It has been exactly one week since the Chicago Blackhawks hoisted the Stanley Cup and it will still be another week until the NHL hosts its annual award show in Las Vegas. The league has established way too much time between events and risks losing the attention of the throngs of casual fans who migrated to the game over the course of this year’s Stanley Cup Playoffs. Their focus will have shifted to other things, if it hasn’t already. Most notably, there’s the World Cup of Soccer and game seven of the NBA Championship. Hockey, for many, has already become yesterday’s news.
With it being a struggle for even the most committed hockey fan to stay conscious until late June for the league’s annual award show, the NHL should seriously consider moving up the event. If a potential game seven of the Stanley Cup Final is scheduled for a Friday, as was the case this year (June 11), the award show should air no later than Monday (June 14) as opposed to two weeks Wednesday (June 23). And, while we’re at it, the league might as well reschedule the draft from the last Friday of the month (June 25) to the first Friday after game seven (June 18).
The NHL was right to congratulate itself (to a point) regarding the success of this year’s Stanley Cup Playoffs. But while the league focuses squarely on its past achievements, it’s losing a huge opportunity to continue to make inroads with an expanded fan base.
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