The Ice Sheet: NHL May Adjust Finals Schedule

Just a few hours after the league announced its tentative schedule for the Stanley Cup Finals on May 22, it's safe to say a number of hockey fans weren't exactly happy.

Why? Thanks to the demands of television, specifically the requirements of the NHL's broadcast television partner, NBC, the league was looking at a Finals start date of as late as June 5 unless both respective conference finals were decided by four-game sweeps. Once the Blackhawks managed to win Game 3 of the Western Conference finals, that possibility was closed, and the prospect of a lengthy layoff after a lackluster third round had become a certainty.

But as of late last night, word leaked to ESPN.com's E.J. Hradek that the league has been working behind the scenes to arrange an alternate schedule with NBC, one that would result in Games 1 and 2 of the Finals being played on the network back-to-back on Saturday, May 30 and Sunday, May 31, if both series can be wrapped up by Wednesday night.

No, playing Games 1 and 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals on back-to-back nights probably isn't ideal for the players, but it sure beats the heck out of dropping a one-week break into the midst of the playoff season. In any case, it's pretty clear that a number of folks North of the border are a little tired of the pretzel-like contortions the league has had to make in order to appease its American television partner, including our favorite hockey curmudgeon, Tom Benjamin:

Doesn't the league understand that this all looks so bush? Whatever extra pittance they will get from NBC - cash and exposure - it pales in comparison to the damage done to the NHL brand. They basically give away the product and they do this to the Stanley Cup Finals. Why do they cheapen the game so?

Its an insult to the Stanley Cup, the players and the fans. For what?

Insult or not, it's simply the stark reality of the actual state of the hockey brand on television South of the border. In short, the league has made a simple calculation: would the complete disappearance of the Stanley Cup finals from broadcast television in the U.S. cause more damage to the league than adjusting the schedule to the benefit of the rights holder?

Clearly, they've decided the latter. And as for insults, well, the league has been insulted by American television executives repeatedly since the famous 1967 expansion, with the NHL and all traces of its existence disappearing from American broadcast television for as long as a a decade at a time. When you look at it that way, having to endure a long layoff between playoff rounds, ridiculous as it may seem, is something of a mild insult.

Every Monday morning The Ice Sheet will take a close look at everything that's happened in the NHL since Friday night at 5:00 PM -- or if need be, anything else the author wants to bleat about. To read them all, click here.