Non-Minnesota NHL News XXI

[Fremitus Borealis]

Came across this the other day. Pretty depressing, but worth taking a look

A Brief History of the NHL Pretending to Fix Scoring

TL;DR: Turns out the last time the league actually seemed serious about goal scoring problems (and did something about it) was...... 1929. From the Ottawa newspaper at the time:

"The demand for more scoring has apparently been met by the NHL magnates. The days of strictly defensive hockey have passed and the grand old winter pastime will come back into its former popularity.... It is pleasing to watch expert stickhandling, but unless it results in a goal being scored, the average customer does not get much of a kick out of the puck-manipulating. It's the goals that count with the spectator, as well as on the scoresheet."

Goal scoring doubled that year, when the league decided to go against the wishes of the "purists" and allow a wacky new thing called the "forward pass"

 

[Bruce Granville]

Forward passing destroyed the game...of rugby on ice.

 

[Wild11MN]

So Hitch is back. Again. Expected to retire after the year as well.

 

[SupremeNachos]

Sounds like Yeo is being shown around in St. Louis.

 

[Avder]

Maybe grooming Yeo to be his successor?

 

[Randy BoBandy]

Maybe grooming Yeo to be his successor?

I was reading that from a few media types. I'm sure he would get a good look after Hitchcock is gone. The team isn't going to promise Yeo anything though, and it all depends on the job market. Who will fired after next year? Hartley was the coach of the year one year got fired the next. The way coaches get fired these days Yeo might be looking at even more competition next summer for head coaching positions. At this point Yeo might be out of the running on a the last head coaching positions but needs to stay in the NHL.

Who is left that needs head coaches? Anaheim and Calgary?

 

[Avder]

It would be highly amusing if he ended up Anaheim's HC.

 

[Fremitus Borealis]

NHL Player Shot Dead After Child Falls Onto Ice

“A hockey player is a very violent animal who really doesn’t know his own strength,” said arena security director Blake Rienhold. “We did what was necessary.”...The majestic Burns, easily identifiable by his thick beard, long hair and missing teeth, was a beloved hockey player and one of only approximately 600 NHL players in the entire world.

Too soon?

 

[00xtremeninja]

bwahahahha, I like

"after he died, he missed two shifts and then returned to the ice."

 

[Avder]

Ha ha, that's great.

 

[Engebretson]

I'm only halfway through so far, but this Players' Tribune article by Kerry Fraser is terrific. Great story about Theo Fleury in the beginning.

 

[FVM]

I'm only halfway through so far, but this Players' Tribune article by Kerry Fraser is terrific. Great story about Theo Fleury in the beginning.

Thanks for the tip, that was a great read indeed. Love The Players' Tribune.

 

[Wild11MN]

I'm only halfway through so far, but this Players' Tribune article by Kerry Fraser is terrific. Great story about Theo Fleury in the beginning.

Great article. Thanks for posting!

 

[TaLoN]

Torch hired as an assistant in Detroit...

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/blogs/nhl-puck-daddy/red-wings-hire-john-torchetti-as-assistant-coach-161227701.html

The Detroit Red Wings have hired former Minnesota Wild interim coach John Torchetti as an assistant coach the team announced Thursday.

According to the Detroit Free-Press, Torchetti will be in charge of the forwards and the power play.

 

[Wild11MN]

Good for him. Still hoping he gets a HC gig eventually.

 

[Wabit]

Torch did help out our forwards.

He didn't do much for the Powerplay, but he really didn't have the time to change it up much.

 

[gphr513]

Cool, best of luck to him. Seems like a great guy.

 

[Engebretson]

Good for Torch. I did like him as a coach, but I think moving on was the right move for both parties.

 

[Fremitus Borealis]

I was really hoping he'd get a HC shot somewhere.

 

[Sharppi]

 

[Dee Oh Cee]

How sad...what a year so far. RIP to Mr. Hockey.

 

[DANOZ28]

wow , sad day for hockey, i guess nobody lives forever.

 

[Saga of the Elk]

Hockey is the greatest sport. But it is also an insular sport, one whose greatest legends are more famous in Helsinki, Bratislava and Moose Jaw than they are elsewhere in the world. Wayne Gretzky transcended that of course, but Gordie Howe did it first. He was really the first household name, the first legend, not just in Detroit, not just in Canada, but throughout the United States - and other parts of the world - as well. He exemplified the toughness of the game, and later, the human side that makes the game's greatest such special individuals.

There's a rather lousy movie called Face-Off (or Winter Comes Early) but one of the striking scenes is when the kid makes the NHL (sorry for the spoiler). There's a cut to some archival footage, and a shot of Mr. Howe on the bench looking out at the ice. He would have been 42 or 43 years old at this point, yet that one image captures how f'in scary it must have been for a kid to step out onto the ice against such a fearsome opponent, but even more so, a true legend.

 

[00xtremeninja]

Rip Gordie, sad to see a legend go

 

[Minnesota]

New thread.