A Black day for the NHL

[Island Nucklehead]

We need T-shirts: "Love this team. Hate this League."

I'd buy one.

[donlever]

We need T-shirts: "Love this team. Hate this League."

I'd buy one.

Two...

There's money to be made here, someone jump on it....

[Topper]

I've never seen so many short bussers wanting to blow things up.

Mondi must feel like he is home again.

[Strangelove]

I've never seen so many short bussers wanting to blow things up.

Mondi must feel like he is home again.

[donlever]

...what's this thread got to do with blowing things up?

[Strangelove]

True Donny.

But the blow-up folk are invading most threads so tit for tat and all that rot eh wot?

Wot's good for the goose is good for the gander?

One bad turn deserves another?

Necessity is the mother of invention?



Well anyway twas a funny joke indeed.

[tantalum]

Thankfully between storms and life I've been spared the better part of this series, but have managed to catch a good amount of other match ups. The officiating is just atrocious.

I was hopeful when Shanahan took over and dished out some early harsh sentences the NHL was finally getting with the program. Sadly, the NHL neutered the department of player discipline because of the out cry of some GMs. Well those GMs are now reaping what they sowed and they should be ashamed and embarrassed. There are no significant consequences to anything so anything goes. What do the Hawks care if Shaw gets a game or two if he can take out a starting goaltender with a cheap shot of cheap shots? What do the Preds care if Weber cracks the helmet of Zetterberg? The NHL will never suspend a star in the playoffs. Why does a player care when he's on a team in secure playoff spot that an act might get him a few games rest while inflicting major damage on a rival team? As pointed out earlier in the thread and by me on numerous occassions the last number of years until the NHL starts ignoring nameplates, starts punishing the act itself (not the consequences of the act) AND gets serious with the actual punishment this crap is just going to happen. THis is the can of worms they opened up last year when they allowed Boston to do what they did. Now you have several teams doing the same things in the hopes of eliminating key players. There is no other way around it...there is deliberate attempt to injure going on and it's sickening.

Meanwhile we have this ludicrous delay of game penalty for a puck over the glass (8 times in the first 10 or 11 games of the playoffs I believe. Not sure how many since then). A penalty they had to bring in because the refs didn't have the balls to call the obvious ones. Now refs don't have the balls to call anything and have no idea how to control a game (see Pens and Flyers). We have "experts" pointing to Henrik and Daniel as being wimps because they take it and take it and take it and always just put their head down and keep going. THese same "experts" then call Malkin and Crosby whiners because after getting hacked and slashed they do something.

In short the NHL has lost me. When the canucks are eliminated (too bad it's when and not if) I will no longer be watching the playoffs. If there is a game on I may watch it but I won't be arranging any of my schedule around a game. And we'll see what happens next year but right now I'm pretty much disgusted with the league and am in need of a break. It seems they didn't really learn anything from the NFL in the past month. Playing hard is good and if someone gets hurt it happens....attempting to injure is bad very bad.

And I know I'm not alone in this. based on my rec league yesterday about 75% of the guys have already stopped watching the NHL this year down the stretch and into the playoffs because of how horrible it has been to watch.

[dangler]

I'm surprised how many of my fellow hockey fans share the same sentiments.

this season has digressed from the beginning

The way I look at it, its a win win situation...either the Canucks rally,or I don't have to spend my evenings indoors watching TV when the weather is finally getting decent.

Love the game,hate the league

[ESQ]

http://www.thestar.com/sports//hockey/nhl/article/1162131--cox-nhl-playoffs-veer-wildly-out-of-control

If Shanahan had simply upheld the standard set last spring when Mike Murphy banned Aaron Rome for the rest of the Stanley Cup final after a blatant head shot on Nathan Horton, we wouldn’t be having this discussion now.

Last year I was extremely pissed about the Rome suspension, and at the time I thought it was a bizarre change of course for the NHL. BUT, I always thought as long as this is the precedent going forward, and Rome's suspension became the starting point for borderline hits and that clearly dirty hits would go way beyond what Rome got, I'd be okay with it.

As it stands, Rome was an aberration. The pre-season suspensions looked like they'd be following the example set in the Finals, but Columbus going 0-10 without Wisniewski quickly put an end to that.

I'm trying to figure out why the NFL is able to react so swiftly and harshly on discipline, and I think its because of the NFLPA. The NFLPA is either more responsive to its membership or is more concerned about injury because the pro career in football is even shorter than in hockey, but the way the NHLPA interferes to defend dirty hitters is ludicrous.

Of course, maybe the governors are in Shanahan's ear more than we know.

[ESQ]

And I know I'm not alone in this. based on my rec league yesterday about 75% of the guys have already stopped watching the NHL this year down the stretch and into the playoffs because of how horrible it has been to watch.

That is very interesting coming from your part of the US. I'd have thought with St. Louis having such a great season the local hockey faithful would be heavily invested.

