A Commissioner Can Hope: Eastern Conference

The Eastern Conference first round is set. It turned out just like I hoped, which was a nice surprise. A different matter is what Count Hockula and his minions are hoping to see. Gary will, of course, graciously congratulate whomever wins, but deep down he’ll be crushed to see a New Jersey-Calgary Stanley Cup Final. And, you know, with good reason. The good news for Gary and crew is that a whole bunch of big-market teams got in, so ratings should be decent. So without further ado, the NHL marketing team’s wet dream:

Conference Quarterfinal
Boston-Montreal: NHL execs have to be overjoyed that these two teams bumbled into one another again. But there’s a simple truth for marketing in the NHL: American teams need wins more than Canadian teams do. Gary’s pick: Boston

Washington-NYR: This one is a bit tougher. Surely the NHL would love to have the huge-market Rangers in as long as possible. That said, the Rangers are marketable in New York; Alex Ovechkin is marketable nationwide, with a rare ability to make SportsCenter show hockey highlights. Gary’s pick: Washington

New Jersey-Carolina: New Jersey has won a bunch of games, series, and trophies over the last fifteen years, and it’s gotten a bit…stale, to non-NJ fans. It’d be nice to keep New Jersey around to theoretically keep the NY metro area interested, but that probably wouldn’t make a huge difference. Conversely, Raleigh’s one of the Count’s sunbelt markets that could really use a(nother) little playoff run. This could be dreary, but there’s a plan. Gary’s pick: New Jersey

Philly-Pittsburgh: NHL bigwigs really should be thanking every deity they can think of for these first-round match-ups. In this series, Philly’s a good team and a great market and all, but…well, no contest. Gary’s pick: Pittsburgh

Conference Semifinal
Boston-Pittsburgh: This series would certainly capture a few mainstream headlines. Gary’s pick: Pittsburgh

Washington-New Jersey: It has Ovie and Green, Brodeur and Parise, so it can’t be ignored. Gary’s pick: Washington

Conference Final
Pittsburgh-Washington: The hype would be borderline unbearable, but the NHL could use it. You can sort of picture people in, say, Utah or South Dakota or Bristol CT talking about hockey, which essentially doesn’t happen. As for a winner…ride the Russian Machine until it breaks. Which, of course, it won’t. Gary’s pick: Washington