NHL misses opportunity - yet again

The National Hockey League already is missing the point, to say nothing of an opportunity.

That's the indication from a quick glance Tuesday at this week's Jay Leno and David Letterman guest lists.

Apologies if they since were updated with, say, Tomas Kopecky invited to lounge on a late-night couch next to Jennifer Aniston.

Anyway, despite a rousing success in the Winter Olympics, NHL traditionalists are reluctant to send their players to the 2014 Games in Russia.

One reason, they say, is the league didn't experience a bounce in popularity from previous Olympic participation.

They almost have talked themselves out of experiencing one this time despite the enormous Games' exposure.

Maybe they're correct. Maybe the sport's status has crawled over time from fringe to cult to niche but won't ever bounce to mainstream no matter how it's marketed.

Does that mean the NHL shouldn't try to be all that it can be? Balls don't just bounce by themselves, you know. They have to be bounced.

The league has left the dribbling to the NBA and marketed hockey to the masses as flatly as if it were some secret foreign substance.

A friend pointed out to me that Leno's return to "The Tonight Show" time slot this week features prominent Olympic athletes - Lindsey Vonn, Shawn White and Apolo Anton Ohno were scheduled.

Meanwhile, Letterman scheduled Naperville figure skater Evan Lysacek.

So, where was Sidney Crosby, whose dramatic goal gave Canada the Olympic hockey gold medal? Of course, of course, we know, he was back with his Pittsburgh Penguins teammates resuming their NHL regular season.

Still, couldn't the league find time in Crosby's schedule for either "Late Night" or "The Tonight Show" this week?

Heck, Vonn told Leno that she planned to take a red-eye flight to Switzerland following the show to compete in another skiing championship in two days.

The Blackhawks resumed their NHL schedule Tuesday night with a game against the Islanders on Long Island. Couldn't Jonathan Toews of the gold-medal Canadian hockey team and Patrick Kane of the silver-medal Americans have taken a limo into Manhattan to tape Letterman?

Toews and Kane have done enough Hawks ads that they would have been great doing a "Top Ten" list of reasons they hate each other now.

If logistics were a problem, maybe remotes could have been used for Leno to chat with Crosby and Letterman to chat with the two Hawks.

Listen, it's always possible that the shows weren't interested in bringing on NHL players. But 27.6 million watched these guys play in Sunday's gold-medal game, so they must have some mass appeal.

Let's say Leno and Letterman never thought of booking hockey players. Shouldn't NHL marketing wizards have sold them on the idea?

Hockey players are the most accommodating athletes. Surely they would have gone out of their way to promote their sport on late-night TV.

The league should understand that associating with mainstream culture is one of the fastest ways to enjoy a bounce up to that level.

Then again, maybe it's too late, considering the NHL has neglected to adequately market its product for decades.

mimrem@dailyherald.com