Philadelphia Flyers: Claude Giroux rightfully defends hockey

After Max Kellerman’s take on hockey, Flyers forward Claude Giroux came back with his own response.

Not shocking to anyone, Max Kellerman delivered an extremely hot take about hockey on Wednesday. And Claude Giroux was sure to defend the Flyers and the NHL as a whole in his response.

https://twitter.com/puck_report2/status/1268220792833277952?s=21

As seen above, Kellerman mentions that “no one cares really about hockey” and that “it’s not one of the four team major sports” He attempts to back that up by saying the tv ratings aren’t there for the sport.

That couldn’t be further from the truth. And Giroux was quick to respond to Kellerman’s take.

Giroux wasn’t the only one to come after Kellerman for his take. Paul Bissonnette mentioned getting him out to a game and buying the drinks himself. Kelly Chase threw a knockout punch by mentioning how the network Kellerman works for is offering millions to get the sport back.

Plenty of other current players, reporters, etc came after Kellerman for the take. Even though defending the NHL isn’t a necessary thing to do, we’ll go ahead and do it anyway.

The league is a $5 million-plus business.  The Rangers, Blackhawks and Bruins were all valued over $1 billion according to Forbes. Montreal and Toronto are among the Canadien billion dollar hockey clubs.

The NHL also has a national television deal with NBC. And there are also fan bases in non-traditional markets such as Nashville and Las Vegas. And don’t forget about Flyers fans. They are among the most passionate fans in the league.

Even events like the Winter Classic have proven to be a huge ratings grab for the league. Now of course, there are parts of the country that don’t follow the NHL. That is typically due to having no representation near them.

What could you even possibly consider a major sport other than the NHL?

So Kellerman should certainly listen to players like Giroux. The NHL is absolutely one of the four major sports.