Going back to my NFL comparison and reading your post, maybe its because of the weakness of the Commissioner. The NFL owners are far more unified in public, and discipline against owners is also heavy. The NHL meanwhile keeps up its bush-league image by allowing a rogue's gallery buy teams (while keeping billionaire Canadian die-hard hockey fan out of the club), pandering to the inner circle of owners - Chicago, Boston, Toronto, etc. The idea of Toronto having a special exclusion zone that covers 1/3rd of the Canadian population, while Quebec had to share its province with another franchise, and apparently no compensation going to the Alberta teams when Winnipeg came in, makes me scratch my head.

[CrzyCanuck]

Indeed. I found my passion for the NHL has been on steady decline over the past few years.

This game is not as exciting as it used to be, rather it is now filled with direct aggression and violence with intents to injure each other.

There's no respect and sportsmanship.

And the league's attitude and failed attempts of deterrence are not exactly encouraging either.

Sure, it's all part of a game. You expose your opponent's weakness and exploit it you'll win. But I never knew that injuring your opponent's key players is the legitimate way of exposing and exploiting weakness.

Additionally since the last lockout we were promised to have more entertaining games instead we have now regressed back to the clutch 'n' grab hockey, except to a worse degree.

fuck it i say, fuck it.

I had some hope in Shanahan but I guess He's just another pos Campbell.

How much longer can Bettman retain his seat?

and How much longer can fans, and players tolerate this?

[wienerdog]

I am so fucking close to being done with the League too.

It truly has nothing to do with our series - I've been working my nuts off and haven't even seen a game yet. Don't really care about this series, actually.

See, I'll likely take a lot of flack for it, but I actually saw a small silver lining in the troubles of this team this post-season.

Things haven't been quite "right" with this season for a while, and it seemed to me that somehow it was apparent that they wouldn't go far this year. And while I wasn't exactly expecting the sting of an impending sweep by an 8th seed team, I was ok with that notion because I figured it would give MG the freedom to make some bolder moves to put us in a really good spot again next season. After a full summer's rest.

But when I see what went down with Weber - well, suffice it to say I'm not a goddamn fucking moron that wants to watch a bloody gongshow based on idiocy. $2500. For sucker-punching and slamming a League superstar's head into the glass after the game was over.

WHAT. THE. FUCK.

Why not just televise Shanahan rimming Bettman at centre ice instead so we can at least get some real entertainment out of it?

This has been nothing short of a revolting League-wide travesty of a post-season. It's a fucking disgrace.

And the worst part about it all is we all know that those fucking ****s running the show are loving it.

These are dark, dark days for the NHL.

[Lancer]

I'm waiting for Ned Braden to skate out to centre ice and do a strip-tease in the SCF. This is what the league's become.

Yes, I've called for opposing players' heads and revenge and I'm hardly alone. Imagine what the players feel when their stars and captains get not-so-unintentionally hurt from cheap shots and illegal hits. Beyond the visceral urge for pay-back, I think it's borne from at least a sub-conscious understanding that justice will never be adequately meted by the league. It goes back farther than last year. What did Moore get for his elbow on Naslund. Look what happened afterward. You'd think the league would have put 2 and 2 together, but here we are.

You'd have thought that Crosby's injury would have changed things, but even he is showing how much he believes in NHL discipline when he is getting involved in melees and playing Bruins hockey. Success breeds imitation, and here we are much the poorer for it.

I'm sort of on the same page as Fred re: his grandson. My 5-yr-old had a serious concussion in 2010 that involved a couple nights in hospital and a pair of CT scans. He seems fine, but it sure makes you think twice about activities.

My wife saw the Brown hit on Hank and wondered aloud why she would ever want our sons playing hockey if this is what they can look forward to. What can I say? I look at some of the brutal incidents in junior (including the one that got Kassian suspended) and I can't blame her.

As pointed out earlier in the thread and by me on numerous occassions the last number of years until the NHL starts ignoring nameplates, starts punishing the act itself (not the consequences of the act) AND gets serious with the actual punishment this crap is just going to happen.

That's the only way to stop the cycle from swirling the NHL game down the bowl to the Federal League.

[Madcombinepilot]

you all wonder why the reffing is onconsistent.

you blame shanny, coaches, GM's and the players for a lack of respect.


You are all missing the point.

TV Ratings are double that what they were in the first round last year.

Figure it out.

[vic]

The NHL should start fining coaches/teams more for the behaviour of their players, regular season + playoffs based on the player's salary and how much their need to forfeit due to loss of games.

Taking Duncan Keith's actions into consideration, he makes $8m per year, which works out to ~97.5K per game. His 5 game suspension cost him ~487K in salary. Not only should he have to forfeit this salary, but the Chicago Blackhawks or Quenneville should have to pay the same fine.

Byron Bitz makes ~ 8.5K per game, the Canucks or AV should be fined ~17K for his 2-game suspension.

Craig Adams makes ~8.8K per game, Mario or Bylsma should be fined the same amount for his 1-game suspension.

See where I'm getting at? If players know their antics on the ice is going to cost not only themselves money but also their bosses, my guess is that they'll think twice about what they are doing on the ice.

It needs to start with coaches/management. If it is going to start costing them money, I'm sure they'll put their players in their place...