I think the NHL has long term problems...

[Smirnov2Chistov]

Lol okay

 

[NHL Review]

The officiating is a major issue but I really don’t think it favored one of these teams or the other though

 

[AvroArrow]

Hold the line solider.

NFL and NBA have jumped the shark. Their commissioners and ownership have chased every buck and cent by whoring out their product. Paper tigers.

TVs may be on their games, but all their fans are on their phones.

Not true. They are 2 of the biggest sports in North America, with hockey being the least popular of the major 4. NFL games are the most watched on tv in NA if i'm not mistaken. Even as a Canadian myself, our group of friends religiously watches NFL. I watch at least 5-6 games on Sunday, multiple playing at once. And every Monday/Thursday game.

The only hockey games I can really watch are my own teams or if there's a really spicy match up on TV. Boston/Tampa, Pitts/Philly etc.

 

[Budz]

Then make their salary cap based on net dollars the players takes home.

 

[Budz]

The officiating is a major issue but I really don’t think it favored one of these teams or the other though

I'm a fan of neither team - I'm saying in general you can't run a league that has separate rules for the regular season and separate rules for the playoffs. My point is that it's NOT good for the whole NHL.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

Dead puck era 2.0. Most of the games were a boring slogfest.

 

[vorky]

The world is changing, it is going from unipolarity to multipolarity. The NHL is heavily dependent on the dollar´s position in global economy. And economic well-being of Americans. When both shrinks, the NHL is having a huge problem. It is only a matter of time, when this happens.

 

[Budz]

They have issues but you didn't name any of them tbh.

Feel free to share your suggestions then...otherwise your comment is a waste of space and adds nothing.

 

[TGWL]

Also I thought state taxes are an itemized deduction on your federal taxes. So even if you're paying more state tax you end up paying less in federal taxes.

Yes, a good accountant doesn't fill out just 1 form. You pay for what you get and these players don't use a cheap software to do their taxes. (I work for one of those accounting software companies. Our software cost less than $500 and gives you the ability to do everything yourself, payroll, taxes, etc - and I'm telling anybody who owns a business not to use be dumb enough to to it themselves).

If you live outside a state that doesn't have any local income/state tax (FL), you can file for a deduction on local/state sales tax. If you live in a state that deducts local income/state tax, you can file for a deduction on that. Of course, there's always the I live here but I work in this state reciprocal agreement, or lack of an agreement (coughs NJ/NY)

 

[Nico Hughes]

As long as they patch the LTIR-into-playoffs loophole, I dont see any major fixes needed

 

[NHL Review]

I'm a fan of neither team - I'm saying in general you can't run a league that has separate rules for the regular season and separate rules for the playoffs. My point is that it's NOT good for the whole NHL.

Definitely agree I just don’t think it’s relevant if someone is saying that’s why Tampa won. Wanted to make that clear.

That being said, it definitely favors a certain play style which helps certain teams and players and punishes others. It’s a much bigger issue than the cap space loophole. Besides it being bad hockey and rewarding bad behavior, it’s bad for player safety which at the end of the day is the most important. Can’t expect to have a successful product if there is that much inconsistency in the officials and players are getting hurt because of it

 

[molon labe]

I can really only go for #1 - Reffing.

For debates' sake - I can understand the issue with Florida's tax benefits when it comes to professional sports (though, having grown up here - suck it).

As for the reffing: the issue caused by the NHL makes it difficult for front offices and coaching staff's to build a roster and ice a style. Are you going to let clutch and grab go EVERY playoffs? Then what the hell is the point of speed? Just ice a team like the Islanders and realize they'll only call a couple of them. Are you going to let teams goon it up? How much so? Is skating by a goalie after a whistle good enough to break someone's ribs? Well then - why not just stack your crease with thugs and play a war of attrition? Are you going to penalize the hell out of everything? Well - ice a team full of midgets.

I like having variance - but a few years' removed from a questionable goal call (no goal) that helped the Capitals move past us - and championship runs that were littered with teams who held back the Penguins' talent by holding and grabbing.... I can say for certain each playoff has had a different vibe. I hate variance in officiating but love it within teams. I don't mind a team being heavy on defense or offense - but the league/officiating shouldn't assist one style or the other.

 

[NHL Review]

As long as they patch the LTIR-into-playoffs loophole, I dont see any major fixes needed

I really hope this is sarcasm

There are so many more pressing issues than the cap loophole lol. Whether you think that’s a legitimate issue or not (I do) have to admit that. Shouldn’t be seeing the amount of missed calls by on ice officials or DoPS. Shouldn’t be having a dinosaur mentality in growing the game and how it should be played. On a much bigger stage next year these problems alone will be too difficult to ignore anymore.

 

[Oddbob]

The reffing is fine. People act like the refs have never missed calls before, or did game management before. Neither is new and neither is changing.

 

[Devil Dancer]

The hard cap may be the best thing the NHL ever did. I hope it stays forever.

 

[NHL Review]

The reffing is fine. People act like the refs have never missed calls before, or did game management before. Neither is new and neither is changing.

They’re missing calls at a much higher rate. Year to year even. It’s alarming.

Whatever excuse you can use (game is “too fast”) something needs to be done to improve in that area. It’s not just people suddenly starting to complain about it out of boredom. It’s legitimate concerns

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

The reffing is fine. People act like the refs have never missed calls before, or did game management before. Neither is new and neither is changing.

Thanks for your assessment, Gary.

