Last year, veteran hockey writers were shocked by the low turnout for the final between Carolina Hurricanes and Edmonton Oilers, another small-market matchup.

Luke DeCock, beat writer for the News & Observer, reported that only eight U.S. newspapers outside North Carolina made the trip to Edmonton.

The visiting contingent to Ottawa this spring won't be much larger. Those accredited for the final include USA Today, The Boston Globe, New York Daily News, the two Philadelphia papers, the Inquirer and Daily News, both Denver newspapers, the Post and Rocky Mountain News, and Los Angeles Times.

— William Houston, The Globe and Mail

I find it extremely interesting to see which markets make the tournament a priority every year, regardless of which teams are in it. It's somewhat alarming that the New York Times is taking a pass while the Daily News is on board, but encouraging that two Philadelphia and Denver dailies are on their way to Ottawa.

What would also be interesting would be to see which papers plan to cover the finals from Anaheim, which may be more accessible to smaller dailies on the west coast which have not traditionally covered the finals.

Houston also notes the small contingent of Canadian print reporters who will be following the series:

The Sun Media chain will use Ottawa Sun coverage for its newspapers, with the Edmonton Sun's Terry Jones also filing columns. The CanWest chain will rely heavily on Ottawa Citizen coverage.

The Globe and Mail will have five different reporters and columnists covering the finals, with three traveling between cities and one based permanently in both Anaheim and Ottawa for the duration of the series.