Blocking shots should be illegal

[GOilers88]

Florida made a Cup Final by basically holding and tackling their way past vastly superior teams. Was it good to watch?

It's not a question of whether it's effective, it's a question of whether it's entertaining and truly part of the game. Shot blocking to this extent has only crept in over the last two decades as a result of superior equipment taking away any real sacrifice that was previously involved.

I don't see the issue. Guys are risking an injury in an attempt to help out their goaltenders. Why on Earth is this a bad thing? Hockey has evolved in so many ways over the last 20 years, but shot blocking is where people want to draw the line? I don't understand. If you don't find tight checking games entertaining I feel that's your own problem and it says to me you don't really appreciate the game in it's entirety if all you want to see is 10 goals a game.

Imagine being a goalie and seeing your teammates blocking shots deemed illegal because the fans don't find it entertaining enough and would rather see you get lit for five goals a night.

I also think Erik Karlsson would disagree with your assessment that there's no real sacrifice to blocking shots. Who are the fans to tell one of the best players in the world that he's not allowed to block shots because they don't think it's entertaining enough, and he shouldn't .Because he could get hurt. I think he'd told most people to pound sand.

 

[Mayor Bee]

I get it that Euro's love the skill and soft game, but buddy blocking shots are key and what win games in playoffs. Logo before the name, sacrifice for the team.

For the first 80 years of the NHL, this was absolutely not the case. It's a behavior and a tactic that's crept in over time.

 

[Monkey D Luffy]

Not only would it create more goals, but the fewer injuries are the real reason.

Hate to see skilled guys go down, just because they have to "take one for the team"

so incredibly stupid. Let the goalies stop the pucks !

Delete this thread plz lol.

 

[Mayor Bee]

I don't see the issue. Guys are risking an injury in an attempt to help out their goaltenders. Why on Earth is this a bad thing? Hockey has evolved in so many ways over the last 20 years, but shot blocking is where people want to draw the line? I don't understand.

What injury? There was a time when getting hit in the skate by a shot was a guaranteed broken bone, and if you were incredibly fortunate it might only be a bone bruise that would cost you a couple weeks. There was a time that getting hit in the shins was agonizing.

Guys put crap on their skates that basically serves as armor, and have shinguards that could stop a bullet. There's no sacrifice.

It's like saying that baseball players who wear armor on their elbows, crowd the plate, and lean into a pitch are really sacrificing. Let's see them do that without the padding, and we'll talk. There was a time, pre-armor, where leaning into a pitch was the act of a crazy person. Now everyone can do it because there's no real risk to getting tagged in a heavy pad.

 

[Mayor Bee]

Imagine being a goalie and seeing your teammates blocking shots deemed illegal because the fans don't find it entertaining enough and would rather see you get lit for five goals a night.

It's funny, I remember the NHL before the six-goalie system and goalies weren't getting lit up for five goals a night with any real regularity. And if a goalie in today's game will be lit up for five a night because there aren't 15-25 blocked shots in front of him, that's too bad. The league does not exist to cater to the whims and desires of goalies, or any one player, or any one position group.

And yes, the entertainment part is kind of important.

Look at basketball. Big guys used to be the ultimate thing to have, because they could stand under the basket and block shots and produce offense at the other end. Goaltending was then made illegal, and then the three-second rule went into effect in the offensive end to limit this. Then the game started trending over time toward one in which a player with the ball would have to run a gauntlet to get to the basket and score, so the three-point line was added in order to open the game up and spread the floor. And it was always a great strategy to get a small lead and then pass the ball around, playing keep-away from the opponents so that they can't score. This held basketball back from being a great TV product, so the shot clock was added specifically to force teams to quit screwing around and actually play the game.

Just because something is a good tactic doesn't mean it's entertaining. And just because something becomes commonplace doesn't mean that it's always been that way.

 

[GOilers88]

It's as much a part of defense as flagrant holding is to football. And with the equipment, there is no sacrifice that's involved. It used to be that only the tremendously skilled or the completely crazy would throw themselves in front of a shot because there was a high risk of injury and there was sacrifice. That is no longer the case.

And to the bolded part, sports is entertainment first and foremost. When it ceases to be entertaining, the people who buy the tickets and watch on TV will no longer go to games.



That's one for the list.

Also, the coaches' challenge is a travesty, just as the toe-in-the-crease rule was a travesty.

That you equate blocking shots to holding is comical. The entire point of the game is to prevent your opponent for scoring, and to score yourself. If you think preventing the other team from scoring is taking away from the game, you might as well just have shootouts. No point in defending, or making it difficult for your opponent to get into your zone and get a shot on goal. Might as well just let everyone skate in and have a shot with the goalie one on one.

 

[I am not exposed]

The only good thing about these ridiculous threads is the responses they create.

 

[lebdafor norris]

This is why you shouldn't post here when your drunk.

 

[GOilers88]

It's funny, I remember the NHL before the six-goalie system and goalies weren't getting lit up for five goals a night with any real regularity. And if a goalie in today's game will be lit up for five a night because there aren't 15-25 blocked shots in front of him, that's too bad.