Game management is absolutely a problem. You can't have referees decide when it is or is not okay to call a penalty. It's a penalty then f***ing call it. I don't care if it's 2 seconds into a game, when a team is already 2 men down, or the last 30 seconds of a SCF game.

Tim Peel exposed the league as a sham.

 

[Nico Hughes]

I really hope this is sarcasm

There are so many more pressing issues than the cap loophole lol. Whether you think that’s a legitimate issue or not (I do) have to admit that. Shouldn’t be seeing the amount of missed calls by on ice officials or DoPS. Shouldn’t be having a dinosaur mentality in growing the game and how it should be played. On a much bigger stage next year these problems alone will be too difficult to ignore anymore.

A suspension or lack thereof doesnt affect my watching of hockey much. Missed calls happen in every sport, this is overblown a lot..

a team having enough extra cap to support two extra 1st line forwards.. that makes a huge difference in my viewing experience (when my team plays them?

 

[volcom92886]

Reffing will always be an issue due to the speed of the game. Having an official watching the game off the ice could help that however.

The only issue the NHL really needs to address is the disappearance of the salary cap during the playoffs. What is the point of having one all season for it to magically disappear during the post-season.

 

[Oddbob]

They’re missing calls at a much higher rate. Year to year even. It’s alarming.

Whatever excuse you can use (game is “too fast”) something needs to be done to improve in that area. It’s not just people suddenly starting to complain about it out of boredom. It’s legitimate concerns

Thanks for your assessment, Gary.

Game management is absolutely a problem. You can't have referees decide when it is or is not okay to call a penalty. It's a penalty then f***ing call it. I don't care if it's 2 seconds into a game, when a team is already 2 men down, or the last 30 seconds of a SCF game.

Tim Peel exposed the league as a sham.

GAME MANAGEMENT has ALWAYS BEEN in the NHL. Calls are not messed or missed more than ever before, people just whine and bitch about it more. I like how I am Gary Bettman for not agreeing with your wrong assessment that the league has a reffing issue. Peel didn't expose anything as any long time fan and even mid term fan knew about game management. Whether any of us likes game management is irrelevant as the NHL has always done it this way and are going to continue to do it this way.

All you penalty call whiners hate it now, but if they called it by the book, there would literally be whistles and penalties every 5-10 seconds, as there is a boatload of stuff that is technically a penalty that doesn't get called. Can't have it both ways.

 

[tarheelhockey]

Numbers 2 through 6 sound an awful lot like being unhappy about the outcome of one series.

 

[NHL Review]

A suspension or lack thereof doesnt affect my watching of hockey much. Missed calls happen in every sport, this is overblown a lot..

a team having enough extra cap to support two extra 1st line forwards.. that makes a huge difference in my viewing experience (when my team plays them?

Why not have both? You can worry about those things too. The sanctity of game and safety of players has to be a priority though. It’s the foundation which the sport is built on. The cap space and contracts are just numbers, it’s up to the players on ice to determine who wins and who loses. Is the officiating not more of a factor than that anyway?

Those missed calls are always going to happen as the officials are human and make errors, but not to this extent.

 

[volcom92886]

GAME MANAGEMENT has ALWAYS BEEN in the NHL. Calls are not messed or missed more than ever before, people just whine and bitch about it more. I like how I am Gary Bettman for not agreeing with your wrong assessment that the league has a reffing issue. Peel didn't expose anything as any long time fan and even mid term fan knew about game management. Whether any of us likes game management is irrelevant as the NHL has always done it this way and are going to continue to do it this way.

All you penalty call whiners hate it now, but if they called it by the book, there would literally be whistles and penalties every 5-10 seconds, as there is a boatload of stuff that is technically a penalty that doesn't get called. Can't have it both ways.

Agreed, although game management is not particular to the NHL, as it happen in every sport. Most refs dont want to be the center of attention and the reason why a team lost, therefore they will try to balance out the chances/opportunities for both teams. Ive seen it happen in soccer, football, baseketball etc.

The Seahawks used it to their advantage a few years back knowing that they would not be called for pass interference on every play therefore they pushed the line on every play. The message is most likely passed down from the higher ups as excessive ref interaction via penalties detracts from the game.

 

[Bam19]

The Venn Diagram for people who bitch about the salary cap and people who don't understand how the salary cap works is a circle.

So your salary cap points break into:

1. "Rich teams should be able to spend more because they're rich"
2. "I don't understand how taxes work for pro athletes"
3. "I'm mad that Tampa did what dozens of teams have done in the last few years"
4. "Guaranteed contracts for players are bad because it can hurt my favorite team's ability to add good players"

this is interesting because signing bonuses play a large part because they are not game checks. Therefore they would be solely taxed in the state that the player plays. Now it definitely isn’t 40%. But say a Cali team vs a Florida team. If a player receives a 6 million dollar SB the differance is 780k which is substantial.

 

[Chet Manley]

yeah Vasi stopped 18 shots what a heroic performance lol. It was a boring ass game. Tampa did what it did in game 7 vs the Islanders. Score once in the 2nd period and then turtle for 30 minutes. Entertainment factor in these playoffs was at an all-time low.

How many times does sitting on a 1 goal lead backfire? Being able to bend-don't-break on defence for that long to win the cup was impressive. I found it suspenseful and entertaining to see if the Habs could pot one with them pressing as hard as they did. It was reminiscent of Team Canada in Sochi skillfully shutting everyone down.