Let's be honest about the NHL these days

[goon attack]

I'm sure glad I didn't waste 50-100 bucks on that pathetic display last night. Not one fight either... I see fans staying away in droves... What a goddamn ripoff.

GREAT JOB NHL, for ROYALLY screwing up what was once BY AND FAR the most kick ass spectator sport on earth. It used to be edge of your seat excitement. Now, fans just sit there like zombies and zone out as nondescript players wearing 4 inches of armor bounce around like pinballs, injuring each other indiscriminately because they know they won't get their asses kicked.

You know all these open ice hits we think are so bitchin... you know, the ones that destroyed Eric Lindros' career, screwed up Paul Kariya, and knocked Pat LaFontaine out of the game? Well, you used to get your ass kicked for something like that, clean or not. That's just the way it was.

Last night, Cam Janssen steamrolls a Panther and who is there to kick his ass? Nobody, because being a pussy on the ice is now part of the NHL's philosophy. So, unless there's a goon on the ice, nothing happens. Other players need to step up. I guess they're too worried about getting a punch in the nose or (Franking) up their expensive dental work.

It's absolutely pathetic.

I propose capping the maximum salary of an nhl player at 100 grand. I'm franking serious. Give the profits from team revenue to charity. Something needs to be done to bring the honor and balls back to this once great game. This is (Franking) bullshit.

F*CK YOU NHL

[Philo]

It's simple,don't watch.

[Carl Racki]

[cprice12]

I agree...in part.
I don't dislike the game now, but it was very much indeed better when players policed the ice themselves.
I miss it.
If you want to throw your weight around, you had better damn well be ready to stand up for your actions because someone is going to make you earn that open ice hit you just dished out.

[WaukeeBlues]

I also didn't like seeing players coast up and down the ice and simply hook the sh(t out of someone cause they can't keep up.

The rules changed goon, some were good and others bad.

[illownyou]

I guess that it was inevitable that after 77 views this wretched blather would get a response at some point...

[goon attack]

It's simple,don't watch.

I haven't.

If you don't like my threads, don't look at them.

[goon attack]

I guess that it was inevitable that after 77 views this wretched blather would get a response at some point...

You just had to come in here and melt, didn't you?

[illownyou]

I guess that it was inevitable that after 77 views this wretched blather would get a response at some point...

You just had to come in here and melt, didn't you?

Never miss an easy target...

I've made that a rule.

[Ruutu15]

I still like the NHL, but I agree that it's like a completely different sport/league. The renaming of the divisions, as ridiculous as it sounds, is when things really started to change. They changed after the lockout, but in my opinion the biggest change was around 94-95.

[ViPeRx007]

Everything changed when all the mullets began disappearing.

[not_a_wings_fan]

I would like to keep the skill players in the game, but bring back the self-cleanup that used to happen on a regular basis. I would love to see these panzy agitators who slash and take cheapshots get absolutely jumped by a legitimate goon.

[BF44]

I'd like to see the instigator called differently...

Let's say someone..... picked totally at random... Ohhh... I dunno.... Kirk Maltby.... yeah him....

Maltby runs Chris Mason. Cam comes over and beats Maltby back into teh Victorian era.

The way I see it.. Maltby's the instigator -- he started it -- he ran Mason!!!

[glen a richter]

My wife, who played hockey in HS and college (played on the same team as Chris Higgins when she was in HS) was watching an old timey game on NHL network yesterday. I believe it was Montreal v. Toronto circa a long ass time ago. She said that it seemed (to her) that the players weren't as good as they are today. Now, there is no freaking doubt in MY mind that the players of yesteryear were way the hell better than the bionic armor-heads of today. One, they had more natural talent, two they didn't wear two feet thick of shielding, and three they played the game like an art, not like dumping the puck into the corner and then every jackass on the ice goes running in after it and scrumming in the corner for a minute and a half. But most people seem to want to see 60 minutes of physicality. If there's not blood spurting and bodies flying, it's not a quality game.

For my money, they should ban all pads, helmets and goalie masks (maybe, just maybe, allow them a mask, but that's it), dramatically lower the maximum stick curvature, put the red line back at center ice, forbid dump and chase and bring back the game that it used to be. Skill passing, skill skating and skill shooting.

[stlbluz]

I guess that it was inevitable that after 77 views this wretched blather would get a response at some point...

You just had to come in here and melt, didn't you?