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canadalefty

NHL lacks class.

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I've been a 'Wings fan for 33years. The Red Wings have played with class, dignity and style for so many years, and it makes me proud to be a wings fan! Watching this year's playoffs has been disgusting, from Duncan Keith's "wakey, wakey" taunting of the obviously concussed David Backes, after two, vicious, non called slashes, one of them on Backes(probably having him hear"footsteps", setting up Seabrook), and Matt Cooke, not much needs to be said there, how about Marchand and his "which leg did I hurt?" moment. There is no point to a regular season if it is no holds barred in the post season. I'd rather watch my team get bounced in the first round, than watch them play with no class and make it to the finals. Detroit has won championships by staying classy, and I'm OK waiting until they can win with class, not the garbage that Boston and Chicago feel fits their fans! I grew up in Ken Holland's hometown, my Dad was close with his Dad, all class acts, there is pride in winning with integrity, pride is nonexistent without integrity!

STAY CLASSY DETROIT!!

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You say that the NHL lacks class,but there are some players in the this league that do play with class,it's not just detroit,don't put the the players that have class with the ones that don't on the same list

Edited by PredsFanTheBayouState

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Yep, I agree completely. That deal with Marchand was completely ridiculous. Of course, all the other stuff is too. Pittsburgh and Chicago seem to have team policies that require douchieness. It makes it tough for me to watch hockey any more. The league doesn't seem to want to clean things up a whole lot. Matt Cooke is still in the league...I can't figure that one out.

Detroit is one of the classy teams, though. You don't see the intentional cheap shots, diving, or embellishing. You stay classy, Detroit.

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Most of what you said, I'll agree with. But there are plenty of classy players in the NHL, even on the teams you mentioned, so let's not lump everybody into one giant pile. Plus winning's the most important, that's why we watch, and the Wings have had plenty of players over the years other teams might consider unsportsmanlike. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder I guess.

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I agree with the basic premise of your post. The "New NHL" is driven by ratings and this style of goonery, diving etc is at the root of it all. This Bruins Habs series is going to be cheap shots, diving and flopping followed by coaches and players whining about said dives etc, but folks are going to tune in because of it.

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If you think the NHL lacks class, try watching the thug leagues (NBA, NFL) or the divers and showboaters heaven known as soccer - these are teamsports without class.

Seriously, there is nothing wrong with playing tough and physical. It's not the Bruins or anybodies else fault, that Holland believes you can win with a soft european style of hockey. I hate to break to you but this "holier than everyone else attitude" doesn't fly, the Wings also were known to be a very skilled and also team. Sometimes players are crossing the line in order to send a message to the other team, nothing wrong with that.

Guess what ? I would have enjoyed this season a lot more, if someone would have stood up to Lucic or other tough guys and challenged him to a fight after his spear and I don't care if that's classy or not.

The Bruins are a role model when it comes down on how to build a playoff winner and to be completely honest I think this soft euro styled hockey is very boring. Nobody in the whole league fears our fourth line and sadly it looks like they don't even know themselves what they are supposed to do. Yes, Boston has an idiot like Marchand but they also have a lot of classy guys such as Campbell, Bergeron, Thornton - told Marchand to shut the f*** up - former Tim Thomas, Krug, Hamilton, Chara, Kreji.

The style of hockey Holland dreams about only works if you can outskill your competition and this series should have shown everyone how far away the Wings are from outskilling the top teams in the NHL, so another approach will be needed (something like top 9 bottom 3).

I don't care if fights, hard and clean checks are classy they are part of the tradition of the game so no reason seeing this team getting pushed around without pushback next season.

In terms of Matt Cooke they for whatever reason are lacking balls.

btw. I think the NHL is by far the league with the most classy and down to earth players when it comes to major sports.

Edited by frankgrimes

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What silliness or is it being naive? Not sure. Bertuzzi and Moore anyone? What was Gordie Howe's nickname while playing? Elbows. Probert just rolled over in his grave once again. The Night of the Turtle. All are examples of class? No. All are examples of hockey. Always have been and hopefully always will be.

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Detroit, in the 90s and 00s, had an image of being classy in that it upheld a long history of the game (this isn't about winning the Lady Bing, don't get hung up on zero penalties and pure skill), but I don't think the current management has maintained that in the past couple of seasons. Yzerman seemed to have much to with that, and then Lids retiring felt like he took the handbook on class with him back to Sweden. The Winged Wheel now feels like it's getting tarnished, and I never felt quite like that in the past, first round embarrassments or not. Pav and Z are model players, but that just doesn't seem to be enough.

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Uncle Gary sez: "It's playing within the rules (as long as you don't get caught)".

Uncle Gary also sez: "We still have the best officials of any of the major sports".

Uncle Gary, with his super sense of hearing, also sez: "What was that you said, I heard you. 'You wouldn't know there were rules by watching the officiating'. let me tell you something...we have plenty of rules, we just don't have anyone competent to call them. Damn, I promised myself I wasn't going to tell the truth in the Playoffs!"

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Our 4th line played really well yesterday...really well. As a part of the normal flow of the game, fighting is gone...forget about it. If you want to waste a roster spot on some 6-5 250lb numbskull who's going to square off with the other team's numbskull, go ahead. That isn't going to effect the outcome of the game.

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Didn't say big equals unskilled...I said "fighters" in today's NHL are basically numbskulls with little skill. And that's largely by design. I don't define "tough" as fighting. I think tough is winning the battles in the corners and between the dots. How many shots did we take from the left point? How many shots did Boston take between the dots? They got there by being stronger and paying the price. That's what irritates me the most about Franzen. the big Mule...230 or so lbs and he plays like a 185 lb guy from France.

