Give me your unpopular hockey opinions

[snipes]

Jack Edwards and Andy Brickley are the most knowledgable hockey announcers on the planet. They would be a great broadcasting duo if they weren't such over-the-top homers that sprinkled in football and baseball terminology every few minutes.

Now, they're nearly insufferable (for away fans at least). It's a lot better than years past (they seem to be working on it I guess) but they still aren't pleasant to listen to for away fans that face blackout restrictions.

Chris Cuthbert says hello. He's the best announcer in the business.

Gord Miller is a wealth of knowledge, but he does mostly international events now. Ferraro is highly knowledgeable, not always the best announcer though because he's overly critical about everything.

 

[satbank]

Patrik Laine will be better than Eichel and Matthews.

 

[DonskoiDonscored]

Chris Cuthbert says hello. He's the best announcer in the business.

Debatable. He announced for the Sharks throughout the playoffs and messed up names left and right. He also sounded crushed whenever the Sharks moved on. Not a fan.

Gord Miller is a wealth of knowledge, but he does mostly international events now. Ferraro is highly knowledgeable, not always the best announcer though because he's overly critical about everything.

Miller's a good one, Ferraro's attitude and emotion gets the better of him.

 

[snipes]

Debatable. He announced for the Sharks throughout the playoffs and messed up names left and right. He also sounded crushed whenever the Sharks moved on. Not a fan.



Miller's a good one, Ferraro's attitude and emotion gets the better of him.

Fair enough, Cuthbert is definitely highly knowledgable about the game. He has good insights and grasp of the game in a way most announcers don't. But I could see how if he was being anti-Sharks why you wouldn't like him.

Miller is great, one of my favourites. Yeah, Ferraro comes across very arrogant at times and overly emotional. Those two work good as a pair, especially at international events. Miller could be in contention as one of the most knowledgeable.

 

[garnetpalmetto]

While on the subject of announcers, Doc Emrick's voice is like nails on a chalkboard.

 

[PlamsUnlimited]

While on the subject of announcers, Doc Emrick's voice is like nails on a chalkboard.

Agree.

I wish Thorne did more hockey

 

[Habsfunk]

Age 31-40. Guy retired at 30. My point is outside of the Blackhawks years where he didn't play much, we saw all holy crap years. Its like if Karlsson retired now after winning a Cup or two, we would all declare him the best ever.

Bobby Orr's numbers were far and above what anyone thought possible for a defenceman - that's why people consider him one of the four best ever. Even when his knees were basically toast, he out up 18 points in 10 games, 23 points in 20 games and was named the Canada Cup MVP in 1976. Karlsson isn't even close to dominating the game like Orr did in his prime, and I'm a fan of Karlsson who thinks he should have won the Norris last year.

 

[Tofveve]

Greatest flames forwards or greatest players overall? Because Al MacInnis... but this thread is really about unpopular opinions )

Don't forget Niewendyk and Kiprusoff.

 

[JD1]

The part I bolded is simply not true. There is no standard for players to get into the HOF, nor should there be.

Unless you're saying that as your opinion. In which case you should edit your post to show that it is in your opinion.

The way you wrote it makes it sound like you're stating a fact. It is incorrect if you're stating it as such.

the name of the thread is give me your unpopular opinion. I didn't realize I needed to start my sentence with "my unpopular opinion is....."

 

[Beautvillier]

When the Shea Weber trade happened I thought Nashville lost hard.

 

[thepoeticgoblin]

I'd rather my team lose in an exciting, action packed back and forth game rather than winning a boring, uneventful game. I like the game of Hockey more than any one team

For (most of) the regular season, I sort of agree to an extent. But when things get "real" - entertainment goes out the window and I just want wins. It's about winning after all!

 

[McOilers97]

Offside shouldn't be a rule in the NHL. It kills way too many scoring chances and the whistle being blown because someone's skate was 1" offside kills the flow of the game. I don't care if no offside would make cherry-picking legal, it would make the increasingly bland NHL game more entertaining.

 

[McJesu]

Howe, Orr and Gretzky were lucky enough to shoot at this for their careers. Yes, they were that much better than their peers at the time, but Jagr is the only player to successfully transition with the game.

