Stanley Cup

The National Hockey League turned 90 this last season and started on the continued road to recovery after the 2004-05 strike. Though may hate to see the Detroit Red Wings win the Stanley Cup, the effect of having a well-known team win the championship may be best for the league.
American sports fan know baseball, football, and basketball. They do not know hockey. The only player most people may know is Sidney Crosby and that has more to do with his promotion deals than his play on the ice.

By having the Red Wings bring the cup back to Detroit and Joe Louis Arena, the NHL can hope for the same effect that the NBA will enjoy by having the Celtics win, that MLB can have from having the Yankees win, or that the NFL can have from the Patriots win. Potential fans are going to be more interested in having a team they have heard of win everything than, lets say, the San Jose Sharks.
Fans with Anaheim Ducks tickets or Dallas Stars tickets may be insulted, but in the eyes of many, hockey belongs in the northern part of the continent where bodies of water ice over without the help of a climate control system.
The NHL has put itself in an interesting position with the expansion south and the strike. A sport that was already struggling to grow all of the sudden was struggling to keep their hold as the fourth major sport. Some may argue that NASCAR or Major League Soccer have or will replace hockey, but racing has never been part of the same paradigm as team sports and soccer has tried and failed to catch on this part of the world for decades.
Maybe the Red Wings winning will get more fans around Minneapolis/St. Paul and Denver revved up and will attract the attention of new sports fans, especially once they realize that the Minnesota Wild and the Colorado Avalanche are two contenders for the Stanley Cup. Think about it the Red Wings could inspire fans to buy Wild tickets or Avalanche tickets and then everybody might know who Marian Gaborik and Paul Stastny are.