NHL ushers in new era

By Pete Sweigard Sports Central Columnist

There are plenty of young superstars in the NHL, but don't watch nationally-televised regular season games if you want to see them. The NHL has been slow to embrace the youth movement, continuing to market the marquee names, the proven entities.

You can't fault the league entirely. A select few elite teams, namely Detroit, New Jersey, and Colorado, have dominated recent history, winning eight of the last nine Stanley Cups.

Players from those teams -- Steve Yzerman, Eric Lindstrom, Brett Hull, Scott Stevens, Martin Brodeur, Joe Sakic, and Peter Forsberg -- along with other aging stars such as Mike Modano and Jeremy Roenick, have been pushed as the face of the NHL.

It's time for a facelift. Many diehard hockey fans and certainly casual fans are getting their first good look at Calgary's Jarome Iginla. Sure, you've heard of him and he's put up monster regular season numbers in the past, but try finding a Calgary game on national TV. Can you imagine if the NBA had decided not to market Carmelo Anthony this season?

This playoff run has been Iginla's unveiling. Unless you own a satellite TV package, you've probably seen Iginla play more exhibition or international games than regular season contests. How about guys like Rick Nash, Illya Kovalchuk, Roberto Luongo, Todd Bertuzzi (oh yeah, you know about him), and to a lesser extent, Tampa's Martin St. Louis, Vincent Lecavalier, and Brad Richards?

In the past, the NHL brain trust and their broadcast partners have primarily shown the TV spotlight on major market teams, with a particular disdain for small market Canadian franchises like Calgary or Vancouver. Big markets can afford the hefty salaries veteran players command. Combine a league without the courage to truly embrace its young stars and broadcast logic that almost exclusively promotes greybeard-led teams, and the net result is a missed opportunity to grow hockey.

I know, I know, there's some number cruncher who will tell you about the New York market share, but how many times do fans really want to see the washed up prima donnas on the Rangers? There has to be a balance. Compared to past playoffs, ratings are up, and that's with four fresh faces in the conference finals, Philly being the only big market squad.

Interestingly, of the team's that reached the conference finals, only Philly sported a top-10 payroll (#3). According to Sports Business News, Calgary, Tampa, and San Jose's team payrolls rank #16, #17, and #18, respectively.

The message: small markets may not only contain some of the league's rising stars, but also the franchises poised to potentially grab the mantle from Detroit, Colorado, and New Jersey. (Sports Business News' methodology counted the salaries of all players on a team's playoff roster, not necessarily the portion of a players' salary that each team paid due to trades, but the differences are negligible).

I'm writing this prior to Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals, so Calgary's date for the Cup is still up in the air. Although television executives certainly wouldn't mind the Philadelphia market for prime time broadcasts, Calgary vs. Tampa Bay playing for the Cup would provide a pure showcase for the league's rising stars.

Regardless of whether Tampa or Philly advances, the Finals will be rich with other intriguing storylines:

Calgary's been the feel-good story of the playoffs. It's not just that they're colossal underdogs defying expectations, it's Iginla's coming out party, and the fact that the Flames have all of Canada rooting for them, Calgary being the first Canadian franchise to reach the Finals since Vancouver in 1994.

Still not rooting for Calgary? Here's how CalgaryPuck.com, a Flames fan site, described their team's magical run:

So pardon our astonishment as this long, long famine has suddenly turned into a gorging feast.

Finish above .500 for the first time in eight seasons. Check.

Make the playoffs. Check.

Win a playoff round. Check.

Win a playoff overtime game for the first time since 1991. Check.

Win a Game 7 overtime after losing three such tragedies in the 1990s. Check.

Knock off the President's Trophy Champions in the second round. Check.

And now wiping out the Sharks in six after being given up for dead when they had dropped two in a row on home ice last week, winning in San Jose in stunning fashion, and putting the Sharks on the golf course by being the first team in this series victorious on home ice.

Only the Stanley Cup remains.

Nothing else is left.

Excuse the long quote, but I think that really captures the magnitude of this run by the Flames. Most Flames fans would have been satisfied just making the playoffs or winning one round. Even at the start of the playoffs, the most optimistic Flames fans wouldn't have expected to be in this position. Only the Cup remains, "nothing else is left."

Iginla's stamp on the Flames' run through the Western Conference has been mirrored by Primeau's role in leading the Flyers to the cusp of the Finals. Should Philly win, the matchup pitting the physical centers against each other would be awesome.

Beyond Primeau's dominance, the veteran Flyers team offers an interesting subplot should they advance. Clearly, this is a team that has been very good for the past decade, just not good enough. In recent memory, the Flyers' playoff runs have been typified by two flaws: inconsistent goalie play and a lack of scoring from their top players. Win or lose, this year has been different.

Because of their playoff shortcomings, the Flyers' regular season success has been mocked. It seemed like the Flyers players were choke artists. To some, Bob Clarke's organization played out each spring like a bad soap opera, the Lindros debacle, rotating goaltenders, and negative fans.

The league's young stars may be ready to grab the spotlight, but perhaps the veteran Flyers have finally found the right mix after years of coming up short against the league's elite. Beyond the Bob Clarke era, the Flyers organization has lost five times in the Stanley Cup Finals, since last winning in 1975. The city of Philadelphia hasn't had a championship since the Sixers in 1983. Do you think Philly is hungry for a title?

But enough about the Flyers. Tampa definitely looks like the team of the future in the NHL. These playoffs have shown Lecavalier has guts, not just talent. It's scary to think that Vinny and St. Louis will be paired together for years, and the best may be yet to come. Not to mention Richards, Fredrik Modin, Ruslan Fedotenko, a shut-down goalie in Nikolai Habibulin, and John Tortorella behind the bench.

When Flyers coach Ken Hitchcock made a comparison between Tampa and the Edmonton Oilers' dynasty in their early years, everybody chalked his comments up to gamesmanship, but the Lightning definitely possess the ingredients to contend for and possibly win several Cups in the coming years.

Tampa's future is bright, but their success is a product of their gamers and character guys, not just flashy stars. And Dave Andreychuk's leadership. A Tampa Eastern Conference victory will bring Andreychuk closer to his elusive Stanley Cup. Andreychuk has played the most regular season games of any player without winning the Cup. If he's able to get the Cup monkey off his back, it will remind fans that Vinny and friends had a little help.

Whether the young Lightning or veteran Flyers prevail, once again, the Stanley Cup has delivered exciting play, drama, and abundant storylines. Perhaps this year, the playoffs also served notice to NHL executives regarding their emerging young stars. Or maybe we should all just watch the Rangers fail to make the playoffs again next year?

Article courtesy of Sports Central.