William Houston at the Globe & Mail notes that Canadian hockey viewership, while still stronger than in the pre-lockout season, are drastically down this year. And the most notable downturn is the Vancouver Canucks audience.

Despite leading the Northwest Division, Canucks regional audiences are down 20 per cent. Rogers Sportsnet is averaging 242,000 viewers a game compared with 303,000 at this point last season.

Networks pay closer attention to long-term trends than year-to-year measurements, but the Canucks numbers also have declined 29 per cent from the prelockout season of 2003-04.

What’s gone wrong?

“You can drive yourself nuts trying to analyze ratings,” Sportsnet president Doug Beeforth said. “It’s like the stock market. It is the long term that counts.”

The Canucks’ weak audiences may be an example of a winning record failing to mitigate the tedium of dull hockey. Goalie Roberto Luongo, not the goal scorers, is the team’s star.

Any other theories? The ratings for the other 5 Canadian teams are noted below.