Just how bad are hockey T.V. ratings? This will blow your mind.

Hockey is no longer one of the "Big Four." We all know that. We know the All-Star got dismal ratings compared to past years. We also know that attendance in the NHL was the highest for the month of January since 1988 (or maybe 1987?).

Something I'm sure nobody could expect is the rating of a recent Devils at Panthers game, televised on MSG. 736 of 7.4 million households tuned into the action, as cited in Richard Sandomir's article from Friday, February 2 in the New York Times titled "It Takes a Village To Put These Ratings in Perspective." That's a TV rating of .01. A shocking number for the Devils, who average 13,206 households and a .18 rating. A few other team ratings: Isles (7,336) and Rangers (36,834).

To be fair, the Devils don’t always draw 736 local households to their televised ice soirees. They average 13,206 (based on a .18 rating), better than the Islanders (7,336), but far worse than the Rangers (36,834). The Red Wings lead the league at 96,915 households.

And here comes the kicker. Last Saturday night when the Eastern Conference best Sabres took out the Islanders, 5-3, 8,103 households watched. BUT. That same night, 10,271 households watched a National Lacrosse League game featuring the New York Titans and the Rochester Knighthawks. I'm going to leave it at that and watch the end of this third period with the Bruins Finally in position to pick up a win. But I'm not going to jump the gun just yet.