Arturs Irbe
Not The Real Arturs
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Why Do The Rules Change In The Playoffs?
- Thread starter Arturs Irbe
- Start date
I'm finding many games to be a struggle to watch. I like hard nosed hockey, but I don't like skill players being completely neutralized by hacks and slashes at every turn.
The rules are not enforced as written, which allows the rats to thrive, which results in a terrible product.
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Arturs Irbe
Not The Real Arturs
- Jan 22, 2017
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So then what's the point here? Refs are incompetent bums and its even more noticeable in the playoffs where every game is critical.
Arturs Irbe
Not The Real Arturs
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Because they dont want the games to slow down and be pp after pp after pp.
The part of the playoffs that makes it more exciting is the intensity if you call every little ticky tac call the games slow down and the intensity lowers.
BLNY
Registered User
Because the league wants a blood bath. They want games where you can't even have a clean line change for both teams at the same time.
Agreed.
I used to love the good old hard nosed playoff hockey, but with the rebirth of skill we've seen since the first lockout, it feels like the playoffs are stuck in the year 2000.
It's just not entertaining if your team isn't playing.
BLNY
Registered User
It's gone way beyond letting marginal calls go unmade. Even if it hadn't, that argument holds no water.
A penalty is a penalty, and should be regardless of the time of year. Call the rule book, otherwise the NHL essentially condones cheating. These players aren't dumb. They're tackling the opposition because they know it won't be called. If you call the rule book, they'll adapt. It might take a game or two, but they'll learn. Just like they've learned they can get away with just about anything that doesn't draw blood now.
The NFL doesn't stop calling penalties just because it's the Superbowl. MLB doesn't change what constitutes a strike just because it's the World Series. Only the NHL changes the rules for the playoffs and it's becoming more than tiresome.
Sens of Anarchy
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KingBran
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"That's just how it is" and people have accepted it as the norm so it's OK.
Plus, it gives the refs a lot more control. They can call an obvious trip or slash and let others go and people will see the ones let go as "that's just playoff hockey!"
Plus, it gives the refs a lot more control. They can call an obvious trip or slash and let others go and people will see the ones let go as "that's just playoff hockey!"
Although the whistles are put away I like the hard nosed brand of hockey. What I don't like is the massive amount of embellishment taking place, there needs to be stiff fines and suspensions for this kind of stuff. Anyone gets tapped on the helmet and it looks like they've been shot, if the stick comes even close they flail back and a penalty is called. Start with the maximum fine for both player and coach, second offence is 1 game suspension for player and coach, third is 3 games for player and coach. That's really the stuff I want eliminated from playoff hockey, stiff fines and suspensions will take care of it easily.
TitansVolsPreds615
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jbeck5
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Trust me, it used to be worse in 2000ish.
I remember the leafs were skating in full stride jumping into every hit on wade redden. No boarding or charging.
Hossa with the puck on an open net on brodeur...tacklet by daneyko. Legitimately tackled. No call
They use to call nothing while having players jump at each other tackling and grabbing everyone.
That's why guys like forsberg got a reputation for being able to produce despite having 2 guys holding on to him the whole way up ice.
You don't see those players anymore because the clutching isn't nearly as bad so players can't build that reputation.
The clutching is worse than it was in like 2005-2010, but it is still much better than 1995-2005.
its likely part of human psychology, hockey isnt the only sport where refs put away the whistles when the games mean the most, it happens in lots ( if not all) of sports. One explanation is that the refs know that no one paid a dime to see them decide a game, especially when the stakes are high. The notion of " letting the players decide" is long engrained in the NHL and for good reason.
The other thing is that a lot of the calls you are lamenting are judgement calls. A stick check is technically a slash, what happens in front of the net all season is a penalty ( including the pre and regular season). In the playoffs guys are given more leeway and everyone on the ice is pretty much aware of it. if its egregious it will be called, if its borderline ( depending on the situation) the offender is usually given the benefit of the doubt.
why some people who claim to know this question it every year in the playoffs is a bigger mystery in my opinion.
I guess my question then is, why did the NHL ever change from 2005/06/07?
The hockey was fine then.
This is the only pro sports league that actively tries to hold down its skilled talent, and then people wonder why it's an incredibly hard sell as a sport.
Contrary to what you read on here, obstruction opens up offense.
Watch Ottawa when Karlsson has the puck. They tackle, interfere, hook defenders so the guy can skate freely. And he's been incredibly effective at creating offense.
Beezeral
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I'd be fine with the refs swallowing the whistles if there weren't automatic calls like delay of game or light slashes that break sticks getting called. It makes no sense that a guy can be tackled to prevent a scoring chance with no call in OT, but if you shoot a rolling puck out of your zone and it goes out of play, that gets a call.
they don't ? The NFL routinely doesn't call pass intereference near the end of the game and if there is something MORE subjective than an umpires strike zone, i'd like to know what it is.
all officiating is subjective, and refs do not want to be the guy to decide a contest where they are not one of the two teams competing. So as the importance goes up. the players are given wider berth.
and I'm just wondering, do you think that refs swallowing the whistle is a NEW thing, or it is when you started watching you didnt notice it ?
Nino33
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- Jul 5, 2015
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I don't agree with your examples...
There's holding in the NFL on every play, and it's far more likely to be called in the regular season than the Super Bowl
MLB changes what constitutes a strike from umpire to umpire!
It is actually ridiculous. Basically only blatant trips, high sticks and headshots are called. It is what it is, and what it has been, but no I don't think it's right at all.
jbeck5
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- Jan 26, 2009
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i actually agree with you here. Fans of other sports always comment about how much grey area there is in hockey officiating compared to other sports. You grab a football players cage, it get's called 99% of the time. You rough a QB after the pass, its called 99% of the time. The ball either hits the line or doesn't in tennis.
But a sport like hockey(and lacrosse) where you have many guys on the ice who are allowed to make physical contact with each other, and are all carrying big long sticks. Contact is going to happen all the time. That's why we can't have as many black and white calls in hockey. A stick will accidentally graze an opponent very often. By the rules, its slashing. That's why the ref has to now decide if the slash was hard enough to warrant a penalty.(grey area). Throw in the fact every ref will have a different opinion of what's hard enough and you get the inconsistency we have.
Essentially, I think the reasons are
A) The hockey world wouldn't support 20-30 penalties a game being called for 2-3 years until the culture changed and we could get back to 5-10 penalties a game(which is still probably too much for a lot of people)
b) it's too hard to watch 10 guys out there with 25 slashes,15 hooks, 10 cross checks per minute and at this speed, while trying to decide which ones are worth calling...and remain consistent in the eyes of thousands of different people.
Edit: Where i think the biggest issue is is game management. A ref will call something at one point, but not the exact same thing at another point if the score is a certain way. Or how they put away a whistle at the end of a game or in OT. Or makeup calls.
Basically i understand refs will miss stuff, and i understand every ref is different. I also understand the refs have to make judgements because it isn't black and white. I just wish refs were consistent in their own approach from game 1 of the season to game 15 of the playoffs, minute 1 of the game to minute 64 of the game in OT.
