The State of Hockey

[Jack Flask]

How much longer will it take for the NHL to see the obvious. Regular season hockey has become mundane, boring shinny. Highly skilled players, moving the puck around with ease because there is very little contact.
Fans want the bodychecking, the grit and sandpaper and dare I say, the occasional scrap.
Why do we have to wait for playoffs to see real hockey?
Many Coaches seem bewildered at where the game is going. Its sanitized and its missing what once made it exciting.
Im not alone here; many of my friends/fans are saying the same thing. Thoughts?

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[Roksta]

Sad for you man, theres some old 90s games on NHL Network if you want to see slugish regular season hockey games

 

[txpd]

NHL fans amaze me. They more than any other sport hate their league. There is nothing bewildering about the direction of the league. Analytics arepushing the pace of offensive play. Big physical teams remain and remain successful. Regular season hockey isn't shinny. Geez

 

[Bgav]

NGL, I thought this was going to be a WIlD thread

 

[Megustaelhockey]

NGL, I thought this was going to be a WIlD thread

Imagine my disappointment.

 

[HockeySniper]

Playoffs are garbage. Literally every team except the top 3 stack the blue line and hope for counter attacks. They play like chickens just to win. Give me a 82>max 27 game sample size any day

 

[Highmarker]

The regular season will never be playoff hockey. 82 game seasons are long and grueling and many games don't mean much depending on the matchup and the standings and there's nothing really anybody can do about that.

 

[Claypool]

Back-to-back games shouldn't exist. Reducing the schedule by 12 games would allow players to be fresher for every game and create a better on-ice product. This would also allow for more travel between East and West teams so they can play more often.

 

[CascadiaPuck]

Im not alone here; many of my friends/fans are saying the same thing. Thoughts?

Metamucil.

The game is fine.

 

[Tofveve]

The game is in good shape, even regular season games. This coming from someone watching since the early 80s. I pretty much daily watch multiple games, games where my Flames aren't even playing. I doubt I'd have done that in the 80s and 90s if I could have. Would I have tuned in especially to see a Rick Middleton or a Dale Hawerchuck? Probably just Pens and Oilers games (and my Flames of course) would have garnered my attention. Now I've got at least 6 to 10 teams (Wash, Pens, Tampa, Chi, Bos, Vegas, Edm, Tor, Col, NYR to name the majority) plus my Flames that I don't want to miss action on because of all the exciting players and the exciting action from day to day.

 

[Sempiternal]

I'm enjoying this season a lot more than the past few seasons.

 

[HisIceness]

Look at the Metro division, one loss can have your team slipping in the standings. It's pretty damn epic right now.

 

[Highmarker]

I find regular season enjoyment is directly proportional to how competitive the team you cheer for is. As an oilers fan most years I don't bother watching cause it's frustrating watching your team stink every night. This year they are competitive and I am enjoying it.

 

[sting101]

How much longer will it take for the NHL to see the obvious. Regular season hockey has become mundane, boring shinny. Highly skilled players, moving the puck around with ease because there is very little contact.
Fans want the bodychecking, the grit and sandpaper and dare I say, the occasional scrap.
Why do we have to wait for playoffs to see real hockey?
Many Coaches seem bewildered at where the game is going. Its sanitized and its missing what once made it exciting.
Im not alone here; many of my friends/fans are saying the same thing. Thoughts?

How about watch someone other than your team Red Wing fan

 

[serp]

The regular season is too long for this . You can't go full intensity for the regular season . It gets players injured and exhausted 82 games that are almost meaningless as long as you qualify for the playoffs. Seeding as the last playoffs have shown doesn't mean that much either . Just get in and you have as much a chance as everybody else. Teams now are working and should've been working for years towards getting into the playoffs with as little injuries and exhaustion as possible. .

If you want playoff hockey in the regular season you need to drastically shorten it and have much less travel as well. ( also completely remove back to backs / 3 games in 4 nights )

 

[Iapyi]

Fact is hockey is changing towards a more ballet style game.

I love seeing the speed and skill of the game now but the lack of physicality makes it hard not to puke.

The NHL will have to enforce change again at some point when the pendulum swinging hits a tulip patch and it starts to hit their pocket book harder.

