Which holiday should the NHL claim?

[Hoss]

So football has Thanksgiving and basketball has Christmas. Hell, college football has New Years.

So where does hockey come in? We all know the NHL is afraid to admit some teams are better than others (for some stupid ***** reason) but it’d be cool to see them take a holiday and set up elite matchups for the whole day.

The league only favors big market teams because it has legitimately zero clue how modern sports fans consume content but boy would this help change that.

So which holiday? And what are four matchups you would’ve set up this year? (Only include the Sabres if you have a legitimate reason).

Answering my own question here but it’d be tough to claim a holiday because it’d probably be received poorly if you did a military holiday. But I’m mostly interested in matchups.

 

I would’ve gone:

noon - Pittsburgh at Washington (outdoors)

3:30 - Toronto at Winnipeg

7 - Tampa Bay at Nashville (outdoors)

10 - Edmonton at San Jose

[Doohicksie]

When they started the Winter Classic I thought it was an attempt to take over that New Years/day after slot.

 

[North Buffalo]

In the US maybe President's day... not sure if or what the best winter holiday in Canada would be...  

[darksabre]

1 hour ago, Doohickie said:

When they started the Winter Classic I thought it was an attempt to take over that New Years/day after slot.

 

Yeah, they tried to take New Year's Day and I liked that. Give me all the sports. 

[LGR4GM]

When's Easter. Take that. 

[Eleven]

I'll say this much: They play games on Canadian Thanksgiving but not American Thanksgiving and that's BS!

(The holiday the NHL has claimed is Canadian Thanksgiving.)

4 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

When's Easter. Take that. 

Someone doesn't remember Game 6 2011.

[GASabresIUFAN]

Festivus

[Doohicksie]

15 minutes ago, Eleven said:

I'll say this much: They play games on Canadian Thanksgiving but not American Thanksgiving and that's BS!

(The holiday the NHL has claimed is Canadian Thanksgiving.)

They don't play on American Thanksgiving because NFL games are already synonymous with the holiday.

[Eleven]

12 minutes ago, Doohickie said:

They don't play on American Thanksgiving because NFL games are already synonymous with the holiday.

That likely is right, but still think that Canadian Thanksgiving is the NHL's "claimed holiday."

[Doohicksie]

Okay.

[Hoss]

20 minutes ago, Eleven said:

That likely is right, but still think that Canadian Thanksgiving is the NHL's "claimed holiday."

I mean it’s claimed in the way you’d expect the NHL to: terribly. I’m talking actually claim it and put out a great day of high quality product. Doesn’t have to be all teams playing but give four damn good matchups that are on national tv (in both countries).

[Eleven]

44 minutes ago, Hoss said:

I mean it’s claimed in the way you’d expect the NHL to: terribly. I’m talking actually claim it and put out a great day of high quality product. Doesn’t have to be all teams playing but give four damn good matchups that are on national tv (in both countries).

The NHL doesn't have national TV access in the US, if you're talking about over-the-air.

[Hoss]

Just now, Eleven said:

The NHL doesn't have national TV access in the US, if you're talking about over-the-air.

I mean they have a deal with NBC and I’m talking about what they need to make happen not just what they should do right this second.

[ubkev]

2 hours ago, Eleven said:

Someone doesn't remember Game 6 2011.

Oh, you mean the only time my mother ever heard me say f###. Yeah, happy Easter.

[Ho-Chi-Sock]

Groundhog's Day.

[Eleven]

18 hours ago, ubkev said:

Oh, you mean the only time my mother ever heard me say f###. Yeah, happy Easter.

May you have many Easters together.  (She'll probably hear it again from you.  You might even hear it from her one day.)

[PerreaultForever]

Basketball/hockey don't totally compete. Different fan base for the most part so I think if they wanted to they can use Xmas and New Years. Cold, snow, lots of holiday time. 

Philly/Gritty should have an annual halloween home game though of course. Maybe the southern teams can do Spring break.

[Wyldnwoody44]

Nhl should corner the market on Sweetest Day 

[Hoss]

I think today has been fun with lots of hockey. So maybe the day after Thanksgiving is the spot?

[GASabresIUFAN]

Isn't New year's eve already a Sabres tradition.  Do we still do Tux and Pucks night?

[bobs0108]

Steak and B J day maybe?

[Tondas]

To me, nothing says hockey like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

[Taro T]

St. Patrick's Day.

Every team could have green highlights added to their unis.

[Weave]

All the holidays.

[Kruppstahl]

On 11/22/2018 at 8:06 PM, Doohickie said:

When they started the Winter Classic I thought it was an attempt to take over that New Years/day after slot.

 

This is my reaction as well; it's the only thing I can think of that comes close to NHL and a big national holiday in the USA.

Hockey is just way too much of a niche sport in this country to every really lay claim to a holiday.