Around the League 2018-19 IV

[My3Sons]

I see what you are saying - I am not disagreeing with you that these elements are in the league now... I'd argue that it's just part of human nature and will always be part of the game...

What I am saying is that like just about EVERYTHING these days, attempts to control it through legislation and rules is folly - because it just pushes it underground to erupt with even more force. By taking the responsibility of teammates safety out of the hands of the players themselves and putting it in the hands of the referrees, you end up ENABLING worse violence to happen.

It isn't a huge stretch to find analogies in helmet laws getting people killed or political correctness making racism more insidious by making it covert or any black market coming in to fill a void once prohibitionist laws go into effect.

The same is with hockey. No more enforcers are necessary because in theory, referrees will penalize players and teams that take liberties with others' safety. But it just doesn't work - or if it does, it works very very unequally and in fits in starts. Tom Wilson gets 10 games for this, Marchand gets 1 for that, Kucherov gets none at all.

Our team didn't step up because it wasn't built for the playoffs. It was built for the new NHL mold - where refs are supposed to protect you - but players will ALWAYS push that line and 'legal' hits will always go on.

That's why guys like Ryan Reaves are fairly useless all season long and then suddenly go to a playoff team at the deadline... and why Tom Wilson gets big, big money.

WILSON is likely to score about 25 goals this year. I think his last suspension may have woken him up. I’m not aware of any in season misconduct this year and his scoring appears to be up. We will see what he does in the playoffs.

I think the league needs to crack down on the violent penalties more than it has. Instead of suspending Marchand for a handful of games for his next cheapshot send him home for 20 games. Even if it would ordinarily be a three game offense. The players aren’t all stupid. Most of then will learn. WILSON seems to have learned something it seems. I still think he is a sociopath and won’t root for him.

 

[Triumph]

Garbage. You can find it today just as much if not more than in those days. You just pointed two out in the past couple of weeks. Guys who can't fight today swing their sticks. Here's last year's playoffs and all of the hits on Tom Wilson (cross-checks to the face, boarding, spearing, high-sticking) because no one would drop the gloves with him and they didn't like his physical play:



When you don't have players who can take care of themselves, or can protect skill players - you get more stick swinging, more boarding and more intentional hits to the head as the games become more intense. Period.

Again these are just myths repeated by dinosaurs who think the game never should've changed from 1989. There's so much less stickwork now.

 

[devilsblood]

Garbage. You can find it today just as much if not more than in those days. You just pointed two out in the past couple of weeks. Guys who can't fight today swing their sticks. Here's last year's playoffs and all of the hits on Tom Wilson (cross-checks to the face, boarding, spearing, high-sticking) because no one would drop the gloves with him and they didn't like his physical play:



When you don't have players who can take care of themselves, or can protect skill players - you get more stick swinging, more boarding and more intentional hits to the head as the games become more intense. Period.

I don't get how teams running Wilson is proof that the rules are making the game more dangerous.

Seems to be the opposite, that teams will go after a dirty player, ie self policing.

 

[devilsblood]

WILSON is likely to score about 25 goals this year. I think his last suspension may have woken him up. I’m not aware of any in season misconduct this year and his scoring appears to be up. We will see what he does in the playoffs.

I think the league needs to crack down on the violent penalties more than it has. Instead of suspending Marchand for a handful of games for his next cheapshot send him home for 20 games. Even if it would ordinarily be a three game offense. The players aren’t all stupid. Most of then will learn. WILSON seems to have learned something it seems. I still think he is a sociopath and won’t root for him.

Ya Wilson got paid for putting up points in last years playoffs, and for the prospect of him keeping up that production, and despite people mocking that contract, year one seems to justify the deal. 19-15-34 in 48 games.

His physicality is without a doubt a part of the package, but that is not the driving force in him getting that deal.

 

[My3Sons]

Ya Wilson got paid for putting up points in last years playoffs, and for the prospect of him keeping up that production, and despite people mocking that contract, year one seems to justify the deal. 19-15-34 in 48 games.

