In terms of success, the National Hockey League is still not out of the woods, yet...mostly because it's popularity remains under question in North America, especially in the U.S. Last years's All-Star Game drew lower TV ratings than reruns of Andy of Mayberry. Clearly, losing ESPN as a conduit to more viewers, nationally, has taken it's toll. Blaming Comissioner Gary Bettman might be correct, but doesn't solve the League's obvious problem...lack of national exposure. So, again I offer this suggestion.
Go back to the powers that be at ESPN, and with the help of one major sponser, like FedEx in golf, have a new 2nd Championship tournament during the season, similar to the F.A. Cup in England, or the other knockout championships that soccer has in almost every country in which it is played.
This will accomplish two important things...first, it gives the League more national exposure and second, it creates new, and adds to the current rivalries that exist in the League. Obviously, it will take years to gain the significance of the F.A. Cup or even the Stanley Cup, but look what The Player's Championship did for golf. It's now considered the 5th major tournament...and gets great ratings for NBC, the network that has carried it in recent years. Here's how to go about it.
To start, give the Conference Champions a first round bye, and a guaranteed home game in the round of 16. This would add prestiege and importance to winning your Conference Championship. Then, take the 28 remaining teams, 14 in each Conference and have a nationally televised draw, like the F.A. Cup with Hall of Fame players doing the picks. In the first round, keep the two Conferences seperate, to save on travel and set up early and late games on a designated weekend; with early and late games on a Saturday afternoon, followed by early and late games that night. Then, finish with three games on Sunday, two in the afternoon (early and late) and the final on Sunday night.
Then, the following month, play the round of 16 with a combined draw, where East can draw West, or not. Teams drawn first would be the Home team, but like soccer, if the games end tied, replay them one week later, at the visitor's home rink. In the replay, if tied after regulation, play one full period, and if still tied, then, go to a shootout. Have a national draw each following month for the quarter and semi-finals, but play the semis and final Cup Championship on neutral rinks. This will promote travel and weekend festivities surrounding each game. Finally, have the Championship Game the weekend before the Stanley Cup Playoffs start, so as to not interfere with that traditional tournement.
But, keep this in mind, the only way this new tournament could succeed would be with the support and promotion of a power like ESPN. Without it, the concept has much less credibility and thus, would be less successful at bringing the real excitement of knockout competition and "the Draw" to hockey. Like March madness, one game, winner advances. Ask any soccer fan, it's tremendously exciting and a huge boost to the game's poularity...for while your season may be lost in one competition, you may still be alive in another.
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