What's Your Most Controversial Hockey Opinion?

[member 300185]

You already made a thread about this a couple weeks ago, and you're just going to get the same responses this time. Sorry your coach makes you lose all of your back to backs with his philosophies. It's not Montreal's fault.

The Habs are 1-3 in them so far this year, for what it's worth. You're just throwing crap at the wall

Has absolutely nothing to do with the Leafs. This is about the scheduler giving Montreal 1/4 of their season playing tired teams.

 

[member 300185]

Largely agree. There is some value to them but there seems to be a strong undercurrent of just trying to bring order to something inherently chaotic, despite that undercutting their understanding of it to an extent. Like others have said here, this years Leafs team is a good case study.

Awe, you used your baby picture as your avatar. Just kidding of course. I agree with your point.

 

[Butch 19]

the nhl should cease to exist

It would be much easier for you to just stop watching the NHL.

 

[JetsWillFly4Ever]

Starting goalies in this era are interchangeable and dependent on the team in front of them. The top 15 or so goalies are essentially the same and would put up nearly identical numbers given the same situation.

Anyone who tells you there are clearly 4-5 goalies who are better than everyone else is dumb. The Vezina is the only trophy you'll ever see won by a player one year and then go 3-4 years without receiving any votes at all and then that same guy wins or comes close to winning it again. There is no Hasek today who can play on a bad team behind a bad defense and still put up elite numbers year in and year out.

John Gibson is pretty close tbh.

 

[Butch 19]

The NHL is better off without the Quebec Nordiques.

Imagine the ugly jerseys RBK / Adidas could have produced for the Nordiques by now.

 

[Tom Polakis]

I'll comment on this one because I've been passionate about eliminating all video reviews in all sports for a long time.

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-It's not an issue of "slowing the game down". I don't care if you speed up the reviews so they take 10-15 seconds. I watch sports for the excitement. The excitement comes from a goal, or a long diving catch (in football). If there is a close play in those situations, I know that we won't get an "official" ruling for 10-15 seconds or up to 3 minutes.

Yep, the "skate in the crease" rule during the 1998-99 season made many goals an anti-climax as we waited for the review to confirm it... until the Cup Finals winning goal, of course.

 

[Hockey Stick]

Has absolutely nothing to do with the Leafs. This is about the scheduler giving Montreal 1/4 of their season playing tired teams.

It kind of does, cause if Toronto wasn't doing so pathetic on their back to back games then you wouldn't have dove so deep to try to pull something like this out of nowhere.

The schedules are made around 30 other teams as well. They have to coordinate around other pro sports games, concerts, and other events that happen in a teams' arena. It's not just some guy that has a bias towards the Habs. Come on man, you're probably smart enough to figure that one out

 

[Sombastate]

I don't know that it's necessarily controversial but the first to come to mind:

Dominik Hasek is the 5th best hockey player. Best goalie. 5th best player period.

 

[AvsCOL]

5 mins of 3v3 OT isn't enough, should be 10 mins.

Yes I know the players get tired, but no game should be decided by a shootout, and adding 5 more minutes reduces the amount of them.

 

[NHL WAR]

I was never a big believer but after watching what’s it done to the leafs I can say I am a stronger hater of building a team purely on analytics. Maybe use it for certain aspect but have caution and watch the game too. Dubas ‘ recent comments about Ceci was that his analytics have been good. He’s been basically a number 5 playing in the number 2 role. He’s over his head. He’d be decent in the lower part of the lineup but has no business on the top 2 pairing. The results of the leafs really speak for themselves. Only the analytic nerds justified this team as good enough. They lack heart, and grit and balls.

In your opinion, how were the Leafs built on analytics? Sure, Dubas has a but of a numbers background, but I see the Leafs as a classic draft and develop team. If you look at how their "core" were acquired:

Matthews, Rielly, Marner, Nylander: Drafted ( and not by Dubas)
Tavares- Free Agency ( and "analytics" generally advise against big money free agent deals)
Andersen- Trade ( and I don't think Lou was looking at his expected save percentage or whatever)

Key role players such as Hyman, Kapanen, Johnsson and Dermott also came through the Marlies.

As for Ceci, any analytics would have told you he is the last guy the Leafs needed this summer. His numbers have been atrocious his entire career. The Leafs definitely didn't trade for him because of his Corsi, xGF, etc. I think Dubas was just trying to pump his trade value with those recent comments.

And the Leafs as a whole aren't perceived as anything special by "advanced" stats. Since the start of last season, they are 8th in CF% and 14th in xGF% at 5v5, per Natural Stat Trick.

 

[Rich Nixon]

Imagine the ugly jerseys RBK / Adidas could have produced for the Nordiques by now.

I mean, they were already well on their way had they not moved:

 

[Roman Yoshi]

The Preds got housed game one of the 2016-17 Stanley Cup Playoffs with that offside call.

 

[benedictTavares]

GARTH SNOW WAS A GOOD GM

 

[FiveHoled]

There should be an alternate 3 on 3 or 4 on 4 league. If its still OK to suggest, in this day and age, I thought this might be a good niche for a women's pro league to differentiate form what is available now.

 

[Daisycutter]

Where to begin...I'll take the first 3 that come to mind.

1) Mario is miscast as part of the big 4, his offense was elite but his ESGF/ESGA shows that his impact wasn't nearly as great as the legend about him.

