Here’s Brody Brazil let me establish first why I’m even making this video it’s for two reasons number one because generally speaking I love the NHL not every single thing about it but most things about the league the sport its players its teams its fans I’m all in I’m all for it and
Number two I’ve been around it for a while not just as a fan but now more than 15 years working kind of in and around the league I generally feel like I know it pretty well and I know what to expect so on that note I’m about to make
Five predictions for the calendar year and the rest of it of 2024 predictions that I don’t think are far-fetched like they are possibilities but also five predictions that would really frustrate me if they actually come true number one in no particular order here would be that Chicago wins the draft lottery
Again just like they did in 2023 just how they got Connor Bard now to be clear am I suggesting There’s Something Fishy or funny here or Shady here it’s my last point I’m not saying anything’s rigged but if this happens again this way is it’s already kind of lining up as even a
Possibility to happen it’s crazy last year Chicago had an 11.5% chance to pick first they ended last regular season with the third worst record in the league and somehow they leap fr Columbus and Anaheim to get number one and to get Conor Bard who we all knew
Was going to be selected first even the San Jose Sharks my team had a 99.5% chance of picking first and you would think all right there’s just really no way that’s going to happen well only 2% better was Chicago and yeah they got to pick first and now with mlin
Celebrini right around the corner I don’t know if it’s a guarantee like it was with Bard that he’ll go first but it it certainly seems like that’s going to be the case how crazy would it be that Chicago within the span of two drafts two seasons get Bard and celebrini on
The heels right of losing their longtime Superstars Patrick Kane and Jonathan Taves like within a year they lose both of those two players and they get the next generational Superstars through the draft of all things now is this a benefit of being an original six team
One of the NHL’s favorites that might be struggling right now I don’t know you can speculate all you want but they’re having another bad year and they’re lining up to be one of the bottom teams in the league they’re going to have a significant chance I’ll Circle back and
Say uh this is not rigged I’m not officially saying that but this might be my prediction right now that if it comes true I’m going to be pretty frustrated here’s another one that would really make me upset if Arizona moves to Salt Lake City if the desert dogs go to Utah
And I’m saying here literally at the end of this season let me stop right there I am not a fan of this I am not a proponent of this I do not hope this happens at all but I know how these things go and I can see what’s lining up
Here I can see the delay process I can see what the NHL is saying not only in words but in body language and how the coyotes still haven’t found a permanent solution I know they’re working on it I know about the 100 acres north of the 101 loop in Scottsdale I know that’s
What they want to do but even that is going to take some time to buy that Land from the state of Arizona the deal would be like this for the NHL with Phoenix and Arizona they’re going to relocate the coyotes hypothetically this is the prediction and then guarantee expansion
For the Phoenix Metro area but do it once an arena situation is settled out if the NHL is going to say well expansion might take us another four to five years and by that point you will definitely have your own building it’ll be perfect great location ready for us
To come right back to you it’ll buy time for the Arena’s approval and construction all that in in a perfect world that makes sense but is expansion really the best idea for the NHL here in 2024 and Beyond and I’ll get into more of that in another topic you’re already perfect
With 32 teams two conferences 888 and8 for the divisions you’re starting to get into odd numbers all again they worked so hard just to get to 32 and there’s been struggles with Arizona there’s been struggles apparently with Winnipeg and in the other Florida markets with attendance and all that is expansion
Right now and promising that for Phoenix is that really a great promise and one that the NHL can live up to even if you’re down there and say well I wouldn’t mind that are you really guaranteed that though this would also be a complete 180 on the way the NHL has
Been approaching this Gary bman has been so supportive of keeping the coyotes in the desert whether it was trying and Tempe or some thoughts about Mesa or anything in Scottdale and Beyond he’s been so patient to the fact that they’re playing temporarily in a 4500 seat arena
With no indate attached to it let me close this one out by saying I I really don’t like this prediction I wish I didn’t even have to talk about this or say this I know how the relocation process feels in in going through it it’s rare and it’s unfortunate but I can
