned out you end up with players who would not have been in the NHL 10-15 years ago. You end up with a lot of clutching & grabbing. You end up with low scoring games. You end up with boring hockey. Boring Hockey = No Ratings.

I don't know about you, but there is only so much neutral zone play I can watch. And it's not just the Flyers. What ever happened to the hitting? Forget a hip check, it's gone forever. And when it's done, it's called a penalty. Forget 6-5 games, they went out with Gretzky & Co.

My solution? Well, you can't exactly shrink the league back down to 21 teams, but you can add more scoring. My 3-Step Plan for Exciting Hockey:

1. ELIMINATE THE RED LINE. Or should I say the two line pass. The neutral zone is now smaller after the NHL moved out the blue lines. The players are bigger. The 2-line pass is ridiculous.

2. PENALTY SHOTS. Loosen the criteria on penalty shots. I say if a player is in possession of the puck in the offensive end and is pulled down, it's a Penalty Shot.

3. REVAMP OVERTIME. Yahoo. 5 minutes of two teams afraid to lose. Make it like international play. At the end of OT, it's a series of penalty shots until a team is declared the winner.

Just my thoughts....

[Jlg-28]

Originally posted by eleven24

1. ELIMINATE THE RED LINE. Or should I say the two line pass. The neutral zone is now smaller after the NHL moved out the blue lines. The players are bigger. The 2-line pass is ridiculous.

2. PENALTY SHOTS. Loosen the criteria on penalty shots. I say if a player is in possession of the puck in the offensive end and is pulled down, it's a Penalty Shot.

3. REVAMP OVERTIME. Yahoo. 5 minutes of two teams afraid to lose. Make it like international play. At the end of OT, it's a series of penalty shots until a team is declared the winner.

Just my thoughts....

I agree with the 1st two completly , how ever i doubt you will see a shoot out during the regular season i think it should stay in international play

I am not sure what else the league can do really , they just made new rules for goalies and thier pads , maybe the refs can let the players play more and not call meaning-less penalties like the One on Desjardins for slashing when the Flyers were shorthanded , it wasnt a bad slash , just a lite tap , i could see if he chopped his legs out or took a real good swing , yeah call it , other wise let em play

Perhaps a better marketing campaign : how many commercials do you see for the NHL as a whole , yeah you see em for certian teams goin head to head on ESPN 1 and 2 or your loacl team ads ,

look at other leages :

NFL : Visa , Coors Lite , Budweiser plus local ads

T.V. Covarage : CBS , Fox, ESPN ( Sunday Nite Football )
ABC( Monday nite football ) & Local Networks

MLB : Visa , Budweiser , plus local ads

T.V. Fox , Espn 1 & 2 , Local Networks

Nascar : Visa , Nextel ( as of 2004 ) and every team has there own individual sponsor(s)

TV : TNT , Fox , NBC , Speed Channel

NBA : cant remeber cause i don't follow

TV : TNT , ESPN , Local TV

WNBA : Dont follow

TV : not to sure

NHL : Bud Light ( then you would have to look at the boards and ice for the local as )

TV : ABC ( not till March thou ) Espn 1 & 2 local networks

im sure i missed some , but im posting the one's i can think of if i see more I'll add to the list