The Hockey News reported today that they'd been told by an anonymous player that the sides have reached an agreement IN PRINCIPLE...but the NHLPA shot the reports of a deal down. The NHL & the PA ARE meeting in New York on Saturday, though.
DVDs; Blog ~New Our Lady Peace album "Vampires" this March~
Originally posted by Freeway420GUESS BASED ON FACTS: It'll be March-ish before training camps can even open, and April-ish before games of any quality can be played.
It may take that long for games of quality, but everybody insisted that the season would start within two weeks of a deal, so games that count would start in early March...
I'm not going to believe a deal is done until it's done, but if they get something on paper they have to play this season. A short, crappy season is better than no season at all. A common criticism of the NHL is that the regular season is long and meaningless, so perhaps a 'sprint for the Cup' format wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. They would still have all summer this year to fix the on-ice part of the game before the next full season, which is the same time they would have to fix it if they didn't play this year.
In a short season, every game counts. In a backwards sort of way, this might give a bit of a boost to some of the small market, dwindling interest towns. If, say, the Thrashers start his season the way they did a year ago they could make a strong push into the playoffs. At the same time the NHL playoffs are the longest in pro sports, so the chance that an undeserving team could slide all the way through is minimal.
And if that's not enough, I need hockey pools, damn it. I want the NHL back now.
A league that had Game 1 of its Championship Series beaten in the ratings by Full House last season has: Stabbed to death the body of this season. Buried the body. Dug up the body providing the impression they were going to resuscitate it, and then used a machine gun on the body just because they didn't have a dead horse to beat. The NHL has already been exiled from the main ESPN to the Deuce, at this rate they'll be on ESPN Deportes only if the league ever comes back, and if ESPN Deportes is desperate enough for programming. But, Gary Bettman did negotiate an Arena Football League'esque deal with NBC, so the league will be in great shape. Considering it is no longer in the Big 4 Category that the NHL once was in, they are now very close to being out of the Big 8 Category, behind the NFL, MLB, Nascar, NBA, PGA, College Football, College Basketball, Poker and Horse Racing, with Arena Football and Pro Bull Riding narrowing the gap rapidly to knock the NHL out of the Big 10.
Someone should blow this up poster size and hang it on Gary Bettman's forehead.
June 20, 1994
Its not entirely impossible to rejuvenate the game. All it takes is someone who will tweak the rules to put the emphasis on skill, skating, and scoring. And someone who knows how to market the individual stars of the game, which is a lot easier when they're allowed to use that skill like they were 10 years ago. There's no reason that guys like Rick Nash and Ilya Kovalchuk shouldn't be putting in 60-70 goals a season at least.
As the NBA has shown this year, its not super difficult to rejuvenate your fanbase. They've promoted the young stars of the game and have a lot more wide open, offensive teams again. People are interested because the product is good and the NBA has made a big effort to get the names and faces of their new breed of stars out there.
"When did they pass a law that says the people who make my sandwich have to be wearing gloves? I'm not comfortable with this. I don't want glove residue all over my food; it's not sanitary. Who knows where these gloves have been?" - George Carlin
I have decided to blame the Boston Red Sox for this whole debacle. The last time they won the World Series (1918), the CUP was not awarded the following year (1919).
and thanks for the SI Cover fuelinjected - that was a beautiful save - at least I still have that.....
Golf is harder than Baseball. In Golf you have to play your foul balls.
Originally posted by fuelinjectedSomeone should blow this up poster size and hang it on Gary Bettman's forehead.
June 20, 1994
Its not entirely impossible to rejuvenate the game. All it takes is someone who will tweak the rules to put the emphasis on skill, skating, and scoring. And someone who knows how to market the individual stars of the game, which is a lot easier when they're allowed to use that skill like they were 10 years ago. There's no reason that guys like Rick Nash and Ilya Kovalchuk shouldn't be putting in 60-70 goals a season at least.
