TORONTO — For a while now, one major criticism of the NHL has been an inability to think for itself — or at least so it often seems. Rarely making the sort of decisions that might fly in the face of convention, conservatism is the league’s hallmark, while progressiveness has been left to those who tend to dominate the headlines in the North American professional sports space.
This is unquestionably an issue, sure. But at the same time not a terribly poor way to run a reasonably successful business. The NHL sits back, keeping tabs on what works and what doesn’t in other areas of the industry to pick and choose for itself, and with that approach the league safely maintains its steady and incremental build within the category of niche.