Mark Madden's Hot Take: NHL sabotages its own playoffs

The Stanley Cup playoffs are underway. Hockey’s showcase, or so the NHL thinks.

Early TV ratings showed that viewership is down 12%.

That’s no surprise.

Hockey is a winter sport. It’s played on ice. But we’re already a month into spring and the postseason just started. The NHL season is way too long.

But, more impactful, the Stanley Cup playoffs are no longer hockey’s premier event.

International hockey has taken over, oftentimes not only sanctioned but organized by the NHL. As with this year’s 4 Nations Face-Off.

The NHL has sabotaged its own product by presenting a much better one which doesn’t offer the league more than momentary benefit, if any.

The NHL’s TV ratings never go up after an international hockey event. This year’s 4 Nations Face-Off confirmed that: A staggering 16.1 million watched the final between the U.S. and Canada. When the NHL resumed play, viewership went back to its usual pedestrian levels.

The 4 Nations Face-off took place in February. Next year’s Winter Olympics and 2028’s World Cup of Hockey will both take place in February.

February is winter. It’s hockey season.

The Stanley Cup playoffs start in the spring. Game 7 of last year’s Stanley Cup Final took place on the fifth day of summer.

Players are motivated and not as physically worn for international hockey in February. For many, it’s their only realistic chance to win. (See Crosby, Sidney.) The hockey is hard-hitting. Fast as lightning.

The Stanley Cup playoffs are slow and methodical. We find more complimentary adjectives, but those mentioned apply quite pragmatically. It’s a war of attrition. That’s not meant in a good way. Compared to international hockey, the Stanley Cup playoffs look like they’re contested in quicksand.

A regular schedule of international hockey — every other year, as is planned — means that for the casual fan, hockey ends in February.

Don’t forget the folly of NHL teams having their assets put at risk in international hockey: Boston’s Charlie McAvoy, Las Vegas’ Shea Theodore, Ottawa’s Brady Tkachuk and Florida’s Matthew Tkachuk all sustained significant injuries at the 4 Nations Face-Off. (Maybe the Tkachuks shouldn’t turn every shift into a five-car pile-up.)

The toothpaste can’t be put back in the tube.

The players want international hockey.

I watch it.

But the NHL is the only league that would be instrumental in creating a product that minimizes its own bread and butter.

International hockey simply doesn’t help the NHL. There is no metric that shows that.