See something like this happening unless there are some pretty quick and deliberate actions through the course of the rest of this regular season and really before next season hits okay here would be another prediction I have that I’m not sure I would really like Atlanta gets expansion again now let me be clear
I feel like I have to say the disclaimer for every single prediction here this is nothing personal let me try it again this is nothing personal against Atlanta I’m not really hot on expansion for the NHL in any Market really right now but tell me for Atlanta specifically you
Mean you could talk to me about Houston or some other great cities across our country or in North America what’s different in Atlanta this would be the third try at the NHL in Georgia so convince me sell me on it and and don’t you say well they could build
A new Arena well a lot of markets could build a new Arena what’s different about the fan base the support anything that could sell me on Surefire success because I’m not sure that the NHL or anybody is really going to be able to do that it’s a non-traditional hockey Market there’s
The no snow factor and I’m saying that as a person from the San Jose area I understand hockey can work in the non-traditional markets you know places where there hasn’t always been a team and it doesn’t snow and a lot of people are not participating and hockey at the
Same volumes and levels as other places across the continent I’m just saying that that it already has that built in against Atlanta and in terms of expansion we’re sitting on 32 teams like I said before do you really want to go to 33 by 2027 and sit at that odd number for a
Couple years before you get to 34 but then you’re still at odd numbers with 17 and 17 and 35 is an odd number you really only get to that perfect symmetry when you get back to 36 and all of that established that’s just the schedule in the playoff format and how many playoff
Teams do you have what about just generally duding the NHL product is it better right now at 32 teams than it was minus a couple teams several decades ago I’m not sure I’m not here to say you’d like to think that there are more players good opportunities and that the
NHL is strong enough to even expand by a couple more teams but no other sports League across North America has more than 32 teams and there’s probably a reason Reon for that so I am a little bit concerned about the delution of the NHL product once we start expanding but
Really the big thing here and it’s again it’s not personal against Atlanta if they can really do this and they can prove it I’m all for it but for them to be an instant front runner because the NHL has been there before like not once
But twice and had to leave not once but twice you got to show me the proof that it will be different this time and it needs to be certain here’s another prediction I have that I’m not really going to like if it comes true that the same teams get more outdoor games when
They’re announced to be clear next year’s outdoor games those are already in planning and scheduled and Columbus is going to get to host their first outdoor game for the very first time but man it’s the same teams every winter in the outdoor game Stadium Series winter Classics it’s always Chicago Philly
Pittsburgh Boston the Rangers the wings the Habs Toronto Washington all of those clubs have had respectively either six or five or four outdoor games in what the last 15 16 years however long these have been going on at a high volume Columbus the Panthers and Arizona for
Different reasons are the only teams to never have even participated in an outdoor game yet and like I said Columbus is going to get that solved in the upcoming season but isn’t there a better way to spread the love and I realized looking at that list of names
Between Chicago and Philly and Toronto and Montreal and Detroit and all the others those are traditional hockey markets and yes it snows in all those places and it’s just more it’s easier to have a hockey game Outdoors but I really liked what they did a couple years ago
In like Tahoe I like those non-traditional venues but how about just spreading the love a little bit more and let me say it selfishly the San Jose Sharks got to play an outdoor game once and they got to host it I’m even fine with them playing in another
Outdoor game if some other team hosts it but it’s been a decade since their last chance to play outdoors I do think there’s more room every season for the NHL to do this more than what three or four times or maybe have one venue that
Hosts two or three games kind of in a single span so you don’t need to do the setup and the breakdown yeah there’s scheduling stuff there’s weather stuff I realize it’s hard to pull these off but I think the upside and the benefits and what fan bases and communities take away
From is so great you literally have to do a better job of spreading the love so I’ll say it from the shark standpoint but all the other teams who haven’t had a lot of different opportunities to play outdoors more games more different teams I mean again no disrespect to the
Flyers of their fans but how many times are you going to get to play an outdoor game I know you love it uh but every other team in fan base across the league would also like to love it as much as you do look at conter McD David from the
