NHL Attendance 2013-14: Supposed Decline a Mirage Compared to Previous Seasons

Angst over NHL attendance has spread steadily this holiday season.

Compared to the lockout-shortened—and, thus, lockout-inflated—statistics of 2012-13, crowds are significantly smaller all around the league this winter.

However, a more accurate comparison to the opening half of the full-length 2011-12 campaign reveals only the smallest of declines.

Globe and Mail reporter James Mirtle riled up fans everywhere with his tweeted graphic last Thursday, showing seven teams with attendance declines of more than 6 percent compared to last year and four with declines of 14 percent or more. Per Mirtle:

Simply put, the comparison is not equitable. Teams hosted just 24 home games a season ago, a recipe that all but guaranteed attendance increases: the schedule crammed partial-season ticket holders into less variety, avoided football scheduling conflicts (which rarely go well for the NHL) and raised the importance of each contest.

Hockey's attendance appears in a different and brighter light when directly contrasted against the 2011-12 campaign with the same sample size.

This autumn and winter's team attendance averages were compared with the same team's average through the same number of home games two years ago. The results can be seen below, using data from HockeyAttendance.com, with the biggest swings highlighted in yellow:

Team	2013-14 Average	2011-12 Average	Change
Chicago Blackhawks	21,400	21,426	-0.12%
Montreal Canadiens	21,273	21,273	Even
Detroit Red Wings	20,066	20,066	Even
Philadelphia Flyers	19,744	19,724	+0.10%
Toronto Maple Leafs	19,358	19,503	-0.74%
Calgary Flames	19,289	19,289	Even
Vancouver Canucks	18,910	18,877	+0.17%
Pittsburgh Penguins	18,585	18,554	+0.17%
Washington Capitals	18,506	18,506	Even
Buffalo Sabres	18,401	18,669	-1.44%
Tampa Bay Lightning	18,280	18,753	-2.52%
Minnesota Wild	18,155	17,452	+4.03%
Los Angeles Kings	18,118	18,085	+0.18%
New York Rangers	18,006	18,178	-0.95%
Boston Bruins	17,565	17,565	Even
San Jose Sharks	17,562	17,562	Even
Ottawa Senators	17,451	19,016	-8.23%
Edmonton Oilers	16,810	16,839	-0.17%
St. Louis Blues	16,479	18,877	-12.70%
Nashville Predators	16,433	16,477	-0.27%
Colorado Avalanche	16,334	15,090	+8.24%
Anaheim Ducks	15,649	14,917	+4.91%
Winnipeg Jets	15,004	15,004	Even
Carolina Hurricanes	14,974	14,958	+0.11%
New Jersey Devils	14,059	14,812	-5.08%
Florida Panthers	13,939	16,039	-13.09%
Dallas Stars	13,629	11,470	+18.82%
New York Islanders	13,419	12,615	+6.37%
Columbus Blue Jackets	13,289	14,166	-6.19%
Phoenix Coyotes	12,662	10,890	+16.27%

At this point in the campaign, just five teams have experienced a decline of more than a mere 4 percent, and a counterbalancing six have actually experienced an increase of more than 4 percent. For all of their southern-market struggles, clubs like Phoenix and Dallas are showing signs of growing support—helping to ease stress over the falling influence of franchises such as Ottawa, Florida and (very oddly) St. Louis.

As a whole, the league's average attendance after 520 games (17,224) is down just 0.39 percent from the first 520 matches of 2011-12, which drew an average of 17,292 spectators.

In fact, that 17,224 average is down just 1.32 percent from the overall average of 2011-12 (17,455) and only 2.81 percent from lockout-inflated 2012-13 (17,721); it's higher than four of the six seasons before that. See a chart, based on ESPN statistics, below:

With attendances expected to rise in many locations as the importance of each home game grows, calling 2013-14 a notably disappointing campaign for NHL attendance is nothing short of an outright lie.

Mark Jones has been a Carolina Hurricanes featured columnist for Bleacher Report since 2009. Visit his profile to read more, or follow him on Twitter.