Dead Puck Era has Returned- New NHL Exposed As BS.

[Guest E_S_A_D]

Great point here made by Jim Mullin CKNW. I could not agree more. For those bandwagon fans that wanted lots of goals, shootouts, and penalties; this is a Gary Bettman run league now- congratulations.

Here's his brief point:

Speaking of the NHL, here is some stats that prove the so called "dead puck era" is back.

At the rate Henrik Sedin is going, he'll finish with 110 points to lead the NHL in scoring, but after the lockout the game had supposedly opened up to create more offense & it worked momentarily. Starting in the 2005-06 season, we begin to count backwards with the scoring leaders. In 2005-06 125 points led the league in scoring, & in continued downwards to 120 pts, 113 pts, 112, & Henrik finishing with 110 points this season. The first season back after the lockout in 05-06 there were 4 fifty goal scorers, 5 combined in the following 2 seasons, 1 last season. Henrik is on target for 38 goals, which is the lowest a scoring leader has since Forsberg got 29 in the 2002-03 season.

So the NHL has done an incredible job. They've taken the physical element out of the game, almost completely, & the coaches have caught up. Another defense first team tonight to play the defensive cycle Canucks.

Scoring off the rush is a thing of the past, & so is the entertainment value.

Source: Jim Mullin CKNW

Edited January 8, 2010 by E_S_A_D

[Rice 42]

I'll look it up later, but I'm sure the amount of penalties called (hence the amount of powerplays) has gone down since the first season after the lockout too. Maybe I'm wrong.

[Echolalia 2,961]

I don't know if we can really look at this year as one to base trends one given the combination of all the injuries and the condensed schedule.

[Guest E_S_A_D]

....and here come the Bettman Era fans in droves. This will be interesting. Oh please, more penalties, more goals, that's interference ref!, and while you're at it get rid of that nasty fighting!!!

[kook_10 1,705]

who needs more goals? we need more BC two-handers!

[DMAC 25 18]

bettman needs to go, slowly he is killing the NHL

[ilmickeyli 40]

ESAD seems angry a little earlier than usual.. Is it Monday? Did someone piss in his cheerios?

(I completely agree with the first post of the thread)

Edited January 8, 2010 by ilmickeyli

[b.shanafan14 733]

I've noticed the refs allowing more and more clutching and grabbing this season especially, but yet they are still able to make the phantom calls, so I guess it all evens out. I hate the cheap BS like that which slows down the game most of all. I've never called for the need for more goals really, I've never had a problem with it. I do hate how this generation of hockey player seems to hit, often with the elbows or from behind. I don't think it has anything to do with the system in place, but it seems like once a week you hear about a borderline dirty hit and someone going down for a month.

For some reason, probably because the Wings have been so horrible offensively this season, the clutching and grabbing seems up from previous years. Also, just like in the previous era, you have to take into account players and coaches adjusting to refereeing trends and the overall bulls*** of the Bettman Era.

[Guest E_S_A_D]

(I completely agree with the first post of the thread)

Me too, thank you btw.

[Z and D for the C 712]

Why is it relevant what the scoring leader gets in goals? That doesn't really say anything. There are potentially 6 50 goals scorers this year, 4 actually being on pace (the other 2 are very close).

Edited January 8, 2010 by Z and D for the C

[kook_10 1,705]

we all know you want more fights because fights are entertaining (and they are!), but how would you propose to get more scoring?

[ManLuv4Clears 7]

Couldn't agree more. These tic-tac calls are slowing the game more than before. Someone posted an article about young Canadian fans slowly going away from Hockey as well. I wonder if this is any correlation to Bettman's regime? Oh well, at least he implemented the shoot out.

[ManLuv4Clears 7]

we all know you want more fights because fights are entertaining (and they are!), but how would you propose to get more scoring?

That's his point. The fans who grew up loving the sport, love it for what it is. Great goaltending, defense, hits, fights, and the drama of a 1-0 overtime game are just a number of great things that are equal to scoring. We could give two s***s about goal scoring. It's the "new" NHL where Bettman thinks the only thing people care about is scoring, and he would have a great argument if he frequented these boards.

[ilmickeyli 40]

As much as don't want to a nut, I do think that Buttman has too much influence on the game.

[Guest E_S_A_D]

Couldn't agree more. These tic-tac calls are slowing the game more than before. Someone posted an article about young Canadian fans slowly going away from Hockey as well. I wonder if this is any correlation to Bettman's regime? Oh well, at least he implemented the shoot out.

This is exactly it too, well said. The whole point of the obstruction calls were to 'speed the game up'. Which in theory, Bettman's regime thought would eliminate obstruction. What he didn't realize was that hockey is a physical sport and obstruction is very open to judgement. One ref sees one thing in one city and the other ref sees something opposite. No consistency.

You can keep tweaking the recipe of Grandma's famous Apple Pie, but eventually you're just going to end up with applesauce.

[Guest E_S_A_D]

\ but how would you propose to get more scoring?

MORE? I respect the defensive battles, the gameplans, and strategy that lead to a game that's 1-0. That's fun stuff! Call me crazy (or extremely knowledgeable - sarcasm guys, easy), but I enjoy a right wing forward dropping back in the zone on D to cover his Defenseman on a rush just as much as I do a powerplay goal.