GQ photo shoot there last but not least I think this might be one of the most important factors it’s kind of all-encompassing here it’s not just a single prediction but it’s a generally um generally said prediction here that the league might miss out on more marketing and what do I mean by
That there’s a bunch of different elements here they’ve done the Frozen Frenzy night where all 32 teams played this season they staggered the start times of puck drops across the league so that you didn’t have early games all with first intermissions and no hockey you could literally through the national
Partners change the channel or watch on one channel as hockey started early and ended late early out east it ended late out west and you get constant hockey for five six seven eight hours on one night where all 32 teams play in 16 different games and again there’s that factor of
Symmetry right when you have 32 teams every team can play a game on the same night but the Frozen Frenzy I think is a good idea how about that once a month maybe on the same night of a week maybe brand it a little bit more make that a
Big deal the NHL has tried it they’ve sampled it okay take the next step do more with it but I think they may not for next year they might miss out on that I would also really like to see the NHL use their NHL Edge metrics and Telemetry in more broadcasts now they’ve
Been doing this for several years now or they they sew that sensor onto the name plate right above the name plate on the back of jerseys and that tracks the players and everything that they do on the ice their speed and and many more things that the NHL can calibrate but
They only really put it on a website which is advertised and it is mentioned but how about throw it right on the game broadcast now I work for one of the broadcasters I’m not saying it’s our fault we don’t do enough I’m saying across the board the NHL could make it
Easier for all their Partners to provide this information and to make sure that it gets adequately displayed on a regular basis it’s crazy for example that baseball and the pitch velocity has been showing on the screen for what 25 years now as long as Graphics have been
On the screen permanently but only in recent years do we have the velocity of of shots on net be shown on the screen in an instant nature hockey is a little bit behind on all the metrics and now they’ve started to collect it okay you got to turn it around and do something
With it otherwise it just sits there and collects dust also I’d love for the NHL to become more of a daytime League look they do Play Day games and some teams have Saturday games but I realize you can’t play on a Monday afternoon or a Thursday afternoon
But if you’re looking for the younger audience the Next Generation the next demographic of your fan base you do have to play more games that don’t start at 7 or 7:30 p.m. you got to get in the afternoon you got to get the afternoon specials you got to get the kids and the
Families involved if you really want to prepare yourself for the next generation and last but not least considering we’re talking about growing the game and expanding it and marketing it how did I even get interested in hockey it was two things the Sharks were new in the early
9s I learned how to rollerblade at the very same time because of the Sharks I couldn’t really go ice skating anytime I wanted there just weren’t that many sheets of ice in the Bay Area just wasn’t a thing back then before the Sharks came around now it’s a little but
My point is the NHL has not done a well enough job in terms of embracing roller hockey and all the warm weather non-traditional markets they can do a better job at incorporating that into their product into programs and teams because let’s be honest it’s hard to get
Ice time it’s way more expensive to play on an ice hockey team and yes that would lead you into being a more competitive player I think but there’s nothing wrong with either starting on wheels or getting hooked on wheels or using using roller hockey as a way to get more
People interested in watching or participating in the NHL so I definitely think roller hockey needs to be more of a thing the NHL could do a better job with that but it’s my prediction that they might miss out on a lot of those opportunities could you tell there’s a little passion in this
Video like I want better for the NHL they can do these things they have control over these things to entice more people to make a better product and hopefully make something that is successful and sustainable over the long term let me know by the way what you
Think of my predictions did I miss an obvious one do you have a better one put that in the comments section below and also since you made it here to the end of the video number one you know I really appreciate that uh number two if you would Thumbs Up Down Below that’ll
Greatly help me in this Channel and if you’re just stopping by here for the very first time I appreciate that I’m glad you found me make sure before you go you hit that subscribe button so I can definitely see you back here next time
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