Analyst says low ratings should be wake up call for NHL to make several changes

There's not really any way to sugar coat it. Rating for the National Hockey League in the United States are down this season, way down. Viewership has dropped 22 percent on average in America, and former player turned analyst Carlo Colaiacovo believes the league only has itself to blame.

"I hope this is a wake up call for change in the NHL. Fans are losing interest," said Colaiacovo.

He then listed the reasons why this is happening.

"No rivalries, lacking storylines, more buzz around talk of trades then actual trades, poor marketing of stars, too many math equations, horrible playoff format. Just to name a few things," said Colaiacovo, adding that start times need to be firm as well.

Colaiacovo can be annoying at times, but it's hard not to agree on some, if not all of these points. The current playoff format of two wild card teams isn't appealing to many who would prefer the league return to the old format of the top 8 teams in each conference. NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman has stated several times he has no interest in doing that. Colaiacovo also makes great points in the lack of rivalries and story lines. As for the trades, I'm not sure that's something that can be controlled, but he's not wrong. The recent exchange between the New York Islanders and Vancouver Canucks centering on Bo Horvat was the biggest trade in quite a while.

Some fans responded to Colaiacovo and mentioned gambling ads as a deterrent, while also calling for the return of Don Cherry. Colaiacovo's response was a simple "good luck with that."

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