Quote from: Zanzibar Buck-Buck McFate on February 02, 2023, 11:03:04 PMHockey's an odd team sport in that it has distinct tiers of players who aren't all on the "field" at the same time. So fans wear out their butts sliding to the front of the seats when Lines 1 and 2 are on, and slumping back when 3 and 4 are on. Fewer teams would increase the number of relatively higher-talent players on 3 and 4, so fans could stay in the middle of their seats for them. Less butt travel time equals a better product and higher US TV ratings.
Sure and if you eliminated all but the six original teams there'd be all-stars at every spot of the lineup. That's not really the point though. Exciting players on the third line has never been the norm in hockey and trying to engineer it to that point is breaking with the past, not keeping with it.