5 Things I Wish I Could Change About the NHL | Offensively Minded's Blogs

05:41 AM ET 12.22 |

I love the NHL, the sport of hockey in general really. Despite the fact I've never once played the beautiful game, on ice at least, I've grown up around the sport even living in California.

I've been a Sharks season ticket holder my whole life, my first game, I was 6 weeks old. I've done everything in my power to study the sport and learn as much as possible about how to coach it. So many things, too many to list here.

But currently in the "Chel", I feel as though there are some things that need major changes. Below, are my list of 5 things I'd like to change about the NHL:

5. Can we please play games on Sundays?

Look, I know that the NFL is top dog in America, and Sundays are notorious for being football days, but can we please schedule maybe 5 or 6 games on Sundays instead of just 1 or 2 or sometimes none at all? I have to go to school the rest of the week, and I study and work way too hard to be able to sit down, and relax to watch a game. Sundays are my day to do that, and I'm getting awfully tired of watching my Niners get spanked on Sundays. I don't care who the hell is playing, just so long as I get to watch some hockey on my day off, no matter what level it is.

4. Relocation

I am by no means an advocate of moving anymore teams to Canada, especially not if they must be taken out of U.S. cities. Canadians will hate me for saying that, but I really don't want this to happen as my hope is that one day the rest of this country will wake up, smell the roses and realize just how great hockey is. However, I do think that something has to be done about Nashville, and Florida. I say we move Nasvhille to Seattle. Seattle is a sports deprived city that just recently lost their basketball team. I think now would be an ideal time to introduce hockey. With this being done, we can put the Seattle Predators into the Pacific Division, and move Dallas into the Central. With Florida, I'll be honest, at the moment I don't have a location for them, but I don't see them ever thriving in that state.

3. Advertisement

Not sure if Gary Bettman has noticed, but the NHL consists of players other than Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin. Honestly, can we please get some other players in their? As great as it is to have two young phenoms like that be the face of your sport, it's getting to an unhealthy point. The "casual" sports fan, or even a person who isn't a sports fan at all, usually knows the name Ovechkin (even if they can't spell it) or Crosby. However, I think it would be great if we could expand that lists of names to guys like Iginla, and Thornton, and Kovalchuk, and so on. It would be nice if the other stars of this league could get some attention from more than just loyal hockey fans. Proof of this, is just recently, I asked my sister, a source that knows nothing about hockey, I asked her "name 3 players in the NHL that don't play for the Sharks?". Guess who she said...... Ovechkin, Crosby, and.......... does Wayne Gretzky still play? Really? Really? Are we at the point where the only players anyone knows about are those two? Ridiculous, must be fixed. Perhaps if an average sports fan from Phoenix knew about a guy like Ilya Bryzgalof or Shane Doan, they'd want to go to a Yotes game. Or if a guy from Florida knew about Nathan Horton or Stephen Weiss or Thomas Vokoun, same thing

2. Get a Better Network Deal

Aren't we all sick of Versus? I can't stand the broadcasters as half the time they pronounce the player's names wrong. I dread to see games on the Shark's schedule that are being broadcasted by Versus as it is a huge step down from the usual Randy Hahn and Drew Remenda that I am used to from the Sharks. But perhaps I'm a bit spoiled with those two anyways. But seriously, Versus? What a joke. We have to find a way to get a deal with ESPN. While I'm not convinced the broadcasting would be significantly better, I do very much enjoy listening to Barry Melrose and all the references to his mullet. Also, perhaps this would result in the sport of hockey gaining momentum in the US.