His physicality is without a doubt a part of the package, but that is not the driving force in him getting that deal.

TOM WILSON as a 50 point player is a very good player to have on your team. I still dislike him and hope he is policed closely by the league.

 

[MadDevil]

Ah yes, the good old days when players had more respect for each other. So much so that they would all end up on the ice to have a nice discussion over tea and crumpets...or to punch each other in the face. Or how about even before that when they respected each other so much they'd let other players see their sticks up close and personal...or swing them at each other. At least when there were goons....excuse me enforcers...when a player did something bad they'd go punch the other team's enforcer in the face and restore order to the chaos.

 

[Bleedred]

Just saw the Ducks were expected to name Dallas Eakins their head coach after this year.

Isn't he like the third or fourth worst head coach in the history of hockey, behind only John MacLean, Pierre McGuire and Doug Weight?

What a great replacement for Carlyle.

 

[BenedictGomez]

Ducks were winning 4-3, and gave up 2 goals in the last 1:04 and get ZERO points.

That's a killer in the lottery game. SMH

 

[sabremike]

Just saw the Ducks were expected to name Dallas Eakins their head coach after this year.

Isn't he like the third or fourth worst head coach in the history of hockey, behind only John MacLean, Pierre McGuire and Doug Weight?

What a great replacement for Carlyle.

You forgot someone:

 

[sabremike]

I take exception to the guy who portrayed Probert as just a goon. Of course he is possibly the greatest fighter ever but he was also actually a good player and people forget that.

 

[glenwo2]

Yes they were dirty, but how many players go outof their way to personally apologize to the player they did it to - immediately after the game?

Hedman is your typical ‘heat of the moment’ player, he never MEANS anything behind his actions. Guys like Cluttersuck and Wilson mean it when they do it

You apologize for things like checking a player hard against the boards which leads to an unfortunate injury or concussion. (a "HEAT OF THE MOMENT" play )

When you're armed with a Stick and put it between the legs of an unsuspecting player when they're not looking, and while play is STOPPED (so there's no excuse for "incidental contact"), that was not "heat of the moment".


That was a well-calculated dirty move in order to take one of our best players...OUT.

Hedman may be a nice guy off the ice but make no mistake that what he did, he did with a purpose.

And the whole apology thing that you keep harping on, just falls flat. You don't think his team didn't get on his case to apologize? "

"Go out of their way"? Yeah sure....He's only sorry he had to apologize in the first place.

 

[MadDevil]

Just saw the Ducks were expected to name Dallas Eakins their head coach after this year.

Isn't he like the third or fourth worst head coach in the history of hockey, behind only John MacLean, Pierre McGuire and Doug Weight?

What a great replacement for Carlyle.

To be fair, his only NHL coaching job so far was the Oilers.

 

[Bleedred]

To be fair, his only NHL coaching job so far was the Oilers.

The worst part about him was that like Chayka (so far to date like Chayka) he was supposed to be this analytics guru or someone into puck possession. He got this false reputation for why building a system based on corsi and puck possession is not conducive to positive results. Despite the fact that the Oilers were not a good puck possession team under him and actually got better after he left (and that was before McDavid and HOF coach McLellan got there. During the Nelson stint) and had damn near a -500 shot on goal differential in his only full season there. I always see him represented as an example of a failure for analytics in hockey, but it's a false reputation because the Oilers were a very bad possession team under him.

He seems to get good results in the AHL though.

 

[mtnet]

 

[Camille the Eel]

Greatest fighter I ever saw was Wayne Cashman. Who also became a very good player. Didn't start out that way but ended up.

There ought to be a thread for greatest fighter. (Probably is somewhere on the main board).

 

[My3Sons]

Greatest fighter I ever saw was Wayne Cashman. Who also became a very good player. Didn't start out that way but ended up.

There ought to be a thread for greatest fighter. (Probably is somewhere on the main board).

Wayne Cashman a great fighter? He was a tough customer but when I think of best fighters from that era I usually think of Clark Gillies. I’m not sure Cashman was even top two on his team which had Stan JONATHAN and Terry O’Reilly as well. He was a great all purpose player and part of some great Bruins teams.

