Are the playoffs becoming too violent?

[NotAVacuumSalesman]

No.

Next question.

 

[RuudeDog]

Someone show this kid some footage from the 80s, thanks.

If you go back and watch those games, it was certainly street rules. Crazy some of the things that went on. As a kid I loved it. But my tune changed a decade ago when I met an ex player who only played 10 games in the NHL. Pretty much a career AHL tough guy who fought in the era of Rob Ray etc.

Ask him what his life is like now. He was telling me his wife married this big tough guy who a decade later can't keep a job, has seizure's almost weekly and is a fraction of what he was. The mental grind for these guys are as hard as the physical grind. The long term issues are real. Are we entertained? Sure. But at what cost?

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

Not violent enough imo

 

[Lazlo Hollyfeld]

I think more to the OP's point the question is "have there been too many gutless cheapshots this playoffs?"

 

[Opus]

Nah. Way more cheapshoits and dirty play in the ol' glory days...

There just wasn't high def tv with multiple angles, social media and everything else we have today

Let em play! It's all part of the climb atop the mountain for the quest for the Cup

 

[SirJW]

Not sure about the NHL, but in my experience Beer League tends to get more agro during the NHL Playoffs.

 

[saska sault]

Nope.

 

[DueDiligence]

There have been dirty plays nearly every night in the playoffs. Lack of respect for opponents is astonishing and teams are trying to take out each other’s biggest stars. This is because the punishments for attempts to injure are either far too lenient or not given at all.

This issue could easily be addressed, but Bettman and Parros do nothing about it. That’s because they think violence could draw in new viewers, who now eagerly wait to see who will retaliate and how.

Apparently, the NHL wants to see star players taken out night after night. Hockey is a physical and tough sport, but there’s nothing tough about blindsiding or hitting a defenseless player from behind.

Right now we are not far from career ending injury any given night.

I guess you are still a teenager. The game is way less violent than 20 years ago let alone in the 70s and 80s.

 

[blundluntman]

Gutless is a better word than violence but yes I agree.

 

[Summer Rose]

Not sure about the NHL, but in my experience Beer League tends to get more agro during the NHL Playoffs.

Mine too. Assuming they even show up for the game instead of skipping it to watch the playoffs (I had a game the night of game 6 of the 2013 finals and a bunch of people didn't show up leaving us with something like 7 skaters for the game).

 

[OysterForever]

Someone show this kid some footage from the 80s, thanks.

Geez, might as well search photos of dinosaurs

 

[OysterForever]

Check out the early 2010s Bruins. How many people really remember Marc Savard or Nathan Horton?

What kind of question is that? I do remember both. Savard was briefly top10 player in the league.

 

[BigBadBruins7708]

This is the effect of largely removing fighting from the game. Without the fear of getting fed, scumbags will take liberties

 

[luiginb]

There have been dirty plays nearly every night in the playoffs. Lack of respect for opponents is astonishing and teams are trying to take out each other’s biggest stars. This is because the punishments for attempts to injure are either far too lenient or not given at all.

This issue could easily be addressed, but Bettman and Parros do nothing about it. That’s because they think violence could draw in new viewers, who now eagerly wait to see who will retaliate and how.

Apparently, the NHL wants to see star players taken out night after night. Hockey is a physical and tough sport, but there’s nothing tough about blindsiding or hitting a defenseless player from behind.

Right now we are not far from career ending injury any given night.

Lack of enforcers will do that

 

[Ratsreign]

I think lots of people on this site were not alive during some of the Montreal/Quebec series' in the 1980s. Or any series between the Islanders and Rangers. Or any Flyers game in the 1970s.

LoL @ “any 70s Flyers game”....
‘specially against the Soviets!


Funniest part was my dear sweet old grandma absolutely LOVED that team!!

“Only Jesus saves more than Bernie, my boy.”

 

[HabzSauce]

Not violent enough!

 

[PistolPete]

I don’t get why penalties don’t carry over to the next game. Suspension's do and they happen in the previous game. It just makes the end of the game a free for all if the other team knows there’s nothing to lose.

Or go one step further and if a player incurs an unsportsmanlike penalty of any kind he AND the coach are suspended automatically for the next game

 

[PistolPete]

Not violent enough!

Just curious, when would it be violent enough?

 

[BraveCanadian]

This is nothing compared to the old days.

The lack of repercussions for clearly dirty plays - whether by the league or by players taking it into their own hands - is different though.

 

[Jean Luc Discard]

No. The Leafs are becoming too soft.

 

[Grifter3511]

Just curious, when would it be violent enough?

 

[tkb81]

Meh I vote for more violence

 

[HabzSauce]

Just curious, when would it be violent enough?

90s violence

 

[PistolPete]

90s violence

Pfft

That wasn't violence

70s- now that was violence!

 

[karlstegger]

Hell no, the league needs some more hatred and animosity between teams