Wow I cant believe people think hockey is failing because of the announcers. To the general fan (ie: not very intelligent) they don’t realize Vs and NBC announcers blow, because those fans don’t really understand hockey well enough to realize the announcers understand the game about as much as they do.
And the Sabres right now are a terrible example to use, we are a TINY market on the North American scale as a whole, and are only showing so much support because the team is doing well.
That editorial posted above highlights the reasons hockey is failing… Gary Betman. It’s no conspiracy or secret, he is single handily bringing down the NHL because he knows nothing about hockey. How can you take a guy who only knows the NBA (and not even that well to being with) and throw him in as the commissioner of a new sport he’s clueless about and expect it to work?!? Don’t get me wrong, its the board fault just as much as Betman’s, they should have realized this and have had many chances to fix their mistake and get rid of him, but for god knows why still keep him. The NHL will continue to suffer while under Betman’s control. You want to fix the NHL,
step 1, fire Gary Betman
step 2, fire Collin Campbell
step 3, hire a commission who actually has a brain
step 4, replace Campbell with someone who actually has a set of balls to end these rampant cheap shot hits before someone else gets seriously injured, paralyzed, or worse.
step 5, put Brett Hull in a barrel and throw him over Niagara Falls (OK, this one is just for me really :), I just really hate that retard)