The NHL playoffs are arguably the most exciting postseason in sports from start to finish. Sure, the upsets of the NCAA Tournament are magical, but things get pretty tame after that first weekend. And while the NFL Playoffs has its moments, there are just as many dud games to sit through.
From game one of the first round all the way to the end of the Stanley Cup Finals, hockey offers up the best, most captivating contests possible. The intensity is off-the-charts with equal parts of physicality and skill mixed in. It’s can’t miss viewing.
Or at least it was can’t miss viewing until this year. The Stanley Cup Finals and the entire NHL playoffs have been an afterthought buried behind the million other things going on. The television ratings show just how little attention hockey has received in a suddenly convoluted sporting landscape.
NHL playoff games were averaging less than 1 million viewers prior to the Stanley Cup Finals. Hockey’s climax hasn’t fared much better. Game 1 of the Finals on NBC couldn’t even beat out NASCAR for viewers and finished well behind college football and the NBA Playoffs in the ratings, according to Showbuzz Daily.
Related: The NBA Playoffs don’t feel real in Orlando Bubble
The Stanley Cup Finals are on?
Look, we all know 2020 is a weird year. However, the NBA’s and NHL’s decision to return to play after the lockdown was the wrong move. All it has done is proven football is king, college football is second and everything else is in a fight for relevance when competing against those two behemoths.
By playing the Stanley Cup Finals during this time, the NHL has hurt its credibility among casual fans who haven’t been bothered to watch and may not even realize hockey is being played. That’s a bad thing.
Perhaps the most ridiculous aspect about all this is the fact there was a back-to-back in the Stanley Cup Finals because they didn’t want to compete against the NFL on Sunday. Nothing like devaluing your showcase event just to avoid regular season football games.
Hopefully a return to normalcy, or at least some semblance of it, will see the Stanley Cup Finals and NHL playoffs regain its footing as a premier sporting event next year. Because if hockey is forced to have the postseason compete head-to-head against football ever again, the sport might as well turn off the lights and call it a day.
