"Are You Not Entertained?"

[sarge88]

Having lighter equipment and bigger pads would help them quite a bit.

I think Patrick Roy would be just fine today.

The biggest change in goaltending is literally bigger goaltenders. Barrasso would be just about the only guy that would be average size today.

Possibly.

It just seems like goalies are rarely beaten clean from more than 35/40 feet out like they were back then.

Eapecially in transition.

 

[Lobster57]

Patrick Roy, Ed Belfour, Curtis Joseph, Andy Moog, Mike Vernon, Tom Barrasso, Grant Fuhr, Bill Ranford, John Vanbiesbrouck, Mike Richter, Felix Potvin, Bob Essensa, Kirk McLean, Don Beaupre.

A few guys that were pretty good at that time.

First, i said goaltending, not goaltenders, there is a difference.

Guys had GAA's of 3.50 and sv% below .900 and had winning records. in 1990-91 Reggie Lemelin went 17-10-3 with a 3.68/.868.

Andy Moog had a career 3.14/.892.

Goalies today have had individual, focused training and development since they were 4. That wasn't the case in the glory days.

 

[GordonHowe]

Majority of fans over 40, sure. Is that the future of the game?

OT: Baseball fans are overwhelmingly old, white and male. It's a dying demographic, but teams sign players to ridiculous, crazy money contracts. Perhaps 20 years ago, the Sox paid a hot commodity Japanese pitcher $50 million merely to *talk* about joining the club. He did. If memory serves, he proved a dud.

I'm not certain how MLB can continue to throw around this kind of dough but they do. Look at the Dodgers. 325 million over twelve years for Yamamoto.

"Is there a chair here I can talk to?!"

 

[GordonHowe]

I am not religious but I really hope there is a hell so Bettman, Sinden and JJ can share a room.

They have a time share in Miami. OC wants in but they're stalling him.

 

[GordonHowe]

I think a lot of this is right- and to clarify, since you put up such a thoughtful post, I perhaps should have said Bettman and the owners. He is a convenient figurehead, but there is no denying he was brought into grow the game so that the owners could make more money. One of the ways to do that was certainly to make the game more free-flowing and skill-oriented and also to take a lot of the violence out. It takes time to do that- they couldn't suspend every player, or play entire games on the PP/PK which is what they would have had to do. Instead, the culture gtradually changed and I do think it was deliberate. But as with everything, there is no single reason. It is a lot things, including a changing broader culture more oriented towards safety. I could liken it to the wearing of bike helmets, which I certainly did not wear, nor any of my friends. Now you rarely see kids without them.

You almost never do. I chuckle each time I see this. Helicopter parents, participation awards, etc. No one wore bike helmets when I was a kid. They would have looked at you funny.

It's fine. That's the society we live in today.

Okay Boomer. You know best. You've handled everything exceedingly well thus far.

And I'm a Boomer.

 

[GordonHowe]

It certainly need not be one or the other. Which is the issue, some want only the direction the NHL has chosen. A blend would be ideal.

It would, and it's entirely possible. Speed, skill, physicality. Works for me.

 

[Morris Wanchuk]

I don’t really watch the regular season anymore. It’s just too boring. This is coming from someone who was a sth from 2009-2015. The funny thing is I have been watching more college hockey recently so it’s not all because of the fights. They just seem to care more.

 

[GordonHowe]

Maybe you should give pickle ball a chance.

I still don't know what pickleball is, the same way I don't know who the celebrity of the month is.

And that's precisely how I want it.

Use that Off button. It's there for a reason.

 

[Dennis Bonvie]

First, i said goaltending, not goaltenders, there is a difference.

Guys had GAA's of 3.50 and sv% below .900 and had winning records. in 1990-91 Reggie Lemelin went 17-10-3 with a 3.68/.868.

Andy Moog had a career 3.14/.892.

Goalies today have had individual, focused training and development since they were 4. That wasn't the case in the glory days.

You can't use goals against and save percentage to compare goalies from different eras. That would make the best goalies of all time from the 1930's. It would make Cam Talbot (2.62, .914) the equivalent of Patrick Roy (2.54, .910).

Team defense is much better than it was in the early 90's.

 

[Babajingo]

Perfect Example: The Cousins and Zucker incident last night.


This is the NHL game recap. It's not in the video and not in the text of the report.

Panthers pull away from Coyotes in 3rd for 5th straight win | NHL.com

Reinhart, Tkachuk score 42 seconds apart for Florida; Vejmelka makes 35 saves for Arizona

www.nhl.com

 

[jgatie]

It's been an obvious PR pattern for years. There's no doubt in my mind that the reason a lot of hockey fights on YouTube are now behind the "Won't you think of the children!!!!" big black screen of censorship is by request of the NHL, not any YouTube policy. Bettman is still chasing the general public who don't care about hockey and will never care about hockey, whether the game is sanitized down to "NBA on Ice" or not.

