Neowin's NHL Discussion Thread

[LRoling]

No forward passing in the offensive zone, wtf is that? LOL, that hockey would be ridiculous!

[bayrider]

How about Forsberg?? the guy has only played 21 games and already has 34 pts. the Leading scorer in the NHL (robert Lang) has 49pts and has played more than twice as many games. I know most Forsbergs points are from assists, but i dont think there is anyone that can play an all-round game like Forsberg.

[fuzion98]

la kings lol.. allison deadmarsh palffy and now straka all injured yay

[kainashi]

la kings lol.. allison deadmarsh palffy and now straka all injured yay

they are cursed. :(

[-Clark-]

okay i give in, cujo or burke will be fine, anyone is better than hackett.

[Coolme]

AHHH!!! How could they!!! The flames could have won 3-2 but Jamie just had to let in an easy goal at 0.6 seconds left!! :cry: :angry:

[Ayepecks]

No forward passing in the offensive zone, wtf is that? LOL, that hockey would be ridiculous!

Yeah.

If any rule needs to be taken out, it needs to be offsides. I mean, it makes sense to hockey fans, but besides that the casual fan won't like it (and even some of the more hardcore fans won't, either). It slows down the pace of the game and really doesn't make it any better.

[bayrider]

keep offsides. but get rid of 2 line passes

LOL i love how people want to speed up a hockey game considering it is the fastest sport!

[Coolme]

yeah, keep the offside and get rid of the 2 line pass (instead of expanding the width of the lines).

[JaredVolkl]

Did anyone see the Wild win over the Penguins? 4 goals in the 3rd period! DAMN that's hot! It seems like they found the weak spot in Fleury's 5 hole. Right now I'm loving my MN Wild. Here's to a shot at the playoffs!

[BMac]

Yeah.

If any rule needs to be taken out, it needs to be offsides. I mean, it makes sense to hockey fans, but besides that the casual fan won't like it (and even some of the more hardcore fans won't, either). It slows down the pace of the game and really doesn't make it any better.

Totally disagree. Offsides prevent cherry picking. We all did it as kids and it was very very stupid. It takes away from the defense being able to jump up in the play. I'm the first to admit that hockey has it's weak points but riding the offside is not the answer. Honestly I would go to 4-on-4 before I'd drop the offside. Furthermore, has anyone seen the thick blue lines in the AHL? I thought I was stoned of my rocker when I saw that. I actually called someone in to check and see I wasn't halucinating. Something needs to be done to improve hockey but killing offsides entirely rids the game of the defensive offense. If you meant no red line that's another issue. Better than no offsides for sure. Still forces the defense to stand back but if there was still that chance of the forward going offside teams might risk it.

[axis]

Hockey is fine the way it is, 100% fine. A couple problems that wont get fixed are things like the refs not calling the obstruction they need to. Nuetral zone obrstruction on streaking forwards without the puck is a big time slowdown. The nuetral zone trap, left wing lock and other altered nuetral zone clogging schemes need to be banned. Much like basketball does/did (not sure if that was the rule they took out this year), they call illegal defense. Maybe give the teams a few warnings, then start calling delay of game or bench minor penalties after so many offenses. The biggest cuplrite is expansion. It is just like baseball, hitters hit more homeruns because the pitchers suck. Sure they are stronger and all, but there are to many lame ducks throwing the ball, they need to spend more time in the minors before coming to the show. Just as in hockey, there are way to many teams. Why does columbus have a franchise or Atlanta, Atlanta had there team and they left. Nashville does not need a team either, nor Carolina. I just knocked off 4, all the marque players on those teams could be on real teams, bringing quality of play up. Gary Bettman just wanted his expansion fee that the teams have to pay, you see that didn't help the league. With the strike that is going to happen, it wont matter. The players and owners better work on something. Like Brett Hull said, the NHL may not exsist after something like this. The owners can take there teams and start a whole new league if they wish.

I am an avid hockey fan, Ducks fan and started playing because they came to Anaheim 11 years ago. Hockey introduced me to a new life, I traveled this continent and in Europe for America's AAU team and various other tournament teams. Though I don't play ice hockey (only roller), I was still influenced by the NHL to play the sport. I try to show people how wonderful the sport is in its complexity, showing them how it is the hardest sport to play, it is a fast paced thinking mans game. It will be a shame if they shut the doors for a season or two or more. Just like the baseball fans said with the close-call of a strike, I don't know if I will come back to it if they strike. I can not deal with the BS of money and sports, players making a quarter of a billion dollars to hit a ball with a bat. Run up and down a court and throw a ball in a hoop. Then have the nerve to bitch when they have one good season, that they need to re-negotiate there contract for more millions. No one deserves that much money to do something they supposedly love.

[Boffa Jones Veteran]

I kinda agree with axis. but if you watch the worlds or world juniors you see its awesome anyways even better without the red line. And without the red line wouldn't the trap be a bit ****ered up? So as a test they should get rid of the red line for a season.

