The NHL Sucks at Scheduling and Marketing

[jkrdevil]

The real reason why it's compressed is because they added 7 days to the season for unknown reasons. I even submitted it as a question to 32 thoughts and their thought line to see if Jeff and Elliotte cared enough to find out why this happened, the answer was no.

2022-23 was a 185 day season (which was always the case pre-COVID and in non-Olympic years) and there were some rescheduled games on day 186.

2023-24 was a 192 day season

If they had continued with their 186 day season model of years past, the Cup final ends on June 17th or so and this thread isn't a thing.

Also trades happening during the Cup Final should not be viewed as a negative at all.

The answer to this again is likely broadcast considerations. Specifically how the calendar falls in terms of days of the week.

ESPN has Masters rights and part of its contract with Augusta National calls for replays in primetime on Thursday and Friday. ESPN and TNT want the season to end on a Wednesday/Thursday so the final week of the season can't fall on Masters week like previously. Masters is the first Thursday after the first Sunday of April. This year April started on Monday so the Masters wasn't until April 11 (in 2023 it was April 6 start). That added a week to the season.

When NBC had the rights MLB and the Masters weren't a consideration, so you got a pretty consistent Memorial Day start to the final. With ESPN it is a more crowded broadcast calendar and you have to work with the timeslots that are available. The two day travel break during the final has been in place for awhile going back to when the NBA changed its finals format and the NHL followed. They have to work with the NBA on scheduling the Final as they share many buildings (we were two Stars wins from the same building hosting both championships). As mentioned many time here the Final is scheduled a year in advanced and the dates are held in every building (or they have the buy out the days if the teams make it).

 

[Section 104]

One thing the NHL (owners and players) get right is most free agent signings happen quickly come July 1. In baseball many teams and agents (named Scott Boras) stretch them out for months.

 

[colchar]

Major trades happening during the Cup Finals, HHOF class announced a day after the Cup, draft and free agency just a few days later. The major award winners will also get announced sometime this week. Cup parade a day after the draft and a day before free agency... All this avalanche of news/events happening during a one week span, then 2 months of the league going quiet until September..

The NFL times every little event that happens in their league to generate as much buzz as possible and ensure they're driving the sports news cycle at all times. The NHL does the opposite, it's a bunch of amateurs self-sabotaging.

Who gives a shit? Who cares if there are trades during the Cup final? Do you seriously think people stopped paying attention to the games to focus on the trades? Really?

There will be free agent signings throughout the summer, but otherwise even us Canadians need a break from hockey during the heart of the summer. I don't give a shit about a winter sport when it is 100+ degrees outside, and people on vacation aren't paying attention to what happens in the NHL while they are enjoying their summers.

Seriously, get over it.

The league should also dump the best of 7 format. Each round 1 home game, 1 away game. Aggregate moves on. Final-winner takes all. Romanticizing injuries or the grind is dumb.

Dumbest shit I've ever heard. If you want to watch soccer then watch soccer. But do not try to turn hockey into that pathetic excuse for a sport.

 

[colchar]

The NHL sucks at just about everything because their run by a bunch of jello brained oafs who got punched in the head for majority of their adult lives and not people who can count above 10 without using their hands and toes.

Bettman, Daly, and the owners got punched in the head for the majority of their adult lives? Genius.

 

[Jyrki]

Bettman, Daly, and the owners got punched in the head for the majority of their adult lives? Genius.

Not only that, but they serve at the leisure of billionaires who aren't exactly known for their on-ice careers.

At the end of the day, team equity has increased while profits have been decent enough. They managed to get Ryan Smith to pay up twice the price of what Meruelo paid for the Coyotes despite the franchise being ran disastrously. Until the bottom line starts hurting it's status quo,

 

[ACC1224]

Thought this year was fantastic, shorter time between the last game and draft/free agency the better.

 

[nickyb]

Is the 24-25 schedule coming out today ?

 

[The Great Mighty Poo]

Is the 24-25 schedule coming out today ?

I dunno man, I'm not a scientist.

 

[CTHabsfan]

Maybe the NHL shouldn’t have agreed to work with ESPN.

The league should also dump the best of 7 format. Each round 1 home game, 1 away game. Aggregate moves on. Final-winner takes all. Romanticizing injuries or the grind is dumb.

Aggregate moves on? I'm glad you're not in charge of the NHL. Game 1 is 8-1; why even bother playing game two? If a team is losing by a goal late in game one do they not pull the goaltender because they are worried about the potential of an empty netter affecting the aggregate score?

 

[ijuka]

Major trades happening during the Cup Finals, HHOF class announced a day after the Cup, draft and free agency just a few days later. The major award winners will also get announced sometime this week. Cup parade a day after the draft and a day before free agency... All this avalanche of news/events happening during a one week span, then 2 months of the league going quiet until September..

That's because they're playing a winter sport deep into June. This should be the middle of the offseason, and is exactly that in any other winter sport. Take Finland and Liiga. The season ended in April. It's now been 2 months of offseason. Another 2 months, and it will be the beginning of September, when the league begins again. So this is the middle of the offseason.

However, NHL for some reason keeps playing two months after all competing leagues have already stopped.

 

[King Woodballs]

Scheduling is pretty good. The marketing though. Yeeeeesh

 

[The Marquis]

The NHL spends a lot of money advertising their product... DURING THEIR BROADCASTS! To me, that's a poor use of marketing funds. Those people are already there, watching and mostly probably aware and paying attention to what and when something is on. It's crazy to me. They could be using that time to make more money from advertising, and using that money to advertise on other platforms and during other events.

Maybe I understand television marketing wrong, but it's just so common to see NHL ads during NHL games.

 

[Curufinwe]

That's because they're playing a winter sport deep into June. This should be the middle of the offseason, and is exactly that in any other winter sport.

Nope. The Premier League goes from mid August to late May.

 

[StreetHawk]

Winter sport playing deep into June, lose interest in the other markets.
As well, ice conditions can be bad for your showcase event the later you push it.

NHL doesn’t ever get a big kickoff to their season. So not sure if mlb is that big a deal.

 

[Duke749]

Considering the injuries some were playing with, I’m sure they enjoyed the extra days off.

And yeh the marketing sucks.

 

[Jumptheshark]

Major trades happening during the Cup Finals, HHOF class announced a day after the Cup, draft and free agency just a few days later. The major award winners will also get announced sometime this week. Cup parade a day after the draft and a day before free agency... All this avalanche of news/events happening during a one week span, then 2 months of the league going quiet until September..

The NFL times every little event that happens in their league to generate as much buzz as possible and ensure they're driving the sports news cycle at all times. The NHL does the opposite, it's a bunch of amateurs self-sabotaging.

Teams go silent 2nd week of July and do not really get back up and running till early September. Office workers are still doing their thing but overall teams usually do one or two things over the next two months and that is it,

GMs have commented before that once the FA frenzy dies down that some organizations go into a coma till late August when they start thinking about things

 

[DRW895]