WHAT ABOUT ALL THOSE EMPTY SEATS?
NHL launches into first sort-of-normal season in two years, but challenges remain
It didn't quite make it a mutual moment to behold.
It wasn't a fully accredited wonderful welcome back in as fans returned to Rogers Place for the first regular season game since March 11, 2020 — after 81 Stanley Cup Hub City bubble playoff games, the entire IIHF world junior championship, 28 regular season and two playoff games with no fans in the stands.
Fans entered the arena after collecting Welcome Back Fans scarves at the gates and were greeted by a scene similar to the one in place for the grand opening of Rogers Place.
All the seats were covered by rally towels that turned the seating bowl orange and highlighted by Oilers logos behind the players benches and penalty boxes.
Unfortunately, when the 202122 Edmonton Oilers were introduced individually the atmosphere didn't resemble a playoff game, although the volume grew as the game went on. It was like a lot of them forgot how to cheer and act like fans.
The problem was that there were perhaps just over 16,000 fans in the building with many missing from prime season-ticket territory.
Whatever, they grew into it and to the players on the ice it sounded great as the game went along and exploded in fine fashion when Jesse Puljujarvi scored the first of the season from Darnell Nurse and Connor Mcdavid late in the first period. It seemed like it just took them a while to warm up.
Leon Draisaitl said it after the morning skate.
“It's been a strange couple of years. Even though it was amazing to have fans back in the pre-season, I think tonight is a different level of excitement. Opening night is always special, whether it's a normal season or not, but especially with the last two years, tonight's is even more special.”
You can't duplicate or replicate a playoff atmosphere with so many empty seats in the lower bowl.
Before COVID -19 the NHL attendance, other than specific locations such as Phoenix, has seldom been much of a focus. But these opening day crowds are going to be an interesting study, especially if the scene we experienced in Rogers Place is the norm for the first few weeks.
On the one hand, you have the combination of the exceptional reaction of the fans who were there embracing the team in their return for a full-fledged 82-game regular season.
But at the same time that's contrasted with the empty seats involving the fans not ready to come back and be part of a crowd, the unvaccinated that aren't allowed back in the building and so many fans that have suffered financially because of the coronavirus pandemic and can't afford NHL ticket prices.
With the team, just about everything about the return with fans in the stands for something resembling a normal NHL season is thumbs up.
“There's two big things,” said coach Dave Tippett. “One is fans. We didn't get a chance to be a part of games with any fans last year. Two is just getting back to a normal schedule where you are playing other teams and you're enthused to go into Vegas and this year Seattle will be a fun game just because they're new. It'll be a fun game for me to see their building and stuff,” said the man that was heading up the hockey end of the expansion team until he decided to take the Oilers job.
“Just to get back to a normal schedule with fans, everybody has been looking forward to this.”
But those empty seats, especially in an NHL city that had
551 consecutive sellouts during the decade of darkness, certainly stand out, if not quite like those new bright yellow seats between the green seats that you can see from outer space at Commonwealth Stadium when there's nobody sitting in them.
The NHL opened Tuesday with a built-in celebration with a Stanley Cup banner raising in Tampa Bay but a stroke of genius was with the scheduling of the first game of the expansion Seattle Kraken against the previous NHL expansion Golden Knights in Vegas, where the team that leads all leagues in game presentation took it to a new level.
Going into Wednesday's games, every single team in Canada had tickets available. A review of each club's online ticket maps indicated seating selection was available in virtually every section of every arena, including Toronto's and Montreal's.
In the Pacific Division, the three California clubs had opening-night ticket manifests similar to most of the Canadian teams.
“There is no question fans are excited to have hockey back, but it certainly looks like the return to completely full arenas may still take a little bit of time,” said Stew Macdonald, president and chief revenue officer of the Oilers Entertainment Group.
“One thing that we know is whether Canadian NHL rinks are 79 per cent, 89 per cent or 99 per cent of capacity, the atmosphere won't suffer.
“As NHL fans are coming back ready to celebrate, we'll be ready to welcome each and every one of them back.”