What’s your unpopular hockey opinion?

[Hospy]

I like Pierre McGuire

He's like that really excited kid who loves hockey who just happens to be really, exceptionally, painfully awkward. But he has the enthusiasm.

 

[Esq]

I would like one, and preferably two, line brawls per month.

 

[Psych0dad]

Blake Wheeler is average at best, gets over hyped by fans who ignore the warts in his game. Watch him play, you would never know you're watching a 90 point player. His late success is entirely on the shooters he feeds.

 

[ACLEVERNAME]

The NHL was better with clutching & grabbing.

Was a real man's game as oppose to this fufu shit we have today

 

[toomuchsauce]

I like Pierre McGuire

 

[TheDawnOfANewTage]

Henrik and Daniel were clones and nobody talks about it.

 

[Kale Hulls]

Beer costs too much.

 

[Platano King]

- Crosby is top 5 all time and would be regarded as such if not for his injuries
- The NHL should expand rink size to international standards
- I like Doc Emerick, and very much prefer him to a Joe Buck type announcer
- Patrik Laine isn’t very good of a hockey player and giving him $10m will be a massive mistake
- Lundqvist only having a single Vezina is criminal
- Centers are not inherently more valuable than wingers; talent matters much more than position
- The anti-Leafs circle jerk is more insufferable than the pro-Leafs hype
- Hockey’s relative unpopularity (in the US) is more the result of an exclusive TV deal with a crappy network, a poor social media presence, and boring player personalities than the lack of access to play
- The offsides rule should be eliminated

 

[Windy River]

The season should be drastically shorter - like half of what it is. Such that each game becomes a spectacle, and skill plays an even greater role compared to toughness and longevity.

 

[Gordievsky]

Gary Bettman has been an outstanding NHL commissioner. Winnipeg, Edmonton and Ottawa owe their continued presence in the NHL to him. He is a legitimate fan of the game and his enormous successes (profitability of franchises, most expansion experiences, breaking the union, salary cap, parity, growing the game's popularity internationally, outdoor games, skills competition at allstar games) dwarf his failures (Atlanta, Phoenix, slow response to the dangers of concussions, lack of mainstream US TV deal).

 

[Gordievsky]

As the population of North America increases, the number of cities which could legitimately support a major league franchise will vastly outstrip the number of franchises available. The early signs of this are already being seen (franchises in non-traditional cities owing more to particular stadium/ arena deals rather than a history of support for the sport).

The only viable solution for the NHL and other leagues, going forward, is a tiered style framework a la Premier League in England. The NHL would be better off now having the top 20 teams form an NHL Premier League competing for the Stanley Cup, and aggressively expand to have a 20 team second division where the goal is to win promotion to the top league.

 

[Windy River]

Henrik and Daniel were clones and nobody talks about it.

Whats there to talk about? Sounds like fact not opinion.

 

[Laveuglette]

I don't care at all about "growing the game" in the f***ing desert. It's an on-ice sport, please make teams in places where winter actually exists.

 

[Aladyyn]

The draft lottery shouldn't exist

NHL should have a soft cap similar to the NBA

William Nylander is just as good as Mitch Marner and if Marner signs an offer sheets worth 4 1st rounders the Leafs shouldn't match

John Tavares has become underrated since joining the Leafs

Jonathan Toews was actually that good in his prime

Defense remains extremely underrated when rating players, especially forwards. Most of the time it is straight up ignored... But the single most underrated stat is penalty differential. Nobody ever talks about it and it's so wild because it has such clearly defined value.

 

[Zamuz]

The first round of Playoffs is the most entertaining one

 

[Sentinel]

I love shootouts.

 

[BerlinBlueShirt]

