Duh. Not surprising there. According to ESPN.com, L.A., Chicago and Colorado have played to small crowds this year. The announced crowd for the Kings last Thursday was 14,167.

According to the Chicago Sun-Times, the Hawks had 8,008 fans show up... in the 20,500 seat United Center. The Denver Post reported the Avs broke their streak of 487 consecutive home sellouts on Monday, when they came up a little over 300 at the turnstiles. That streak started back in 1995!

Bettman was quoted in the L.A. Times, saying not to worry. Two to three weeks into the season is nothing to get worried about. Well Mr. Bettman, I would have to disagree with you. You better pray that attendance improves, or else you are going to find out that even though the fans came back last season, they aren't stupid.

Even though hockey in SoCal is treated with as much respect as lawn bowling and beer league softball games, there aren't any other fans more rabid than Kings fans. How else could the team almost sell out their season tickets allotment? But the tide is slowly turning. Fans will voice their displeasure by just not going. And all the Luc Retirement Ceremonies in the world won't change that.

Now is the perfect time to panic, because the second-largest market will be without a competitive team. The Ducks don't count, because they are in Orange County. They might as well be in Montana, because TV stations and newspapers in Los Angeles really don't care about anything on the other side of the Orange Curtain.