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The National Hockey League announced yesterday its plan to divide the league into four conferences rather than six divisions, as the league is currently arranged.
Under the new organization, the Stanley Cup Playoffs will begin inside each conference, with the top four teams squaring off in divisional playoffs (see how the new conferences will be organized below).
So how will the realignment impact the average Arizonan? It won’t — Arizonans are notoriously amongst the worst hockey fans in North America.
Last season, the Phoenix Coyotes had the second worst attendance record
in the NHL — only the New York Islanders had worse fan support.
The
2009-2010 season was even worse for the Howlers — the Coyotes had the
lowest attendance in the entire NHL, with an average of 11,989 fans per
game.
The team, meanwhile, has made the playoffs the past two seasons, despite it’s lack of a solid fan base and continued uncertainty over whether the team will remain in the Valley.
With
the exception of two seasons — the 2005-2006 and 2006-2007 seasons
(when NHL icon Wayne Gretzky took over as coach) — since 2004, the
Coyotes have been amongst the five NHL teams with the worst attendance
records. Even during the (gulp) good years, the Coyotes still were amongst
the 10 NHL teams with the lousiest fans.
See all NHL attendance statistics here.
Despite Arizonans’
apparent lack of interest in professional hockey, the NHL remains
optimistic that it can turn desert dwellers into puck fans.
As
you may know, the Coyotes franchise filed bankruptcy in 2009. Since
then, the NHL has made several attempts to find a buyer for the team
who’s willing to keep the Coyotes in Glendale. The league’s yet to find a
buyer.
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman this morning reaffirms that the league’s
goal is to keep the Coyotes in Arizona, despite the team’s failure to
make money in the desert.
“Our anticipation is this shouldn’t go
on and probably won’t go on another year with us owning the club and the
City of Glendale doing what it’s doing to support the building with the
Coyotes in there,” Bettman told a reporter for the league-owned
website, NHL.com. “But, you never know what is going to happen. Our hope
continues to be it gets sold in the not too distant future to a buyer
for Glendale.”
In case you missed it — and judging by this
season’s attendance, you probably have — the Coyotes aren’t having a
bad season. With a record of 14-9, the team currently is tied for fourth
place in the Western Conference.
Meanwhile, with an average of
10,997 fans per home game for the 2011-2012 season, the Coyotes again
have the worst attendance in the entire league.
