Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Pre-Lockout Hockey
Perhaps inspired by the manner in which the Anaheim Ducks deployed tight-checking, physical hockey, the NHL has started to shift this season to what we hoped would be avoided: defense first, low-scoring hockey where the fans come out on the short end of the stick.
Maybe things would be different if the Ottawa Senators managed to win the Final, or if the Detroit Red Wings could have avoided some bad luck and knock out the Ducks in last year's Conference final. But you can't change the past and the result is the brand of hockey we have today.
Perhaps it's not as bad as I make it out to be, I mean, penalties are still called (not the ones where someone's head gets cranked by an elbow shot to the face, but if a stick reaches someone's waste, you know the ref is blowing the whistle) but there's no question defense is what NHL teams are using to win. Pretty much everyone agrees the top teams are in the Western Conference, but is it because the most talented players are out there? No. The reason is all the best defensemen and goalies all play out West. It reads like a future Hall of Fame induction ceremony: Nicklas Lidstrom, Chris Pronger, Scott Niedermayer, Sergei Zubov, Adam Foote, Rob Blake, Dion Phaneuf: All top D playing for Western teams. In nets, you have Roberto Luongo, Marty Turco, Dominik Hasek, Evgeni Nabokov, Mikka Kiprusoff...all clear #1 goalies for their respective teams. Out East I'd say outside of Zdeno Chara and Martin Brodeur, there's not much comparison. And it's no coincidence there's isn't as much scoring as there is out East.
Out of the top 25 scorers in the league, only 9 come from out West. But again, this is what is winning hockey these days. The trap is in full deployment, and thoughts of eliminating the red line and increasing the size of the offensive zones to create more goals initially was successful but no more.
What's my point? I want offense to win. I want to see Ovechkin in a playoff series against Crosby, I don't want to see another Vancouver-Dallas 1-0 game snoozefest like last year. Who would you rather pay to see, Ovechkin or Turco? I vote for the former, but that won't bring your team a Stanley Cup like the glory days of the Edmonton Oilers.
But I have no idea how the NHL can correct this.
# posted by SBP : 10:16 PM
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SBP,
Don't try to convince me that you were staying up until 3 AM to watch Dallas - Vancouver snoozefests.
Be happy you live in the East. You will someday see an Ovechkin - Crosby showdown although I'm not sure how relevant Ovechkin will be at that point. He is after all learning from the golden pillar of mediocrity in Sergei Fedorov who has all but disappeared in the last 10 years after a brilliant beginning.
I find everything in hockey works in ebbs and flows. I think West hockey is pretty good and I think only a couple of teams really trap, all the time.
Don't forget also that the flashy, point leading players in the league probably would not play for western teams as they do not get to be on the tube in primetime. I would bet that Ovechkin would have balked at being drafted by a Vancouver or Anaheim.
RBP
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Don't try to convince me that you were staying up until 3 AM to watch Dallas - Vancouver snoozefests.
Be happy you live in the East. You will someday see an Ovechkin - Crosby showdown although I'm not sure how relevant Ovechkin will be at that point. He is after all learning from the golden pillar of mediocrity in Sergei Fedorov who has all but disappeared in the last 10 years after a brilliant beginning.
I find everything in hockey works in ebbs and flows. I think West hockey is pretty good and I think only a couple of teams really trap, all the time.
Don't forget also that the flashy, point leading players in the league probably would not play for western teams as they do not get to be on the tube in primetime. I would bet that Ovechkin would have balked at being drafted by a Vancouver or Anaheim.
RBP
# posted by 
: 8:20 AM, March 13, 2008
: 8:20 AM, March 13, 2008Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
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