NHL: Winter Classic the Real Deal

The Winter Classic was a great move for the NHL this past New Year’s Day and could not have possibly gone better.

Beyond the ice needing to be resurfaced several times throughout the afternoon though, the day went flawlessly and turned many heads back to the NHL.

If I was Commissioner of the NHL I would make this an annual event.  In order to keep the interest up however, the NHL must make sure that the same teams are not used, but several teams with up-and-coming stars such as the Chicago Blackhawks. 

Although the Hawks are one of the saddest franchises in NHL history, this is a team that can turn many fans back to hockey.  With future perennial All-Stars in Jonathan Towes and Patrick Kane, there is much to be offered by the young Hawks organization. 

Chicago is contending for a playoff spot this year; expect them to be amongst the best in the West. 

Whenever someone hears about the possibility of having an outdoor game the first teams you hear are the Detroit Red Wings, New York Rangers, Montreal Canadiens, and Toronto Maple Leafs.

Nothing against any of these teams, but the NHL can't afford to have two of the most popular face-off against one another.  One of these four teams would be fine but there is also a need to generate the interest of a major city, but preferably two.  

New York is a no-brainer to take part in what would be the next Winter Classic, but not necessarily the home team.  In order to draw more interest to the game need to generate an interest in the largest markets.  Get New York involved, get LA involved, and get Chicago involved.  With LA being amongst the worst and seemingly looking like they will stay there for a bit, try using the Blackhawks. 

Outside of the Penguins, Chicago may have the best young talent out there.  For now, the coming years for Chicago seem like they are going to be very promising.  Let the entire Windy City realize this as well as the rest of the country. 

Get New York and the Second City involved on New Year’s Day next year, get these fans as well as the national media to care once again, and the NHL will take another step towards winning back fans.

Sure the game may not feature Alexander Ovechkin or Sidney Crosby, but it does just as much by getting two cities that could use winning hockey teams involved. 

With both NBA franchises of NY and Chi-Town struggling, now is as good of time as ever to take advantage of that.  Get these two Original Six rivals out on the ice and take away from the NBA. 

When these fans of both cities are on the fence of their teams, just maybe seeing an incredible event like the Winter Classic could get them to come back to the ice arena instead of the basketball court.