From spamming outdoor games until they no longer really feel special to putting garish and distracting digital ads on boards, the NHL’s no stranger to chasing shameless bucks. However, there are curious cases where they don’t turn over every couch cushion for extra change.
One can only speculate about the money squandered by the endless attempts to keep the Coyotes in Arizona. A more recent head-scratching aversion to making easy money revolves around Gary Bettman passing on the NHL’s answer to the NBA’s play-in tournament.
For nervous fans of the Panthers, Islanders, Penguins, Sabres, Jets, Predators and Flames, one might observe the remaining NHL playoff races and argue that mini-tournaments for each conference’s 7-to-10th-ranked teams would feel “more fair” than the current setup.