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NHL - 2015/16 - Period 1

Dolfan in NYC

By Dolfan in NYC
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Buy Me a Burrito

Buy Me a Burrito

Posted
Posted

The fucking Hurricanes are terrible, terrible and no-good. 

 

The annoying part for me is that all of the fancy stats dorks love to say that the Canes are better than they are. The point out all of these advanced stats and call them an anamoly. They aren't an anomaly, they're garbage. It makes me doubt all of the puck possession/fancy stats guys.

 

We have the Staal brothers, who are the smallest 6'4" players in the league. They hate going to the net, and they play with zero passion. We have Chris Terry and Nathan Gerbe, two guys who shouldn't be in the NHL and yet are playing in scoring roles while our best sniper, Jeff Skinner is relegated to playing on the third line with AHL-level talent. Our defense has some bright spots (Justin Faulk, Noah Hanifin's development) but also has Ron Hainsey slotted into too high of a role. 

 

Cam Ward is a shitty goalie. He has somehow managed to turn a cup run and one season where he was brilliant into a decade with the Canes. A decade in, two playoff appearances. The guy isn't NHL quality. I would like to believe in Eddie Lack, but I barely see him start enough to form an opinion.

 

And the worst part is the coach, Bill Peters. I think the guy has implemented a good defensive system, but he's sacrificed what meager offense the team has. They play boring hockey and can barely score two goals a game.

 

Seriously, fuck this team.

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Jiji

Jiji

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Posted (edited)

Holy fuck, Marek's argument about save %s in 3vs3 OT AND FUCKING SHOOTOUTS is the worst thing I've heard on the subject. The idea is to make shots from distance an actual threat like they were back in the day, not have guys basically passing it around the goalie on an odd man rush OR SKATE IN SOLO WITHOUT DEFENDERS ON THE FUCKING ICE. What a straw man argument. This guy gets paid to talk about hockey? 

 

edit: the only thing I agree with them is that bigger nets and/or smaller equipment are only part of the problem. They won't magically bring goal averages back up by themselves. They discussed the lack of calls, particularly in front of the net, and that's another thing that would go a long way in increasing scoring. Between smaller (but still safe) pads, bigger nets, and referees calling obstruction and hooking like they did in levels after the lockout, you'll see an increase in scoring and a far more entertaining product.

 

I just can't believe Marek thinks it's a fair point to raise that goalies can't stop most breakaways and have a low SV% in 3 on 3 OT. Of course they do, because a give away in OT basically means a 2 on 1 or 3 on 2 at best for the defense. That has fuck all to do with how the game is played 95% of the time. Goalies can seal the entire net off by playing angles aggressively (and, as Woodley mentioned their athleticism). It doesn't make for very entertaining viewing. 

Edited by Oyaji
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Tabe

Tabe

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John Buccigrosse's annual bigger nets column is up on ESPN. I agree with the general idea but I he puts forth his argument pretty poorly. Plus, it's hard to take a writer seriously who calls himself Bucci Mane.

First off, Bucci is great. I've corresponded with him via email many times, especially back when he had just released his Keith Jones book. He was always really gracious and nice in the emails and gave actual, detailed answers.

Second, he must have changed his mind somewhere along the line. I asked him several years ago about making the nets bigger and he was against it.

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Tabe

Tabe

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John Buccigrosse's annual bigger nets column is up on ESPN. I agree with the general idea but I he puts forth his argument pretty poorly. Plus, it's hard to take a writer seriously who calls himself Bucci Mane.

I agree with everything Bucci says in that article except for the size increase in the net. It needs to be significantly bigger. Like a foot wider and 6" taller. Goalies in the 80s and 90s were roughly 5'10", with exceptions like Sean Burke and Patrick Roy. Now most of them are 6'2" - 6'4" or taller. That's 4-6" of extra net covered just by existing. So you gotta have a net that's 6" taller, IMHO. And those goalies are infinitely more athletic and flexible than guys 30 years ago. They go side to side waaaaay too easily. Give 'em an extra foot to cover. That makes it not a soccer net but gives the skill guys something to shoot for.

And, really, something he talked about in that article is exactly what I was thinking about last week. Right now, stars don't shine enough. Because of all the factors he discussed, they are better than the rest of the league but not ENOUGH better. And we need to change that.

Having said all that, there's no going back. Every guy in the NHL can skate now and 98% of them will block shots - neither of which was true 30 years ago.

Oh yeah, I love the idea of the 4-on-3 power play though.

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Death From Above

Death From Above

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Jeff Marek has been constantly bringing out the absolute worst HOT TAEKS on the goalie subject. Yesterday he kept breaking out "OKAY IF YOU WANT TO REDUCE PADS THEN BY HOW MUCH? WHY CAN"T YOU ANSWER THAT ONE SMART GUY". He completely ignores things someone in his position is fully aware of like, you know, the NHL has an actual full time committee that among other jobs is supposed to answer that question for us, if they are asked. That's part of their job. All you have to do is ask them to study it and come up with a recommendation. And it's not like those recommendations would be binding. Literally all you have to do is ask them to look at it, and that doesn't commit you to anything.

 

"Can this be done safely" is also a completely ludicrous gumby stretch argument, sorry. Pads have been redesigned and updated by the major equipment companies literally every single year in the last 30 (maybe longer than that, but certainly in the last 30). The notion that they won't be able to make appropriate adjustments is so far past unbelievable that it's not even worth addressing in more than a couple lines. Ryan Miller last week with WHAT IF GOALIES START INJURING THEIR HANDS WITH SMALLER GLOVES. Can anyone cite a single example of a major NHL goalie that had to retire between 1960-1995 due to repeated hand injuries caused by small gloves? Because I haven't been able to think of a single even far out there example to back up the suggestion that an appropriate sized glove instead of an umbrella are dangerous for goalies assuming they are manufactured properly.

