Already this year, we have seen countless OT thrillers and games decided by a goal. Trust me, if I am spending hours at a time in my dank basement watching the NHL playoffs on a broken-down TV, this has to be good. I have a few thoughts on this. First, there is a huge audience that never has been exposed to the game. If you don't have a team in your town, you just don't get into the sport.
Hockey is also a tough game to get into as a kid.
All of these factors make it hard for many people to get turned on to hockey, and that means they aren't familiar with the rules and just don't understand the game. In addition, hockey doesn't have the national TV exposure that the NBA, NFL and MLB do. Those sports always take precedence on the networks and even on the highlight shows each night. So, again, it is a question of exposure. And this is a serious hurdle for the league to deal with.