" They've resisted so far, but the NHL is now considering playing at least one-- and possibly two -- games on Christmas Day. No games are currently played on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. However, NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly revealed that the league has wanted to play games on the holiday for 10 years." Source: NJ.comYou can bet that the NBA's success with their Christmas Day marquee match-ups is a major factor in the NHL's interest in introducing a holiday game to the schedule.
According to The Nielsen Company, the NBA has hit on some major ratings since ABC started broadcasting the NBA in 2002. A 2004 Lakers-Heat game topped out the Christmas Day ratings with over 13 million viewers. A 2005 rematch between Kobe's Lakers and Shaq's Heat (at the time) drew over 8M viewers. And this year's Celtics-Lakers Christmas Day game, a rematch of last year's NBA Finals drew an outstanding 9.7M viewers.
If the the NHL can drew even a fraction of the NBA's ratings, I'm sure the NHL's braintrust won't mind being painted as the Grinch who stole the NHLPA's holiday schedule away from their families.
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