Can we just accept hockey for what it is instead of trying to change every damn thing constantly?

[LEAFSANDBILLSFAN]

Partly. It’s near to impossible for pláyers to play heavy playoff style hockey through the regular season. There will be certain games they do, but mostly it’s a softer and easier

You're telling me the Refs don't officiate the games differently? A soft touch in the regular season warrants a penalty vs. the playoffs where you can mug a guy and the play carries on. I don't mind either way, but make a choice and keep with it.

 

[Melrose Munch]

If the product was good enough, people would not want to change it.

 

[Cup or Bust]

"I just want to watch sports and don't want to worry about that other stuff"

*Goes onto hockey message board, forces politics into discussion about rules of hockey, and has a post history 90% filled up with politics and covid*

The people that whine about every subject being political are the ones that are the most brainwashed and obsessed with politics in the first place.

 

[Howboutthempanthers]

I think some changes are good. And I think some are not so good.
But that's a separate issue to some of the changes that some fans mention they want done.

 

[BenchBrawl]

I can't imagine a sport that's constantly been changing as much as hockey has. Seems like every year people call for some form of change. Baseball isn't like this, and I don't think many sports are in general.

Let's take out predatory hits, let's take out fighting, let's take out headshots, let's bring in coach's challenges, let's start penalizing for bad coach's challenges, let's change how buyouts work, let's change how the cap is counted because Tampa is taking advantage, let's make the salary cap count on after tax income, let's make the ice bigger, let's change how powerplays work, let's change...

I grew up watching hockey in the 90s. Maybe it's nostalgia, but I found hockey much more enjoyable before we started trying to change every aspect about it. I remember all the concerned people complaining how hockey is too rough. Okay, so is the UFC, you don't have to watch it or partake in it. So we changed it and now gone are the series full of the small battles. Like Adam Foote chasing certain players whenever they were on the ice. Or when Detroit had the Maltby, McCarty, Draper line that would actually grind opponents down.

I don't know about others, I still like hockey but don't enjoy it nearly as much as I did before. It has gradually been becoming less interesting to me. Whereas I used to be a die-hard NHL fan before, now I am only a casual fan.

I think through the whole "grow the game" concept is BS and has done nothing but alienate the hardcore fans. Whereas something like UFC has grown by sticking to its roots.

Respect

 

[DJJones]

Always things to change in a sport. Reffing needs to be more consistent would be the biggest thing.

I just find it weird how everyone wants to appeal to people that don't like hockey as is. Couldn't give too shits about those people

 

[Yackiberg8]

I'm open to changes but those changes need to improve the game not changes that ruin the game in some misguided attempt to "grow the game".

If being the most popular is your ultimate goal then soccer is right over there, go watch that.

Your message to the owners and the NHL executives is if their goal is being the most popular sport then go watch soccer? That's a tough sentence to make much sense out of.

I'd say they are trying to become the most popular sport to make money.

 

[666]

The problem with hockey is that technology is ruining it like golf and tennis. Carbon fiber sticks increase shot speed resulting in more equipment to protect goaltenders. Go back to wooden sticks and most of the problems go away.

 

[nturn06]

I can't imagine a sport that's constantly been changing as much as hockey has. Seems like every year people call for some form of change. Baseball isn't like this, and I don't think many sports are in general.

Let's take out predatory hits, let's take out fighting, let's take out headshots, let's bring in coach's challenges, let's start penalizing for bad coach's challenges, let's change how buyouts work, let's change how the cap is counted because Tampa is taking advantage, let's make the salary cap count on after tax income, let's make the ice bigger, let's change how powerplays work, let's change...

I grew up watching hockey in the 90s. Maybe it's nostalgia, but I found hockey much more enjoyable before we started trying to change every aspect about it. I remember all the concerned people complaining how hockey is too rough. Okay, so is the UFC, you don't have to watch it or partake in it. So we changed it and now gone are the series full of the small battles. Like Adam Foote chasing certain players whenever they were on the ice. Or when Detroit had the Maltby, McCarty, Draper line that would actually grind opponents down.

I don't know about others, I still like hockey but don't enjoy it nearly as much as I did before. It has gradually been becoming less interesting to me. Whereas I used to be a die-hard NHL fan before, now I am only a casual fan.

