On Wednesday, the NHL announced that it would make the protected lists for the expansion draft this June public. This was a complete 180 from what was reported at the league general managers meeting three weeks ago, when there was no plan to release the names of players that would be available to the Vegas Golden Knights.
The decision to let fans know who could shape the roster of the NHL’s newest team was a rare smart decision from a league that shoots itself in the balls at least 15 times per season. In the wake of this announcement, one fan penned a letter to the NHL. I will share it with you in this space.
Dear NHL,
My name is Steven Rumpswallow. I am 39 years old and been a fan of the NHL since I was a child. I’ve stayed with you through the lockout in 1995, the one in 2005 and even the one in 2013. When the NHL came back, every time, I was there on opening night to cheer my team. I told anyone who would listen that despite your locking out players every six years, that they did not know the NHL like I did. They just didn’t understand you.
However, your recent decision to make the protected list public has shaken me as a fan of your league.
By allowing people like myself — dedicated fans of the game that use our disposable income on your product — the chance to see the names of the players who could be selected by the Vegas Golden Knights is, quite frankly, unexpected. It’s jarring. When I read the news on Twitter, I assumed it was fake. It was earlier this month when your league’s general managers had no regard for anyone but themselves and cared very little for what the fans wanted.
https://twitter.com/hijeffinition14/status/843520005052514306
And now we’re getting the lists.
And I can’t tell you how much this upsets me.
Over the past two decades, I have come to expect certain treatment from you. My concerns were never your concerns. You took nearly two full seasons from me and I kept crawling back. If I wanted something, you waved your hand in front of my face like Obi-Wan Kenobi and told me this was not the league I was looking for. I bought it. Quite literally. I was putting down season ticket deposits after lockouts.
So now I’m supposed to expect you to serve me, the fan, going forward?
How do I adjust to this notion? You have turned my world upside-down. I don’t know if I like it.
Take for instance player salaries. You offer no resource for this. To find out the contract values for players to see where a team stands with the salary cap, I have to go to sites like Cap Friendly. Why? Because for years, you told me I didn’t care about it, so the NHL would never have it on its web site. When a team announces a contract, there are almost never terms in it. Why? Again, because that’s not important, even though I think deep down I want to know, but after two decades of this, maybe I don’t? It’s hard to say.
But now that I see these protected lists, part of me thinks that maybe I want to know official contract terms too.
Now do you see my problem?
You made a good decision so I want more. I’m confused and scared. It’s too out of character from the league I came to love, then loved despite itself, and now love out of habit.
https://twitter.com/BananaBen23/status/842479824128163844
What’s next? Will you ban fighting? Will you get rid of this current playoff format and go back to the old one? Will you fix the league web site? Will you force teams to go back to white jerseys at home? Will you air games on a network other than NBC? Will you let players go to the Olympics? Will you put Evgeni Malkin on your top 100 list retroactively? Will you fix your league web site?
I know I mentioned the web site twice, but I think it warrants it.
I guess what I’m saying is, doing the right, smart, obvious thing with the Vegas expansion draft sets a bad precedent for fans. Now we are going to want you to make the right, smart, obvious decision for everything. I was prepared to slog through the next World Cup without Team North America, but now that you’ve done right by people like myself with the expansion draft, don’t you have to put the best thing about the 2016 tournament in the next one?
Please keep in mind the broken, dissatisfied, always-expects-the-worst fan in the future. Like, if you want to do the smart thing with the NHL draft lottery and air the bouncing balls or whatever live, keep in mind that if you give fans what they want twice in three months, we are going to want you to run yourself like a competent league forever after that.
Looking forward to you no longer blacking out games on NHL.TV,
Steven
“Rumpswallow”