NHL changes for the better or worse?

[frankgrimes 1,836]

Inspired by the discussion of the Knuckes versus Numbers - the death of the NHL enforcer thread http://www.letsgowings.com/forums/topic/77433-knuckles-vs-numbers-the-death-of-the-enforcer/ I thought this would be a nice topic for discussion. I've never ever fallen asleep as many times as I did this season or even worse flatout not bother watching some of the other teams...a few years ago St. Louis Blues, Boston Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs, the BOA (battle of alberta), ´Philly versus Pitts used to be must watch and can't miss TV now even that's gone.

As a disclaimer this topic isn't to discuss to the pros and cons of fighting in the NHL the purpose is to discuss all changes!

I'm going to start by repeating what I've been thinking since a few - especially during the last 2 years - now most of the changes have been for the worse, so let's start.

Southern Expansion:

While there are a bunch of successful stories Anaheim, LA, San Jose and Tampa there are also some teams which just aren't hockeymarket, period. I would have absolutely no problem with that if revenue sharing would provide some benefits for the Wings but it doesn't there is no luxury tax or anything else so what's the point of helping out the competiton in markets that clearly don't have enough fans...nor a hockeylike weather? If teams like Detroit have to pay 20 million a year to keep other teams alive there should be some benefit to that like it's been done in the MLB...if you are helping others out, you are allowed to spend more. It's a win-win situation for everyone involved.

But the truth of the matter is, this league isn't strong enough to support 30 teams and yet they are thinking about expansion again? When the obvious answer would have been relocation. Would I feel bad and sorry for some of the new fans in these markets damn sure I would but if not enough people are showing interesting there is nothing left to do. I mean, this league didn't have a problem moving the Nordics, Jets or jets to ridiculous markets...yet they are fighting tooth and nails for non hockeymarkets by exploiting teams which are doing very very well.

Tradedeadline and UFA market are dead

Smart GMs are punished for having success and a great team whle bad Gms and badly managed organizations are being rewarded with the top picks each and every year. Stars - with a few exceptions - don't make it to UFA anymore and tradedeadlines are destroyed because Gms don't know what the cap will be for next year. Honestly I can't even remember the last really big boom trade it might even go back to Marian Hossa to the Pens in 2008.

Players who decide to go to UFA are punished by ridiculous limitations like you can't sign for more than 7 years but if you re-sign with your old team they are allowed to offer you 8 years? How is this fair to other teams and players?

There is no more accountability

Agitators and rats used to have to answer for doing stupid s*** on the ice. Either by fighting the player whom they cheapshotted or fight someone from their team who is tougher and bigger. Nowadays people are allowed to facesmash, crosscheck, stickswing and flatout assault other players with no consequences other than maybe a fine here and there...that's not accountability that's ridiculous. Take the last Stars - Wings game for example if Jamie Benn whom I'm a huge fan of is tough enough to punch Z in the head 4 times, he is also tough enough to answer for that crap on the ice against someone like Reeves, McIlrath..

Also some players these days are putting themselves willingly into vulnerable positions so the other player can get a penalty. Which to me is absolutely ridiculous a player who decides to skate with his head down and turns himself to the boards instead of absorbing the hit should be responsible for his own actions too! Don't get me wrong I'm all for players safety and reducing the amount of injuries...but we are talking about grown adults and superbly trained atheletes here every NHL players knows how to absorb a hit.

Rogers deal

I think this is the most obvious one. HNIC is dead and the greatest hockeymind of this century can't even get his point accross because of timely constraints, not only did Rogers change the intro they've also replaced McLean with a guy who's name is longer than Apu's...surprisingly their so called experts and insiders are horrible. The only good thing is that TSN can be sitting there and enjoy the gongshow till Rogers decides to sell back for a reduced price.

The deal to me again is proof that the NHL doesn't think longterm and they are only interested in a quick buck regardless what it means for the quality or the integrity of the game. I'm willing to bet some guys would make the famous Spongebob Squarepants figure MrCrabs look spendable..

Redesigns for the sake of what exactly?

Maybe just maybe I'm unwilling to accept changes (yes I hate them) but honestly what's the point of having a so called website that's worse than the new TSN one, slow as hell and looks like the blogsite designed by a 12 year old?

Wrong personal running the league

I don't know nor care about any of the other leagues but I'm always fascinated to find out that a billion dollar league can be run by guys with no athletic skills, integrity nor any measurable pre involvement in the game. I mean, there are so many legendary players why not hire one of them and bring back the game to it's roots?

[HadThomasVokounOnFortSt 878]

TV deal is all messed up in Canada and US.