Lester B. Pearson Award -> Ted Lindsay Award

[Kyle McMahon]

Given the way things are run at the NHLPA, I'm surprised we aren't getting a "Trevor Linden Award" instead.

 

[greatgazoo]

Well, they changed the names of the divisions so it should come as no shock that they'll start changing the names of the awards either.

Whatever happened to tradition?

 

[Blades of Glory]

Given the way things are run at the NHLPA, I'm surprised we aren't getting a "Trevor Linden Award" instead.

Or an "Alan Eagleson Award".

 

[tp71]

Bud Light +/- Award?

Lol. Anyone actually care about that one? At all?

 

[Heat McManus]

Lol. Anyone actually care about that one? At all?

While fans might scoff at it, players actually do look at +/-. Nobody wants to get the Green Jacket and having the highest +/- usually means you're doing something right.

 

[Buck Aki Berg]

Well, they changed the names of the divisions so it should come as no shock that they'll start changing the names of the awards either.

Whatever happened to tradition?

You won't believe this, but there actually was hockey before 1980. And in those days, the divisions had geographical names.

Adams, Norris, etc. lasted 20 seasons. For the eight seasons before, and the 17 seasons (and counting) that followed, it was geographical names.

There is no "tradition" here.

 

[tp71]

While fans might scoff at it, players actually do look at +/-. Nobody wants to get the Green Jacket and having the highest +/- usually means you're doing something right.

Lol, perhaps you are. Didn't Jeff Shultz lead it this year?

 

[Canadarocks]

It's the same concept. You're taking something that already has meaning and has been well established and throwing it all away. All because the "new fans" the NHL wants has no idea who Lester Bowles Pearson is.

I'm pretty sure young people today are more familiar with Lester B Pearson than Ted Lindsay.

ETA: Or are you talking about Americans? Either way, most of them have probably not heard of Ted Lindsay either, likely less than Pearson as well.

 

[God Bless Canada]

I don't think it's going to be a precedent setter. The award was an NHLPA award. They retired a trophy named after a guy who didn't play in the show. (Granted, Pearson is the best PM we ever had). They introduced an award named after one of the best players ever, who happened to be the stubborn, competitive SOB who challenged the system and tried to start the NHLPA, at great professional expense.

The NHL isn't going to change the name of their awards. The owners and executives won't change the names of awards that honour guys who were owners and builders.

 

[Epsilon]

You won't believe this, but there actually was hockey before 1980. And in those days, the divisions had geographical names.

Adams, Norris, etc. lasted 20 seasons. For the eight seasons before, and the 17 seasons (and counting) that followed, it was geographical names.

There is no "tradition" here.

I've said this before and it applies to a lot of the posts in this discussion:

When a lot of hockey fans talk about "history and tradition", what they really mean is "the way things where when I started watching/paying attention to hockey". It's a self-centered egotism hidden behind abstractions.