NHL 2010/2011 Season

[10spro]

Beautiful dangle by Datsyuk splitting the D and eventually scoring, what hands...

[pk500]

Those are the kinds of goals that restore my faith in the game. Nice to see a YouTube video of a brilliant play rather than a pulverizing head shot, followed by a prone player.

[pk500]

RIP Richard Martin. Dead at 59 in a car crash, supposedly after suffering a heart attack behind the wheel. Gone too soon.

The French Connection was the peak of hockey in Buffalo.

[XXXIV]

Nice to see a YouTube video of a brilliant play rather than a pulverizing head shot, followed by a prone player.

Then watching a league ignore an obvious suspension on a play that still disgusts me....

.... and then fans who bash a 22 year old with a broken neck and an uncertain future.

This sport is number four for a reason and the cowards who make up far too many of its fans are one of the problems.

[XXXIV]

RIP Richard Martin. Dead at 59 in a car crash, supposedly after suffering a heart attack behind the wheel. Gone too soon.

The French Connection was the peak of hockey in Buffalo.

Im old enough to remember....That line was classy hockey. I miss it now more than ever.

R.I.P. Mr. Martin.

[10spro]

'Nucks reach 100 points in taking care of a desperate Wild team at home. Special teams was the difference as they converted on both of their PP chances while they shut down Minny 6 times as the PK unit played them tight including a long 5 on 3.

Of course no game is complete without an injury to the D, as Sami Salo who recently made his comeback injured his hand while blocking a hard shot.

[Naples39]

Anybody seen the 5 point plan for concussions?

To quote myself again;

Gary Bettman released a 5-point plan to address concussions, as seen here. Briefly, I feel like it's mostly PR, though maybe the idea of penalizing coaches and players can have some positive effects.

Stiff seemless glass doesn't help, but most concussions are a result of open ice hits away from the glass. Also, the idea of reviewing rink safety certainly isn't a bad idea (and probably should be done anyway), but to imply that rink safety is a leading factor in concussions in the NHL is a total sideshow.

None of the points directly address the real cause of the vast majority of concussions--the conduct and actions of players on the ice. That's somewhat understandable to the extent that you can't make a sea change at this point of the season, and hopefully the blue ribbon committee will be progressive and make an impression on the real arbiters of rule changes in the league, the GMs.

IMO, the only meaningful way to reduce head injuries in the NHL is if the players stop playing search and destroy and the ice and being opportunistic on really clearing out a guy with a high hit. That respect could even extend to plays like the infamous Chara-Pacioretty incident where the players know where they are on the ice and adjust their actions accordingly (it almost feels like Pacioretty and Chara were playing chicken on who would flinch first and give space). It appears that the only way that will happen is for significant suspensions to happen frequently until the players change their actions, and I'm not holding my breath on that one.

http://mostlyflyers.blogspot.com/2011/03/today.html

[XXXIV]

I agree with most of what you wrote ...especially that line.

None of the points directly address the real cause of the vast majority of concussions--the conduct and actions of players on the ice.

http://mostlyflyers.blogspot.com/2011/03/today.html

These are just more words from an incompetent and imo a corrupt regime. Actions speak far louder than words and last week these "men" showed us how much they really care and what it is they really care about.

Hopefully the pressure being put on these guys from outside the nhl after that "hockey play" will force the board of governors and gms to cattle prod bettman to actually act.
Im just not holding my breath.

[10spro]

This is what Mario thinks about fines to a team with repeat offenders.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/news/story?id=6217185

[Naples39]

A real shocker on the day of Bettman's 5 point plan;
GMs say no to banning headshots

"But commissioner Gary Bettman said there wasn't widespread support for a ban on all head shots and that he has no knowledge of or opinion on on-ice issues."

Okay, so I added the last part.

[XXXIV]

A real shocker on the day of Bettman's 5 point plan;
GMs say no to banning headshots

"But commissioner Gary Bettman said there wasn't widespread support for a ban on all head shots and that he has no knowledge of or opinion on on-ice issues."

Okay, so I added the last part.

Par for course eh? Once again not til someones dies....MAYBE........ and that is a big MAYBE.

Number four in north america and proud!!!... say the milburys and cherrys of the world. Cheering as they cater to what they consider to be the core fan. The cowardly sociopath.

NHL's man of the year.....


EDIT: My favorite part of that article has to be : The general managers also will propose longer suspensions for illegal head hits
longer huh? How bout one f***in game for this creep?

[toonarmy]

The 5 proposals are a joke. The only way to get rid of all these concussions is to ban hits to the head altogether. You can still check quite effectively at shoulder and hip level. Bettman's statement that there are a lot of hits that do not result in concussions so there is not a problem with hits to the head is absurd. And I do not want to see some pansy-ass proposal that still allows some hits to the head be ok, because then we will get into a situation of the league determining subjective stuff like interpreting intent. We all know how well the NHL does in making consistent punishments and decisions, lol. Just ban all hits to the head and make each player accountable for his actions on the ice and I guarantee we will still have a fast-paced physical game that is fun to watch. I do not understand why this has to be so complicated.

