Rigamarole - A Foot In The Crease - Episode 5.37

www.afootinthecrease.com

If you need any proof that fortunes can change quickly in today’s NHL, you don’t need to look any further than this year’s edition of the Stanley Cup Finals. Just three seasons ago, the Philadelphia Flyers and Chicago Blackhawks drafted first and second overall. That’s right; the last two teams standing this time around were mired at the bottom of the NHL standings in 2007. From the outhouse to the penthouse in three short years.

For the NHL, they are surely loving the reincarnation of two solid hockey markets in two major American cities. No disrespect intended to cities like Raleigh, Anaheim, and Tampa Bay but if the league is looking for major television numbers on a national level on NBC, they’ll have a much better chance attracting them with two of the biggest cities in the US reaching a fever pitch over their teams.

Moreover, Philadelphia and Chicago are two markets that have been out of the lime light in terms of Stanley Cup Finals appearances for quite some time. The league would never say anything against arguably its most marketable player in Sidney Crosby or the Detroit Red Wings, a model of success and consistency, but one has to think the last thing they wanted was a third consecutive Penguins vs Red Wings final. For even the most diehard fan, three years of the same starts to become awfully mundane. So if it’s time for a change, what better generate interest than two teams that could hardly be considered out of the group of usual suspects?

All that doesn’t matter though if the series itself does not live up to its billing on the ice. But through one game it certainly doesn’t seem like that’s going to be a problem either. The NHL has long craved a higher scoring, back and forth game and with eleven goals in game one, the league is getting exactly what it wants on the biggest stage that it has. But hey, all that was just rigamarole.