2) Playoff seeding should be 1-16, 2-15, 3-14 ect.. to even out travel for all teams and promote the idea that the 2 best teams in the NHL can actually come from the same conference.

3) Install the floating blueline like in ball hockey.

When a team gains the blueline, the line for offsides floats back to the center red line (which in essence become the blue line) thus providing more time and space for the skill in hockey to shine through.

I lied there will be a fourth one

4) Reduce the size of the goalie equipment more in line with historical sizes while keeping safety. The equipment still is too large and is there to prevent goals more than preventing injuries.

Heck I'll even add a 5th one

5) All goals should count, other than high stick ones, if a player kicks it in it should still count, heck he can even direct it in with his hand if he wants but still no closing the hand around the puck.

I like the cut of your jib good sir. Other than #1 I 100% agree.

I'll also add that I think its stupid that if a team calls a time out then both teams are allowed to approach the bench to discuss strategy.

If team A calls a time out then team B should wait in the center ice circle. If any member of team B skates out of the circle during the time out then its a penalty.

 

[GrizzGreen]

- Goalies are like quarterbacks, 3-10 that are actually good in a league on a given year, the rest of them are just different degrees of bad

- The season is way too long. Shorten to 60ish games, extend the playoffs to 10 teams per conference with 2 getting a bye if you have to. The beginning of the regular season doesn't have enough urgency built in.

 

[Dr Quincy]

In today's game they've been neutered, it's a dog and pony show but they undeniably did at one point in the game. Get rid of the Instigator penalty and see this balance itself out again.

I'll amend my statement then:

Fighting and fighters don't deter and have never deterred anything.

There.... I've denied it.

 

[Hawks AJL]

I don't care if you have been in the attacking zone for five minutes and three line changes. If replay shows you were a fraction of an inch offside on your entry no damn way should your goal count.

 

[KirkAlbuquerque]

Eichel > MacKinnon. Just wait.

 

[Hockey Outsider]

1) Mario is miscast as part of the big 4, his offense was elite but his ESGF/ESGA shows that his impact wasn't nearly as great as the legend about him.

Lemieux was pretty clearly the least dominant of the Big Four at even strength, but he was also pretty clearly the greatest powerplay performer of all-time. I think the consensus on HOH is correct - he's the fourth greatest player of all-time, no higher, and no lower.

 

[Gains]

3 vs 3 OT shouldn't count towards goalie stats.

 

[authentic]

That Lemieux was actually better than Gretzky, but a combination of bad health, and missing out on the dreadful goaltending of the early 80s (by the time he really got going in 87 goaltending was already vastly improving and Gretzky had made the transition to becoming even more of a playmaker for good because of this) before he really hit his stride after his first few seasons made it appear like there isn't an argument if you just look at their totals from season to season or their entire career.

You could say an 18-21 year old Gretzky was better and even though he dominated his peers more throughout each of their primes I think any 22 and up version of Lemieux outscores Gretzky in the same seasons at the same ages, in similar team situations and with similar health. Considering once Gretzky got traded to LA in 1988-89 and Coffey went to Pittsburgh Lemieux had the same amount of assists and 31 more goals in 2 less games speaks volumes. This was well before the Suter hit and Gretzky was 27/28 compared to 23 for Lemieux, and considering the season Lemieux had at 27 in 1992-93 and having already dealt with back problems and cancer I don't think age or wear and tear is a valid excuse.

Gretzky had a lot more luck on his side compared to Lemieux when considering their NHL careers head to head, he played the bulk of his prime in higher scoring seasons, and Lemieux aged much better despite injuries, cancer and lengthy amounts of time not playing any hockey at all. He only played 82 games combined from 1992-1994, sat out the entire lockout season, then played only two more nearly full seasons from 1995-1997 before taking 3.5 years off then dominating like Gretzky hadn't since the late 80s before the age of 30 and never had against butterfly goaltenders and modern defense, not to mention he was 35. Heck, at 37 years old in 2003 he had 45 points in his first 21 games before getting hurt and never returning to form again.

Gretzky's career was easily the greatest of all time don't get me wrong, but by the same token I also firmly believe Mario was easily the best player ever and would've handily outscored him if they both came into the league at the same time and especially if Lemieux got the protection Gretzky got, and especially if it was in the 1995-present era where time and space dwindled, teams got bigger, tougher and far better defensively and coaching tactics, goaltending and league parity improved significantly. At 37 years old Lemieux had a better 20+ game point streak than Gretzky had since before his last Art Ross win at 32/33 in a far tougher league to score in.

 

[FMichael]

Fighting still has a place in the game today...Not necessarily a need for enforcers, but a tolerance by the league when things get heated up, and guys need to police themselves on the ice.

 

[FMichael]

I mean, they were already well on their way had they not moved:

MY EYES - MY EYES !!!

 

[member 300185]

It kind of does, cause if Toronto wasn't doing so pathetic on their back to back games then you wouldn't have dove so deep to try to pull something like this out of nowhere.

The schedules are made around 30 other teams as well. They have to coordinate around other pro sports games, concerts, and other events that happen in a teams' arena. It's not just some guy that has a bias towards the Habs. Come on man, you're probably smart enough to figure that one out

Not true at all. I check the schedules for every team every year when they come out.