The Winter Traditional has been the NHL’s signature common season occasion for the reason that 2007-08 season, taking a New 12 months’s Day recreation open air to varied soccer and baseball stadiums throughout North America.
It has been one of many extra sensible advertising and marketing choices the league has had, and it has given usually mundane mid-season video games some added pleasure.
However the league badly dropped the ball with this 12 months’s recreation between the St. Louis Blues and Chicago Blackhawks at Wrigley Area, which St. Louis ended up successful, 6-2, because of a pair of objectives from defenseman Cam Fowler.
It not solely confirmed that out of doors video games may be shedding a few of their luster, however that the NHL may really be out of concepts on the subject of staging these video games.
So what was the issue with this 12 months’s matchup? There are such a lot of that it’s nearly not possible to determine the place to start.
However let’s begin with the actual fact it was a matchup that nearly no person wished.
Not solely are the Blues and Blackhawks two bottom-tier groups within the NHL this season (and everyone knew that coming in), the NHL has overly relied on the Blackhawks on the subject of its out of doors video games in each the Winter Traditional and the Stadium Collection.
Tuesday’s recreation was already the seventh out of doors recreation that Chicago has performed in, and already its fourth Winter Traditional. No crew within the NHL has appeared in additional.
It’s the second time Chicago has appeared within the recreation prior to now seven years and third time prior to now 9 years.
Followers of groups which have by no means had an opportunity to host an out of doors recreation — or play in an out of doors recreation — are merely uninterested in seeing Chicago all the time get positioned in these video games.
Particularly when the Blackhawks have been a bottom-feeder within the standings for the reason that begin of the 2016-17 season. Whereas they do have one of many recreation’s brightest younger stars in second-year standout Connor Bedard, the crew has stunk for years.
Not solely did the NHL recycle the Blackhawks, it additionally recycled this matchup as it’s the second time the Blues and Blackhawks have performed within the recreation.
It additionally recycled going again to Wrigley Area, which has already hosted one in all these video games.
The entire level of the Winter Traditional was to offer completely different groups and distinctive venues an opportunity to host video games. Going again to a matchup you’ve gotten already used, a stadium you’ve gotten already used and one crew that has already performed in additional out of doors video games than anyone else simply comes throughout as, for lack of a greater phrase, lazy.
Alarmingly lazy.
Even worse, the NHL took it upon itself to bury its personal recreation within the schedule on a day that it’s not usually performed.
Previous to this season the Winter Traditional has all the time been a standalone recreation for the league on New 12 months’s Day. Positive, it has to compete towards faculty soccer, however the league has by no means been shy about that. This 12 months, nevertheless, the league buried it on New 12 months’s Eve (when it nonetheless needed to compete with faculty soccer) on a day the place 12 different NHL video games have been happening.
The league didn’t even give it its personal day and did nearly nothing to promote it to a extra common viewers.
There’s an argument to be made that the NHL has oversaturated its personal market by having too many out of doors video games over time. However they will nonetheless be enjoyable video games for followers and there’s nonetheless plenty of untapped potential for the place they will take these video games.
However the NHL didn’t even attempt to discover any of that this season and simply went again to its personal security nets. It was boring. It was bland. It was a recreation that no person wished. The league received the end result it deserved.
