All-purpose hockey thread...

So, the NHL has been back for a month, and I wanted to get SportsJournalists.com's take on the best sport on earth.

How do you like the rules changes? Do you like the flow of the game now? Or do you miss goonery and center-ice molestation?

I have really enjoyed the rules changes, simply because it allows the players to skate and be creative. There aren't any Eric Godards, Eric Cairns, Dale Purintons, Krystof Oliwas pinning down good players at center ice for 40 minutes.

 

Re: New NHL vs. the old NHL

Love the new game, but the NHL itself (meaning the office) is a bit of a fraud. In their "we're so great, look at how much scoring's up" stories they're counting shootout goals in the overall total.

Motherfucker, if shootouts decided games in 2003-04 then the increase wouldn't be as substantial, would it?

 

Re: New NHL vs. the old NHL

I think a shootout win counts as one team goal.

 

Re: New NHL vs. the old NHL

The NHL offices are more than a bit fraudulent.
That said, I think we would be seeing a dramatic increase in goals, simply because of the restrictions on goalie pads and the enforcement of the rules. Two years ago, Jaromir Jagr doesn't score 11 goals in a month. Now, he's on pace for a 70 goal season.

 

Re: New NHL vs. the old NHL

Numbers are definitely getting back to normal. There should be plenty of 50-goal and 100-point players. None of this bullshit where 25 goals and 65 points leads a team.

 

Re: New NHL vs. the old NHL

And that's a good thing. People pay to see Rick Nash, Iginla, Jagr, Forsberg, Ovechkin, Crosby, Lemieux, et al score goals. No one wants to see Eric Godard and Eric Cairns getting 20 minutes of ice time.

 

Re: New NHL vs. the old NHL

I was at the 7-5 Atlanta-Pittsburgh last week. Was perhaps the most exciting game I've ever been too.

Pens were down 4-0 10 minutes into it and hadn't registered a shot. They got two garbage goals late in the first to get back into it. In second period, they scored four more.

Both teams exchanged goals in the third.

Watching Sidney Crosby chase Illya Kovalchuk up and down the ice was amazing to see in person.

The new NHL isn't perfect, but it's pretty damn good.

That said, the NHL still has some issues up top. For instance, the Penguins and Sabres were exclusively broadcast on OLN the same night as the Steelers-Chargers MNF game. Why would the NHL or OLN schedule a game where one of the markets would almost exclusively have its attention on an NFL game?

 

Re: New NHL vs. the old NHL

Where's the "I like what I've seen so far but I'm not sure if I love it yet" option on that poll?

 

Re: New NHL vs. the old NHL

I'm not counting it. That's bullshit. Anyways, I think they gave the Blue Jackets two goals over their "real" goal total because in their only shootout Hartigan tied it then Letowski won it. That's not even the "one team goal" mandate that you're talking about. Only real goals for me.

There have been three games with a team scoring 8 goals in October. No reason to count the shootout goals.

 

Re: New NHL vs. the old NHL

The comeback was almost extinct for like the past seven or eight years. Now it's back. Teams would sit on a one-goal lead with a period left. Pathetic.

 

Re: New NHL vs. the old NHL

Hands down the game is much better today than itr was the last 8 or 9 years. much more flow many more scoring chances. I think the most underrated rule change is the rule that prevents a defensive line change on an icing. Totally discourages icing the puck, probably cut down 60-70 per cent of the icings.
BTW they only count one goal for a shoot out win. That being said I'm not sold on the shoot out. I think they're kind of anti-climatic. Either go to a five man shootout format or drop it and go to a 3-on-3 OT.

 

Re: New NHL vs. the old NHL

The shootout goals haven't been counted in each individual players goal stats, so I doubt they've been counted in team goals.