2008/09 NHL Thread

If a guy who has established his reputation as a major piece of shit, and is proud of it, is the only reason the game would be exciting, the game has major, major problems.

 

I think so. The last two years he has missed quite a bit of time due to injury. Can't imagine him coming back for another year.

 

I was thinking you get another Claude Lemieux. Yeah, he turtled, but he took a beating from Darren McCarty, as it should have been.

The Eddie Shore reference I was going for came right after the Ace Bailey hit, when Red Horner took Shore out of the equation for the rest of that game. Shore, from all accounts, knew it was coming and he accepted it. You live by the sword, etc.

 

Well to be honest every league runs into these games in the middle of the season (Houston and Jacksonville on Monday night? puhlese.) But this game there wasn't a whole lot more to tune in for unless you were a fan of either team.

 

Ok, so we get another Lemieux. How is that good for the league? If anything, it likely reinforces the ideas of those like IJAG that the NHL is populated by a bunch of thugs.

 

And Lemieux is lucky he wasn't worse for the wear. I don't think, however, it turns in to the total linebrawl that Colorado/Detroit did because of Avery being despised in his own locker room.

 

Sure, you don't get the linebrawl. What you do get is someone turtling getting whaled on by, in Phaneuf's case, a very big guy. And that's the lead highlight.

And the talk becomes not that Avery got what was coming to him, but that the NHL allows beatings like this to occur as part of the game. Say what you want about Laraque, but when he challenged Lucic repeatedly 10 days ago, he did so the right way, and because Lucic wouldn't drop, neither did George.

I'm not sure that happens if Avery and Phaneuf come to close quarters last night.

 

I don't care about that. People who don't like hockey, generally speaking, aren't looking to have their opinions changed in the first place. Why pander to them?

If that means hockey reverts to regional sport status, which I know some would argue it never outgrew in the first place, I don't care about that either.

I love hockey as the type of game where Bobby Orr can be legitimately put forth as the greatest who ever played not just because he was a stellar defenceman and a superlative offensive force, but also because he was tough enough to fight his own battles on the ice.

Hockey is what it is, what it always has been - love it or don't. I won't lose any sleep either way.

 

So, what, Dion Phaneuf is an animal who cannot control himself? If that's the case, there were referees and linesmen in Calgary to work the game.

Saw a YouTube video with clips of his teammates talking about Avery. The Stars absolutely hate him.

 

I can get completely on board with what you're saying. But I also want to see the sport grow, because as you and I and others here know, it is a wonderful sport, full of great stories, and players who do amazing things every night.

 

It will be interesting to see what the union does on Avery's behalf considering how most of the league hate's the guy's guts.

 

No, not at all. But as people have said on here the stuff said on the ice is worse. What if Avery says something on the ice that sends Phaneuf over the edge, and we get another Lemieux-McCarty, or even worse Moore-Bertuzzi?