from Chris Lund of The Score,

... We know what a quality product the NHL is; any given night affords you the opportunity to have your mind blown by a thoroughly entertaining game. At some point though, the focus of the league has to be how to get additional interest in the daily goings on. The product is there, but the marketing plan is not. While it’s obviously a problem that cannot be solved overnight, there are cues to be taken from other leagues and applied to the game of hockey so this sport can be grown to its appropriate size in North America.

Step one won’t be easy, but it will be necessary. The NHL needs its LeBron James.

I’m not quite sure what it is about basketball that gets hockey fans in a tizzy, but it unlocks some sort of rageahol fueled machismo which combusts in spectacular fashion. Unfortunately, this means I probably lost a few of you after typing the words “LeBron James” and you won’t grasp the irony of flaming me in the comments because you skipped this paragraph.

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