Big stage for big cities
With the eyes of the nation’s biggest cities focused squarely on the most famous trophy in American sports, the NHL has an opportunity to step back into the spotlight.
The New York Rangers and Los Angeles Kings are facing off in the Stanley Cup finals, a marquee matchup for a league still looking to rise out of niche status. It will, undoubtedly, be the most watched series in more than a decade.
The opportunity, though, isn’t just in ratings, but the nature of hockey in the two cities.
In New York, the Rangers have been around forever. They have history. They are one of the “Original Six” franchises in the NHL and the first American team to win a Stanley Cup. Hockey isn’t new in New York.
Good hockey, however, hasn’t been around for awhile. While rarely outright terrible, the Rangers haven’t been championship quality since their last Cup win 20 years ago. That includes a stint with Wayne Gretzky and some of the brightest stars of the time.
Even at the height of his powers, Gretzky couldn’t bring hockey to the forefront in Los Angeles.
The Kings have always been second fiddle in the city in the winter. L.A. is a Lakers town first and foremost and when the Lakers are winning, even the greatest player in history couldn’t out shine Showtime. A trip to the Cup Finals in 1993 brought the team some coverage with Gretzky at the helm, but 19 years of mediocre hockey and five Lakers championships in the stead, the Kings lost most of those fans before they were able to win the Cup two years ago.
And it wasn’t just mediocre hockey keeping these fanbases at bay. Since the Rangers last Cup win in 1994, the NHL has locked out its players three times and lost an entire season. At one point the league’s national games were being televised on Outdoor Life Network. The league, which saw momentum build off the back of back-to-back Cup appearances by its biggest cities and biggest stars, actively turned itself into a niche sport.
Then this gift landed on the NHL’s doorstep.
The Kings are on the brink of a dynasty with the best American goaltender in the sport and a talented team that never goes away quietly. The Rangers are a sleeping giant, a traditional power that has been waiting for greatness for a long time.
The series has caught the attention of casual fans in both cities. Each city’s position as the media capital of its coast has brought the eyes of media outlets that normally wouldn’t cover the sport. People around the country, in turn, are watching hockey.
There are no looming labor contracts to screw up this time. This isn’t another series pitting fantastic talent in smaller markets.
The NHL has the attention of new fans in new places. It has two closely-matched teams playing exciting hockey. It’s already had an overtime thriller, fraught with drama.
This is the time to grab those fans and convince them that hockey can always be like this. It isn’t just a bunch of goons flicking a rubber puck between fights and checks. It’s dekes and dangles and speed. It’s flashy personalities and a sport that doesn’t just play lip service to defense.
It’s been said of one of the cities, “If you can make it there, you can make it anywhere.”
After years of mismanagement, the NHL has it’s opportunity at the big time. Now’s the time to shine.