Gretzky was still dominate as a 38 year old in the dead puck era, the NHL was nothing like it was in the 80s yet he still put up great numbers. Lemieux played fine hockey as an old broken down man into the start of the Crosby era. Many players have had great careers spanning over different eras, take Patrick Roy for example, an elite goalie in the 80s, 90s, and 2000s. Jagr is far from the only one.

And alot of people who dont seem to grasp how bad the next guy infact was. Of course Orr is way above Karlsson but cant really judge them by the same metrics cause the level of play was beer-leagueesque back then compared to now.

There was an immense amount of talent in those days, even if they approached the game differently. I personally wouldn't call the Canadian or Russian summit series teams a bunch of beer leaguers. People immediately assume players today are miles better than players in the past. Sure players work out more and have better conditioning, have better equipment, coaching, and so on, but also take into consideration that the league is way more watered down today, with fewer super stars and way more plugs. If anything today's NHL is more grinder friendly than in the past.

The Montreal Canadiens used to look like all star teams, with a good dozen superstars, whereas today teams are lucky to have 2 or 3. I don't have the numbers in front of me, but I believe the pool of players was wider in the 70s and 80s because more people played the game back then, and hockey was a much more dominant part of Canadian culture. Yes Karlsson is very good, one of the better offensive defensemen in history, but he's far from GOAT status, and people that seem to argue along those lines appear to me to have little knowledge of the history of hockey and the famous defensemen that revolutionized and dominated the game to a much greater degree before Karlsson.

 

[Viqsi]

How so?

The top 80-90 goaltenders in the world are god awful NHL goaltenders.

The top 80-90 forwards in the world are low-level NHL first liners.

Three first liners play at any given time. One goaltender plays at any given time. That goaltender therefore has to be truly exceptional to be worth a damn. The forwards, by contrast, can prop up eachother's weaknesses. If you've got a goaltender who gets beaten high glove all the time but covers the 5-hole well, you can't pair him with a second goaltender with few redeeming qualities other than a good glove hand to cover the weak spot.

 

[SladeWilson23]

There's only 30 starting goalie spots in the league. There's a lot more potential starting goalies than there are spots.

There's 90 top line forward positions in the league. It's debatable at best if there's enough legit top line forwards to fill those spots.

 

[AK44]

Remove the blue lines, keep the centre red line.

Passes cannot cross the centre line but you can carry the puck over then pass to someone already in the zone.

 

[CaptBrannigan]

There's only 30 starting goalie spots in the league. There's a lot more potential starting goalies than there are spots.

There's 90 top line forward positions in the league. It's debatable at best if there's enough legit top line forwards to fill those spots.

I agree completely, especially about the first line forwards. It's a really interesting conversation, some teams may have 4 "first line" forwards and some maybe only 1.

 

[rodney dangerfield]

Panarin is as good as Kane.

 

[Whiston532]

Hockey has an absolutely embarrassing lack of personality on and off ice. Yea you can argue that the other leagues have to contend with "bad personality". But even then those players make great "bad guys", what does hockey have ? I respect the hell out of guys like McDavid and Crosby but god damn. It would only help the sport if they didn't just talk about how "they need to get pucks on the net and keep up the forecheck" every interview or only doing commercials where they get to talk about how important hard work is.

 

[Sleepy]

Hockey coaching matters the least when compared to all other major NA sports.

 

[Terrier]

Remove the blue lines, keep the centre red line.

Passes cannot cross the centre line but you can carry the puck over then pass to someone already in the zone.

Just like Roller Hockey International.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IgwIZp1vOQ


Anyone else remember Pro Beach Hockey?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18XWT047ec8

 

[Shwag33]

Hockey coaching matters the least when compared to all other major NA sports.

Uhhh... baseball? The game could be managed by a computer and it wouldn't be any better or worse.


Basketball potentially.... NBA much less so than college.


Football sure.

 

[10coach*]

Uhhh... baseball? The game could be managed by a computer and it wouldn't be any better or worse.


Basketball potentially.... NBA much less so than college.


Football sure.

Lol, coaching wise baseball is where you need good coaching especially below the pro level

 

[Shwag33]

Lol, coaching wise baseball is where you need good coaching especially below the pro level

We're talking major sports not growing up and how they effect game management.


I hate using this arguement but my dad was in aa, with the tigers/pirates orgs in the early 80's and he'll even tell you a baseball game could pretty much be managed by anyone.


You're talking more about training and development.

 

[armani]

Erik Karlsson is the best hockey player on the planet.