4 Nations Face-Off final performs better than any NHL game in U.S., ever

How well did the final of the 4 Nations Face-Off perform? Well enough to make hockey look great.

And to make it look bad.

Via FrontOfficeSports.com, the game between the U.S. and Canada attracted an average audience of 9.3 million viewers. That's more than any NHL game in the United States.

Not this year. Ever.

The challenge for the NHL becomes siphoning some of that fresh interest in the direction of the regular season, and the postseason. The challenge for other sports is to figure out how to boost their own all-star exhibitions.

It's a no-brainer for the NHL to make the 4 Nations Face-Off an annual event. It might make sense to expand it to eight or more teams. If those games are going to outperform the normal NHL games, why not find a way to play more of them?

Shrink the regular season, expand the 4 Nations Face-Off, increase the profile of the sport.

For the NBA and MLB, there's a way to do an in-season international competition. For the NFL, there isn't. And won't be.

Still, less than two weeks into the post-Super Bowl wilderness, the NHL came up with a winner. And the win was too big for hockey to ignore.