The NHL won't stage six outdoor games again next season
That this NHL season is a "season like no other" is a truism, and a mantra that has been drilled in repeatedly by NHL marketing, business operations, and the NHL Revealed series in recent months. With a full season (after a lockout abbreviated 2013 campaign), an Olympic tournament at midseason, a new divisional alignment, and six outdoor games - the uniqueness of the 2013-14 campaign hardly needs to be underscored at such length....
While the league doth protest too much, the singularity of this current hockey season remains a cold hard fact. That fact was highlighted by a comment from the NHL's Chief Operating Officer John Collins, who told reporters on Friday that the league will "definitely" host less than six outdoor games next year:
Collina said NHL will have "definitely less than six" outdoor games next season. This was special case.
— Nick Cotsonika (@cotsonika) January 25, 2014
This weekend the league will host two more outdoor games (on Saturday at Dodgers Stadium, and on Sunday at Yankee Stadium); the second and third such games of the season. Presumably a month from now observers, fans, media and the league itself will have a better idea of whether or not Steve Yzerman's "killing the golden goose" warning was prophetic, or not.
At the moment, however, the league just looks brilliant for counterprogramming the NFL's interminably dull Pro Bowl with a couple of big, showy events.