In 2009 almost a half million people attended the World Junior Hockey Championships in Ottawa in an eleven day tournament and that's an amateur level. Next year this tournament is being held in Buffalo and American public will miss some of the most competitive sport in the world if they do not attend.

While I don't there's a cut and dry solution here, the NHL needs to take alternative action at leveling the playing field. I don't think NHL management has the balls to really get itself out there and raise some eyebrows. Whoever is head of PR really needs to step up and think outside the box. It sounds cliche, but it's the truth.

Hockey fans are devoted, unflappable, and most importantly, smart. The NHL needs to figure out how to harness that power and use it to get hockey back to where it was in the mid 90s.

The appalling state of mainstream press coverage of hockey is, I think, exactly why the Kings put Rich Hammond on their payroll this summer. Hammond's blog was clearly the best single source of reporting about the Kings to be found. The problem was that the Daily News clearly considered it a secondary (or even tertiary) duty for him, and he didn't have as much time for it as he wanted. On the Kings' payroll, reporting about the team is all he has to do.

As you may remember, there were some questions raised at the time about whether the Kings would allow Rich to maintain his objectivity as a reporter. But I never worried about that because, given how little attention the Kings were getting in the press, even negative stories would have been a major improvement. The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about, and all that.

The big issue that you bring up, I think, is the truly appalling state of the sports columnists. I can remember when the LAT's regular sports columnists were Jim Murray and Scott Ostler. And now who do they have? My theory is that T.J. Simers long ago realized that he doesn't actually have much in the way of writing talent or perceptive intelligence, and so he developed this shtick in which he intentionally tries to piss off a lot of people so that he'll get attention. Otherwise, everyone would realize that he's interesting as unsalted soda crackers, and he'd be out of a job.

But at least (I think) Simers has that degree of self-awareness. Plaschke is an idiot who doesn't realize he's an idiot. Otherwise, he wouldn't write so many columns that put you in mind of watching someone soil himself in public.

Personally, all I really need is the league to stay in business. On another level, I want thriving, competitive teams from Vancouver to Florida; while I don't need the validation of E-SPiN at all, positive exposure would help the marginal franchises fill seats, and help them keep their rosters together. But what we get doesn't help. The old business model of putting a team in each city and relying on local media to get a fan base going is finished – teams need to pay for their exposure. I'd even go so far as to offer a few weekend games to the broadcast channels like CW in local markets at cost.

Honestly tough the ratings for football absolutely crush any other sport. So as I agree with you, I also suggest that the US hockey community needs to leave the whole inferiority complex behind. Be happy you can go to a few games a year (or 42!) and have fun.