 

[Camille the Eel]

Ha interesting. Cashman actually preceded O’Reilly a bit - enough to be a slightly different era in my memory (I will check maybe - I’m not sure O’Reilly played with Orr in his pre knee injury years). But Cadhman was a vicious character. Saturnine killer in a way the Irish and explosive O’Reilly never was but this is also my memory and stuff as to which there really is no rational debating. I had forgot O’Reilly for a moment. What a complete lunatic.

Ted Greene and that stick fight with Wayne Mackey a decade earlier that left Greene brain damaged and in a coma and we are in an entirely different universe of violence.

 

[My3Sons]

Ha interesting. Cashman actually preceded O’Reilly a bit - enough to be a slightly different era in my memory (I will check maybe - I’m not sure O’Reilly played with Orr in his pre knee injury years). But Cadhman was a vicious character. Saturnine killer in a way the Irish and explosive O’Reilly never was but this is also my memory and stuff as to which there really is no rational debating. I had forgot O’Reilly for a moment. What a complete lunatic.

Ted Greene and that stick fight with Wayne Mackey a decade earlier that left Greene brain damaged and in a coma and we are in an entirely different universe of violence.

Cashman played maybe late sixties to early 80’s? I think he overlapped with the great NYI teams I recall watching in that era.

 

[MartyOwns]

it’s so rare that a conversation here makes me feel young. keep going

 

[Camille the Eel]

it’s so rare that a conversation here makes me feel young. keep going

Haha just you wait.

 

[mtnet]

So there we were at the Coliseum

And well, you know Titus, he lives for the introductions

Tuum, Novi Romani Gladiatores!

Good times, if not for him they might have moved the team to Carthage

 

[Camille the Eel]

it’s so rare that a conversation here makes me feel young. keep going

Not really a particularly violent fight, but the random, stop-start chaos of this original six brawl is quite appealing. Talk about refs having no authority at all. The old joke about "I was watching a fight until a hockey game broke out" has never been more true than this footage:

 

[Satans Hockey]

This alone is probably a huge reason Hall loves Hynes lol

 

[AfroThunder396]

I went to the Panthers/Wild game in Sunrise on Friday night. One of my school friends is from Minnesota and wanted to see the Wild play, so I went with them and their girlfriend (the three of us are going to the Devils/Panthers game in a few weeks).

I have to say, the Panthers arena is actually quite nice. I was also kind of surprised at how active and engaged the fans were. The building was mostly empty but the people that were there were very excited. It made for a fun atmosphere.

I totally get why people don't go to the games though, there was a car accident on the thruway so it took 1 hour 25 minutes to get there from downtown Miami. Even without the accident it still would have taken about an hour to get there. Miami traffic is bad enough and it's about 40 miles away.

I'm definitely planning to go to more games next year though, tickets are dirt cheap and it was a fun atmosphere. It's just hard to find people in Florida who love hockey that I can go with. They have a lot of free swag giveaways too, which is nice.

 

[Davegarri]

I went to the Panthers/Wild game in Sunrise on Friday night. One of my school friends is from Minnesota and wanted to see the Wild play, so I went with them and their girlfriend (the three of us are going to the Devils/Panthers game in a few weeks).

I have to say, the Panthers arena is actually quite nice. I was also kind of surprised at how active and engaged the fans were. The building was mostly empty but the people that were there were very excited. It made for a fun atmosphere.

I totally get why people don't go to the games though, there was a car accident on the thruway so it took 1 hour 25 minutes to get there from downtown Miami. Even without the accident it still would have taken about an hour to get there. Miami traffic is bad enough and it's about 40 miles away.

I'm definitely planning to go to more games next year though, tickets are dirt cheap and it was a fun atmosphere. It's just hard to find people in Florida who love hockey that I can go with. They have a lot of free swag giveaways too, which is nice.

I've heard nothing but good things about the arena itself, only the location. It's a shame that it is so far from Miami because it would be a cool place to play if games were more attended.