[BMac]

International hockey like the world cup or olympics is not better just because of no faceoffs. There are fewer teams which means it is truely the best in the world. Second, the world competitions are like the all star game, there's very little hitting. The ice is much bigger which gives the talent more room to work. There are many factors that make international play "better". Personally if hockey lost its physicallity and made the rink bigger it would be losing its roots. I like the way it is as do many Canadians. If Americans don't like the style of our game and it's not exciting enough for them, THEN GO PLAY FOOTBALL! Hockey is fine so leave it alone. Maybe if Americans lose interest they'll lose teams and we can bring some more great player to the fans that care. CANADIANS!

[bayrider]

international hockey is boring

[BMac]

international hockey is boring

May I ask for an elaboration? I think it blows because it's basically none contact. Why do you hate it?

[axis]

Good post bmac, we need more teams back in Canada. Much like the American way, we seem to steal everything from other countries, but of course we send you exciting stuff like a basketball team, oh yea. If you lost the physical play in hockey I wouldn't watch, same with fighting. Don't encourage it, but do not outlaw it. Some people have roster spots because they are enforcers, it can change the complexity of a game. Showing that one guy is wiling to put his face on the line for his team. And as for international play, I hope you mean European leagues. Those guys are a bunch of softies who need to wear dresses. Sure they stickhandle like no other, but it doesn't help much when a defense men plays the man and not the puck, putting him on his ass. So in conclusion...

Canada deserves Winnipeg, Qubec and 2 other teams to put wherever. Just take Columbus, Atlanta, Nashville and Carolina, America doesn't need them.

Don't make any ice surface changes.

European hockey players are soft.

And uh, go Ducks!

[BMac]

Good post bmac, we need more teams back in Canada. Much like the American way, we seem to steal everything from other countries, but of course we send you exciting stuff like a basketball team, oh yea. If you lost the physical play in hockey I wouldn't watch, same with fighting. Don't encourage it, but do not outlaw it. Some people have roster spots because they are enforcers, it can change the complexity of a game. Showing that one guy is wiling to put his face on the line for his team. And as for international play, I hope you mean European leagues. Those guys are a bunch of softies who need to wear dresses. Sure they stickhandle like no other, but it doesn't help much when a defense men plays the man and not the puck, putting him on his ass. So in conclusion...

Canada deserves Winnipeg, Qubec and 2 other teams to put wherever. Just take Columbus, Atlanta, Nashville and Carolina, America doesn't need them.

Don't make any ice surface changes.

European hockey players are soft.

And uh, go Ducks!

Excellent post dude! (Y) You nailed it. The North American way of hockey is wicked. Sure Euro's can stick handle but so can some Canadians. Some of the best offensive players in the league come from north america. Guys like Kariya, Sakic, Tkachuk and Iginla bring offense to the game but can take and throw a hit too. Canada does need a few more teams but we can't compete with the American market. As I said before I like hockey as is and if other people don't like it then find yourself another sport.

[axis]

Kariya should become a word made into ******, I hate that guy. It is funny though, the 2 most complete players, in my opinion, come from Europe. Federov and Forseberg, Russia and Sweden. Federov is the man, he makes amazing plays on both sides of the puck. He is a super guy too, I have met him a couple times. My little brother got hit in the head with a puck, the only puck to go in the stands the whole game, and we got compensated with some tickets and stuff. Seems Federov has the same Bday as me and my dad, so I asked the Ducks director of marketing who gave us the tickets to let us meet him. We got to meet him and Ruslan Salei, my fav player, and they joked around with us. Euro players seem to be nicer off the ice though, Salei is from Belarus, part of the former Soviet Union. Just my little behind the scenes deal I had with hockey players, makes me respect the game even more.

[BMac]

Are you saying that Euro's are nice than North Americans? What kind of an absurd statement is that? It all depends on the person. Being disabled, sometimes I get special treatment and ****. So I've had the chance to meet a few Leafs. It all depends on the person. Sundin and Domi were really nice guys. They took me around the ice a few times in practice. That was wicked. Glen Healey on the other hand was a man ######. He hit on anything with boobs. It was halarious. :p

[-Clark-]

lol leafs choked twice in 2 nights. :woot:

glad to see the captain back with the flyers and roenick, though its unfortunate about desjardin...roenick should pay attention. :(

[BMac]

Roenick is still on a rampage. Can't hit bettman like that so he hits his own teammate. :p As for the leafs it seems as if we need some serious upgrades on d before we are true contenders. Keep in mind many of our best players are out. Mogilny, Nolan, Klee, Kaberle, Reichel and Belak. That's a pretty good list of players that we need to compete. I still think the d is weak though and Fergi better get on that asap.

[-Clark-]

or domi has to fight people who are willing to, not pitkanen and weinrich :rofl:

[BMac]

Domi should have opened a fresh can of whoop ass on Roenick. :p Water bottle throwing jackass.

[Boffa Jones Veteran]

Roenick was in the right. But yeah one of the financially disabled teams fromt eh south called winnipegs 'vice-mayor' to ask how serious we were about getting the NHL back and i t wasnt the pens. So if god loves us we might get teh jets back. Plus we willhave a new arena by the end of the year!!!

And what the hell is up with atlanta? At least they won last night.