OT: Around the NHL: Cernak for Conn Smythe

[BHD]

Continue...

Click to read more...

 

[LOGiK]

Watching gm 1 now... why does the nhl allow so much off puck garbage or after the whistle stuff... soon as the whistle blows you even touch anyone it should be penalized.

So sick of the biased penalties to the point they are just ways of rigging the game - outside of the obvious must call penalties (DOG etc)...

 

[Tom Hanks]

The Wayne Train

 

[BHD]

So Tyler Johnson is Tampa's fourth line centre now; right? You're in pretty good shape if your bottom line is led by a player who was a playoff hero not too long ago.

Watching gm 1 now... why does the nhl allow so much off puck garbage or after the whistle stuff... soon as the whistle blows you even touch anyone it should be penalized.

So sick of the biased penalties to the point they are just ways of rigging the game - outside of the obvious must call penalties (DOG etc)...

Weber was just fined for his slash to the back of the legs of Kucherov. I do think the league is trying to deter some of the stuff you're alluding to. That's a monumental leap for a league like the NHL.

 

[pistolpete11]

I might be in the minority here, but I don't want the NHL to clean up everything. I think the scrums and whatnot is partly what builds the animosity and intensity that hockey playoffs are known for. What they need to clean up is the stuff that affects the game itself such as dangerous hits that can injure someone and all the holdings, slashings, etc. that eliminate skill. The scrums can be over the top sometimes, but I'd rather have that than a completely sanitized game.

 

[Shady Machine]

I might be in the minority here, but I don't want the NHL to clean up everything. I think the scrums and whatnot is partly what builds the animosity and intensity that hockey playoffs are known for. What they need to clean up is the stuff that affects the game itself such as dangerous hits that can injure someone and all the holdings, slashings, etc. that eliminate skill. The scrums can be over the top sometimes, but I'd rather have that than a completely sanitized game.

Problem is some of these scrums are really dangerous. Gallagher could have been seriously hurt after his helmet was ripped off his head and Sergachev tackled him to the ice. That’s not a penalty (for some reason) but could have ended up really bad and served no purpose.

I love the intensity and scrappiness of hockey, but ultimately, a lot of the stuff that’s let go is a penalty and should be called. Play hard between the whistles and get the bullshit stick work, cross checks, sucker punches and tackles out of the game.

 

[pistolpete11]

Problem is some of these scrums are really dangerous. Gallagher could have been seriously hurt after his helmet was ripped off his head and Sergachev tackled him to the ice. That’s not a penalty (for some reason) but could have ended up really bad and served no purpose.

I love the intensity and scrappiness of hockey, but ultimately, a lot of the stuff that’s let go is a penalty and should be called. Play hard between the whistles and get the bullshit stick work, cross checks, sucker punches and tackles out of the game.

What happened to Gallagher should probably have been a penalty, but I don't think they should overreact to one incident because it looks bad for a guy to be gushing blood out of his head on TV. There is a line somewhere and you may disagree with where the NHL currently sets it, but the answer is not to eliminate all the 'extracurricular activities' for lack of a better term, IMHO.

I think the bigger issue is all the stuff that affects the skill of the game between the whistles.

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

I know I'm in the minority on this one but I couldn't give a shit about fighting anymore. Headshots, cheap shit like crosschecks and using your stick as a weapon, all that shit needs to go. But if we lost fighting, I don't know how anyone would be up in arms. Feels like nine times out of ten a fight is guys hugging or trying to get an arm free for 30 seconds to a minute before the refs split them up or one guy loses his leverage/balance and falls to the ice, then it's over.

When you routinely have guys having to "answer the bell" for clean hits, the meaningfulness of fighting in hockey sorta left the building.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

I might be in the minority here, but I don't want the NHL to clean up everything. I think the scrums and whatnot is partly what builds the animosity and intensity that hockey playoffs are known for. What they need to clean up is the stuff that affects the game itself such as dangerous hits that can injure someone and all the holdings, slashings, etc. that eliminate skill. The scrums can be over the top sometimes, but I'd rather have that than a completely sanitized game.

Disagree. The after the whistle scrums are just stupid at this point. A handful of face washes, combined with a couple of helmet tugs and half-punches don't do anything for me. They're just a waste of time and it would be nice if the refs started calling it so it would end.

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

I know I'm in the minority on this one but I couldn't give a shit about fighting anymore. Headshots, cheap shit like crosschecks and using your stick as a weapon, all that shit needs to go. But if we lost fighting, I don't know how anyone would be up in arms. Feels like nine times out of ten a fight is guys hugging or trying to get an arm free for 30 seconds to a minute before the refs split them up or one guy loses his leverage/balance and falls to the ice, then it's over.

When you routinely have guys having to "answer the bell" for clean hits, the meaningfulness of fighting in hockey sorta left the building.

I don't mind "honest" fights. But the staged sideshow stuff has ALWAYS been really dumb. Go watch MMA or whatever if that's your thing. They do the whole fighting thing way better, anyway. No ice and equipment to deal with, either.

What has really irritated me the last like ten-ish years are these fights and scrums after a clean hit. Completely ridiculous. You got tagged... take a name and come back hard next shift. It just seems like petulant baby stuff.

