Faceoff Factor

Why Sweden Is A Bad Idea

Jesse Marshall | Pittsburgh Penguins

Sep 26, 01:51 PM | Hype this story!

As opening day of the NHL draws near, I find myself feeling slightly jaded

As a Penguin fan, my team will be opening the season in front a few thousand people who could probably care less who wins or loses the game, in a time zone seven hours ahead of what they’re used to. Imagine playing a hockey game at 2:30 in the morning.

I’ll be perfectly frank with you guys, I love to sleep in. It’s my favorite past time. On the weekends, I curl up into a lazy ball and unplug the alarm.

Imagine how pumped up we’ll be when our Guin’s open the season on Saturday afternoon at 2:30 P.M. I’ll have only been up for 2 hours.

2:30 in the afternoon, and it won’t be the raucous roar of fans in Ottawa or Pittsburgh. It’ll be in a standard ol’ arena in Stockholm. There will be no white out, there will be no crowd going crazy during the national anthems, there will be no big time chants.

I can already feel the adrenaline flowing through my veins.

This isn’t a knock on any of our Swedish readers, either (I’m looking at you, Henke). It’s just that, well, the NHL has it’s own problems here, in our home country.

And that’s root of how absurd the NHL opening in Europe is, it’s the obvious answer. The game in North America still isn’t as solid as it could be. Years after the lockout, the NHL is still on the outside looking in. Has anyone told this to Bill Daly or Gary Bettman?

Think about this. Rather than having two teams open the season halfway on the other side of the world, we go to my mastermind alternate plan instead.

Schedule the opening game of the season for Thursday, October 2nd. There is no big time football game. Baseball will still be winding down, and you’ll have that precious little 7:30 time slot all to yourself. What game do we choose? Pittsburgh vs. Detroit.

Hossa leaving Pittsburgh was one of the biggest stories in hockey, and not just in Pittsburgh. Have a prime time game. The rematch of the cup finals to start the year. Let’s get right to the meat and bones of what people want to see this year.

Tell me people wouldn’t tune in.

Then, Friday October 3rd, feature 2 or 3 more games. Maybe Dallas at San Jose? Rangers and Lightning? Both would be decent draws for Versus.

Then, on Saturday night, throw the coup de grace.

Every other NHL team plays in a 22 team blockbuster.
Divisional games, rival games, Boston vs. Montreal, in Boston, featuring Patrice Bergeron’s homecoming game. Edmonton and Calgary. The list goes on.

NHL on the fly would be one for the ages that evening.

Instead, we have a 2:30 game, overseas, and then five days off before the team plays competitively again.

The only consolation is that the Mellon Arena crowd should be twice as loud for the New Jersey game on October 11th.

Regardless, Mr. Bettman, heed my advice. Let’s fix the game here before we start pandering to fans overseas? As a hockey fan, I could care less about your excursions over the Atlantic.

We have a team in Pittsburgh that just got saved from relocation. Let us enjoy it to the fullest.