Allowing NHLers to show their personalities

[member 298589]

Max Dumi just showed his personality against Florida. Think we need more of that? The reason isn't the 90% with good judgement, humour and taste. It is the other 10%.

 

[robertmac43]

You make it sound like lots of hockey players come from upper middle class, not true around here. There are those from that group but there are also those that come from middle to lower class families, which is probably the same world wide.

I would say the majority would be at least middle class, there are obviously going to be some coming up from lower areas of the economic ladder.

In a lot of other sports there are more players that come from less fortunate economical situations. Look at Soccer for instance where many players come from not only terrible family economic situations, but also there countries economies are completely backwards. Same can be said for a lot of baseball players.

With a lot of the players coming over form other countries to play hockey they are at least coming from more stable economic and likely social backgrounds.

 

[v00d00daddy]

That was a great celebration but I guess he should've just skated to the bench and acted like 50 goals in today's era means nothing. Serious question, why is that such a problem? These are grown men, not little kids. They can take it.

That was a grown man acting like a little kid imo

I just don’t want young, impressionable kids to see stuff like that and copy it.

If you do, fine. But I’m happy that the league and most fans don’t want great play to jump from celebration to boasting.

 

[SkinsFan09]

That was a grown man acting like a little kid imo

I just don’t want young, impressionable kids to see stuff like that and copy it.

If you do, fine. But I’m happy that the league and most fans don’t want great play to jump from celebration to boasting.

And there it is. Are we being serious? One day a kid will watch a video of a guy who worked his ass off to become the best player in the world put his stick on the ice after scoring 50 goals?

What kind of world will it be?! Think of the children whose growth will be stunted and who will decide to skip college because of Ovechkin's celebration on a huge milestone.

 

[SkinsFan09]

I don’t think fans of any team in any sport want to watch their players having fun while simultaneously sucking the air out of the building with their asstastic performances.

All I’m saying is there is a line between fun and being an idiot that’s hurting his team.

And there are over the top guys who are clearly out for themselves. They aren’t hard to pick out.

Personally I’d rather have a boring ass group of guys play for my team that win every year than a bunch of Sean Avery’s running around. Others feel different, good on them.

I mean yes everyone wants to win, but again, it's not an either or. Antonio Brown for example, guy has been a Hall of Fame caliber player for 5-6 years now, his TD celebrations are not hurting the team. And they don't mean he doesn't care about losing. No great player wants to be on a losing team and you can't prove that otherwise because a guy celebrates a good play. Ovechkin's stick on fire is not why the Capitals didn't win that year.

 

[Tobias Kahun]

Mike Richard's got ran out of the league for showing his personality.

 

[Bouboumaster]

 

[ReggietheSavage15]

Or y’know. The veteran guy should just shaddup and play better.

Less whiney. More catchy. Good Antonio.

I can’t believe there are hockey fans out there that would love more of that kind of drama and or think it grows the game.

Keep your crap in house and off Instaface, twitchat, snapabutt, whatever.

Like Belichek says.

Bill should be one to talk as he turned a blind eye to Hernandez's transgressions going back to UF. Please don't use the Pats or BB as the model of ethics.

 

[Eyeseeing]

I can't remember who said it but one journalist described Brent Burns as the only hockey player who we have collectively decided can have a personality. I doubt you are going to see NHL have as big of personalities as some other leagues but it couldn't hurt to have a little more shine through.

Big Buff is unique also

 

[easton117]

Bill should be one to talk as he turned a blind eye to Hernandez's transgressions going back to UF. Please don't use the Pats or BB as the model of ethics.

Who said anything about ethics.

You want a successful business then you run it like a business.

Want a circus, run it like a circus.

Simple

 

[ReggietheSavage15]

Who said anything about ethics.

You want a successful business then you run it like a business.

Want a circus, run it like a circus.

Simple

Yes, because the Pats are run w/o controversy.

 

[jj cale]

I'm not really interested in a players personality very much, I watch hockey for the entertainment on the ice, could care less if they are stand up comedians.

If i want movie stars, comics, or whatever else I will watch that, all I want from those guys is what they do on the ice.

 

[Amorgus]

But having players get to have a little fun for the sake of humanizing/encouraging connecting with the fans is like the bonus content on the Blu Ray disk. You come for the main event, but if it's not to the detriment of the team, they can provide some bonus entertainment and educattion. This also goes for things like The Player's Tribune articles, which are usually fantastic. There's a wide spectrum between Hockey Robot and doing pushups with stacks of chedda on your back.

 

[easton117]

Yes, because the Pats are run w/o controversy.

Generally speaking, their players aren’t up to anything overly newsworthy. Unless you count Brady having a pet for a trainer.