As the NBA has shown this year, its not super difficult to rejuvenate your fanbase. They've promoted the young stars of the game and have a lot more wide open, offensive teams again. People are interested because the product is good and the NBA has made a big effort to get the names and faces of their new breed of stars out there.
Fuel, the stupid thing is that the NHL came up with a shitload of new rules (the "obstruction" rules) to help speed up the game and allow more scoring...and they're not enforced. Goalie pads are bigger than they were ten years ago. Is it any small wonder why nobody's scoring 50 goals a year anymore?
DVDs; Blog ~New Our Lady Peace album "Vampires" this March~
Loudmouth or not, Jeremy Roenik had a good idea the other day. He says why not increase the size of the nets by an inch or two on each side? It won't be noticable to any fans, and goalies can't bitch about safety as their cop-out for needing pads the size of kansas because their pads won't have to get smaller. The skill guys would only need an extra inch or so to get more goals in, just from the ones that hit the post now and bounce away alone.
Not something that'll revolutionize the game, but something that's worth an effort to see if it does make things more exciting. And extra goal or two a game certainly wouldn't be more boring than what's going on now (or was going on). Refs are never going to call the penalties that they should, only the ones they feel like (and then quickly call another, usually 'roughing', on the other team to 'even it up'). Counting on rules based on judgement isn't working, so why not something that's constant?
If you change the size of the nets are you going to pay to have all arenas all over the world change their size too?
Not sure that is the answer. I still think Goalies can have smaller equipment without harming their safety.
Scoring really isn't the issue. I love a 1-0 or 2-1 game as much as a 9-7 game. It's the opportunities to score that are missing. That is really due to the trap and the increasing size of players and some of the dumb neutral zone rules and the fact that officials don't call the right rules.
I still think getting rid of the 2 line pass is a good start to opening things up. After watching the World Juniors and seeing what guys can do without that rule I am convinced it will make a difference. Changes to the thoughts of the defence too, making the trap less likely.
Well, I guess it doesn't matter until the Fall at least...
Where the wild are strong, and the strong are the darkest ones, you're the Darkest One.
Originally posted by hazIf you change the size of the nets are you going to pay to have all arenas all over the world change their size too?
I'm not trying to change the world, just the NHL. Besides, how much would it cost compared to the amounts the owners put into the running and maintaining of a team and all the costs of the arenas? We're not talking about seeing a budget where "Players salaries = 50%, Bigger nets = 40%" would be on there.
Originally posted by hazNot sure that is the answer. I still think Goalies can have smaller equipment without harming their safety.
Scoring really isn't the issue. I love a 1-0 or 2-1 game as much as a 9-7 game. It's the opportunities to score that are missing. That is really due to the trap and the increasing size of players and some of the dumb neutral zone rules and the fact that officials don't call the right rules.
I absolutely agree, but you even mention that you're changing the color of the goalie's pads and they start crying that they need that color to keep them safe. There's the odd goalie who will say that he doesn't care about the size (as long as they're safe) as long as the other guy plays under the same rules. The rest of them cling to any advantage they can get, because if the pads get any smaller, the guy on the other end might end up being better than them. Or they just don't care about the other goalie and are only thinking about their GAA for the year going up.
As far as getting the refs to start enforcing the rules. I'm open to suggestions, but keep in mind hockey refs are listed only slightly behind WWE refs in terms of blindness and paying attention to the important action. I'd love the refs to call things fairly and honestly, but too many times they either call something because they're just in a mood, or else the don't call something and hide behind the phrase "We don't want to decide the game" ignoring that not calling deserved penalties does in fact decide games.
If I thought at all that two things were possible, I'd be all for them, but I gave up on competitive goalies and honest/competent officiating a long time ago.
They were doing a story about the fact that it was 15 years ago this week, and he later sorta tried to commit suicide because of OCD. Now he's the goalie coach for the Panthers. Incidentally, that picture is real.