- Every team should have equal odds of winning draft lottery, and it is absolutely pathetic that people actively root for their team to lose so they have a chance at the welfare lottery. You should never be better off losing in any aspect of life, the fact this everybody gets a ribbon mentality has seeped its way into pro sports (which should be the ultimate meritocracy) is sad. The league should stop rewarding incompetence & failure, which goes on to ruin many stars who could've shined way brighter and grew the sport
- Don Cherry is a legend
- Offence is more important than defense
- 3v3 & the shootout are great and no sports game should result in a tie
- Ovechkin is the greatest player of all time, and players are so much better today that most legends from the past would not even be top 6 forwards today
- Salary cap should be abolished
- Carey Price is the most overrated player in the NHL
- Toronto is a mediocre team & the insane media bias leads people to believe they're far better than they are
- Namestnikov is top 10 in the league in terms of hockey IQ, maybe the absolute #1 highest IQ in the NHL but not the skills of other superstars.
- Hockey culture is the best of any pro sport, and NHL players are much classier than any other league. And there are a lot of quirky traditions & stylistic things that show off hockey players personalities despite what some negative fans claim
- Dynasties >>> Parody
- Russian style of play is best of any nation
- Andersen is an awful goalie, bottom 3 in NHL
- Markstrom is the worst goalie in the NHL
- Women's hockey is boring
- It's dumb how people discount goalies as not being part of a team, a team plays bad and their goalie steals a game is treated as if it’s some third party who helped them out. It’s no different than a team playing bad and their star winger scoring a hat trick to make them win.
- Star power > depth
- It's stupid when people say X team would suck without X player, as if X player is a separate entity and doesn’t make up the team
- JT Miller is the worst player in the NHL

As it is supposed to be "unpopular opinions" there is a surprising lot of things I completely agree with.
Anyway I still think the salary cap is great. I am from Germany so I am forced to watch soccer a lot. As there is no salary cap there is only one (maybe two teams) that have the resources to realistically win the leauge (we have had the same champion for 7 or 8 years in a row). The worst thing is that when you are a normally mediocre or bad team that for some reason has a great season and two or three stars in the making you will 100% lose them after a that great season and fall back to being mediocre. There is absolutely no chance to leave this circle. You guys really should love the salary cap and it is one reason I love the NHL (I am saying it as a Rangers fan, a team which would most definately benefit from getting rid of the salary cap)
Another thing I disagree is your opinion on Carey Price. I think he is the best goalie in the league (maybe that is my unpopular take)

 

[Isaak16]

I think there’s too many players dressed for each game. You want a more entertaining product? 10 forwards and 5 defensemen. Scoring will go up due to fatigue and we’ll see far more of the top players. Easy solution to most of the games problems.

Plus everyone involved makes more money. Tada, you’re welcome NHL.

 

[JoVel]

- Namestnikov is top 10 in the league in terms of hockey IQ, maybe the absolute #1 highest IQ in the NHL but not the skills of other superstars.

There's having an unpopular opinion and then there's this

 

[TomP24684]

As the population of North America increases, the number of cities which could legitimately support a major league franchise will vastly outstrip the number of franchises available. The early signs of this are already being seen (franchises in non-traditional cities owing more to particular stadium/ arena deals rather than a history of support for the sport).

The only viable solution for the NHL and other leagues, going forward, is a tiered style framework a la Premier League in England. The NHL would be better off now having the top 20 teams form an NHL Premier League competing for the Stanley Cup, and aggressively expand to have a 20 team second division where the goal is to win promotion to the top league.

I would absolutely love this, where Aquilini is forced to realize the reality of Benning when his team is mired in a long streak of being relegated.

 

[Dale Gribble]

Tavares is the most overpaid player in the NHL, and one of the most overrated. My fellow Leafs fans seem to put him on this pedestal solely based on him being a local boy.

 

[Dion TheFluff]

- Crosby is top 5 all time and would be regarded as such if not for his injuries
- The NHL should expand rink size to international standards
- I like Doc Emerick, and very much prefer him to a Joe Buck type announcer
- Patrik Laine isn’t very good of a hockey player and giving him $10m will be a massive mistake
- Lundqvist only having a single Vezina is criminal
- Centers are not inherently more valuable than wingers; talent matters much more than position
- The anti-Leafs circle jerk is more insufferable than the pro-Leafs hype
- Hockey’s relative unpopularity (in the US) is more the result of an exclusive TV deal with a crappy network, a poor social media presence, and boring player personalities than the lack of access to play
- The offsides rule should be eliminated

yup. you could probably find at least 4 to 5 good examples of this in this thread alone.

 

[Dion TheFluff]

Auston Matthews is a top 6 offensive player in the league but is being held back by probably the most stubborn coach in the NHL.

 

[SheldonJPlankton]

The regular season is too short. It ought to be expanded to approximately 100 games.

Post-regulation play during the regular season ought to be identical to post-regulation in the postseason. Play real hockey until there is a winner.

Team rosters and bench sizes would be increased to accommodate longer seasons and the relatively few additional overtime minutes each season a team might see.

 

[emptyNedder]

Goals shouldn't count if the goalie catches it in the air—like a home run in baseball. The rule now is if it crosses the line it is a goal, but it should have to touch the ice or net past the line.