What’s your unpopular hockey opinion?

[Butch 19]

Participating in the trade deadline as a buyer is one of the dumbest most short sighted moves a GM can do.

and... some GMs will make a January trade and win the Cup...

 

[PuckItUp27]

+/- while it has its flaws is actually a pretty good representation of a player's defensive ability.

 

[PhysicalGraffiti]

More fighting. Less penalties for big hits. No trapezoid.

 

[DitchMarner]

+/- while it has its flaws is actually a pretty good representation of a player's defensive ability.

I don't know why people consider it a defensive stat. A player can be decent defensively but end with a minus rating because not a lot of goals are going in for his team when he's on the ice at even strength.

It can be influenced by a number of factors outside of a particular player's defensive ability and offensive contributions, but it can have some meaning in context (compared to the plus/minus ratings of others on the same team, considering goaltending quality etc) over longer stretches.

 

[North Country]

That teams like Tampa have absolutely shot themselves in the foot by going small and speedy for a good regular season team.
Washington changed a series being dominated by Tampa in game 5 with old time, big and physical hockey and Tampa collapsed quickly. Good articles on the internet about their game plan change.
More of the same happened these playoffs when teams copied Washington’s style. Large teams prevailed and smaller teams and players had a tough time.

 

[Machinehead]

+/- while it has its flaws is actually a pretty good representation of a player's defensive ability.

Goal differential is very valid depending on the sample.

The problem with +/- is that it's calculated very erratically with arbitrary standards. As such, it often provides a very different number from actual goal differential.

For example, Crosby was +18 in traditional +/- last year but +38 in 5v5 play.

 

[NYR94]

Patrick Kane's name is Patrick Kane. Not Patty. Stop saying that.

 

[WestCoastLife]

That the Subbanator is really just an introvert.

 

[Tom Polakis]

Patrick Kane's name is Patrick Kane. Not Patty. Stop saying that.

Arizona is never called Zona. Stop saying that as well.

 

[Perfect_Drug]

McDavid and Draisaitl will win a Stanley Cup in Edmonton, and it will make everyone mad.

 

[Spartachat]

Doughty is overrated,

 

[Rorschach]

It shouldn't be an unpopular opinion but...

The salary cap (the ceiling) exists not to create some sort of competitive parity amongst teams in the league. Not at all. It is not there to create fairness between teams.

The current salary cap exists to control team expenditure on spending with regards to player salaries and nothing else.
1) Player salaries are by far the highest percentage of cost expenditure for NHL teams, so the cap limits/controls this #1 expenditure
2) The cap ceiling itself is there based on what the teams in the league are earning overall
3) It specifically is designed to STOP free-spending teams (either reckless ones or ones with very large budgets) from illogically running up the prices on players, especially on veteran role players (young role players, like all young players, have their salaries controlled by the collective bargaining agreement, I believe)
4) The current cap ceiling number should have room per team to allow for a few elite players to make elite salary

It can be argued that the cap floor is there to indirectly force some degree of competitiveness but that's not the point here.

 

[Chips]

McDavid and Draisaitl will win a Stanley Cup in Edmonton, and it will make everyone mad.

Do people hate Edmonton, or is that franchise run so poorly that it’s damn near impossible to speak positively of them?


I think lots of people here would love to watch McDavid entertain on a deep playoff run. Or any. To me the lack of progress in that direction by the franchise overall is where most of the negativity comes from. Because we DONT see McDavid compete.

 

[Leafsrock95]

Do people hate Edmonton, or is that franchise run so poorly that it’s damn near impossible to speak positively of them?


I think lots of people would love to watch McDavid entertain on a deep playoff run. Or any.

Ya I wouldn’t mind seeing him win it just seems right. They are pretty far from it tho.

 

[Mathew Barzal]

Unpopular opinion hey? Not sure anyone wants to turn this into a Gretzky thread.

 

[Butch 19]

Arizona is never called Zona. Stop saying that as well.

and Cali.

No one says that.

SoCal and NoCal are fine though...

 

[End on a Hinote]

Crosby's goal > Henderson's goal

 

[Kaapo Cabana]

Participating in the trade deadline as a buyer is one of the dumbest most short sighted moves a GM can do.

oooooh I vehemently disagree with this.

The idea is to win. I loved what CBJ did at the deadline last year, and it would be good for the league if more teams did the same.

 

[Kaapo Cabana]

+/- while it has its flaws is actually a pretty good representation of a player's defensive ability.

I find it to be a valuable stat, but only when there are relative outliers.

For example if a team has a -50 goal differential but one player is close to even, thats more impressive than a player being +20 on a powerhouse.

even then, all its doing is telling you that there is more to the story.

 

[I am toxic]

More fighting. Less penalties for big hits. No trapezoid.

Disagree.

Fight me.

 

[Kale Hulls]

Racism is alive and well.

 

[Kaners Bald Spot]

For all of the years that people complained that Toews was overrated, he has now become criminally underrated. Toews was never asked to drive offense during his prime. That was Kane's job. Toews was never Sidney Crosby but he was probably better than Bergeron, Kopitar or O'Reilly in his prime. He went up against Bergeron and Kopitar H2H and got the better of both of them.

 

[PhysicalGraffiti]

Disagree.

Fight me.

Boarding a flight to Vancouver as we speak.

Pick me up at the airport?

 

[TJ21]

The notion that a team needs to "pay their dues" is horseshit used by individuals who are salty about their team not having success. I was rooting for Vegas to win the cup for the sole purpose of seeing this place implode from the people who genuinely thought it was embarassing to the league for a new team with new players who played better than their opponents constantly to win a cup in their first season.

 

[Howboutthempanthers]

oooooh I vehemently disagree with this.

The idea is to win. I loved what CBJ did at the deadline last year, and it would be good for the league if more teams did the same.

Well, the Columbus situation is a little bit different in that they just didn't trade their guys away. And every situation is different. Teams have to do what's best for their situation.
But generally speaking, I think the trade deadline and free agency is overrated and overhyped.
I'm not seeing the positive impact in wins these activities are supposedly influencing. And it's too much emphasis and importance put on these things to not get clear almost guaranteed rises in the standings. Because you're not getting these things for free. You're giving up assets and/or salary cap.