Jets and Crosby Show the Importance of NHL Teams, Not Players

I was happy to see the good people of Winnipeg are psyched to have an NHL team in their midst again. The new Jets are already rock stars and they’ve yet to play an official minute in the Peg. Excitement has been one of the main casualties of the NHL’s expansion into non-traditional markets and into markets that can’t really sustain an NHL team. By forcing square hockey pegs into round market holes, the league sucked the excitement out of the game for fans, many of whom were forced to sit amongst swaths of empty seats and for players, who toiled in an obscurity usually reserved for Mummenschanz performers. But assuming the excitement shown by the people of Winnipeg will translate into ticket sales, it seems the league is better off having a team in a hockey market, as opposed to a team trying to create a hockey market, as was the case with the Jets previous stop in Atlanta. NHL teams in traditional markets also means the success of the league hinges less on the ...