[pk500]

The 5 proposals are a joke. The only way to get rid of all these concussions is to ban hits to the head altogether. You can still check quite effectively at shoulder and hip level. Bettman's statement that there are a lot of hits that do not result in concussions so there is not a problem with hits to the head is absurd. And I do not want to see some pansy-ass proposal that still allows some hits to the head be ok, because then we will get into a situation of the league determining subjective stuff like interpreting intent. We all know how well the NHL does in making consistent punishments and decisions, lol. Just ban all hits to the head and make each player accountable for his actions on the ice and I guarantee we will still have a fast-paced physical game that is fun to watch. I do not understand why this has to be so complicated.

Winner-winner, chicken dinner. Well said.

[10spro]

Is anyone surprised? GMs are just an extension of their bosses, the owners. If owners don't want change neither do the GMs. Any real push for change is going to have to come from the players themselves. Rule 48 will have to be amended again to clear any doubters. A players past incidents shouldn't be considered when being penalized. No one should be given a 'freebie' for a head shot because of who they are. A penalty is a penalty. Other suggestions, get rid of the instigator penalty, go to no touch icing before someone gets killed (worked wonderfully during the Olympics) change the size and composition of both elbow and shoulder pads, further reduce the size of goalies pads, trappers and blockers, hey even allow them to play behind the red line.

[pk500]

Is anyone surprised? GMs are just an extension of their bosses, the owners. If owners don't want change neither do the GMs.

I beg to differ, in some regards. So many current NHL GM's are former players from the helmet-less era, and they don't want to be known as the group that removed "machismo" from the game.

Something tells me that if Alexander Ovechkin was in the same predicament as Crosby, Ted Leonsis would want head shots banned even if George McPhee privately sided with the "old boys' club" among his fellow GM's.

[fletcher21]

How hard would it be to convert all arena ice surfaces to the olympic sized rinks? The U of M hockey team plays on an olympic sized rink, and the difference is night and day compared to an Nhl sized rink. These guys are getting too big and strong to all be out on that "small" rink.

[10spro]

This is what happens when you miss a check.

[XXXIV]

How hard would it be to convert all arena ice surfaces to the olympic sized rinks? The U of M hockey team plays on an olympic sized rink, and the difference is night and day compared to an Nhl sized rink. These guys are getting too big and strong to all be out on that "small" rink.

Crazy talk! Do you know how many seats($$$$$$$$$) they would lose near the ice?

So many current NHL GM's are former players from the helmet-less era, and they don't want to be known as the group that removed "machismo" from the game.

See also the nhls spokesmen on tv.....pathetic really.

[Naples39]

If the owners really wanted change, they could impose it. Instead they leave Bettman in there who is apparently keeping the owners in the black. Until something dramatic happens where an owner leads a movement or moves to change Bettman, all rule changes will start and end with GMs. They de facto control all tweaking of the game.

Also the window has passed for bigger ice for a while. Nearly everyone was building new rinks in the 90s, which would have been the perfect time for a bigger surface. No one was interested probably because of money like 34 said.

Less is more on rule changes IMO. Just make a rule that all headshots are illegal so there's no grey area on 'hockey plays' and impose STEEP suspensions for violations. You do that and I bet you see that crap stop FAST. It's kid of mind-numbing how the GMs can't separate a hard open-ice check from simply imposing a rule that the checker has the responsibility of avoiding the head. It's not like QBs stopped taking a beating and getting sacked in the NFL when they tightened headshot rules there.

[10spro]

Is anyone surprised? GMs are just an extension of their bosses, the owners. If owners don't want change neither do the GMs.

I beg to differ, in some regards. So many current NHL GM's are former players from the helmet-less era, and they don't want to be known as the group that removed "machismo" from the game.

Something tells me that if Alexander Ovechkin was in the same predicament as Crosby, Ted Leonsis would want head shots banned even if George McPhee privately sided with the "old boys' club" among his fellow GM's.

From what I gather, they were only two GM's than think like most of us in this forum that wanted all shots to the head banned. R. Shero and J. Rutherford.

[10spro]

Helluva initial 3 minutes already between the Habs and Caps already. Two goals, a disallowed one after a long review, one fight, hey these guys don't remember anything from the playoffs last year.

[Lancer]

Crosby's back practicing. Maybe will make it in time when the playoffs start.

[toonarmy]

This is what happens when you miss a check.

LMAO! Damn, I missed seeing this last night somehow. Glad you posted it. That's some good stuff right there.

[toonarmy]

Increase in ice size could actually create more injuries since players would have more room to build up speed before a hit. Surely some of the older arenas would have a hard time accommodating an intl. ice rink. Madison Sq Garden comes to mind, for example. I doubt too many teams would want to go to the expense of increasing the size, and losing prime seats as mentioned earlier. Personally, I would love to see them increase the size of the ice since it would improve the game offensively and give the skill players more room to operate.

[pk500]

How hard would it be to convert all arena ice surfaces to the olympic sized rinks? The U of M hockey team plays on an olympic sized rink, and the difference is night and day compared to an Nhl sized rink. These guys are getting too big and strong to all be out on that "small" rink.

Owners NEVER would agree to that. Seats would need to be removed, and those seats equal revenue.