First round not bad, not ideal for league
By Brian A. Shactman
ESPN.com
The NHL rarely flirts with perfection.
And now, having courted the best second-round matchups in years, the league-leading -- and perhaps too presumptuous, regarding a date with Cup destiny -- St. Louis Blues are gone from the playoffs.
No need to prolong the romance metaphor. Hockey fans -- and those skirting the edge of fandom -- are left wondering, "What if?" because there will be no dream conference semifinals out West.
Poor Gary Bettman. The NHL commissioner had to deal with a regular season replete with haphazard violence, flat television ratings and infamous contract disputes -- several of which were never resolved.
In addition, he has some of the more bizarre dramas in recent memory playing out in Philadelphia, with Eric Lindros getting stripped of his captaincy while suffering from post-concussion syndrome and the sort-of-kind-of head coach losing his bench position because of his brave battle with cancer.
|  | | Owen Nolan spoiled the NHL's dream conference finals out West. |
And now the Sharks bounce the Blues out of the playoffs? What could be worse?
Acutally, it's not so bad. Detroit, Colorado and Philly are still going strong, and with the Maple Leafs hanging around, at least Canada will be interested for another round.
But it's not as good as it could have been.
Aside from all the "let's hear it for the underdog" rhetoric, there has to be disappointment in the league office about not having the dream Round 2 in the West. As appealing as Detroit-Colorado is, people wanted that in the conference finals. Like the famous "Slapshot" line -- a bit of a paraphrase -- too much too soon.
St. Louis-Detroit and Dallas-Colorado would have been great for hockey. Arguably the four best NHL teams doing battle while the NBA playoffs were still irrelevant -- they don't seem to matter until the conference finals -- and baseball still gaining momentum. It would virtually have guaranteed great matchups the rest of the way.
Of course, the Bay Area is every bit the television market that St. Louis is -- certainly bigger. But losing the top regular-season team not only affects credibility with the casual fan but also further decreases the perceived importance of the regular season.
What does 114 points and 51 wins get you? An April 26 tee time instead of a practice time, that's what.
The upcoming second round does look good. No one can argue with the appeal of Flyers-Penguins and Detroit-Colorado -- not to mention that San Jose was 4-2 vs. the Stars this year, including two wins in Dallas.
But ... not as good as it could have been. Which could be the theme of this year's playoffs thus far because:
There were only a smattering of overtimes (3).
The most exciting games were in Ontario, so few fans in the states saw or cared about the results.
The only Game 7 was not compelling.
This is not to be cynical because some great hockey was played, and surely will be played in the coming days and weeks. But for the common man -- and the NHL businessman -- you better hope so.
Brian A. Shactman is the NHL Editor for ESPN.com. |
