OTTAWA - Not having the Toronto Maple Leafs, New York Rangers or several other big-market teams in the playoffs hasn't negatively affected TV ratings.
According to ESPN, the first weekend of the Stanley Cup playoffs had three of the most-watched games ever in the first round (excluding Game 7s) on cable TV, with ESPN averaging 1.6-million viewers over five games during the opening weekend.
That's an increase of 141 percent in viewership from last year's first round.
The biggest draw was last Saturday night's Game 1 between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers, which had 2.1-million viewers tuning, followed by a Saturday late-afternoon Game 1 between the Minnesota Wild and Dallas Stars (1.9 million), and last Sunday night's Game 1 between the Buffalo Sabres and Boston Bruins (1.7 million).
It wasn't just the American-based teams that pulled in viewers.
Game 1 between the Carolina Hurricanes and Ottawa Senators, which kicked off the start of the playoffs and began at 3 p.m. ET on Saturday, pulled in 1.3-million viewers. Meanwhile, Game 1 between the Vegas Golden Knights and Utah Mammoth on Sunday night reached 1-million viewers.
So much for the notion that casual fans wouldn't watch a Stanley Cup playoffs that was missing four of the Original Six teams or none of the teams in the Tri-State area.
When The Hockey News asked Gary Bettman on Thursday if the lack of big-market teams has provided an opportunity for small-market teams to bask in the spotlight, the NHL commissioner instead praised the novelty of always seeing different teams in the playoffs.
"It's interesting the way you phrase the question, because if you look at nine of the last 11 seasons, we've had at least five clubs turn over into the playoffs. This year it's six, actually," Bettman said in a news conference before Game 3 in Ottawa. "Last year, for the first time in our history, none of the American Original Six clubs were in the playoffs.
"If you look at this year, I think it's the first time since the Devils went to New Jersey that none of the New York and Jersey teams are in the playoffs."
It's not just the constant turnover. This year's regular season came right down to the wire, with as many as seven teams battling it out for the final wild-card spot in each of the conferences during the final couple of weeks in the schedule. Inevitably, that creates drama, the kind that bled into the start of the playoffs.
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Say what you want about a playoff format that puts the emphasis on divisional matchups and doesn't always reward the team with the most points, but the TV ratings speak for themselves.
The Battle of Pennsylvania has been must-watch TV. The same goes for Dallas having to play Minnesota, despite how unfair it is that the second- and third-best teams in the Western Conference are playing one another in the first-round.
"What's great about our league right now — and you see the games and how competitive and unpredictable they are — is we're super-competitive," said Bettman. "Our competitive balance is extraordinary, which is why the regular season is so meaningful. Less than a handful of clubs weren't in the hunt for the last couple of months of the season. Teams played games in October in November where if they had a point or two back, they might have been in the playoffs."
Indeed, the NHL on ESPN also recorded new highs in the regular season, delivering the most-watched season of the current rights deal, with 760,000 average viewers — and increase of 30 percent over last year.
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It's likely that the ratings this year might have been even better had the Leafs, Rangers, Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawks had also been in the playoffs. Then again, there's something to be said of having some new faces in the post-season.
This year, Buffalo ended a 14-year playoff drought. Anaheim ended a seven-year drought. The Mammoth, meanwhile, qualified for the post-season for the first time since relocating to Utah.
In other words, this year's playoffs don't feel tired. Instead, they feel different.