Perhaps the NHL will force them to change their name to the Los Angeles Ducks

Christine Daniels (yes, she's back from her leave) wrote this:

A typical sampling, courtesy Chris Zelkovic of the Toronto Star: "With a final that [will] feature Anaheim, a city where few care about hockey, and Ottawa, a city that will require NBC to run a locator map, don't be shocked if NBC leaves overtime for a 'Celebrity Poker' rerun."...

Take your pick of any potential "dream" matchup out there — Detroit-New York Rangers, Detroit-Montreal, Detroit-um, hmm, well, hmm, did we mention the Rangers? — and, really, how much better would the ratings be?

This side of the border, there is no such thing as Must-Watch Hockey. Not since Gary Bettman's grand fiasco of 2004-05 gave millions of American sports fans good reason not to watch the Stanley Cup finals.

A quick review of recent finals:

2006: Carolina-Edmonton. Nobody watched.

2005: Nobody played.

2004: Tampa Bay-Calgary. Nobody watched.

Anaheim played New Jersey in the 2003 finals and the league survived. People on the East Coast know about Anaheim. They know it's that place that Angels owner keeps wanting to escape.

anaheimducks

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