NHL takes esports on ice with gaming tournament

As Patrik Laine climbed the ranks of youth hockey in Finland, he learned about the NHL from video games.

FILE - In this March 3, 2018, file photo, gamers compete during the Athens Online mega-lan gaming expo hosted by eSports at the University of Georgia in Athens, (Joshua L. Jones/Athens Banner-Herald via AP, File)

"I learned probably just about the players," the Winnipeg Jets star said. "Nowadays it's super realistic, and you can just pretty much see how everybody is playing and how good they are."

It's about to get even more real with the NHL following the lead of the NBA, NFL, FIFA and other leagues in establishing a presence in a burgeoning esports market. The 2018 NHL Gaming World Championship, launched Friday, is the first step toward a potential version of the season-long NBA 2K League that's set to begin in May or perhaps eMLS on FIFA 18.

FILE - In this Aug. 22, 2017, file photo, visitors play the latest FIFA 18 soccer game from EA Sports at the Gamescom fair for computer games in Cologne, Germany. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner, File)

"You're really both tapping into and expanding the existing fan base of the game," said NBC Sports executive Rob Simmelkjaer, who got his introduction to hockey from playing "NHL 94" on Sega Genesis. "I think that's something that the NHL can benefit from by putting esports front and center in the way that they market their sport."

Players will be able to match up 1-on-1 in EA Sports NHL 18 qualification rounds. That will be followed by regional finals in the United States, Canada, and Europe on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, and then the June 19 championship at Esports Arena Las Vegas during the NHL Awards with a prize pool of $100,000.

This logo provided by the NHL is for the NHL's first foray into the world of esports that follows the lead of the NBA, NFL, and FIFA. (NHL via AP)

The hope is to land new fans and connect with current fans in a different way.

"This is really at its embryonic stage," NHL executive vice president and chief revenue officer Keith Wachtel said. "This is the most basic way for our fans to play. We're also going to explore in the future the opportunity, and we're going to test this with some of the guys at the regional tournaments and the final, maybe a two-versus-two or a three-versus-three."

WorldGaming and Collegiate StarLeague are already experimenting with gaming at movie theaters in Canada and are in the midst of the Snider Hockey Cup tournament on EA Sports NHL 18 with the finals taking place March 22 in Philadelphia, next to the Flyers' arena.

"After the response, we got to this tournament, we worked closely with the NHL and Electronic Arts for this program," WorldGaming and Collegiate StarLeague CEO Wim Stocks said. "They're going to be in the marketplace with really cool esports programming in the very near future."

Sports-based esports have a long way to go to catch up to fighting games like "Dota," ''League of Legends" and "Counter-Strike," but National Amusements programming and corporate development executive Kevin Mitchell doesn't believe the NHL needs to worry.

"Console gaming is just now starting to take off," said Mitchell, who also teaches esports at Emerson College in Boston. "I think it's really just coming up with an ambidextrous strategy on finding ways to integrate with their traditional fan base and finding ways to create cross-over engagement for this new generation that has been primarily consuming content online."

Mitchell thinks esports ventures are ways for leagues to make fans of young people who get their sports largely through their smartphones or computers. According to Newzoo's 2016 Esports Consumer Insights, 28 percent of hockey fans are 21-35, while 49 percent of esports enthusiasts are in that age bracket.

"We have a very attractive fan base," Wachtel said. "It's young, it's very tech-savvy, and millennials these days, which is really the gamer, are consuming sports in a much different way."

For a sport grappling with challenges of getting kids interested in hockey in places where ice time and equipment can be expensive and difficult to come by, this is another possible route. Mitchell said about 50 U.S. colleges now offer esports scholarships and expects more development at youth levels as they become more popular.

NBC Sports in the U.S., Rogers Sportsnet in Canada and Viasat in Europe will promote the event, airing regional finals and the championship and putting highlights on TV around playoff games.

How it goes will help determine the NHL's next steps.

"We don't really have a statement on what the future holds other than we're going to be active in one way, shape or form," said Chris Golier, NHL vice president of business development. "We're going to have a lot of involvement and conversation with a lot of the top gamers, as well, make sure that it's fun, engaging, the content works and we'll revise as we see fit going forward."

Esports might be a way for the NHL to grow its audience in China, where it is already broadcasting regular-season games and hosting exhibitions ahead of the 2022 Olympics.

"China is a huge gaming population," Stocks said. "What better way to help bring the game of hockey to China than through video gaming? I think the NHL has a great opportunity."

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. (AP) — It would be an understatement to say that Cam Talbot's season has been a roller coaster.

The Los Angeles Kings, though, are hoping their veteran netminder's game is ascending heading into the Stanley Cup playoffs.

“My game is at a place where I like it, but there’s always room for improvement,” Talbot said. “Any time we get a practice day, which is often anymore, I try to take advantage of it.”

Talbot signed a one-year contract with the Kings during the offseason, his fourth team in five seasons. He played in 54 games and started 52, marking the fourth time in his 12-year career and first since 2018 that he has started at least 50 games. He posted a record of 27-20-6.

Among goaltenders with at least 50 games, Talbot is fifth with a 2.50 goals-against average and .913 save percentage.

The overall numbers are good, but Talbot has been inconsistent. He closed the regular season with four wins in his last six starts, but allowed four goals on 13 shots in Thursday night’s 5-4 overtime victory against Chicago. With the win, the Kings moved back into third place in the Pacific Division and drew a first-round matchup against the Edmonton Oilers.

When the series opens in Edmonton on Monday, it will mark the third straight season the Oilers and Kings have met in the first round.

Talbot was one of the league's best goalies from the start of the season until the Christmas break. He was 14-6-2 and second in the league with a 2.06 GAA before going through a stretch in which he was winless in 10 straight starts.

The midseason slump, when the Kings went 3-8-6 before the All-Star break, led to the firing of Todd McLellan as coach and Jim Hiller taking over.

Even though Talbot wasn't happy about the skid — where he went 0-7-3 and had a 3.86 GAA — he did see some things that didn't cause an overall breakdown in his confidence.

“You don't forget how to play a position. The first four or five games we allowed two goals or less. If we would have put the puck in the net like we are now, that would have led to a couple extra wins,” he said. “So, you just try to remind yourself that you're here for a reason, and the way that this season started wasn't a fluke.”

Hiller said the biggest improvement he saw from Talbot after the All-Star break was making the first save and not allowing many rebound opportunities.

“As a coach, you can overanalyze the position. What I've seen is that he's controlling rebounds and when he doesn't our defensemen are doing a good job of boxing out,” Hiller said.

Los Angeles is looking to win its first playoff series since winning its second Stanley Cup in three years in 2014. It went into last year's series against the Oilers with unproven playoff netminders in Joonas Korpisalo and Pheonix Copley.

Talbot and backup David Rittich have playoff experience, while Korpisalo had only one playoff series on his resume before last year.

Los Angeles is an underdog in the upcoming series after Edmonton won in six games last year and in seven in 2022.

“The biggest question is can Talbot and Rittich made the routine save 100% of the game and then the spectacular ones. The lower the score, the better LA would like it. That is where they flourish and I think that's where they will frustrate you,” TNT analyst Ed Olczyk said.

AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

Los Angeles Kings goaltender Cam Talbot (39) blocks a shot during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Minnesota Wild, Monday, April 15, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Kyusung Gong)