Gallatin
A Banksy of Goonism
Kesler Mania has worn me out, and there is not much else being discussed about on the Board lately it seems - so a new Topic!
I am in my 40's, this is an opinion based upon being a hardcore fan and rec player since early 1980 - seeing the Miracle live sucked me into the NHL as a kid. I played a ton of Dek Hockey with and against Dejan & Madden back in the day, and yes they had a large influence on how I experience the game. Especially Dejan who was my goal scoring center that I used to set up with the fancy passes on tennis courts and Deks all over town.
Many of you have covered over and over here my three main points - but one. So onto my State Of The Hockey Address - and feel free to disagree and argue with me.
Goalies and goalie equipment have played a large role in bringing us the game we have now. Just watch the 87 Canada Cup on YouTube. Not only is that some of the greatest hockey ever played, but the Goalies were crap. Small, awkward even, with Heavy pads, and unathletic. It's amazing how far goaltending has come, and the advances in equipment has lightened their load, while making them bigger. The Butterfly helped too.
Coaching has come a long way. In the mid-late 70's Scotty Bowman brought the Trap, and Systematic Hockey to the NHL. Like most cutting-edge great-leaps-forward, it took a while for everyone else to catch on, even after 5 straight Cups. Jump 15 years ahead and it's easy to see the impact he had come the mid-90's.
The one thing I don't see mentioned here is IMO the biggest issue right now - the Owners lost the 94-95 players strike. It was their own damn fault - NHLPA would have agreed to a Cap, but the big market teams would not agree to the revenue sharing players needed in order to concede.
When they gave in to save the season, the owners knew they were ****ed. Hockey was going the way of MLB now, and the small market teams were screwed as they would soon no longer be able to afford high end offensive talent, at least not until a Cap could be negotiated in the future.
A concession was agreed to among the clubs. A way needed to be found to slow down scoring - and they thought - salaries. Thus was born clutch-&-grab hockey. A temporary solution to the problem, that ended up becoming The long-term issue.
The Owners managed to mostly get it out of the game for some years after the Cap went into place. But with the pressures from the Old Guard's desire to let-them-play in the playoffs, and the need for small market teams to be able to compete with the richer clubs, and sell tickets, it crept back in.
Then the Cuncussion Issue hit. The game was getting too fast and dangerous some thought. What better way to put a bandaid on it, than to slow the game back down. Thus was born the new modern NHL of the last few years. Heavily coached systematic hockey with giant athletic goalies covered in bulky body armor. And an ever increasing amount of clutching and grabbing to slow down the game and make it "safer" for the players, or at least the Owners pocketbooks when the inevitable lawsuits came.
It's really ashame what our game has turned into recently. While no longer a fan of run & gun 80's hockey, we should not be headed under the 5 goals per game mark. It's just not as much fun as a 4-3 game IMO, and new fans will not flock to it. They want offense.
So right now I see a Penguins management team that is stuck in 2009. We were the New Way, the hockey system that was going to replace the old game with speed and skill.
But the game has changed once again, and is becoming ever more every day once again - a clutch & grab sport.
But I don't see the Penguins changing with it. It's disturbing to say the least.
I am in my 40's, this is an opinion based upon being a hardcore fan and rec player since early 1980 - seeing the Miracle live sucked me into the NHL as a kid. I played a ton of Dek Hockey with and against Dejan & Madden back in the day, and yes they had a large influence on how I experience the game. Especially Dejan who was my goal scoring center that I used to set up with the fancy passes on tennis courts and Deks all over town.
Many of you have covered over and over here my three main points - but one. So onto my State Of The Hockey Address - and feel free to disagree and argue with me.
Goalies and goalie equipment have played a large role in bringing us the game we have now. Just watch the 87 Canada Cup on YouTube. Not only is that some of the greatest hockey ever played, but the Goalies were crap. Small, awkward even, with Heavy pads, and unathletic. It's amazing how far goaltending has come, and the advances in equipment has lightened their load, while making them bigger. The Butterfly helped too.
Coaching has come a long way. In the mid-late 70's Scotty Bowman brought the Trap, and Systematic Hockey to the NHL. Like most cutting-edge great-leaps-forward, it took a while for everyone else to catch on, even after 5 straight Cups. Jump 15 years ahead and it's easy to see the impact he had come the mid-90's.
The one thing I don't see mentioned here is IMO the biggest issue right now - the Owners lost the 94-95 players strike. It was their own damn fault - NHLPA would have agreed to a Cap, but the big market teams would not agree to the revenue sharing players needed in order to concede.
When they gave in to save the season, the owners knew they were ****ed. Hockey was going the way of MLB now, and the small market teams were screwed as they would soon no longer be able to afford high end offensive talent, at least not until a Cap could be negotiated in the future.
A concession was agreed to among the clubs. A way needed to be found to slow down scoring - and they thought - salaries. Thus was born clutch-&-grab hockey. A temporary solution to the problem, that ended up becoming The long-term issue.
The Owners managed to mostly get it out of the game for some years after the Cap went into place. But with the pressures from the Old Guard's desire to let-them-play in the playoffs, and the need for small market teams to be able to compete with the richer clubs, and sell tickets, it crept back in.
Then the Cuncussion Issue hit. The game was getting too fast and dangerous some thought. What better way to put a bandaid on it, than to slow the game back down. Thus was born the new modern NHL of the last few years. Heavily coached systematic hockey with giant athletic goalies covered in bulky body armor. And an ever increasing amount of clutching and grabbing to slow down the game and make it "safer" for the players, or at least the Owners pocketbooks when the inevitable lawsuits came.
It's really ashame what our game has turned into recently. While no longer a fan of run & gun 80's hockey, we should not be headed under the 5 goals per game mark. It's just not as much fun as a 4-3 game IMO, and new fans will not flock to it. They want offense.
So right now I see a Penguins management team that is stuck in 2009. We were the New Way, the hockey system that was going to replace the old game with speed and skill.
But the game has changed once again, and is becoming ever more every day once again - a clutch & grab sport.
But I don't see the Penguins changing with it. It's disturbing to say the least.