I think through the whole "grow the game" concept is BS and has done nothing but alienate the hardcore fans. Whereas something like UFC has grown by sticking to its roots.

The big difference between UFC and hockey is that one is design to be as roung as possible and the other one is a game of skill. Even in the 90's, while some people would be turning in for the rough stuff, the main attractions were still a Gretzky, Messier, Lemieux...

Also, keep in mind that with the players getting faster and the equipment rouger, a sholder to the head delivered when the two players skate full speed towards eachother can be more devastating than the UFC stuff... And while the tough guys in UFC get months to recuperate after a fight, the softies in NHL are often playing again next day after getting hit repeatedly in the head.

Also, the reality is that what happend to Lindros, Crosby missing soo many games due to predatory hits have likely hurt the NHL much more than removing the rough stuff from it. The NHL is trying to protect their main assets, and this is not wrong. And they are also protecting themselves, the concussion lawsuit probably cost them 1000 more than the money they lost because of not attracting few bloodthirsty fans.

Also, the growth of the UFC makes the rough stuff less necessary. The NHL cannot compete in the rough stuff with the UFC(well maybe if they allow stick fights and using the skates to decapitate eachother they could), and they simply cannot attact the fans which love that stuff...
No fan of UFC will suddenly start watching the NHL, hopping that every 30 games or so he can see a player leave on a strecher. If you like it, you can watch the Bertuzi--Moore incident repeatedly on youtube, there is no need to turn into games with the hope that you may see it live.

 

[OppositeLocK]

The big difference between UFC and hockey is that one is design to be as roung as possible and the other one is a game of skill. Even in the 90's, while some people would be turning in for the rough stuff, the main attractions were still a Gretzky, Messier, Lemieux...

Also, keep in mind that with the players getting faster and the equipment rouger, a sholder to the head delivered when the two players skate full speed towards eachother can be more devastating than the UFC stuff... And while the tough guys in UFC get months to recuperate after a fight, the softies in NHL are often playing again next day after getting hit repeatedly in the head.

Also, the reality is that what happend to Lindros, Crosby missing soo many games due to predatory hits have likely hurt the NHL much more than removing the rough stuff from it. The NHL is trying to protect their main assets, and this is not wrong. And they are also protecting themselves, the concussion lawsuit probably cost them 1000 more than the money they lost because of not attracting few bloodthirsty fans.

Also, the growth of the UFC makes the rough stuff less necessary. The NHL cannot compete in the rough stuff with the UFC(well maybe if they allow stick fights and using the skates to decapitate eachother they could), and they simply cannot attact the fans which love that stuff...
No fan of UFC will suddenly start watching the NHL, hopping that every 30 games or so he can see a player leave on a strecher. If you like it, you can watch the Bertuzi--Moore incident repeatedly on youtube, there is no need to turn into games with the hope that you may see it live.

Then just take hitting out of the game altogether so guys can just figure skate.

Players are now passing up prime hitting opportunities because they don't want to be penalized.

To me this was peak hockey, where you needed to have everything to succeed. Skill alone wasn't enough to get you far.



We've traded North American style hockey for European.

 

[HBK27]

None of COVID, systemic racism, or white privilege are (inherently) political issues. Saying something like 'black people have been excluded from playing hockey due to them being bullied off of teams, and we have to work to change that' is not a political statement.

They may not be inherently political issues, but when views on these items are so divided between political affiliations they do become political in nature.

And while the phrase you quoted is not a political statement, "Black Lives Matter" is and that is what is being brought into arenas. The fact that the NHL postponed playoff games last year following the Jacob Blake shooting, when little was still known about it, is still completely insane. I was watching playoff games every night up until that and barely watched any playoff games after. There's a ton of other entertainment options out there that if the NHL does get too political or two involved in divisive social justice issues, a portion of the fan base will just walk away.

 

[bacon25]

...but we don't have enough "Lebron James/ Kobe" type players. NHL has gotta keep changing until all the hockey stars have their own clothing line.

 

[BullLund]

Hockey always comes down to the basics when the games start mattering, as we are seeing with the play-offs.

When the officials become more self-conscious about giving up penalties, and the stakes get higher, a lot of the "fluff" is eliminated from the game.

 

[Sasha Orlov]

They may not be inherently political issues, but when views on these items are so divided between political affiliations they do become political in nature.

And while the phrase you quoted is not a political statement, "Black Lives Matter" is and that is what is being brought into arenas. The fact that the NHL postponed playoff games last year following the Jacob Blake shooting, when little was still known about it, is still completely insane. I was watching playoff games every night up until that and barely watched any playoff games after. There's a ton of other entertainment options out there that if the NHL does get too political or two involved in divisive social justice issues, a portion of the fan base will just walk away.

Why should an influential platform not be used for positive change?

 

[CashMash]

They may not be inherently political issues, but when views on these items are so divided between political affiliations they do become political in nature.

And while the phrase you quoted is not a political statement, "Black Lives Matter" is and that is what is being brought into arenas. The fact that the NHL postponed playoff games last year following the Jacob Blake shooting, when little was still known about it, is still completely insane. I was watching playoff games every night up until that and barely watched any playoff games after. There's a ton of other entertainment options out there that if the NHL does get too political or two involved in divisive social justice issues, a portion of the fan base will just walk away.

Also... "White privilege", as applied currently, is absolutely political like "systemic racism" because it's used in a generalized sense.

One of the biggest ironies about a lot of leftists is that they are rich and privileged themselves, so a lot of it seems to be rooted in guilt and projection.
Wokeness is an upper-class neurosis.

 

[CashMash]

Why should an influential platform not be used for positive change?

Positive according to whom?

 

[Sasha Orlov]

Positive according to whom?

People who aren't racist? lmfao

 

[tarheelhockey]

I grew up watching hockey in the 90s. Maybe it's nostalgia, but I found hockey much more enjoyable before we started trying to change every aspect about it.

Imagine the reaction of someone who grew up watching hockey in the 80s, reading that 90s hockey was "before we started changing things".

 

[CashMash]

People who aren't racist? lmfao

Questions. According to you, do woke policies seem to have eased racial tensions at all?

Have you looked at what state the world is in? Maybe they aren't all they're cracked up to be?

 

[tarheelhockey]

Questions. According to you, do woke policies seem to have eased racial tensions at all?

Have you looked at what state the world is in? Maybe they aren't all they're cracked up to be?

Can we please not do this here? This topic has absolutely nothing to do with racial/police politics, just stop.

 

[OppositeLocK]

None of COVID, systemic racism, or white privilege are (inherently) political issues. Saying something like 'black people have been excluded from playing hockey due to them being bullied off of teams, and we have to work to change that' is not a political statement.

I for one am appalled that you say there was/is systemic racism in the NHL. Was this in the CBA somewhere? Was it draft policy to prefer players of a certain race?

I guess guys like Iginla and Laraques were beloved by fans and treated well by teams and the league because they were secretly "white" guys wearing blackface.

 

[CashMash]

Can we please not do this here? This topic has absolutely nothing to do with racial/police politics, just stop.

I addressed posts that existed in the thread before my arrival. Hence, I wasn't the one who brought it up. I have been nothing but civil, all this in spite the insinuation of me being racist.
Why choose to address me in particular?

 

[OppositeLocK]

Why should an influential platform not be used for positive change?

I don't see why not, just like there should also be a ministry of truth to protect the public from harmful misinformation.

 

[tarheelhockey]

I addressed posts that existed in the thread before my arrival. Hence, I wasn't the one who brought it up. I have been nothing but civil, all this in spite the insinuation of me being racist.
Why choose to address me in particular?

1) Copying 15 posts doesn't help

2) This started with talking about inserting politics into game presentation. You pivoted it to questioning the actual social reform issues themselves, which is just pure politics and has nothing to do with the NHL.

 

[CashMash]

1) Copying 15 posts doesn't help

2) This started with talking about inserting politics into game presentation. You pivoted it to questioning the actual social reform issues themselves, which is just pure politics and has nothing to do with the NHL.

False.

Policy is not just politics... League policy, School policy, etc. Your lack of reading comprehension isn't my problem. The NHL, like many other leagues, are bending the knee to activism. It absolutely has to do with the topic of changes in hockey. Just look at NHL.com.