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Didn't say big equals unskilled...I said "fighters" in today's NHL are basically numbskulls with little skill. And that's largely by design. I don't define "tough" as fighting. I think tough is winning the battles in the corners and between the dots. How many shots did we take from the left point? How many shots did Boston take between the dots? They got there by being stronger and paying the price. That's what irritates me the most about Franzen. the big Mule...230 or so lbs and he plays like a 185 lb guy from France.

I'm guessing you haven't watched hockey very long if you think this way.

There's never been a time in NHL history when fighters had more skill than they do now. 15 years ago, enforcers who could barely skate would have a regular spot on every NHL team. Those players are largely extinct. Today's NHL has largely weeded out unskilled fighters.

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I'm guessing you haven't watched hockey very long if you think this way.

There's never been a time in NHL history when fighters had more skill than they do now. 15 years ago, enforcers who could barely skate would have a regular spot on every NHL team. Those players are largely extinct. Today's NHL has largely weeded out unskilled fighters.

And a byproduct of this is that you get these wanna-be tough guys that go around cheap stuff like anything that Cooke does, and Boochich hitting DeKeyser in the nuts.

I'm still very dissapointed in the 5K fine, what a joke.

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And a byproduct of this is that you get these wanna-be tough guys that go around cheap stuff like anything that Cooke does, and Boochich hitting DeKeyser in the nuts.

I'm still very dissapointed in the 5K fine, what a joke.

Exactly and like others and myself have already said, every cup-winner during the last years has had at least one tough guy.

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Classy doesn't win Cups. Name a team that won on "class" in the post-Gretzky era. None. Not one. All had an element of grit/toughness that could be quantified by a single player/line that played every game. The Wings didn't have that this season and haven't had that since Dallas Drake.

The 1997 and 1998 Wings were both very tough and gritty teams. They could go toe to toe physically with any team in the league every game. That was an overall team toughness that hasn't been seen since on the Wings. It disappeared with the losses of Lapointe, Vladdy, Ward, and Kocur. These guys played minutes every game, and 2 of them were more than just big bodies and fists. In 2002 the Wings won the Cup with pure skill, but there was still a Grind Line. A line that could go out when you were down one and crash and bang and piss the other team off. That didn't exist this season. And hasn't since Downey was dropped.

The 2008 Wings were not supposed to win the Cup. They were not as skilled as the Pens offensively and didn't match up physically. The Wings overall grit was better as their more physical players could actually contribute more than PIT's grinders. Plus, Dats and Z were physical and kept Crosby and Malkin in check every shift. Pavel and Z were both hurt this year and were not physical at all vs. BOS. That's bad news when they are supposed to be the shut down line. Kronwall can't be physical either, if he goes out of his way to level a guy it isn't Lidstrom picking up the slack, it's Brendan Smith.

Grit, size, goaltending, and balanced lines win Cups in this era. Need at least 3 of those to make it to the Finals. Wings had half of one. Boston has 4.

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"Class" is way overused. I think what people really mean is respect - you can respect the guy you're trying to make a permanent part of the boards by making a clean, hard hit and not trying to take his head off, or not attempting to render him unable to reproduce. Mr. Hockey was the toughest SOB of his time, but he had respect for the game and those that played it. I think that's the big thing that's lacking now. The retirement of players like Sakic and Yzerman has leeched that element from the game.

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Not 100% sure this belongs here, but I just can't stand the two different ways refs call games in regular season vs post-season. Its a bit embarassing and the refs can be perfectly fine and consistent calling playoffs the same way they did the regular season. The only calling automatics like puck over glass, too many men on ice, and slashes that break sticks is a little silly because those are automatics but there are still the every so often called regular penalty that seems to be at the whim of the refs and only called like 25% of the time. And star players not getting anything called on them that might jeopardize ratings? What a joke.

I'd love to see the actual memo that tells these refs how to call playoffs that differs from how they did all year.

If in the Chicago-St.Louis game after the Backes hit, the head official can tell the guys no more after whistle scrums or we will call majors, and the rest of the game is called more like a regular non-goonery playoff game, why can't they call every playoff game like that? It was one of the best games to watch all playoffs so far and in my opinion was called a lot more like a normal regular season game.

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I blame the Owners for all the violence, cheap shots, and head hits. They could get rid of it by tomorrow, but they either don't want to or they're scared to make changes. I'm convinced they don't want to, and that they're trying to tap into the UFC market to generate more fans and revenue. With all the changes the NFL is making to clean up their game, hockey is now the most dangerous sport to play due to the speed and the lack of discipline and respect by some of the players.

Nothing's going to change until someone is either paralyzed or killed, or the league loses big in one of the upcoming lawsuits.

Edited by Barrie

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I'd like to see some more class in how the NHL handles suspensions. The playoffs are just a high-stakes hockey game - that means if a player spears another player in the groin or smashes their head violently into the boards suspensions should be handed out.

I'd also like to see suspensions/fines given for obvious cases of diving. While it may be hard to tell in most cases - some players make obvious attempts at diving that should go punished to prevent them from tricking the refs in the future. There have been cases of players high sticking themselves with the opposing player's stick and getting away with it - suspend that kind of behaviour. Currently diving is almost always called in addition to a trip or interference against the other team - this means the player diving doesn't have anything to lose on average. I'd like to see more calls go one way or the other.

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