Zitat:The Anaheim Ducks could hoist the Stanley Cup as early as tonight which would shock not only Ottawa fans but about 300 million Americans who had no idea that hockey season was still under way.

Like the last two Finals between Canadian teams and teams from nontraditional U.S. markets, there have been great goals, terrific saves and punishing hits. And like those series, no one (relatively speaking) is watching.

On Saturday night when LeBron James led Cleveland into the NBA Finals, the NBA earned a 5.3 rating. That's not what the league used to get for conference finals, by any means. But it was far better than what NBC drew (1.5) for Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Finals.

Quick, before commissioner Gary Bettman renders this league extinct, here are 10 ways to fix the NHL and deliver an improved product to more viewers in 2008.


1: Put microphones on all coaches and captains for all games. One of the things that the millions of fans that flock to NASCAR races each year really enjoy is the ability to hear every word exchanged between Dale Earnhardt Jr. and his crew chief, Tony Eury Jr. The scanner technology is there to let every fan in the seats eavesdrop on what's being said. We don't want lame interviews conducted by bench reporters. We want to hear the real thing, and if we're paying $100 a ticket, we deserve it.

2: Start the season a month later. The Stanley Cup Finals should be starting when the NBA Finals are ending. For two weeks, you get the closest thing you're ever going to get to undivided attention. The technology is good enough to make ice playable in late June. Starting the season a month before the NBA in the heart of college and pro football season does nothing for the NHL.

3: Convince the selfish Eastern Conference general managers to act in the best interests of the game and change the schedule. This was voted on and rejected a few months ago. But Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby, moving into the prime of what's going to be a fantastic career, needs to play a game in Dallas and Los Angeles and Chicago every year. Not once every three years.

4: Kiss up to ESPN. Make amends. There's still enough room for programming at the world-wide leader to get your games back there. Versus gives the NHL no presence at all. The studio show has Bill Clement, a great analyst, in the misguided role of host. Get back to ESPN – even if it's ESPN2 – and get your highlights back on SportsCenter.

5: Let the skaters in shootouts go without their helmets. In the Sixties and Seventies, we could easily identify Bobby Hull, Jean Beliveau, the flowing locks of Guy LaFleur. Then safety reared its ugly head, and now we have no idea what these players look like. Most of the regular-season highlights we see of the NHL are from shootouts. Let's see the players. Women will like this one.

6: Eliminate the ability to ice the puck during penalty killing. You can't do it 5-on-5 but you can do it when you're being penalized? Montreal GM Bob Gainey never really thought that made sense and he's right. If they ice it, bring back the puck back for the face-off and the penalty killers have to stay on the ice. What that would do is increase scoring from the game's best players, make power plays more powerful and cut down on penalties which would increase the flow of the game. All of those are good things.

7: Adopt the 2-3-2 travel format for all series. Commissioner David Stern did it for the NBA Finals after the 1984 season to ease the travel for newspapers. Those Boston-to-Los Angeles-to-Boston-to Los Angeles-to Boston trips were hard on the budget, not to mention hangovers. Television ratings have fallen flat for the Stanley Cup Finals. Do it for all series. Increase (even by a fraction) news media coverage of the playoffs. It can't hurt.

8: Adopt the shootout after 40 minutes of playoff overtime hockey. Once you get past that point, the hockey gets ugly. Fans need to know that if they stick around until a little after midnight, they are going to see a winner. Networks need to know that, too. They aren't making any money with those long ad-less overtimes. I would keep unlimited overtime for any game that could decide the Cup Finals.

9: Move the U.S. league office to Atlanta. Being in New York, the NHL can at least pretend it's a big deal. Bettman and other league officials need to walk the streets of Atlanta or, I don't care, Raleigh or Nashville and learn that nobody knows who they are. It will help them figure out what they have done to the game.

10: Contract to 26 teams. Arrive at a formula based on revenue, attendance, won-lost record and local ratings. The two worst performing teams are dropped and their players are dispersed after next season. Two more go a year later. Now you have fewer and better teams and you get to see the stars more often and you increase your chances of making the playoffs. Those are good things. Someone should let Bettman know how his grand plan of "expanding the league's footprint" has really gone.