The league does not exist to cater to the whims and desires of goalies, or any one player, or any one position group.

I find the fact that goalies nowadays just have to "be in position" and allow the massive gear they were to make the save to be a bigger issue than guys blocking shots. Talk about equipment doing the job for you.

 

[stampedingviking]

Quote from the great one

"When I was 10 years old, they’d throw a puck on the ice and say, ‘Go score,’" Gretzky told the New York Times. "Now, at 10 years old, the kids are taught to play in their lanes. Defencemen stay back. Everybody blocks shots. I mean, my goodness, I don’t think I ever blocked a shot, and I killed penalties every single game. I thought goaltenders were paid to block shots, not forwards. It’s changed completely.

The whole game has changed from those days, especially defence and goalies.

Goalies in those days may have been paid to shot stop but you only have to look at old videos to see just how easy it was to score.

 

[stampedingviking]

I get it that Euro's love the skill and soft game, but buddy blocking shots are key and what win games in playoffs. Logo before the name, sacrifice for the team.

Not a "soft game" but one that is called to the rules, unlike the NHL (and most other leagues to be fair).

Call a game properly and the skill will shine through. You can still have big hits, just clean ones.

 

[Mayor Bee]

I find the fact that goalies nowadays just have to "be in position" and allow the massive gear they were to make the save to be a bigger issue than guys blocking shots. Talk about equipment doing the job for you.

Weird, I thought a goalie getting slightly in the way of something and then letting his equipment make a save (with minimal injury risk) was an act of sacrifice.

 

[EdmFlyersfan]

Way too hard to enforce such a rule.

Can't be any harder than Goalie Interference...just have it so a player can't purposely sprawl on the ice, and must have one skate on the ground at all times.

 

[DickSmehlik]

Never understood blocking shots in the regular season,playoffs i get.
But there is a guy behind you with a bunch of expensive gear to block shots.
I never got paid to play and never blocked a single shot i wanted to. F that pucks hurt.

True, hockey players are there own worst enemies sometimes i.e. Andrew McQuaid breaking his leg and missing 3 months after throwing his body at Brock Boeser's slapshot during a meaningless game in October.

 

[Paperbagofglory]

Can we at least all agree that a rugby scrum in the crease is terrible?

A goalie's job should be to stop the puck, not the defenders. I hate the fact that 2 guys can block the goal while the goaltender was too incompetent to get back into position.

 

[GOilers88]

Weird, I thought a goalie getting slightly in the way of something and then letting his equipment make a save (with minimal injury risk) was an act of sacrifice.

So unless a guy is at a high risk of injury, he shouldn't be allowed to block a shot, because that's how it used to be? Gotcha.

 

[Caffeine]

I do kind of agree that the better players of the team should not be blocking shots in regular season. Just last night Patrik Laine got injured in a meaningless game blocking a shot. Even though they are defenseman I think that players such as Victor Hedman, Drew Doughty or Subban should not be the primary guys asked to block shots. Or basically any top pairing defenseman. Even though if they don't get injured straight away I can see their bodies breaking blocking shots constantly and as a result they are not able to be the best versions of themselves.

 

[AmericanDream]

I get sick of seeing all these shots getting blocked, and bodies diving all over the place when there is a Sherman tank right behind them waiting for the puck.

But I am against blocking shots completely, I just prefer the more logical rule of must keep 1 skate blade on the ice to block a shot. You want to go to a knee and turn your head to block the shot? fine, go ahead as long as you have 1 skate blade touching the ice. If you want to lay out and sprawl all over the ice with both skates not touching the ice, then that should be a penalty - an illegal defense penalty. I think it would save some injuries, clear up the ice and create more lanes and actual scoring chances...

I can easily live with that, and the game would do better to stop players swimming on the ice. And this notion that shot blocking has been around forever is a farce as well...this was not the case for many decades.

 

[GeeoffBrown]

I can see the rationale behind this proposal.

That being said, just because a game is higher scoring, doesn't mean it's more entertaining. IMO, seeing a guy drop to block a shot is awesome to watch.

 

[Canadian Finn]

I feel bad for posters like the OP.

Must be afraid to cross the street.

 

[Seanaconda]

Florida made a Cup Final by basically holding and tackling their way past vastly superior teams. Was it good to watch?

It's not a question of whether it's effective, it's a question of whether it's entertaining and truly part of the game. Shot blocking to this extent has only crept in over the last two decades as a result of superior equipment taking away any real sacrifice that was previously involved.

Idk norris winners arent blocking shots

 

[AlphaBravo]

How about we make the goal nets 10 feet wide, and not allow teams to have a goalie? That would increase scoring!

 

[WesMcCauley]

How on earth are you going to get rid of players blocking shots?

 

[Canadian Finn]

you aren't.

this is the age of thoughtless hot takes.

 

[CaptainCrunch67]

How would you even enforce this? What would be the definition of a shot blocking penalty. Players don't even leave their feet to drop shot. Are you going to penalize a player for skating into the shooting lane.

Does the ref have to yell "Clear the lane" when a player signals a shot.

This is stupid.