24 25 Former Predators Thread

[wmupreds]

Only way to stop legal hits from causing injuries is to remove hitting. When you have the variances the NHL does in height, weight, and strength someone is always going to get injured.

Frankly I put Carrier's injury on his teammates. They poked the bear, don't complain when he wakes up.

Yeah I don’t really agree with this. It’s not a perfect analogy- tackling is a different thing than hockey hitting- but the NFL/college football cracked down on targeting and it turns out it’s really difficult to blow people up while avoiding head contact, so you just see way fewer of those types of hits now. Sure it changed the game to some degree, it’s harder to break up passes for example when you can’t just lay a guy out, but the league is still doing just fine. IIHF has way less tolerance for blowing people up and is still a good product IMO.

Honestly you could just change the rule from “principal point of contact” to “head contact” like many leagues do and take care of plenty of it. It’s not about getting rid of all injuries, of course that’s never gonna happen. Nor is it about banning all physical play. Just that I don’t think the thrill or whatever of seeing Tom Wilson destroy someone (while still hitting him in the head btw) is really worth potentially maiming people.

 

[Armourboy]

Yeah I don’t really agree with this. It’s not a perfect analogy- tackling is a different thing than hockey hitting- but the NFL/college football cracked down on targeting and it turns out it’s really difficult to blow people up while avoiding head contact, so you just see way fewer of those types of hits now. Sure it changed the game to some degree, it’s harder to break up passes for example when you can’t just lay a guy out, but the league is still doing just fine. IIHF has way less tolerance for blowing people up and is still a good product IMO.

Honestly you could just change the rule from “principal point of contact” to “head contact” like many leagues do and take care of plenty of it. It’s not about getting rid of all injuries, of course that’s never gonna happen. Nor is it about banning all physical play. Just that I don’t think the thrill or whatever of seeing Tom Wilson destroy someone (while still hitting him in the head btw) is really worth potentially maiming people.

Oh I'd disagree, I can't stand to watch football much anymore because of it. Anytime there is a decent play made there is some freaking penalty called. You gotta protect players, but you gotta also understand you are playing a contact sport and sometimes things happen.

What you want to stop is the guys going for the head on purpose, especially the hits they knew were going to cause injuries, and the ones that are just done with no thought for the status of the other player. They've already pretty much done that for the most part. I can't remember that last time I saw a guy get hammered like you used to see Scott Stevens do all the time.

 

[Kat Predator]

One move that never happened was the all-in signing of Taylor Hall. Poile dodged a few bullets back in his day.

 

[Gh24]

On a different note, I think that Wilson hit is exactly the type the NHL should be trying to phase out of the game. Probably won’t be a popular take, and I know that by the book it was probably a legal hit, but Carrier is probably concussed and that type of injury is extremely likely to come from a hit like that on that area of the ice. Just knowing what we now know, I’m not much of a fan of blowing guys up for the sake of it. It led to a goal, yes, but you don’t have to hammer a guy like that to separate them from the puck.

Yeah it's a balance between an entertainment product and long term health concerns of the performers. I love big hits, but the brutal consequences saddens me at the same time.

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

One move that never happened was the all-in signing of Taylor Hall. Poile dodged a few bullets back in his day.

Taylor Hall is such a weird case. From a #1OA and Hart Trophy winner to Craig Smith clone... there aren't ever many guys like that in the history of the league. Aside from maybe Jose Theodore, who are the non-HHOF Hart winners? It just doesn't happen often.