Luke Hughes out 6-8 weeks

[HighAndTight]

Speed of the game is a whole other issue and yes, it’s probably too fast in some ways. We’ve seen interference creep back into forechecking and the main reason offered for the lack of rule enforcement is safety. Much like the NFL’s issue with kick returns, players going balls-to-the-wall and colliding with each other isn’t a sustainable way to play.

Part of it is rosters being too big. It’s taken for granted that 30 second shifts are a good thing because everyone likes seeing players go fast, but do we actually enjoy seeing random drones sprinting up and down the ice for 40 minutes? The game would be better with about 5 fewer players on the roster, for recognizability and also for slowing things down and letting people see the stick skills and agility that can happen at slower speeds. But we’re stuck with this game unless something dramatic happens with the CBA (the NHL had a chance to improve this when new teams were added, but AFAIK it wasn’t even considered).

So you get a league where players feel they have to be ready in mid September to blast off at full Pavel Bure speed for meaningless scrimmages in September. Which means intensive summer training, which means joints break down faster and faster. It’s little different than all the goalies who retire with hip injuries because they just have to butterfly on every save, even though this is terrible for the joints and ultimately leads to missed games and seasons.

That might be what the NFL said the reason was for changing but they changed it because kickers just boot the ball out of the endzone on kick offs.

Its one of the worst decisions the NFL has made.

 

[tarheelhockey]

The game would be worse removing 5 players, ie 4th line of forwards and 3rd pairing D. That would be more taxing on the players.

It would be more taxing because shift lengths would necessarily extend to more like 1-2 minutes, which requires the player to manage his exertion throughout the shift. None of this stuff about sprinting maniacally back and forth looking for collisions. They would need to slow down and manage their shift, hitting the jets at the appropriate time when there’s a reason to do so — ideally when they’ve caught someone on a long shift and can blow past them flat-footed. Otherwise it’s a game of stick skills and agility rather than just charging the net constantly. Poorly conditioned players would get posterized regularly.

This is basically the way the game was played up until about 1985 or so, when rosters were increased to 18 and the coaches immediately started using shorter and shorter shifts. For about 20 more years there were still goons and specialists on the 4th lines, but once fighting was eliminated circa 2005 the game got faster and faster because the 4th line is became three generic scrubs who skate hard and do nothing. 5-on-5 is just go-go-go all the time with very little regard for slowing the game down (though this changes on the PP and in OT, ironically when offense happens at a higher rate).

The result is car-crash levels of force when players collide, 12-month training regimens to maximize muscle growth for pure speed, and ultimately the return of obstruction because the league understands how many injuries there would be if they called the rules as written.

That might be what the NFL said the reason was for changing but they changed it because kickers just boot the ball out of the endzone on kick offs.

If that were the reason for the change, they would have just moved the kickoff tee back 10 yards.

They explicitly wanted to get rid of the high-speed collisions that were injuring players at a high rate, which is why they came up with a weird system to ensure nobody is moving too fast when they meet each other.

 

[Golden_Jet]

It would be more taxing because shift lengths would necessarily extend to more like 1-2 minutes, which requires the player to manage his exertion throughout the shift. None of this stuff about sprinting maniacally back and forth looking for collisions. They would need to slow down and manage their shift, hitting the jets at the appropriate time when there’s a reason to do so — ideally when they’ve caught someone on a long shift and can blow past them flat-footed. Otherwise it’s a game of stick skills and agility rather than just charging the net constantly. Poorly conditioned players would get posterized regularly.

This is basically the way the game was played up until about 1985 or so, when rosters were increased to 18 and the coaches immediately started using shorter and shorter shifts. For about 20 more years there were still goons and specialists on the 4th lines, but once fighting was eliminated circa 2005 the game got faster and faster because the 4th line is became three generic scrubs who skate hard and do nothing. 5-on-5 is just go-go-go all the time with very little regard for slowing the game down (though this changes on the PP and in OT, ironically when offense happens at a higher rate).

The result is car-crash levels of force when players collide, 12-month training regimens to maximize muscle growth for pure speed, and ultimately the return of obstruction because the league understands how many injuries there would be if they called the rules as written.

So make the game slower and a worse, not a fan.

 

[tarheelhockey]

So make the game slower and a worse, not a fan.

Speed does not objectively make the game “better”, just faster.

The current game is pretty good, don’t get me wrong. It’s better than the obstruction riddled crap from 1995-2015. But it does leave a lot on the table in terms of showing off the skill of top players, because they hardly touch the puck for a second before needing to get rid of it, and the great majority of the game is played by anonymous scrubs who are literally just running down the clock.

 

[WhiskeyYerTheDevils]

Speed of the game is a whole other issue and yes, it’s probably too fast in some ways. We’ve seen interference creep back into forechecking and the main reason offered for the lack of rule enforcement is safety. Much like the NFL’s issue with kick returns, players going balls-to-the-wall and colliding with each other isn’t a sustainable way to play.

Part of it is rosters being too big. It’s taken for granted that 30 second shifts are a good thing because everyone likes seeing players go fast, but do we actually enjoy seeing random drones sprinting up and down the ice for 40 minutes? The game would be better with about 5 fewer players on the roster, for recognizability and also for slowing things down and letting people see the stick skills and agility that can happen at slower speeds. But we’re stuck with this game unless something dramatic happens with the CBA (the NHL had a chance to improve this when new teams were added, but AFAIK it wasn’t even considered).

So you get a league where players feel they have to be ready in mid September to blast off at full Pavel Bure speed for meaningless scrimmages in September. Which means intensive summer training, which means joints break down faster and faster. It’s little different than all the goalies who retire with hip injuries because they just have to butterfly on every save, even though this is terrible for the joints and ultimately leads to missed games and seasons.

I've been saying this for years. One of the biggest reasons the 80s were so fun to watch is because the skill of players had just taken a big leap forward, while guys were still taking 2 min shifts and floating on the backcheck, leaving enough time and space for skill to make awesome things happen. Shifting to a 9F 6D would really open things up again, as guys wouldn't be able to back check with such intensity. Maybe you could have 3 extra players dressed as dedicated special teams guys to keep the players union happy - guys who could only start shifts on the PP or PK but couldn't take regular ES shifts unless there was an injury.

 

[dirtydanglez]

thats a shame. the only one who isn't built like a teenager either. i figured he'd have been the most injury resistant.

 

[HugeInTheShire]

thats a shame. the only one who isn't built like a teenager either. i figured he'd have been the most injury resistant.

He did play all 82 games last season, hoping this is a one off and he won't be like Jack.

 

[dirtydanglez]

He did play all 82 games last season, hoping this is a one off and he won't be like Jack.

no surgery needed so its probably not severe and could easily be a one off.