While odd I don’t really get the big deal.

Sure they had a murder. Hard to see that coming in a scouting report. It’s not the first and won’t be the last.

Anyway, you like yourself a sideshow. I like teams that act like professionals. Which my football team isn’t doing recently and it pisses me off.

 

[v00d00daddy]

And there it is. Are we being serious? One day a kid will watch a video of a guy who worked his ass off to become the best player in the world put his stick on the ice after scoring 50 goals?

What kind of world will it be?! Think of the children whose growth will be stunted and who will decide to skip college because of Ovechkin's celebration on a huge milestone.

Feel free to be dramatic. Also answer this question:

Watching your 12 year old child playing and scoring an important goal and s/he does the hot stick. You gonna be proud and praise them for that?

 

[Tkachuk4MVP]

There goes PK, making it all about himself again.

 

[SympathyForTheDevils]

I'd be fine with players showing their personalities. But celebrations, off-ice segments, jokes during interviews... That's not really personality. It's just putting on another kind of show, and a boring one at that.

If the NHL want to show personality, great! Show me what half of NHL players are humble, hard-working, boring people and what half are self-centered assholes whose shitty behavior has been enabled for years because they're good at hockey. Show me what players are dumb as a rock and wouldn't have made it through high school without sport. Show me the players who are weirdly nice to people they don't even know. Show me the players who think lizard people control the internet and who store weapons in their underground bunker to prepare for the Great Cleansing. Show it all.

If showing personality just means being more like the NBA, NFL, soccer ("Loud Man Says Dumb Things, Occasionally Dances") then f*** that. I already know enough of these people in real life.

 

[BAM]

There's nothing wrong with players being more outspoken and giving honest answers and letting their personality come out to light a bit. It's okay for players to be as big as the sport too. Lebron/Jordan/Kobe/Curry were/are global in their popularity...and it only grew the sport more/made it more popular.

 

[ReggietheSavage15]

Generally speaking, their players aren’t up to anything overly newsworthy. Unless you count Brady having a pet for a trainer.

While odd I don’t really get the big deal.

Sure they had a murder. Hard to see that coming in a scouting report. It’s not the first and won’t be the last.

Anyway, you like yourself a sideshow. I like teams that act like professionals. Which my football team isn’t doing recently and it pisses me off.

Ummmm...you know exactly how many transgressions Hernandez had at UF? Pats knew about this information before he was drafted.

 

[BigEezyE22]

And there it is. Are we being serious? One day a kid will watch a video of a guy who worked his ass off to become the best player in the world put his stick on the ice after scoring 50 goals?

What kind of world will it be?! Think of the children whose growth will be stunted and who will decide to skip college because of Ovechkin's celebration on a huge milestone.

Second best.

 

[nowhereman]

They're just "boring" canadians because they have to be.

McDavid looks like it but guarantee he isn't. Matthews looks like he has a lot of personality but just isn't showing it. Subban always expresses himself. Do we really want the faces of the NHL to be boring kid while NBA has pretty much celebrities like LeBron or NFL like OBJ etc

Neither McDavid or Matthews look to me like they have much "personality" beyond being a bit more loose outside of interviews. I'm not saying these guys are a pain or "boring" to be around but neither strikes me as the kind of guy who is the life of the party (Crosby is the same). And, generally speaking, it's generally pretty difficult to hide charisma, charm and "personality", even if it's toned down. I just don't see it much in either of those guys.

IMO, guys like Giroux, Seguin, Malkin, etc. are guys to me that feel "toned down" but are probably awesome guys away from the cameras. Guys like Subban, Burns, Pronger, Biz Nasty, Roenick, Hull, E. Kane, Ovechkin, etc. are on a whole other level and, personally, I'd love to see more of those personalities in the NHL.

 

[RangerBlues]

Personality costs money to owners.
Analytics sez build a team of robots

 

[MikeyMike01]

NBA and NFL players act like classless buffoons. I want no part of that in the NHL.

 

[BigEezyE22]

Ummmm...you know exactly how many transgressions Hernandez had at UF? Pats knew about this information before he was drafted.

Dude had gang related tats all over his body.

It was known.

 

[Limekiller]

The Sharks are actually very big on allowing everyone to have their own personality and let it shine through. How many other clubs would let Thornton and Burns be themselves? According to Burns himself that's a big part of why the locker room is so good, is that everyone CAN be themselves here. The Sharks even did a 3-part video series on Burns' offseason life to celebrate having players who are interesting and unique people. Burns himself makes that point about the team and the locker room in part 3 of the series

Part 1 is here, if anyone wants to see it: