Do most teams play 'boring' hockey?

[Groo]

So I've been watching the Sharks since about 2015/16ish. And I also watch the Canes living in NC. Looking at them play this season versus what I've watched from the Sharks over the years made me ponder if I was ever truly 'excited' watching the Sharks.

Jumbo, Couture, Jones.. damn good players. But it seems most my memory of Sharks games is pass pass pass shoot. Repeat. They surely moved slower imo and frankly it's like you watch them try to get the puck in the net. Versus when I watch the Canes this season it's fun just watching the physical, speed and resonance aspects of the team.

Then I realized.. I think most teams plays that. Pass pass pass shoot. And you can kinda tune it out like baseball. Where as teams like the Canes, Lighting, or Pens/Caps playoffs is way more fun to watch, dare I say.

What's your thoughts on this?

Of course the Canes are a better team this year. But even when teams like the Sharks had deep playoff runs...

I agree the Sharks have long been a boring team. Also a soft passive team(s)

 

[txpd]

Do NHL fans hate their sport more than any other pro sport? If HF is any sign, the answer is an unqualified yes. There is always something awful about this league. Now its boring. SMH

 

[Joe Hallenback]

Most teams play a version of the trap. The difference is they like to send in 2 forecheckers if the puck is not controlled(if they had to dump it in). They almost always have 3 men high and if they lose the puck or don't have it they get back into that 4 man diamond in the neutral zone and try to force the other team to pass through it.

If they do get possession in the Offensive zone they tend to play it back to the point and get a shot at net looking for tips and/or rebounds.

The Jets played the Sharks this week and they trapped at home. I mean they were missing players so why wouldn't you? They scored 1 goal and out shot the Jets for most of the night but the Jets had to try and slog through 4 or 5 guys in the neutral zone.

The game looked sloppy and the Jets were frustrated most of the night. But the Sharks got the W in OT so its very likely they will continue to play that way and I for one don't blame them

 

[Nineteen67]

If you watch more than just one team you’ll find gems like Carolina every year. One of the beauties of having every game available.

I like fast, skilled, physical hockey, sprinkled with a little goonery, but it’s getting harder and harder to find.

 

[notDatsyuk]

If you think hockey is boring, try watching baseball or soccer or, even worse, American style football.

I think, in most cases, 'boring' really means either 'the team I prefer isn't winning' or 'I don't care about either team''.

Yes, most teams will go into a more defensive style when they are ahead, particularly late in the game, but I don't find good defensive play any less exciting than good offensive play.

Personally, the only time I find hockey boring is when there is a serious mismatch in talent or effort.

 

[HugeInTheShire]

That's the beauty of hockey, there aren't only 2 ways to play, every coach and every team play a different style and system
If you lack the skill to score 5 goals a night, you've got to come up with a different way to win games.
Personally I'd rather see my team play a system that gets wins vs an exciting system and lose every night

 

[AvroArrow]

"Boring" hockey works because referees are incompetent and don't make correct calls. The attempt to call cross-checks and slashes seemed like a good idea, but it's an absolute f***ing joke. You stick lift a guy and they call a slash, stupid as hell. Rules were better last year, but just make a damn call when a guy commits an infraction. Most of these "boring" "physical defensive" teams just cross check and hold players on their way to a W and it's almost never called. Call the game by the book is all they really need to do.

 

[AvroArrow]

If you think hockey is boring, try watching baseball or soccer or, even worse, American style football.

I think, in most cases, 'boring' really means either 'the team I prefer isn't winning' or 'I don't care about either team''.

Yes, most teams will go into a more defensive style when they are ahead, particularly late in the game, but I don't find good defensive play any less exciting than good offensive play.

Personally, the only time I find hockey boring is when there is a serious mismatch in talent or effort.

I personally love the NFL, it's much more exciting to watch. I liked the NBA as well, but this new era of guys not wanting to compete and just create super teams/all star teams has turned me off from it.

 

[WeeBey]

So in other words, most teams...

It's a very sad state of affairs in the NHL!

 

[Legionnaire11]

I personally love the NFL, it's much more exciting to watch.

The NFL is easily the most entertaining, and it's also the most complex game of the professional sports. But because of it's immense popularity, it's also popular to hate on and people think it makes them more sophisticated or something to be anti-NFL, fueled on by the often repeated and absolutely nonsensical notion that it's only 10 mins of actual play time.

 

[ItWasJustified]

Sochi 2014 featured some insanely high-skill players playing on larger 100ft wide rinks. And it was some of the most boring hockey.

So consider me unconvinced

Because two weeks isn't enough to put different systems in place properly, if it's possession hockey, trap, high puck pressure etc etc, teams are playing.

On small rink it's every system is a form of dump and chase.

 

[Rodgerwilco]

Yes most teams play boring hockey. Hockey is very boring.

 

[Smirnov2Chistov]

If the ice was a bit wider you would get exciting hockey

 

[I Hate Blake Coleman]

If the ice was a bit wider you would get exciting hockey

You'd get boring hockey on a bigger surface.

 

[Marshall]

Yes, all teams do... depending on the situation.

 

[JianYang]

Pens, bolts were exciting. I certainly argue the Bolts are exciting because three of their recent playoff opponents the Habs, Isles and Stars fairly consistently force dull hockey yet consistently when they matched up against the Bolts things became at least somewhat more fun lol. They’re too good and can flip the script with their offense into making those other teams, who normally try to frustrate the other team into opening up, be the ones who open up because they really need a goal, and still good enough defensively to sustain that




Also people weirdly only choose to acknowledge one team in the game sometimes. I watch this team play last night. It was boring. They are boring. One team can stink up a game, say Variations like injury etc

Boring is successful.

Tampa has the ability to go full harlwmm globetrotters if they want, but their ability to shut games down is often ignored. Their ability to win 1-0 or 2-1 games is as good as anyone else.

It's an 82 game season plus playoffs, which makes it a ridiculously long season. Boring is necessary because it gets you through the grind.

 

[JianYang]

The NFL is easily the most entertaining, and it's also the most complex game of the professional sports. But because of it's immense popularity, it's also popular to hate on and people think it makes them more sophisticated or something to be anti-NFL, fueled on by the often repeated and absolutely nonsensical notion that it's only 10 mins of actual play time.

I'm pretty indifferent towards the NFL. Not everyone will find it entertaining.

 

[Lacaar]

I'm not sure boring is the right word but I understand the sentiment.
The NHL and hockey in general is in a state where the better your team plays and is coached.. the less entertaining they tend to be.
The NHL counters this by managing the games via officiating to artificially produce close games. See power play opportunities this year. Chicago and Montreal are two of the worst teams this year.. but they draw pp's like mad.
There's a rubber band effect going on in this league in an effort to produce close games to keep the entertainment value.

Edmonton's power play is so deadly they rarely get any calls after they get a goal no matter what happens on the ice. The refs just instinctively stop making calls in an effort to keep the games close.

I'd also say that one of the biggest killers of the entertainment of the game is the equipment imo. The sticks make everyone shoot lasers. The goalies are padded up the f***ing wazoo. The players can all play goal now with their protective equipment so blocking shots is much safer (still wouldn't get me to block one haha)

So you get a brand of hockey that relies more on percentages then an evolving play into a scoring chance. Sure there's likely the same amount of goals but I would think the amount of tip shots and flukes have increased. They just aren't as entertaining to watch is all. If anything it's kind of frustrating. Watch your team play great to see the other team bounce one in off 2 players asses. Those goals don't pull you out of your seat, Hell even most level headed fans will acknowledge that a good percentage of the goals in the NHL appear as much luck as anything else.

I've said it before and I'll say it again.. Goaltending in the NHL isn't nearly as entertaining as it used to be. It's just the nature of how the game is now. The shots are so fast they can't react.. instead they have to block. Watching a goalie make a sweet reactionary save is entertaining.. watching a puck hit a goalie in their padding isn't as much. Through necessity and the need to get or maintain a competitive advantage the goalie equipment blew up and got lighter. It's more about anticipation and positioning now days. They're better then ever skill wise. It's just not as entertaining to watch goalies play much anymore. For the most part they play similar games. Enough that average go fan can't really tell much different between them. The position has been homogenized to the point it's really hard for any of them to really standout from each other. One year Price is a god.. next year.. meh. They're more a product of their team defense now. Sure some are better than others overall but I also believe that the 30th ranked goalie in the league can go on a heater and have a much better stretch than the number 1.. switch their teams around and I'd be really interested to see the results.

 

[Rebels57]

Bottom 6 forwards changing from slow muckers and grinders to fast pains in the ass has taken a lot of fun out of the game. The best players in the world dont have as much time and space to showcase the skill that makes the game so special.

 

[Rubi]

Some games may be boring but compared to football, hockey is non stop excitement.
An average NFL football game lasts 3 hours and 12 minutes, but if you tally up the time when the ball is actually in play, the action amounts to a mere 11 minutes.

