With the NHL actively trying to expand its audience across the US and Canada, they have just shown how poorly they are at doing this with a massive mistake. <h2>Gary Bettman and the NHL Fails to Schedule Games During Pause in NFL, MLB, and NBA</h2> It is a fight for the NHL to compete for people's attention in today's sports market. With the NFL being a powerhouse, and the NBA and MLB consistently having good viewing numbers, the NHL needs to take advantage of every opportunity to get the sport on people's televisions when it can. However, they failed to do so tonight. The NFL, NBA, and MLB have no games scheduled for tonight. This would have been the perfect opportunity for the NHL to have a whole host of games scheduled. Instead, they have one. The Arizona Coyotes against the Carolina Hurricanes. <q>A rare night where the NBA, NFL, and MLB ALL don't have games, and the NHL chose to have one (1!!!) game scheduled, and it's the most random matchup anyone can think of.</q> <div align='center'><blockquote class='twitter-tweet' data-lang='en'><a href='https://twitter.com/puckreportnhl/status/1758516569485754553'> </a></blockquote></div> Not only is this a terrible scheduling decision for the NHL, but they also have the game on NHL Network, meaning it will be further limited on who can watch it, as it won't be aired on ESPN+. <div align='center'><blockquote class='twitter-tweet' data-lang='en'><a href='https://twitter.com/PuckReportNHL/status/1758517932068417720'> </a></blockquote></div> <h2>NHL Could Have Used This Opportunity to Have Their Frozen Frenzy</h2> The NHL should have used this opportunity to hold its first-ever Frozen Frenzy, which they did on a Tuesday night instead. Having it on a Friday of a long weekend would have given a ton of fans an exciting way to start their weekend, and it would have been a prime opportunity with other sports not being aired. <div align='center'><blockquote class='twitter-tweet' data-lang='en'><a href='https://twitter.com/thechek182/status/1758339607295340712'> </a></blockquote></div> Clearly, the NHL has some work to do when it comes to making up its schedule for next season.