Detroit Red Wings & the NHL

[Mike]

I'll take a hard-fought 3-2 game with great goaltending over an 8-5 shitfest any day.

[madootra]

Me too.

[Hannibal]

So what you're saying is that you found the Pittsburgh-Philly series to be boring as hell.

Um, okay. Whatever floats your boat, I guess.

The problem with hockey is that it doesn't take a good goaltender or great defensive talent to see a 3-2 game. Sitting back in the neutral zone and scoring two goals off of turnovers in 60 minutes of play isn't great defense. It's simply conservative style. Defensive games were once special because it meant something. Even in Gretzky's hayday, the Oilers won lots of games 3-1, 2-1, and 3-2. There was suspense in those games because a two goal lead was actually a vulnerable one. Nowadays, if you are leading 3-1 with 10 minutes to go, you can just plug up the neutral zone for the next ten minutes and snooze your way to a victory. It's the style of play that nearly destroyed the league before the lockout.

IMHO the rule change that the league should have made 15 years ago is not allowing the goaltender to touch the puck behind the red line at all. Passive, boring hockey relies heavily upon the goaltenders handling the puck so that the offense can't dump and chase. If the goaltenders in the league never touched the puck behind the red line again, there's not one single iota of value that would be lost. Nothing about the game that the fans love is derived from this boring shit. "Dump and chase" would actually be a legitimate scoring strategy. You would see more aggression and more forechecking. But you would still see defense too, and goaltending, of course.

[madootra]

So what you're saying is that you found the Pittsburgh-Philly series to be boring as hell.

Nope. Try again.

[Hannibal]

IMHO the goaltenders should be forced to move the puck more often too. The most boring games are also the ones where there is a whistle every 20 seconds because the goaltenders freeze every single shot.

[Optimus Prime]

Hanni, I agree. Essentially scoring has become more difficult because goaltenders have become the "a third defensemen" immune from contact while playing the puck coupled with well-meaning regulations, have increase the size of equipment beyond the pale.


Goaltenders and their equipment have so dominated the game in recent years that you almost never see goals scored off the wing by skaters flying down the ice ala Guy Lafleur. Combine that equipment with improved athletic ability, full-time goalie coaches, and the tactics of defense-minded coaches who are quite content to drop five skaters below the circles to form a shield, and it's little wonder scoring hasn't been significantly on the uptick.
It did climb a bit that first season after the lockout, but it wasn't substantial growth, and after players and coaches adjusted to the new rules and the league allowed defensemen more latitude with physical contact, scoring is the No.1 problem in the game again.




Ken Dryden was 6 foot 4 inches in height and considered a giant in his day, arguably one of best to ever play the position, he hardly had the proper equipment to protect while defending. The photo clearly illustrates the amount of net still available for scoring as apposed to the 18 year old TO kid wearing regulation equipment today. The NHL should return to the day when a goalie playing the puck outside his crease was essentially a "6th attacker" and eligible for physical contact. Prohibiting the goaltender from playing the puck behind the goal line would help as well... they have become incredible athletes that have been given too much protection, while the goal size has remanded constant at 4' x 6' feet.

[Optimus Prime]

Tribute to Guy....if there was ever a better skater, I'd like to know. "Le D?mon Blond", I salute you!

[Tony G]

[Optimus Prime]

Close but no cigar, you really must stop drinking that "downriver water".

Failure to include Scott Nedermayer ot Valri Kharlamov cost your credibility.

[Rob F]

Tribute to Guy....if there was ever a better skater, I'd like to know. "Le D?mon Blond", I salute you!

Aren't those...the Cleveland Barons(???) chasing LeFleur in that photo? Wow, I had completely forgotten about that team. I'll have to look it up, but if I remember correctly, they were to Hockey what the Seattle Pilots were to Baseball--a team in danger of folding by mid-season in their first year, a team that lasted only one season, playing in a sub-standard facility in a town that at best didn't care and at worst had no clue. Didn't the Barons merge with another team after that first year? At least with the Pilots, I know of their fate---they moved to Milwaukee and became the Brewers.

[Optimus Prime]

Rob the Cleveland Barons used to the be California Golden Seals (1967 expansion franchise). Lasted 9 seasons in the Bay Area but then relocated to Ohio in (1976-78 ) eventually the Club was absorbed by the Minnesota North Stars.

Remember the Kansas City Scouts (1974-76), they became the Colorado Rockies?!?

[Tony G]

Who begat the NJ Devils

[Optimus Prime]

The club was founded in Kansas City, Missouri as the Kansas City Scouts in 1974, moved to Denver, Colorado as the Colorado Rockies after only two seasons, and then settled in New Jersey in 1982.

[Tony G]

BTW OP, You're entitled to your opinion but I still put Bobby ahead of LaFleur. It's a pickem race between Sergei, Coffey and LaFluer with Gartner not far behind.

[Optimus Prime]

Hard to ague, many say Maurice Richard. I'd have to say Gartner may have been the fastest but Lafleur was also one of the most exciting players ever to watch because of his speed and goal scoring guys I saw play anyway.

I'd Add Bure, Messier, Dionne a few others.