Eric at Offwing Opinion has me on a roll right now. The first blog post I read today was his talk about the lack of an NHL highlights show, and how it’s well past time for it to happen. In the post, Eric quotes himself from November, where he was right then, and is still right now:

Perhaps this is a problem that will solve itself once COMCAST begins distributing the NHL Network on its systems throughout the U.S. In the meantime, I think the league needs to seriously consider creating its own nightly highlight package and distributing it via RSS. And while COMCAST has begun to distribute a weekly highlight reel on its cable systems using video on demand, it’s not enough.

One of the best moves the NHL has made with it’s content is putting it on YouTube. Even with the small screen and obvious limitations that YouTube has, people are watching. When I watched the NHL Plays of the Week package put up on Feb. 6th, it was viewed 12,798 times. For all of the complaints of not being able to see the puck on television, the thing fits between the pixels on my computer screen. And still, people are watching.

And still, the NHL does not have a daily highlight show. Last season, Versus was rebroadcasting a Canadian highlights show after the playoffs (was it from NHL Network?). This was while the majority of playoff games were already on Versus. With national coverage limited to two nights a week (if we are lucky), the need is even greater. If the NHL is going to put a highlight package on the air, it needs to do it on Versus, not the fairy tale promised land of the NHL Network. Besides being easier to find, it would put the show into more homes than a digital cable exclusive channel in the upper reaches of the dial (who really channel surfs above channel 120?). Versus coverage of highlights during the intermission reports are worse than their in game coverage (is that possible?), and I don’t feel the in studio crew can be trusted to get the job done.

Then I got to thinking.

It surprises me that no one has done an underground NHL highlight show. With the vast amount of quality independent hockey blogging and podcasting available, nobody has gone the completely insane route of producing a video podcast highlight reel show. One or two cheap digital cameras, software like iLife, and a few clips (the tricky part), and you could roll your own show. Even with the issue of using NHL content, the user generated videos at YouTube are still up, even with the official bond between YouTube and the NHL. If the NHL wanted the stuff taken down, it would be gone.

Imagine commuters in Boston taking the T to work watching a highlights show on their iPods. The thing downloads automatically overnight, nothing to do, nothing to forget. Shows could be kept forever on the viewer’s hard drive. Shows wouldn’t have to hold to the conventions of television (half hour blocks, commercial breaks, FCC issues). If there is one game in the NHL, you don’t have to do twenty minutes of filler, or stretch one save into a three minute opera. Do a five to ten minute show and be done. You also wouldn’t have to compress highlights into a three second clip, like the ESPN and Versus teams do. How about a mid day fifteen minute what to look for podcast, highlighting the games of the night?

Even if this isn’t completely practical, it’s something. It’s an idea that is worth stating. The NHL needs the underground movement of hockey bloggers and podcasters as much as we need the hockey. As much as the NHL has regressed in recent years into a low tier sport in America, it has a loyal following who have taken matters into their own hands.