CNNSI's take on the Stanley Cup Finals

[rhcardinals3]

Parity produces worst Stanley Cup in 20 years?

Congratulations, everybody! We have the worst Stanley Cup final in more than 20 years! That's only technically speaking, of course, as New Jersey and Los Angeles should be solid entertainment. But when the Devils beat the New York Rangers 3-2 in overtime on Friday night to set up a date with the Kings, it meant the ninth and 13th overall teams from the regular season will battle it out for the right to hoist Lord Stanley's mug. New Jersey was ninth overall and the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference, while the Kings were 13th overall and eighth in the Western Conference. Their regular-season placings total 22. The only higher sum was in 1991, when the No. 7 Pittsburgh Penguins beat the No. 16 Minnesota North Stars. In fact, not since the playoffs expanded to 16 teams in 1980 has the better seed among the finalists been as low as No. 9 overall. Parity has never been more prevalent.

 

[27Leafs27]

The US tv network should be quite happy with those 2 major ratings markets involved no matter the seeding.

Dan.

 

[gobuffalo2331]

They can suck it..obviously not hockey fans. Anyone outside of hockey would look at a 6 vs. 8 matchup and said it would be boring. I'm looking forward too it!

 

[paulxing]

The US tv network should be quite happy with those 2 major ratings markets involved no matter the seeding.

Dan.

??? Neither of those teams are major ratings markets. The US TV networks DESPERATELY needed New York to make it as the Final 4 were all bums. Luckily Lakers and Clippers flamed out so maybe some of the bandwagon is still parked at the staple centre... honestly NBC might STILL not show game 5 (if necessary) as some horse is trying to complete the triple crown in New York that same day. They'll argue triple crown > beginning of an elimination game. Stanley cup every year, triple crown attempt, super rare.

 

[kingshockey]

They can suck it!

word!!


and paulxing, i'll eat that horse if they dont show the SC finals.

 

[27Leafs27]

Wouldn't New Jersey be in the New York market, right across the river? Last time I looked LA was definately a major market.
Dan.

 

[paulxing]

New york alone almost pulls in as much as New Jersey and LA together.

TOP TEN
Rank Club Regional rights holder Average audience
Per game broadcast

1* Montreal Canadiens RDS* 688,000*
2 Toronto Maple Leafs Rogers Sportsnet Ontario 656,400
3 Vancouver Canucks Rogers Sportsnet Pacific 398,500
4 Calgary Flames Rogers Sportsnet West 221,300
5 Pittsburgh Penguins FSN Pittsburgh 214,100
6 Chicago Blackhawks Comcast Sportsnet / WGN-TV 9 196,800
7 Detroit Red Wings FSN Detroit 186,600
8 Edmonton Oilers Rogers Sportsnet West 181,400
9 Ottawa Senators Rogers Sportsnet Ontario 153,400
10 New York Rangers MSG Network 152,200
MIDDLE TEN
11 Philadelphia Flyers Comcast Sportsnet / CN8 147,900
12 Boston Bruins NESN (New England Sports Network) 120,800
13 New Jersey Devils MSG Plus 99,200
14 Buffalo Sabres MSG Network 93,600
15 Washington Capitals Comcast Sportsnet 85,400
16 St. Louis Blues FSN Midwest 67,000
17 Minnesota Wild FSN North / KSTC-TV 66,500
18 San Jose Sharks CSN California 63,200
19 Los Angeles Kings FSN West / Prime ticket 62,400
20 New York Islanders MSG Plus 61,500
BOTTOM TEN
21 Colorado Avalanche Altitude 54,700
22 Anaheim Ducks FSN West 54,700
23 Dallas Stars FSN Southwest / KDFI My27 42,400
24 Columbus Blue Jackets FSN Ohio 29,600
25 Phoenix Coyotes FSN Arizona 26,500

26 Carolina Hurricanes FSN Carolina 25,300 (est.)
27 Nashville Predators FSN Tennessee 25,300 (est.)
28 Tampa Bay Lightning Sun Sports 25,100
29 Atlanta Thrashers Sportsouth 18,000
30 Florida Panthers FSN Florida 13,400

 

[canucksfreak19]

To be fair this story came from Kirk Penton of the Winnipeg Sun and cnnsi, just picked up the story. With that said I think there is a possibility to see some entertaining hockey. I am interested to see how the special teams battle breaks down as that is what will set these two teams apart in the end in my opinion. Both teams have the ability to score shorthanded, will there be more shorthanded goals than power play goals this series? The Brodeur story is quite something too.