[Nev 1,085]

....and here come the Bettman Era fans in droves. This will be interesting. Oh please, more penalties, more goals, that's interference ref!, and while you're at it get rid of that nasty fighting!!!

Classic ESAD misdirection. Neither of the posters between your 1st and 2nd posts claimed to be Bettman era fans, or said anything that indicated they are Bettman era fans. Neither of them asked for more penalties. Neither of them asked for more goals. And neither of them asked for fighting to be got rid off. The first mention of fighting was - shock horror - by yourself.

Poster #1 theorised that the number of penalties called may have declined, leading to lower goal totals

Poster #2 theorised that this season may not be a valid statistical sample based upon the number of league wide injuries and Olympic-induced compressed schedule.

Neither of them disagreed with the original premise that overall goalscoring has been trending downwards since the lockout.

Yet again, you are starting an argument where there is no disagreement. And then making fighting an issue, where it isn't.

Again.

Edited January 8, 2010 by Nev

[Guest ZetterbergFourty]

Heh. BOG + Bettman, he cant do s*** without BOG voting on it. Bettman is a moron, I'm not trying to support him here, just when you're knocking him, dont forget those other guys that REALLY make all this nonsense possible.

[Guest mindfly]

For sure, coaches trying to play the most effective hockey which more or less is the Lemaire defensive-first hockey á 90's... exactly what bettman wanted removed from the game, but coaches has caughty up with the lockout and start doing it again, it's obvious.

[dat's sick 1,002]

They just need to bash it into the refs' heads that if it is a 50/50 situation as to whether it's interference or not, DON'T CALL IT. It doesn't feel like more than 25% of the penalties they call in todays NHL should be penalties. It's almost like the players know what they are allowed to do, but the refs don't (sounds weird I know).

One thing that comes to mind when I hear that scoring is down is: Where are breakaways in today's game? Am I wrong or does it feel like there's almost never a 5-on-5 breakaway anymore?

[kook_10 1,705]

MORE? I respect the defensive battles, the gameplans, and strategy that lead to a game that's 1-0. That's fun stuff! Call me crazy (or extremely knowledgeable - sarcasm guys, easy), but I enjoy a right wing forward dropping back in the zone on D to cover his Defenseman on a rush just as much as I do a powerplay goal.

ok then. I was just trying to suss out your views on this. It seems you enjoy late 90's NHL hockey versus the 80's style NHL. but given that changes have already been implemented, and you clearly don't like the game as it is, what new changes would you make (either by creating new rules or eliminating recent ones) to create the style of play that you want?

[Guest E_S_A_D]

ok then. I was just trying to suss out your views on this. It seems you enjoy late 90's NHL hockey versus the 80's style NHL. but given that changes have already been implemented, and you clearly don't like the game as it is, what new changes would you make (either by creating new rules or eliminating recent ones) to create the style of play that you want?

Nope, prefer 80s hockey that was more wide open, but there were 1-0 games. Just not dictated by referees. Rule Changes? There's people that get paid a lot more than me that figure that stuff out. I'm just a dedicated fan. I will say though, these interference calls that leave the call discretion up to the ref must be removed. The instigator must be removed as well.

[Guest micah]

The more things change, the more things suck.

Clutching and grabbing was bad, so they sped the game up, theorizing that scoring and hitting will go up. Then they started levying suspensions on any non-superstars who lay a big hit and we watched goal scoring stay relatively flat. Something that could have been good turned kinda sour.

I think that the game is in this sense slightly better than it was - it is much more fun to watch offensively minded players deke Dmen than it is to watch them get held up at the blue line.

I thought the game I grew up watching in the '80s was pretty good, actually. Goal scorers scored and scored a lot, great Dmen and great goalies still stood out, big hitters laid big hits, every team had a few fighters, many fought 30+ times a year. It was a great time to be a hockey fan, especially if you had ADD.

The game today is okay. It is better than it was when the Devils were doing their thing. I like close, low scoring games. I do not like all the minor penalties. I don't understand the need for the instigator penalty, which has changed the game a lot more than most people realize. Fighting is already a major penalty, if somebody picks a fight with you and you don't want to fight, don't. Take your lumps and take the 5 minute PP. This "bu-bu-bu he started it!" business strikes me as rather juvenile.

Semi-coherent early morning pre-coffee rant mode off.

[kook_10 1,705]

I will say though, these interference calls that leave the call discretion up to the ref must be removed.

i agree. the one thing that occurred to me this morning though, was that back in the 80's the game was much more unpredicatble because of the goalies (maybe because of pads, maybe because of defensive responsibility, maybe for a lot of reasons - I don't know). i like defensive responsibility too, but there really were't many 1-0 games. people here were talking yesterday about Stevie Ys goal on Casey being a bad goal, but if you go 10 years before that most of those goals would look bad these days. now it seems that the only real unpredictability comes from the refs, and thats not a good thing. [or Ozzie if he's in there - badumpbump]

an entertaining 6-0 loss for the "Dead Things"

[Guest E_S_A_D]

an entertaining 6-0 loss for the "Dead Things"

Ummm, you got me there? I really don't even know how to form a basis on how to respond to your last post.