How the NHL Could Capitalize on Olympic Fever

OK, so it wasn't the "Miracle on Ice" from 1980. But these kids representing the United States played hockey with the same passion, were given almost as little chance to win, and inspired people in much the same way.

Most hockey fans who watched the two games against Canada will tell you the games had every bit as much intensity as a game seven for the Stanley Cup. Two teams giving it everything they had every minute they were on the ice.

But Canada's team was loaded with NHL all stars like Sidney Crosby, Jarome Iginla, Marty Brodeur, Chris Pronger, etc, etc, etc. Team USA had many young rising players, like Zach Parise, Erik Johnson, and Ryan Miller, who played so brilliant in goal through the tournament, allowing 8 goals in 6 games on his way to the MVP of the tournament. Mixed in were veterans like Brian Rafalski, Chris Drury, and Jamie Langenbrunner.

But it was the overall level of play in the tournament that should teach the NHL something.

30 teams is simply too many for a sport that is struggling to grab hold of fans, television contracts, and overall exposure. When the NHL decided to lock out the players in the 2004-2005 season, their already shrinking numbers tanked. The game had become slow and dull, with many teams employing tactics and strategies that didn't allow the game's most talented scorers to do exactly that.

Defense may win championships, but scoring wins fans, and fans pay the bills.

After the lockout, the league finally made long overdue changes to the rules, eliminating the clutching and grabbing that had slowed the game to a crawl, added the shootout to make sure fans always left the game with a winner and a loser, and instructed the officials to call interference and obstruction penalties much closer.

After an initial adjustment, scoring went up, and game play and flow improved dramatically. Unfortunately, the contract with ESPN was gone, and they had no desire to sign another one. The nearly invisible Versus network, known more for professional rodeo coverage and Tour De France coverage stepped in, for those who could get the network. The game was back to what it was during Wayne Gretzky's prime, a high flying, fast paced game featuring some young, brilliant players like Crosby, Alexander Ovechkin, Pavel Datsyuk, and others, but was being seen by fewer and fewer people.

Coming off this wave of hockey fever, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, widely regarded as the worst commissioner in professional sports, has already said he's not sure if NHL players will participate in 2014, when the Olympics go to Russia.

Bettman needs to look at his league, realize he has about 12 teams more than it needs, and he needs to let those teams who are dying die, not relocate. A product that is struggling does not need to be watered down if it hopes to succeed. While Team USA was young overall, it was still top NHL players, and they gave Canada's all star laden team everything they could handle. But even in the Olympics, where only 12 teams competed, the deck was stacked at the top. Four teams failed to win a game, while Canada and the USA ended 5-1, each losing only to the other.

Hockey is a great sport to watch when it is played at its highest level. Too often in the NHL, you see mismatches and players who have made a roster simply because there are too many jobs available. Living in Phoenix, I have seen the model of this failed experiment in the Phoenix Coyotes. Even with Gretzky at the helm (some say because he was at the helm), this team languished in obscurity, ultimately ending in bankruptcy and the league assuming ownership temporarily.

Even with the Coyotes near the top of the NHL this year, attendance is woeful, and the franchise is a drag on the hockey economy. For the sake of the sport, I would be willing to see our beloved desert dogs be put to sleep, and the great young players absorbed into other rosters, raising the level of overall league talent.

With Bettman at the controls of the league, however, I won't hold my breath.