Meanwhile, the biggest ratings for an NHL regular season game in decades was the following shit show. It was must see viewing, and it was glorious!

 

[GordonHowe]

Perfect Example: The Cousins and Zucker incident last night.


This is the NHL game recap. It's not in the video and not in the text of the report.

Panthers pull away from Coyotes in 3rd for 5th straight win | NHL.com

Reinhart, Tkachuk score 42 seconds apart for Florida; Vejmelka makes 35 saves for Arizona

www.nhl.com

There you go.

PS Good for Zucker. Cousins is a punk.

To echo jgatie's point:



SportsNet:

 

[GordonHowe]

It's been an obvious PR pattern for years. There's no doubt in my mind that the reason a lot of hockey fights on YouTube are now behind the "Won't you think of the children!!!!" big black screen of censorship is by request of the NHL, not any YouTube policy. Bettman is still chasing the general public who don't care about hockey and will never care about hockey, whether the game is sanitized down to "NBA on Ice" or not.

Meanwhile, the biggest ratings for an NHL regular season game in decades was the following shit show. It was must see viewing, and it was glorious!

Gloriosky! Unbelievably, I hadn't seen that.

Thank you. Made my day.

 

[Dennis Bonvie]

Gloriosky! Unbelievably, I hadn't seen that.

Thank you. Made my day.

Maybe they should start every game with a mandatory staged fight.

 

[PlayMakers]

Mods, yours to move.

OT: Bear with me.

This is a league office intent on ridding the NHL of any and all physicality or emotion.

We saw a chippy, nasty tilt on New Year's Eve, yes?

We saw multiple scrums, after the whistle business, and Trent Frederic inviting Ben Chiarot to dance immediately after Freddie's goal.

And yet, as has been the case for a decade at least, watching NHL game highlights, or even TSN highlights, you would never know that was the case.

I think you have to consider who the NHL is marketing to. It's not you. Those of us who saw 80's, 90's hockey have been watching for 40 years. We will always watch.

The NHL is marketing to a different generation. I don't want to speak for that generation, or complain about what they are or aren't, but it's pretty clear they value and are entertained by different things.

The times they are a-changin, my friend.

 

[GordonHowe]

I think you have to consider who the NHL is marketing to. It's not you. Those of us who saw 80's, 90's hockey have been watching for 40 years. We will always watch.

The NHL is marketing to a different generation. I don't want to speak for that generation, or complain about what they are or aren't, but it's pretty clear they value and are entertained by different things.

The times they are a-changin, my friend.

True.

Even so, I wonder what their response would be to a game like NYR v. WASH, posted by jgatie above.

 

[Gordoff]

In the '70s guys fought like demons but I don't remember anyone bashing another players head into the boards or dasher the way we've seen in the past 10-15 years. I don't remember a lot of the crazy, backhanded things that we've seem players do today. Today you see players hit other players in the back or slash them in the back of the legs or higher. Sucker punches, punches when the ref isn't looking even when the other player isn't aware that it's coming.
Say what you want about Johhny McKenzie but I don't remember him or many of the other crazies who played back then doing sneaky shit behind the back.
They had a code. They settled things (too far, much of the time) with a punch in the face, much less jawing and hiding behind the refs when there's retaliation looming. Players are sneakier today because there isn't a fair penalization most of the time. Player takes a vicious stick across the back (or helmet, such as Frederic took) and turns around and shoves the other player back and there are equal penalties given out. There's little common sense or justice IMO in the NHL, especially when the "DoPS" gets involved. That body is totally biased and confuses the fan with dislogic. If I didn't love the Boston Bruins the way I do, I would be done with the NHL.
It's interesting that most of the Cup winners going back years have had heavy hitters to lead the way to the Cup. Afterall, Gretzky IMO wouldn't have won half as many Cups if he didn't have the protection that he had throughout his Edmonton run. Same goes for Cup winners today. Speed, talent, finesse, and toughness.
Major sports as we know them IMO are being strangled by big money. Today, computer game kids make more money than some traditional athletes.
As Gordon Howe said, I also do not understand how MLB keeps handing out ridiculously exorbitant money. Sooner or later the bottom will fall out. Football is ahead of all of the rest in revenue because not only do they crush it in marketing but they make the game, all of the games available to anyone who wants to see it 24/7. The NHL by comparison is stingy and looking to have teams in China by 2040 rather than entertaining their fans right now, today.
My grandson plays hockey and soccer but sits and watches football when he has a chance. He is barely interested in the Bruins and the NHL.

