Did This Year's Winter Classic Do Enough To Be Considered A Success?

"There was a funny tweet we saw once that said something like "the haters said I couldn't do it, and they were right". This year's Winter Classic had a lot of haters. "How dare it be at a baseball stadium with a retractable roof in the Sunshine State," the hockey purists cried as they complained about it not being in a blizzard in -30 degree weather (you know the type that makes your beverages freeze on contact)."

"Part of us gets it. Miami is about as nontraditional a hockey market as they come. The Panthers have also made three straight cup finals appearances and put together a damn good hockey team, aside from the plethora of injuries this year. Go back fifty years and tell a Montreal Canadiens fans the NHL would have a team, and outdoor game, in Miami and they'd probably say "Tu es fou, cela n'arriverait jamais" (we'll give you a few seconds to use Google translate)."

"Point is even if we weren't 100% in support of this Winter Classic and their retractable roof baseball stadium the Panthers had earned the right to host the NHL's premier in season event. Why do you think the Pittsburgh Penguins and Chicago Blackhawks were perennial participants? Because they were the dominant, and American, teams of the 2010's. Now that honor belongs to the Panthers."

Critics objected to staging the Winter Classic at a retractable-roof baseball stadium in Miami because of the lack of traditional winter conditions. Miami represents a nontraditional hockey market, but the Florida Panthers earned hosting rights after three straight Stanley Cup Final appearances and assembling a strong team despite numerous injuries. The Pittsburgh Penguins and Chicago Blackhawks were frequent Winter Classic participants due to sustained dominance; that status has shifted to the Panthers. Choosing the New York Rangers as the opponent provided marketing security through South Florida's large New York transplant and snowbird populations, promising competitive action and strong box-office and ratings potential.

Read at Puck Prose