 

[pistolpete11]

I don't mind "honest" fights. But the staged sideshow stuff has ALWAYS been really dumb. Go watch MMA or whatever if that's your thing. They do the whole fighting thing way better, anyway. No ice and equipment to deal with, either.

What has really irritated me the last like ten-ish years are these fights and scrums after a clean hit. Completely ridiculous. You got tagged... take a name and come back hard next shift. It just seems like petulant baby stuff.

As somebody who does watch MMA, they also have weight classes and the fighters (typically) have similar level of fighting skill.

 

[heysmilinstrange]

When you consider that the Leafs signed Spezza to a one-year 750K contract for putting up 30 points last season, the Simmonds contract doesn't make much sense.

 

[Ginormousthumbs]

I’m in favor of cleaning it all up, including the fighting.

 

[BHD]

Spezza, and even Simmonds, is fine. The Leafs, though, had Spezaa, and Simmonds, and Thornton, and Foligno, and Bogosian, and...

(keeps scrolling down their roster)


Dubas looked at the roster after their loss to the Blue Jackets (as he should), and went all-in on veterans and role players. Now, he is being criticized by the exact same people who called for those players last offseason. Welcome to being the GM in Toronto.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

Spezza, and even Simmonds, is fine. The Leafs, though, had Spezaa, and Simmonds, and Thornton, and Foligno, and Bogosian, and...

(keeps scrolling down their roster)


Dubas looked at the roster after their loss to the Blue Jackets (as he should), and went all-in on veterans and role players. Now, he is being criticized by the exact same people who called for those players last offseason. Welcome to being the GM in Toronto.

I think the problem was the idea was to bring in veterans who've won before. Dubas brought in veterans who consistently choked, so I'm not sure how they'd bring a "winning culture" to that dressing room.

I mean, Thornton's career is basically what the current Leaf core is going through -- a lot of regular season accolades with very little playoff success to show for it.

 

[Gurglesons]

I think the problem was the idea was to bring in veterans who've won before. Dubas brought in veterans who consistently choked, so I'm not sure how they'd bring a "winning culture" to that dressing room.

I mean, Thornton's career is basically what the current Leaf core is going through -- a lot of regular season accolades with very little playoff success to show for it.

Meh. I think the bigger issue was the fact they lost 11 million dollars 5 minutes into G1.

Throw in Muzzin too and you have nearly 22 million not playing with Andersen, Muzzin, and Tavares. A top heavy team can't make it past that.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

Meh. I think the bigger issue was the fact they lost 11 million dollars 5 minutes into G1.

Throw in Muzzin too and you have nearly 22 million not playing with Andersen, Muzzin, and Tavares. A top heavy team can't make it past that.

That might work as an argument if Toronto fell behind and was losing the series right from the moment Tavares got hurt. But they were able to get out to a 3-1 series lead without Tavares, so pretending it was his loss that caused them to choke and lose 3 straight games is questionable.

They lost that series because their big guns who did play went AWOL and outside of Spezza, got zero offensive contributions from their bottom six, including those so-called "veteran leaders" like Simmonds and Thornton. Thornton, in particular, was horrendous to the point Leaf fans were frothing that Keefe didn't just scratch the guy.

 

[Gurglesons]

That might work as an argument if Toronto fell behind and was losing the series right from the moment Tavares got hurt. But they were able to get out to a 3-1 series lead without Tavares, so pretending it was his loss that caused them to choke and lose 3 straight games is questionable.

They lost that series because their big guns who did play went AWOL and outside of Spezza, got zero offensive contributions from their bottom six, including those so-called "veteran leaders" like Simmonds and Thornton. Thornton, in particular, was horrendous to the point Leaf fans were frothing that Keefe didn't just scratch the guy.

Well their bottom six is suddenly shit when you remove Tavares so that isn't really fair.

I dunno. We went up 3-1 in 2011. I don't remember too many people saying we choked.

 

[BHD]

Because the Pens were without Crosby AND Malkin. Toronto still had Matthews, Marner, and Nylander. And unlike Nylander, the other two wilted. Again, they only got 1 goal - which came from Matthews in that blowout game - between #34 and #16.

 

[HuskerTornado]

Because the Pens were without Crosby AND Malkin. Toronto still had Matthews, Marner, and Nylander. And unlike Nylander, the other two wilted. Again, they only got 1 goal - which came from Matthews in that blowout game - between #34 and #16.

Cooke was also suspended. It was weird that group found themselves up 3-1.

 

[Gurglesons]

Because the Pens were without Crosby AND Malkin. Toronto still had Matthews, Marner, and Nylander. And unlike Nylander, the other two wilted. Again, they only got 1 goal - which came from Matthews in that blowout game - between #34 and #16.

Okay? The Pens have never been in the circumstance of missing Malkin or Sid for an entire series.

I doubt we do it.

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

MAF with the well-deserved Vezina. Good for him.

 

[Turin]

Surprised. That’ll give MAF a HHOF ticket for sure. Hope he comes back

 

[Gurglesons]

Good on Fleury. Hell of a year.

 

[Empoleon8771]

Great for Fleury.

Lol the Penguins are going to have a Vezina winning goalie as their starter next year