 

[Dennis Bonvie]

In the '70s guys fought like demons but I don't remember anyone bashing another players head into the boards or dasher the way we've seen in the past 10-15 years. I don't remember a lot of the crazy, backhanded things that we've seem players do today. Today you see players hit other players in the back or slash them in the back of the legs or higher. Sucker punches, punches when the ref isn't looking even when the other player isn't aware that it's coming.
Say what you want about Johhny McKenzie but I don't remember him or many of the other crazies who played back then doing sneaky shit behind the back.
They had a code. They settled things (too far, much of the time) with a punch in the face, much less jawing and hiding behind the refs when there's retaliation looming. Players are sneakier today because there isn't a fair penalization most of the time. Player takes a vicious stick across the back (or helmet, such as Frederic took) and turns around and shoves the other player back and there are equal penalties given out. There's little common sense or justice IMO in the NHL, especially when the "DoPS" gets involved. That body is totally biased and confuses the fan with dislogic. If I didn't love the Boston Bruins the way I do, I would be done with the NHL.
It's interesting that most of the Cup winners going back years have had heavy hitters to lead the way to the Cup. Afterall, Gretzky IMO wouldn't have won half as many Cups if he didn't have the protection that he had throughout his Edmonton run. Same goes for Cup winners today. Speed, talent, finesse, and toughness.
Major sports as we know them IMO are being strangled by big money. Today, computer game kids make more money than some traditional athletes.
As Gordon Howe said, I also do not understand how MLB keeps handing out ridiculously exorbitant money. Sooner or later the bottom will fall out. Football is ahead of all of the rest in revenue because not only do they crush it in marketing but they make the game, all of the games available to anyone who wants to see it 24/7. The NHL by comparison is stingy and looking to have teams in China by 2040 rather than entertaining their fans right now, today.
My grandson plays hockey and soccer but sits and watches football when he has a chance. He is barely interested in the Bruins and the NHL.

Seriously?

Pie, not doing sneaky shit? I recall a few times.

Lookup Dan Maloney.

 

[jgatie]

Gloriosky! Unbelievably, I hadn't seen that.

Thank you. Made my day.

That was their first meeting after Wilson slammed Panarin to the ice, and the league did nothing about it. The best thing was the Rangers GM was going to bring up some AHL goons and the players said no, we'll do it ourseves. There were guys dropping the mitts who had never fought before, or fought very rarely.

 

[GordonHowe]

That was their first meeting after Wilson slammed Panarin to the ice, and the league did nothing about it. The best thing was the Rangers GM was going to bring up some AHL goons and the players said no, we'll do it ourseves. There were guys dropping the mitts who had never fought before, or fought very rarely.

Old time hockey.

 

[mjhfb]

I still don't know what pickleball is, the same way I don't know who the celebrity of the month is.

And that's precisely how I want it.

Use that Off button. It's there for a reason.

The only thing I know about pickle ball is that 3 people I know have torn their achilles playing it.
Maybe it was invented by orthopedic surgeons.

 

[Gordoff]

Seriously?

Pie, not doing sneaky shit? I recall a few times.

Lookup Dan Maloney.

Yeah sure, I'll leave that to you since you enjoy the role of contrarian.

 

[Babajingo]

Seriously?

Pie, not doing sneaky shit? I recall a few times.

Lookup Dan Maloney.

My old man used to tell me stories about the Howe games. Someone would check him in the corner, the play would break out towards the other end and he would see Howe trailing the play a bit. Then he'd look back and see the checking guy on hands and knees with blood gushing out his nose or somewhere else.
He said it happened most DET BOS games he went to. I think there were cheap shots back then but the speed of the game was so much slower, the boarding type of hits didn't look that bad.
These guys are so fast now, and the equipment is hard as stone. Old days equip was basically see through leather.

I don't know.

 

[SwayHeyKid]

I think you can like all eras. Each contribute their own goodness IMO. I liked Rick Middleton. I liked that era. I also loved Cam Neely...then Joe Thornton....then Patrice and Lucic....love McAvoy and Pastrnak now. I loved a league with a lot of fights. I really enjoy this league as well. Things change. Players these days train year round, as kids played year round...it's just different. Just because "those were the days" doesn't mean these days can't be pretty good too.

 

[Gonzothe7thDman]

I think you can like all eras. Each contribute their own goodness IMO. I liked Rick Middleton. I liked that era. I also loved Cam Neely...then Joe Thornton....then Patrice and Lucic....love McAvoy and Pastrnak now. I loved a league with a lot of fights. I really enjoy this league as well. Things change. Players these days train year round, as kids played year round...it's just different. Just because "those were the days" doesn't mean these days can't be pretty good too.

I do miss playing within the division 8 times a year. Would much rather see TB, TOR, MTL, etc 8 times a year than meh games against western teams.

Having that many familiar matchups a year + divisional playoffs will breed a lot of natural contempt which almost always boils over in an enjoyable way