What's Your Most Controversial Hockey Opinion?

[Goldmember]

Mats Zuccarello is actually a lizard.

 

[bronco73]

If the puck passes the goal line after hitting any part of an offensive player's skate it is a no goal.

Eliminates the "distinct kicking motion" judgement call.

I think it should be the other way. Doesn't matter if it's off of a skate or not, it's a goal If it goes in off an elbow, a knee, back, butt or anything else that's not a high stick it's a goal, the skate should be no different. The league wants more scoring, that's one way to get it.

 

[Paperbagofglory]

To be fair, I can’t think of the last time I heard Messiers name come up during “who’s the greatest all time player”.

This is true, but i would say even 10 years ago people looked at the all time points leaders and hes way up there, so you would assume hes this all time great.

 

[Kimota]

There should not be replays and challenges. And there should only be one ref. I like the human error in the game of hockey. And if the ref makes mistakes then so be it. But he would be the judge of everything that is on the ice, his rule would be law. Not the guys wth multi screens at Toronto. Take technology as far away from the game as possible. If the ref who is God on the ice decide that the goal is good, that's it, the goal is good.

Also even if a puck cross over the line a little bit, it's a goal.

 

[SnuggaRUDE]

The game should go to even strength 4v4.

 

[Mr Misunderstood]

I think it should be the other way. Doesn't matter if it's off of a skate or not, it's a goal If it goes in off an elbow, a knee, back, butt or anything else that's not a high stick it's a goal, the skate should be no different. The league wants more scoring, that's one way to get it.

I’m good with that too, just make the rule more black and white. Stop leaving the judgement call to the officials.

But, if the “distinct kicking motion” is truly all about player safety and trying to restrict guys from lifting their skates off of the ice (especially around goalies) then I’d go with my suggestion.

 

[lottster14]

The league was tougher, grittier, harder working and felt more authentic in the past. As little as even 5-10 years ago.

Also, social media presence and trendy **** hasn't helped the game.

 

[JETZZZ]

Season should be September to May, not October to June.

 

[bland]

The league was tougher, grittier, harder working and felt more authentic in the past. As little as even 5-10 years ago.

Also, social media presence and trendy **** hasn't helped the game.

Removing the two line pass damaged the game. It took away areas of contention, reduced board play, limited defensemen being able to stand up at their blueline and dramatically increased the weak stick fouls.

The worst failing was that by removing those areas of physical contention, it took a whole subset of players who relied on physicality and grit to persevere and deemphasized their value. Those players had that "heart and soul" tag more often than not, and the game has lost a lot of those admirable attributes and replaced them with video game hockey.

 

[Acallabeth]

Physical ability and athleticism are extremely overrated on this board and among hockey fans overall, while psychological component of the game is very underappreciated. It's understandable though.

You can only be among the best 2-way forwards when you provide elite (not decent) offensive production.

 

[NextYear67]

Don Cherry was right

Nice, 50 likes

 

[Necrobutcher]

Season should be September to May, not October to June.

Agreed. I would like to spend as little time as possible watching TV in the summer.

 

[BerlinBlueShirt]

To me the playoffs are too long and I think the very good teams in the Regular Season should be rewarded more. It is 82 games and it literally means nothing if you are 1st with 130 Points or 8th with barely 90 points. It might even be a disadvantage to be a top team which is qualified like 10 games before the season ends as they might lose their focus while cruising through the final games.
I think the Division winners should automatically advance to the conference semis and the 3-6 Teams of every Conference should play short series (best-of-3) to determine the 2 opponents. Then you still have two best-of-7 series in each conference and the SC finals.
I follow all the Regular Season and am looking forward to the Playoffs so much. But when my team isnt in (like 50% of the teams) I am losing interest with every round. First round you are still pumped and there are many teams you like or dislike/hate. These teams are getting less and less so I stop taking care till the SC Finals even start.
Only 6 Teams would mean less Playoff hockey (PO hockey is amazing, no doubt) but it would also mean that the final 10 games of the RS are more meaningful, even for the best teams as they are playing for a bye.
I am sure 99% will hate my idea though, also apologize for my English

 

[Got One Cup]

Goalies should be eligible to be checked when out of their crease

They should just stay in the dam net.

 

[JThorne]

Season should be September to May, not October to June.

Agreed. I would like to spend as little time as possible watching TV in the summer.

You might want to double check the calendar. You're agreeing to MORE summer days of hockey. Playoffs are over by the summer solstice and hockey starting in September, like it does October, would have almost 3 weeks of summer.

 

[Reindl87]

The regular Season is more meaningful and interesting than the playoffs. In my opinion the best Team is the one WHO eins the regular season. Luck is simply to big a factor in Hockey. Playoff beards are extremely Bad for the Promotion and Public recognition of Hockey.

 

[klozge]

Colorado's defense is better when Ian Cole's out with injury although he's more skilled than Graves and Barberio.

 

[v00d00daddy]

Players shooting should aim high and hard at their opponents (not at heads) to make them think twice about flooding slots to block shots. Wanna be an extra goalie? Fine lol

 

[RageQuit77]

Mandatory doses of crystal meth for every player. One enough potent kicking dose before a game, and further dose as one per intermission. For Goalies the catering should consist more THC heavy articles, and late game dose of LSD or similarly hitting magic mushrooms. Particular important this would be for entertainment value of SO.

The game would transform immediate more physical, faster, more high-scoring, and entertaining. Steroid-laden enforcers with 2000 hours in a boxing gym would also naturally reappear in NHL scene soon after.

Referees would be equally under influence of medicine, but they could freely choose what they smoke, eat, sniff, or inject to their veins as its important to keep up consistency in reffing performances, and no way they could do that with ever-increasing tolerance to same substance.

Penalties would be handled simply by given extra dose of Salvia divinorum during the penalty as that way any moral weight caused by infraction would drop faster from a shoulders of a penalized player...

A game winning team would then have a cocaine party with exotic dancers after the game.

 

[Over the volcano]

If Subban didn’t have a huge wind up on his slap shot he’d make 1/2 as much money and still be in MTL.

 

[Ementy]

Players may actually want to be traded to Edmonton this year.

 

[Snowpants]

Players may actually want to be traded to Edmonton this year.

woah lets not go crazy here the meth post is more likely to happen then this

 

[bigtim1988]

The NHL didn’t exist before pre-67’ expansion, and I have little, to no interest in the players or teams that existed prior to that time.

I mean, it “existed”, but it seemed like a collection of a bunch of drunks that could skate well, and cared little about their own life/ safety. Also hated that stack of catfood cans with a candy dish on top that they called “the Stanley Cup” (the “stovepipe cup”)

 

[UnSandvich]

Couple, some more controversial than others

1. I find hockey on international/Olympic-sized rinks more fun to watch, and think the league would be better if it switched (not that it ever would, given the amount of revenue that'd be lost from seat removal to make it happen)

2. Don't mind the shootout, but it should come after 10 mins of 3-on-3 OT, not 5

3. Brodeur is good, but not a Top 5 goalie all time

4. A lot of the anti-analytics and "watch teh game nurdz" people fail to grasp just how much hockey-watching the people tracking those stats actually need to do. Most of the tracking is done manually, and to dismiss it as not watching the game is just patently false.

 

[SladeWilson23]

Mine would be to widen the rinks by 5-6 feet to give the players more room to work with. Most seem to hate that idea.

I liked the idea of widening them to 92 feet, but not the 100 feet you see in the Olympics.