The NHL introduces The Frozen Frenzy and Rasmus Andersson loses his suspension appeal
All 32 teams in the NHL are playing on Tuesday evening.
Happy Tuesday. Here is what we are talking about today.
The NHL thinks it is trying something bold.
Rasmus Andersson loses his suspension appeal
Welcome to the Frozen Frenzy(?)
Before we get started, my apologies for the lateness of Today’s entry and the shortness of it. Work called in a lot of other areas plus a dentist appointment set me behind. We will have a lot more to talk about on Wednesday.
Including what we are about to see on Tuesday night as the NHL tries to roll out its latest brilliant marketing idea — the Frozen Frenzy.
The NHL has tried to make a big deal about the fact all 32 teams are playing on Tuesday with a marathon of games that will stretch all night and deep into the early morning hours on the east coast (Philadelphia is playing in Vegas with an 11 ET puck drop!).
That, in some ways, is kind of cool.
Having hockey on all night with staggered start times so there is always a game to watch is the type of thing we need to see more of. But I don’t know that it’s really something that is going to attract any new eyeballs or bring in a new audience.
The most intriguing thing about it is the fact they are trying to introduce their own version of the “red zone channel” that will have whip-around coverage of big moments including goals, hits, power plays and anything else significant that might happen.
It is actually an intriguing idea, but my biggest question is why this night to roll out this sort of idea?
The NHL is doing this while going up against the Major League Baseball playoffs and a Game 7 in the National League Championship series, as well as the opening night of the NBA regular season. And even though the NBA has just a pair of games on its schedule, they are massive games that feature the defending NBA champion Denver Nuggets hosting LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers, and then Steph Curry and Golden State Warriors opening their season.
Why not do it to open the season? Or on a night where you are not competing with so many prime events in other sports? And why only do it one time?
And even more, why choose this night as the night to finally start staggering start times!
That said, I am really intrigued to see how it works, and I actually have somewhat high hopes for how it works.
Just about the only thing I am not looking forward to is John Buccigross being the main host of it and inserting his nicknames and forced hockey lingo into the discussion.
Rasmus Andersson loses his appeal (as he should have)
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