 

[Orca Pod]

Paul - interesting. Definitely no surprise with the top 3 (they are basically a 'given'); only one in the top 10 surprised me at all.

Thing is, can you find updated numbers? These are at least a year old. That being said, I can't see things changing that much.

 

[Metrags]

Wouldn't New Jersey be in the New York market, right across the river? Last time I looked LA was definately a major market.
Dan.

NJ has no fan base whatsoever. Anyone in the NY NJ area is pretty much a Ranger fan first, then the Isles or devils can scrap for the rest. Which isnt fair, the isles have a big base, but they havent shown their faces since the 80s.....

The Devs went a long time without having anyone to fill the seats. I remember they even talked about moving for a brief period about 10 years ago or so.


Even then, NY'ers are Yankees or Knicks fans first. Hockey is a forgotten sport even when the team is good....



As for LA, it is certainly in a major market, but not a hockey market.....

 

[Rorschach]

The normal LA hockey market is irrelevant in this discussion. The LA bandwagon market pwns all. And the NJ haters market is pretty big too.

 

[tiger tiger]

Those rankings are deceiving. NJ actually tied Bos (7th) and Det (8th) for points. And the rankings are not evenly distributed in each conference. ie. The 14-16th ranked teams are all from the Eastern Conference, where one of the teams must come out from. So from year to year, this distribution varies so you cannot use it as an accurate comparison.

Plus the regular season means nothing. Everyone in every sport knows that. An untimely injury, a hot streak, one bad break, one mental error, etc. makes a big difference. Bill Buckner?

Would it be terrible if it was a Detroit-Washington final? That would make it 23 as a total, which is worse than the current final. If LA had won one game vs Phoenix and NJ won one more game, the total would have been 6+11=17, a jump in 5 spots.

An LA-NJ final is still very good for the NHL because it crosses the USA. North East vs South West, so the it looks good for their national TV contract.

In Canada, hockey is king. Habs/Leafs/Canucks individually have more viewership than NYR/NJ/LA combined. Wondering where Winnipeg came in at.

With those numbers, could you imagine what the viewership would be for a Habs/Leafs vs Canucks finals?

 

[suitman19]

While Paul's statistics are meaningful - keep in mind that they only represent viewership in 'home markets'. When you talk about NY Rangers/Chicago/Detroit and then Montreal/Toronto you have the additional 'name travels well' angle. Or a Pittsburgh Sidney Crosby viewership angle.

We - as devout hockey fans - need to recognize that when they talk about potential viewership, they are aiming at the casual, team and borderline fans.
We will watch ANY SCF games - the casual viewer will not.

 

[Brave]

Wonder what the NYR/NYI/NJD viewership numbers would be if MSG didnt black out games in some of the local markets due to the lack of a contract with some of the cable companies.

 

[paulxing]

Just a bump to remind everyone that the series ratings have been TERRIBLE with no relation to the quality on the ice but solely because these teams have FEW FANS in relation to teams like the Rangers, let alone any Canadian team. BOTH OF THEM.

 

[SkyFire47]

Wouldn't New Jersey be in the New York market, right across the river? Last time I looked LA was definately a major market.
Dan.

nah, no one in NY cares about NJ unless the Rangers are playing there.

 

[Metrags]

nah, no one in NY cares about NJ unless the Rangers are playing there.

Or Giants.....Or even Red Bulls.....

Heck, the devils averaged 15,400 per game this year, while the Red Bulls MLS team (yes there is major league soccer in the USA for those who didnt know....) averaged 19,700