It's inevitable.

The NHL is losing hard core fans more and more and just like in real life when it's time for the pansy patrol to pay their dues they will disappear.

The NHL got into bed with Satan when they put the wants of the vocal minority casual fan ahead of their bread and butter.

A rival league with more traditional standards wouldn't surprise me and is certain to happen at some point albeit possibly decades away.

 

[POVERTY]

If I'm not witnessing at least one traumatic brain injury per game, what's even the point?

 

[valet]

if you get burnt out just try taking a break bro. like go outside or something

 

[AlphaMikeFoxtrots]

How much longer will it take for the NHL to see the obvious. Regular season hockey has become mundane, boring shinny. Highly skilled players, moving the puck around with ease because there is very little contact.
Fans want the bodychecking, the grit and sandpaper and dare I say, the occasional scrap.
Why do we have to wait for playoffs to see real hockey?
Many Coaches seem bewildered at where the game is going. Its sanitized and its missing what once made it exciting.
Im not alone here; many of my friends/fans are saying the same thing. Thoughts?

ok boomer

 

[sting101]

Reality is players are human and the season is a grind. Preservation is real as are jet lag, back to backs and hangovers. It's not always gonna be an oil painting but the game is uber skilled and in good hands from a talent and competitive perspective

The biggest issue is neutral zone trap and over sized goalie equipment (yes i think the thigh rise is still too much.....would go to 35%) which allow teams to suffocate the game, play safe and have a giant with enough thigh rise to cover post to post while playing off their knees.

If they actually made an illegal defense rule that made sense and took those stupidly high 5 hole covering pads away i believe it would be as good as its ever been. stop rewarding safe and boring and make the goalies be more athletic

 

[dBoon]

Every sport has too many games, and there are always duds. But by and large most games in most sports are enjoyable to most fans.

Eat an apple, take a walk, healthy alternatives to watching something you don't enjoy.

 

[These Are The Days]

Here's some "dawn of the dead puck era" for you OP courtesy of the Florida Panthers mimicking what they saw the Devils do by clogging the f*** out of everything and obstructing at every turn.. Behold as some of the greatest talents to ever play our game can barely manage a goal during some stretches as the 2 line pass rule and goalies roaming around like a 3rd defenseman stifled play even more.

Now go watch Lindros get mugged and be happy




I'm gonna go vomit now at this sickeningly boring version of our sport and then laugh at Brett Hull for insisting talent dilution caused the drop in goal scoring and not the way the game was being played

 

[voxel]

NGL, I thought this was going to be a WIlD thread

And whining about a trap, blah, blah.

Imagine the opposite - whining that hockey is too open and wanting old school trap hockey

 

[Canuck16]

1. Minnesota
2. Michigan
3. Massachusetts

4. Alaska (because of Scott Gomez)

 

[Jack Flask]

Here's some "dawn of the dead puck era" for you OP courtesy of the Florida Panthers mimicking what they saw the Devils do by clogging the **** out of everything and obstructing at every turn.. Behold as some of the greatest talents to ever play our game can barely manage a goal during some stretches as the 2 line pass rule and goalies roaming around like a 3rd defenseman stifled play even more.

Now go watch Lindros get mugged and be happy




I'm gonna go vomit now at this sickeningly boring version of our sport and then laugh at Brett Hull for insisting talent dilution caused the drop in goal scoring and not the way the game was being played

Interesting to see fans of the game comparing today’s game to old style trap hockey and compelled to assume its old guys who want dinosaur era games back.
Sorry, you missed the point. Hockey is a contact sport. I could posts lots of videos of guys figure skating through 3 players, dancing around the goalie and scoring ; that doesn't make it good hockey.
Im sure the NFL isnt changing to flag football anytime soon. The NHL better wake up because I predict attendance will suffer the long term consequences of this trend.
Nice to see fans defending the ‘cleaner’ game but last game I went to the fans were most excited when a scrap occurred.
The build ups to rivalries, grudge matches and hard nosed play are few and far between. The Tkchuk/Kassian type thing makes it far more interesting. Get the contact and sandpaper back and we wont see attendance numbers drop. Combined with the skill and speed, we have less boring hockey.