 

I also think we need to be clear that no one actually sane that wants goalies looked at thinks we're going back to the 1980's scoring here. Those days are gone, and with a few exceptions, that's a good thing because lord there were some bad goalies then. But we need to see a lot more NHL goalies with a GAA between say 2.3-2.4 than guys hanging around 2-2.1. Over the course of a season we're talking a really significant bump in league scoring with that kind of change. There's nothing radical about that suggestion at all and I find it really insulting when the pro-goalie crowd claim otherwise.

 

FUN WITH NUMBERS

 

Current NHL goalies with over 5 wins and a GAA under 2.25:

- Lundqvist (10 wins, 1.69 GAA)

- Halak (5, 1.90)

- Allen (8, 1.91)

- Holtby (9, 2.01)

- Price (7, 2.01)

- Schneider (9, 2.05)

- Fleury (9, 2.08)

- Rinne (10, 2.10)

- Condon (7, 2.14)

- Mrazek (5, 2.18)

- Reimer (6., 2.19)

- Greiss (5. 2.21)

- Jones, (9 wins, 2.25 on the nose)

 

So thirteen goalies in a 30 team league with enough of a sample size at this point in the year to be rocking numbers that in any reasonable era would be automatic all star selections and/or Vezina contenders.

 

BUT SURE, THIS IS FINE

 

The other thing that's really frustrating is that people on both sides of the debate are so busy screaming about goalies, the NHL is probably thrilled so many fans and media have lost focus on just as big an issue, that NHL refereeing is so far in the tank right now it's disrupting about half the games you sit down to watch. This is a huge frustration for a lot of fans. If the referees actually just enforced the rules that are ALREADY RIGHT THERE IN THE BOOK, several of the key problems on this issue are instantly answered. But, this is hockey, and either doing nothing at all, or circling the wagons around bad choices and screaming that people asking for change are radical is pretty much business as usual. The absolute refusal to really take this issue on has been constant in the NHL with only a couple of exceptions (coming out of lockouts trying to, get this, appease the fanbase that makes the sport relevant). But it's really getting totally out of hand.

 

There's also stuff you simple can't put the genie back in the bottle for. The league is 30 teams. It's going to get bigger before it gets smaller. Talent will be spread thinner, that's just how it is. The salary cap makes it actually undesirable to top load teams; the only one that has been able to pull it off and sustain it is Chicago (and that has as much do do with Keith and Seabrook as it does with Kane and Toews).

 

And of course, goalies are so much better trained now. The thing I find annoying about the pro goalie crowd is so many seem willing to pretend we're not all fine with that. We are. Carey Price is the best goddamn player in the universe, and that's wonderful. I'm honestly not even sure how this is related to the issue of goalie equipment at all, and it's another pretty terrible, useless strawman that is just wasting time that could be better spent addressing actual issues.

 

Increasing net size would be absolute the last resort I ever tried. I'm still opposed to it because it's by far the laziest solution that addresses literally none of the real issues at all other than a superficial increase in scoring that means nothing to the actual spirit of the game. Things that should clearly come before that (in my personal order of preference):

 

- Get the standard of refereeing under control (this will never happen, because it's too much work, but sweet Jesus)

 

giant gap

 

- Address size of goalie equipment

 

smaller gap but still substantial

 

- Experiment in preseason (NOT IN THE ACTUAL LEAGUE AS A TEST BALLOON) with returning to the old school method of power plays lasting the full 2 minutes even if a team scores

 

- Theoretical new ideas to be placed here as they develop in the future

 

giant gap

 

- Increasing the size of the NHL rink to the European size (this is a very bad idea, won't work, AND will never be approved by the owners, but still falls ahead of...)

 

- Increase net size

 

If the NHL, in their infinite un-wisdom, did this list in exactly reverse order, it would be slightly surprising but no one could actually claim outright shock.

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elizium

elizium

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Posted

I agree with all of that long, long, looooong post DFA, except the idea that the talent is being spread thinner. There are 9 more teams than the 80s, but how many Europeans were in the league then? There were no Russians. There even weren't many Americans comparatively. Training and the game's popularity means that there are more skilled players in the world (including Canada) then there ever have been at any time in history. Talent isn't spread thinner, it's actually evenly distributed. 30 years ago, the top 15 players were a huge gap better than the next 50. Nowadays is there much difference between the 5th best player and the 30th?

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Jiji

Jiji

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That's true and there were some really bad athletes back (relatively speaking) back then compared to today. So many bad skaters and each team had a few goons too. There are still a lot of hockey players playing in the NHL that aren't very good and I'd love to see a league of 20 stacked teams in strong markets from a purely fan perspective (it would never fly in the bidness world of course). 

 

Plus, I think if you reduce the size of goalie equipment AND make the nets considerably bigger AND hold players accountable to the rules like they did in '05-'06, you'd probably see a more significant gap between the upper tier players of the league and the support staff. More PPs and scoring opportunities equal more points for star players.

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sabremike

sabremike

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The biggest issue I have with enlarging the net is it essentially makes historical comparisons from that point impossible. It would be as if the NBA enlarged the nets, how would you be able to compare shooting and scoring stats from before and after. I say get rid of the Garth Snow sized goalie equipment and make the refs call all the penalties they've been turning a blind eye to. Punnishing cynical play is the key IMO.

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