[RomaGoth]

I have been a hockey fan since I was a little kid. The problem with hockey, and indeed the NHL, is that it is not a TV friendly sport. Having grown up with it (Red Wings fan since before Yzerman was a rookie), I enjoy watching hockey on TV and can follow the flow and know where the puck is. People who are new to the sport, however, are not always so adept. They lose interest because they can't keep track of what is going on. Fox tried a bunch of nonsense with glowing pucks and all back when they carried the games, but it looked and was a third rate job to be sure. The NHL needs national exposure, and the Vs. network it not cutting it. They obviously need to market their game better, and they need players like Crosby, Zetterberg, Kane, and Ovechkin to do national commercials and promotions, not just local stuff. Even people who knew little about hockey knew who Wayne Gretzky was in the 90's. The NHL needs to do that again with the new generation of players, but they need to step it up a notch.

As for Avery, he is not even worth the argument going on here for the last page and a half. We all know is a gutless runt who would run if Phaneuf came after him. The NHL does not need the publicity he brings, it needs the opposite. For someone to say that he is giving the NHL nice media exposure is just uninformed. Look at the NFL. Is it a popular league? Yes, the most popular in the US. Unfortunately, it is gaining a reputation as a league of gun-toting juvenile delinquents. I doubt that is what Roger Goodell and the owners want to see. The NHL will not allow idiots like Avery to run rampant and ruin the sport.