Few would argue that the National Hockey League’s postseason isn’t one of the best spectacles in sports. Two full months of all-out, emotionally charged hockey and an uptick in the quality of play certainly makes the games fun to watch, but so far during this year’s playoffs the physical intensity has been amped up even higher.
Through the first 19 games of the 2011-’12 NHL playoffs there has been an abnormally high number of cases of questionable physical play. It seems that after every game some new player has a date with NHL head disciplinarian Brendan Shanahan.
But is the NHL just giving the fans what they want to see?
It’s no secret that hockey fans love the violent side of the sport. Nothing in hockey elicits bigger cheers from those in attendance than when two players drop the gloves or when a big hit is delivered, and so far this year’s playoffs haven’t disappointed in that regard. Let’s just say that Shanahan and the NHL Department of Player Safety are going to be busy over the next couple of days with all the scheduled disciplinary hearings that have come out of the first few days of the playoffs.
The NHL hoped that this year’s postseason would bring big television ratings. The most important media markets in the U.S. (New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Detroit, Chicago and Los Angeles) all have teams in the postseason, and for the first time in league history every playoff game will be broadcast nationally on either NBC, NBC Sports Network or CNBC—networks that are available in 80 percent of homes with cable TV.
In the early going it seems that the NHL is achieving the ratings bonanza it was hoping for. It was reported that through the first two days of the postseason, the NHL’s TV ratings were up 50 percent compared to this time last year, including the biggest opening night ever, ratings wise, last Wednesday for the NHL playoffs on the NBC Sports Network (formerly Versus).
The NHL has been hoping to generate this type of fan interest ever since the 2004-’05 season was cancelled due to a lockout, resulting in many fans losing interest in the sport. Sure, ratings on the NBC Sports Network are at all-time highs during this postseason, but if those ratings are coming with an increase in dangerous on-ice play, is it really good for the league and the sport?
Coming into the playoffs, no series was more highly anticipated than the Philadelphia Flyers vs. the Pittsburgh Penguins, two teams that are known to have a less than cordial relationship and make up arguably the NHL’s most bitter rivalry. Combine that with a league that showed leniency on violence already and you get game three of that series, a game pulled in the best ratings for a NHL playoff game in 10 years and totaled 158 penalty minutes, featured six fighting majors and resulted in four ejections—three in the first period alone.
That game featured cheap shots like Arron Asham cross-checking Brayden Schenn in the throat and then punching him as he lay on the ice, as well as two separate dangerous hits delivered by James Neal—one where he leveled Sean Couturier with the puck nowhere in sight, and another where he went high on a hit to the head of Claude Giroux. All three of those instances left the victim of the play shaken up, yet I’d be willing to bet that makes it into the TV promos for game four.
Think about it, what better tool does the NHL have to promote its nationally televised postseason to the general public than hard-hitting, violent hockey? The league loves to play up intense rivalries like Pittsburgh-Philadelphia, so I’m sure they love that after game three that series is about to reach a fever pitch of intensity.
The league certainly isn’t doing much to curb the violence either. Shea Weber, who bashed Henrik Zetterberg’s head against the boards, was fined only $2,500—pocket change for a guy making $7.5 million this season. The harshest the NHL has come down on offenders this postseason has been in the form of one-game suspensions, and even then it was only because an injury was sustained on the play. What a great precedent for the NHL to set: It’s OK as long as no one gets hurt.
As a result of its leniency on violence, the NHL is quickly losing control of its postseason as it has turned into an open season for violent play and players are at a huge risk for major injuries, like Ottawa’s Daniel Alfredsson, who suffered a concussion after taking an elbow to the head courtesy of the Rangers’ Carl Hagelin.
Well-played hockey is among one of the most entertaining sports to watch. Those who watch the Olympics or the playoffs during any other year can attest to that. But fans love the violence and they always will. However when hockey is played with the type of brutality that is being exhibited during the playoffs right now it cheapens the game and takes away from what the sport can be.
So is it worth it? Are the TV ratings worth the violence, the increased risk to player safety and the transformation of hockey into a glorified MMA match? Count me in among those that say no.
Is the increase in violent play good for the sport of hockey? Let Ryan know your thoughts via e-mail at rmevans2@dailycardinal.com or hit him up on Twitter @ryanmevans.
