The Olympian
Today's Events
Sports Department Blog
Ron Newberry, Sports editor
Ron has spent 20 years in sports journalism. He will write about a broad range of sports topics. 
Gail Wood, Sports reporter
Gail's special interests are college sports and the South Sound scene.
Steve Powell, City editor
Steve has been a sports fan since he started collecting sports cards of legends such as Wilt Chamberlain, Bart Starr and Mickey Mantle and listening to the Seattle Pilots and Sonics on radio in the mid-1960s. A Washington State University graduate, his first few professional journalism jobs 28 years ago were covering prep, college and pro sports.
Meg Wochnick, Sports reporter
Meg specializes in high school sports coverage for The Olympian. She is a graduate of Pacific Lutheran University, where she was an NCAA Div. III All-American in track and field. She will provide insight on high school sports in South Sound.
Brendan Funtek, Sports content producer
Brendan is a native of Amarillo, Texas and graduate of The Evergreen State College, his sports interests are geared toward the national scene.
Marcus Burns, Sports page designer
Marcus is a Northwest native and graduate of The Evergreen State College. He will address Northwest college and professional sports.
Mike Lang, Copy editor
Mike came to The Olympian in 2006 from the Kansas City Star, where he worked just about every job in the sports department. He would rather be playing poker or be fishing than picking high school sports teams he knows very little about.
SPORTS
-
Spring cleaning: Downsizing the pro leagues, part 2 (NHL)
Enlarge Image
In demotion, the Dallas Stars would be ousted to lesser-tier status while the Detroit Red Wings remain pro. Fort Worth Star-Telegram/MCTThe Dallas Stars Mike Modano (9) gets sandwitched into the boards by Detroit Red Wings Kirk Maltby (18) and Kris Draper (33) in the second period of Game 3 of the NHL Western Conference finals at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas, Monday, May 12, 2008. The Red Wings defeated the Stars, 5-2.
from Brendan Funtek
Try as many may, the National Hockey League is not as doomed to obsolescence as people expect it to be. Yes, the NHL has a belittling cable contract with Versus and is steadily losing media coverage (in the United States). Yet the league persists in bringing the best the world has to offer and picked up a lot of national interest with its outdoor game earlier this season.
But the league is definitely bloated and the demotion solution here is the simplest of all four leagues to solve.
The NHL went insane with success after Wayne Gretzky gave the league a new immortal for both fans and newbies to gawk in awe. So, the 'delusions of grandeur' business model mutated with cities like Phoenix and Tampa Bay getting the opportunity to see professional ice hockey! In the sunny city! How cute! Too bad it doesn't work.
The attendance level for many of these Southern cities is paltry and the lack of youth development for ice hockey down there doesn't help.
The NHL can be cut down to 14 teams. Easily too, with very little reshuffling of division arrangements. You keep the entire Northwest (Calgary, Colorado, Edmonton, Minnesota, Vancouver), the entire Northeast (Boston, Buffalo, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto) and add Detroit to a reduced Atlantic Division of the New York Islanders, Rangers and Philadelphia Flyers.
Attendance-wise, Calgary, Detroit, Minnesota, Toronto and Vancouver have been the best for the last five seasons. The Red Wings, Edmonton, Montreal, Islanders and the Maple Leafs have historically averaged the most titles. And the most successfully consistent franchises were Boston, Buffalo, the Canadiens, Philadelphia and the Oilers.
After that, I threw in Ottawa (winless but good attendance nonetheless), the Rangers (also with great attendance) and Colorado (great attendance and fairly successful franchise) because they were the odd teams out of their respective divisions with no compelling reason to be kicked out. Maybe it isn't fair that New York gets two of the 14 remaining franchises but the Islanders four consecutive Stanley Cups was enough to make them a worthier franchise if one of the Big Apples must be eliminated.
The most obvious reason to accept my proposal is because six of the 14 teams remaining are from Canada, as it should be. Hockey is Canada's sport, not ours. And the best hockey league in the world should let the country with the most players in the pros get a bigger slice of the pie.
Here were my three toughest demotions:
1. The Dallas Stars. I lived in Texas and witnessed the little-known but highly impressive development of low-scale hockey arenas built around the Metroplex after the Stars won the Cup in 1999. Believe it or not, hockey is pretty big in Dallas and the attendance is notable. And with the astonishing level of youth development (check out Dallas youth Max Gerlach) there, don't be surprised if a U.S. rookie comes to the NHL soon from Texas. Dallas represents the best story of a post-Gretzky relocation to the South that caught on big time in the community.
2. Two California teams. The Los Angeles Kings and San Jose Sharks. Both teams get much better attendance than one probably expected when they first heard about hockey in the Golden State. But they're still expendable franchises with no titles between either of them.
3. Columbus. Surprisingly, the Blue Jackets get good attendance for being in Ohio. If they can raise up recently declining numbers and survive without Rick Nash (who would be moved to one of the top teams), they have a shot of moving up despite being an expansion franchise.
Saturday: the NFL
Monday: the NBA
Wednesday, May 20: MLB
bfuntek@theolympian.com
TOP JOBS
-
Procurement Coordinator
Intercity Transit -
HR Assistant
Squaxin Island Tribe -
ICW Caseworker
Squaxin Island Tribe -
Loan & New Accounts Officer
Twinstar Credit Union -
Controller
Twinstar Credit Union
Play video
Video ReportsSite Map
CUSTOMER SERVICE: Subscriber Services | Contact Us | Place An Ad | TOS & Privacy Statement | Newspapers in Education | Ethics Policy | About Us | About McClatchy