 

[Guttersniped]

Do NHL fans hate their sport more than any other pro sport? If HF is any sign, the answer is an unqualified yes. There is always something awful about this league. Now its boring. SMH

You don’t talk to enough fans of other sports if you think this because others have had arguably big changes and there’s been plenty of bitching from fans. NFL, NASCAR, NBA…

Personally MLB has lost me with the endless games and ridiculous push to power pitching (leading to almost guaranteed Tommy John surgery) and power hitting (to the point that they’re boring one dimensional hitters who are easy to strike out). There’s all sorts of other issues (like competitive balance and salaries) but the biggest is pitchers take f***ing forever now and every game is +3 hours.

 

[EdJovanovski]

Rangers have been boring this season compared to the last few

 

[JianYang]

I'm not sure boring is the right word but I understand the sentiment.
The NHL and hockey in general is in a state where the better your team plays and is coached.. the less entertaining they tend to be.
The NHL counters this by managing the games via officiating to artificially produce close games. See power play opportunities this year. Chicago and Montreal are two of the worst teams this year.. but they draw pp's like mad.
There's a rubber band effect going on in this league in an effort to produce close games to keep the entertainment value.

Edmonton's power play is so deadly they rarely get any calls after they get a goal no matter what happens on the ice. The refs just instinctively stop making calls in an effort to keep the games close.

I'd also say that one of the biggest killers of the entertainment of the game is the equipment imo. The sticks make everyone shoot lasers. The goalies are padded up the f***ing wazoo. The players can all play goal now with their protective equipment so blocking shots is much safer (still wouldn't get me to block one haha)

So you get a brand of hockey that relies more on percentages then an evolving play into a scoring chance. Sure there's likely the same amount of goals but I would think the amount of tip shots and flukes have increased. They just aren't as entertaining to watch is all. If anything it's kind of frustrating. Watch your team play great to see the other team bounce one in off 2 players asses. Those goals don't pull you out of your seat, Hell even most level headed fans will acknowledge that a good percentage of the goals in the NHL appear as much luck as anything else.

I've said it before and I'll say it again.. Goaltending in the NHL isn't nearly as entertaining as it used to be. It's just the nature of how the game is now. The shots are so fast they can't react.. instead they have to block. Watching a goalie make a sweet reactionary save is entertaining.. watching a puck hit a goalie in their padding isn't as much. Through necessity and the need to get or maintain a competitive advantage the goalie equipment blew up and got lighter. It's more about anticipation and positioning now days. They're better then ever skill wise. It's just not as entertaining to watch goalies play much anymore. For the most part they play similar games. Enough that average go fan can't really tell much different between them. The position has been homogenized to the point it's really hard for any of them to really standout from each other. One year Price is a god.. next year.. meh. They're more a product of their team defense now. Sure some are better than others overall but I also believe that the 30th ranked goalie in the league can go on a heater and have a much better stretch than the number 1.. switch their teams around and I'd be really interested to see the results.

Yeah, the goaltending has become quite generic. It's a science now. Brodeur was probably the last one to incorporate some flare to the position, and even he would be considered quite conservative compared to some of the goalies that were around when he came into the league.

I think the nhl has done well to reduce the goalie equipment while still keeping them safe but your point about the shot blockers is a big one. It used to be that shot blocking forwards were rare, but now it's an expectation that everyone gets in the shooting lane. It has had a massive impact in terms of offensive production IMO.

 

[Bounces R Way]

I agree with you. I think youre talking 90s Devils hockey right? Good thing nowadays fun and winning can be accomplished.

The Devils are famous for employing the NZ trap but weren't the first and certainly aren't the last. Every team does some variation of it, especially if they're leading. Even the Canes. My thing is it takes very little actual hockey skill to stand on the red line or blue line. You're just occupying space to force an icing or dump in or turnover.

Which is why I've been a major proponent of widening the NHL rink. NOT to international size, which is a full 15' wider than the 200'x85' rink the NHL uses, but 6' wider would give players more space to skate through the NZ with speed. Would make the trap less effective and give the modern player more runway to dazzle.

 

[txpd]

You don’t talk to enough fans of other sports if you think this because others have had arguably big changes and there’s been plenty of bitching from fans. NFL, NASCAR, NBA…

Personally MLB has lost me with the endless games and ridiculous push to power pitching (leading to almost guaranteed Tommy John surgery) and power hitting (to the point that they’re boring one dimensional hitters who are easy to strike out). There’s all sorts of other issues (like competitive balance and salaries) but the biggest is pitchers take f***ing forever now and every game is +3 hours.

Maybe so. I generally agree with your comments on the lenth of games. But my team has a reason to watch and I will at least on and off until they trade him in a year or two.