Business (finally) booms again for the NHL in the Stanley Cup playoffs
Most people would agree that there aren’t too many things in sports better than Game 7 of a playoff series. So what do you call five Game 7’s in two nights? There aren’t even words to describe it.
All I know is that when the excitement of a Game 7 hits 10 of a league’s 32 fan bases in a single weekend, that’s a pretty good result for a league. After a few challenging pandemic years, the NHL is on fire right now.
As I wrote about a couple of weeks ago, it was a tremendous regular season, with a huge number of record-breaking performances from both teams and players. And the playoffs have picked up right where the regular season left off. We’ve had high-flying hockey, with lots of goal scoring combined with some unreal goaltending performances. The league’s biggest stars have shone brightly. The suffocating trap-style hockey we have seen in past years seems long gone, replaced by end-to-end action that makes it risky to leave your seat for even a moment.
The first three of the five weekend Game 7s did NOT disappoint. There were interesting and dramatic storylines everywhere you looked.
First, we saw the Carolina Hurricanes outlast the Boston Bruins to win a first round matchup for the sixth consecutive year. A three-point afternoon from under-the-radar trade deadline acquisition Max Domi sparked the Canes, who improved to 33-8-4 on home ice this season with the win. They even brought out a Storm Surge celebration for Caniacs to enjoy.
It was a valiant effort by the Bruins, who lost a first-round series for the first time in four years. After the game, we were left to wonder whether we have seen the last of Patrice Bergeron. He refused to comment on whether he would retire or not, but he will turn 37 before next season, so his brilliant career can’t have too much time left.
The Tampa Bay Lightning vs. the Toronto Maple Leafs was the most anticipated series of the first round and it lived up to its top billing. The Lightning were able to take the first step toward a Stanley Cup three-peat, something that hasn’t been done since the New York Islanders accomplished the feat when they won four Cups in the early 1980s. Another deadline acquisition was prominent in the game, with first-time playoff performer Nick Paul’s two goals leading the way for the Bolts. Meanwhile, Toronto Maple Leafs fans suffered heartbreak once again, with their team failing to exorcise the ghosts of five (now six) consecutive first-round playoff exits. Lightning forward Steven Stamkos said it best when he said of the Leafs, “They are a team that has everything. It’s just that we have everything too.”
The night was capped off when we saw the game’s best player, Connor McDavid, dominate the Los Angeles Kings to will his Edmonton Oilers to a first-round victory. The young Los Angeles Kings were the party-crashers that weren’t expected to be in the playoffs at all, but wouldn’t go away, until McDavid decided that he had enough of them. McDavid was brilliant all series, but with his all-star teammate Leon Draisaitl battling an injury, McDavid just took the team on his back and willed them to the Game 7 victory. With a little help from 40-year old goaltender Mike Smith, who recorded his second shutout of the series. I guess it was a good thing that the Oilers either didn’t find, or didn’t want to find, another goalie this year when everyone else in the hockey world said they needed one.
The win sets up a possible Battle of Alberta to rival the Battle of Florida that will be waged in the southeast. The Calgary Flames will try to solve a hot goalie in Jake Oettinger to overcome a Dallas Stars team that only two years ago surprised everyone by going to the Cup final. If successful, the Flames will play the Oilers in the playoffs for the first time since 1991. A Battle of Alberta, evoking the memory of all of those great series in the 1980s and early 1990s, would be incredible. Maybe the NHL wasn’t crazy for establishing the current playoff format?!
The other game tonight will see the injury-riddled Pittsburgh Penguins try to drag their veteran-laden team across the finish line with the hopes of getting bodies back for round 2, while the upstart New York Rangers will try to win their first playoff series since 2017.More must-see TV.
The level of playoff excitement we are seeing bodes incredibly well for the future of the league. Teams suffered huge revenue shortfalls in 2019-20 and 2020-21, playing most or all of their games in empty arenas. The strong playoff gates and the ancillary food and merchandise revenues that are no doubt being generated now are the perfect tonic to accelerate the league’s recovery.
Broadcast numbers have also been trending in the right direction, especially south of the border where hockey isn’t the default choice of sports fans. So far, ratings in the first year of the league’s partnerships with ESPN, TNT and TBS have been very strong. According to data published by the networks, through 28 first round playoff games, the average viewership is 672,000, roughly equivalent to last year’s. However, when you account for the fact that five of last season’s first 28 games were NBC network broadcasts, viewership is actually up 35 percent on the cable platforms.
The viewership numbers still leave lots of growth potential, but the trend is very promising. A solid and growing partnership with ESPN as well as TNT and TBS means broadcast rights fees will be higher in the next deal. Once the escrow repayments associated with the pandemic revenue shortfalls have fully settled the players’ “debt,” strong TV ratings will lead to a bigger revenue pool, a higher salary cap and increased player salaries.
Things are looking very good for the NHL. When a player is in the midst of a hot streak during the season, you might say they’re on a “heater.” There is no question the NHL is on one right now, and there are no signs of a cooldown any time soon.
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Chris Gear joined Daily Faceoff in January after a 12-year run with the Vancouver Canucks, most recently as the club’s Assistant General Manager and Chief Legal Officer. Before migrating over to the hockey operations department, where his responsibilities included contract negotiations, CBA compliance, assisting with roster and salary cap management and governance for the AHL franchise, Gear was the Canucks’ vice president and general counsel.
Click here to read Gear’s other Daily Faceoff stories.
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