Something fun happened this week – Twitter became interesting again.
No, this isn’t some commentary on some billionaire’s ego trip. Rather, hockey highlights started showing up.
As we’ve covered, the 2023 World Junior Summer Showcase is underway and Cutter Gauthier has been a standout. Yesterday, SKA Saint Petersburg opened its preseason in the Sochi Hockey Open and Matvei Michkov already provided a glimpse into the next three years, with a number of highlights that may even tempt you to click on that “am-I-sure-I’m-not-giving-away-all-my-personal-information” link to watch a stream of the game.
This has been like finding a drop of water after wandering a hockeyless desert. But, as one can only take so much Trea Turner, does it have to be this way?
There’s something quaint about the NHL basically shutting down shortly after the start of free agency to start a summer vacation in its proverbial cabin, but it’s yet another example of the gulf between hockey’s premier league and other professional sports organizations.
It’s become rote to mention that the NFL has developed an annual calendar that features a major event every month. While the schedule release and minicamps make this argument feel like a stretch, there’s no denying the NFL attempts to maintain relevance through the entirety of the year.
Major League Baseball, despite a number of logistical issues in its offseason due to weather, has the Arizona Fall League. There are also four other MLB-associated fall or winter leagues in Latin America.
The NBA is probably the closest comparable to the NHL. After the Larry O’Brien trophy is awarded, basketball fans can pick up the WNBA in the thick of its season and the NBA Summer League throughout July. Even in a sport with a limited number of contributors, hoop heads will still talk themselves into somebody named Ricky Council IV despite little chance he ever contributes to the Sixers’ rotation.
NHL teams have development camps, but little else until training camp. Considering there are more contributors to a hockey lineup than a basketball rotation, depth prospects and training camp battles for the final roster spots matter more. A few summer exhibition games between dev camp rosters could build some real buzz for rising prospects and scratch the diehard fans’ itch for hockey, building momentum for the upcoming season.
I’m sure this would have to be sorted in the NHL’s transfer agreements, but considering the number of highlights that come out of Da Beauty League and whatever roller hockey league Connor Bedard is playing, it seems like players would find value in offseason exhibition games that would also be productive for clubs to develop its players in game situations.
Additionally, while the NHL has mostly stayed out of the evolution of a professional women’s league, the summer may be the perfect time for the NHL to work with the Premier Hockey Federation to help fill some of the gaps in the hockey calendar while providing exposure to grow the women’s game.
Costs are always a consideration, but this doesn’t require significant overhead. A few team-owned facilities where organizations can congregate for a week or so and TV can easily be covered by filling the NHL Network’s schedule with something other than classic games and terrible lists.
Regardless, instead of forcing fans to hunt down dribs and drabs from other hockey organizations to get any new content between the first week of July and the end of September, the NHL should do more to engage them throughout the year.
