Columnist Dean Juipe: Cup chase reduces NHL visibility

Dean Juipe

Wednesday, May 7, 2003 | 9:39 a.m.

Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at juipe@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4084.

There was a time when I knew every player in the National Hockey League by sight, even after the league doubled in size from six to 12 in 1967.

I was passionate about the sport in every respect.

Today I'm sorrowfully disinterested, in large part because the Red Wings were ousted so early from this year's playoffs. Yes, my roots are showing.

But curtailed, too, is my broader interest in what is now a 30-team league. It's one thing to lose familiarity with the players, yet here we are with five teams left chasing the Stanley Cup and I frequently find myself struggling to ascertain which teams are even pictured in a newspaper or magazine photograph.

Talk about an identity crisis.

And it's no consolation that I'm not alone.

The NHL may have more teams than ever, yet it seems to have fewer TV viewers, at least in the United States. The ratings speak for themselves.

ABC is off 21 percent from a year ago and down to a 1.1 share of the available audience. ESPN is off by 14 percent and ESPN2 is off by 20 percent, reducing each to an approximate 0.6 share.

Translated: NHL playoff games are attracting from 50,000 to 94,000 fewer homes in the United States than they did just a year ago.

This comes at a bad time for a league whose TV contract expires next year and whose rights fee is apt to drop some 50 percent from the $600 million ABC and ESPN paid four years ago.

What the league needed during these playoffs is exactly what it didn't get: dominant performances by the supposedly dominant teams.

Not only was Detroit -- the "America's Team" of hockey -- eliminated early, fellow powerhouses Colorado and Dallas are also out.

Of the country's large-market teams, only Anaheim and New Jersey are still playing and they'll be joined in the conference finals by Ottawa and either Minnesota or Vancouver, whose semifinal series resumes tonight with the Canucks ahead 3-2.

Diversity is nice, but this is not what the league and its typical fan had in mind.

In fact, going back to Sports Illustrated's 1-to-30 rankings of the NHL teams before the season, none of the top six is still playing.

Don't mistake turnover for turnovers: the latter may be popular at delis, bakeries or donut shops but the former grates on officials and fans who appreciate a certain, if somewhat rigid, hierarchy to their sports leagues.

When the Stanley Cup final arrives later this spring it's apt to be the equivalent of last year's Anaheim vs. San Francisco World Series. It's going to have only limited appeal.

It may have a team that's bankrupt (Ottawa) or one that has played only three seasons (Minnesota) or one that has never before reached a conference final (Anaheim).

It may rhythmically match Devils against Ducks or Canucks.

Or it could give headline writers a tempting Wild, Senators pairing.

It may prove to be fresh and sassy, while being light on tradition.

It may even force a few of us to at least try to rekindle our passion for the game.

But I had a hard time with a Disney team in the Series and I'm unlikely to be overly ecstatic if it's a Duck raising the Cup.