What’s your unpopular hockey opinion?

[Machinehead]

The 2010 Bruins were the closest thing i will ever see to a "perfect" team


(i hate the bruins btw)

They won 39 of 82 games, so yeah, that's a hot one.

 

[Machinehead]

Advanced stats have become the bane of the hockey community. Apparently there's tons of players in the league who really aren't good at hockey but for some reason they keep getting contracts and ice time.

That's not an advanced stats problem.

GM's were blind long before people started posting on the internet about advanced stats.

It's a culture problem.

 

[End on a Hinote]

I don't know how unpopular this is, but I always though they should ditch the Canada/Russia challenge series they have every year as I feel that rivalry is long outdated and replace it with the top Major Junior players vs. The best U-20 NCAA players, regardless of the players' nationality (a Canadian/American/Euro could be on the NCAA team or Junior team).

A competition between the 2 best development programs would be an awesome watch IMO.

 

[Beauner]

The 2016 Penguins were the closest thing i will ever see to a "perfect" team

Edited your post to reflect my unpopular opinion

 

[Cotton]

I disagree. Just compare Carolina to SJ. Carolina has won a cup in recent memory yet are a 2nd tier franchise because they rarely make the playoffs.
Compare them to the Sharks who are always competitive and employ elite talent.

I would prefer SJ's success over the past 15 years than Carolina's.

San Jose is 21st in attendance and 15th in value, that's pretty second tier. And i'm pretty you would be hard pressed to find anyone who would give up a Cup for any number of Presidents trophies.

 

[ziggyjoe212]

San Jose is 21st in attendance and 15th in value, that's pretty second tier. And i'm pretty you would be hard pressed to find anyone who would give up a Cup for any number of Presidents trophies.

Last season San Jose was 12th in NHL with 97.3% attendance. Carolina was last at 85.2%.
Sharks are 15th in value. Carolina is 5th least.

IMO I rather be a Sharks fan with 20 years of consistent success and elite players vs Carolina with 15 playoff misses in 20 years, constant crap rosters, and 1 stanley cup. Of course, fans of franchises without a SC may have different feelings.

 

[Chips]

Last season San Jose was 12th in NHL with 97.3% attendance. Carolina was last at 85.2%.
Sharks are 15th in value. Carolina is 5th least.

IMO I rather be a Sharks fan with 20 years of consistent success and elite players vs Carolina with 15 playoff misses in 20 years, constant crap rosters, and 1 stanley cup. Of course, fans of franchises without a SC may have different feelings.

Gotta agree with this as a Caps fan formerly without a cup. I felt the same way then.

There’s way more time spent in the regular season. I’ll take consistently solid long seasons throughout a decade+ without a cup, over a few good years and a cup. Significantly more entertainment value collectively. Pride and entertainment are not the same thing, and since I’m not actually on the team, I’ll take entertainment.


People overvalue the playoffs when judging a team’s all around value in the short term.

In that year, the presidents trophy winning team is more often than not a better team than the 8th seed that happened to get hot and win the cup. Playoffs are a much smaller sample size with much more impact from random factors out of teams control.
They might be way better than a 2nd seed team if that team was in a crap division.

 

[Cenzhin]

The NHL should permanently move to 3v3 hockey.

 

[ChaosLord]

The season is far too long. The season should end in February, the SC Champiion should be decided in April
No on wants to watch hockey in June (or May, for that matter).

 

[Hattrickkane88]

Last season San Jose was 12th in NHL with 97.3% attendance. Carolina was last at 85.2%.
Sharks are 15th in value. Carolina is 5th least.

IMO I rather be a Sharks fan with 20 years of consistent success and elite players vs Carolina with 15 playoff misses in 20 years, constant crap rosters, and 1 stanley cup. Of course, fans of franchises without a SC may have different feelings.

I wouldn’t even call losing in the finals for 20 years straight consistent success, more like consistent failure to win the cup, would much rather have Carolina’s cup.

 

[Hattrickkane88]

The season is far too long. The season should end in February, the SC Champiion should be decided in April
No on wants to watch hockey in June (or May, for that matter).

I want more hockey because it’s literally the only thing on Tv I can enjoy. Do you watch lame baseball or something

 

[Deuce Awesome]

I disagree. Just compare Carolina to SJ. Carolina has won a cup in recent memory yet are a 2nd tier franchise because they rarely make the playoffs.
Compare them to the Sharks who are always competitive and employ elite talent.

I would prefer SJ's success over the past 15 years than Carolina's.

Seems kind of ironic given what is in your pic...

The Thornton/Marleau Sharks will always be remembered as flying through the regular season and then crashing in the playoffs. The canes won the Cup.

 

[Deuce Awesome]

They won 39 of 82 games, so yeah, that's a hot one.

2010–11 record: 46–25–11

 

[Bounces R Way]

Hockey is the best sport ever and the NHL does a shit job of showcasing that fact.

 

[Machinehead]

2010–11 record: 46–25–11

Yeah but that's not 2010. We would refer to that as 2011.

 

[Canadienna]

The sport is doing fine and no major changes are needed.

 

[Oddbob]

2010–11 record: 46–25–11

What is so good about a team that lost 36 games.

 

[Leksand]

The NHL should permanently move to 3v3 hockey.

I came to post quite the opposite:

3v3 is so boring. Better than shootout but that’s a low bar.

So everyone - which one is the unpopular view?

 

[Chips]

I came to post quite the opposite:

3v3 is so boring. Better than shootout but that’s a low bar.

So everyone - which one is the unpopular view?

Only with bad teams. Good offensive teams make 3v3 really fun.

 

[sabremike]

San Jose is 21st in attendance and 15th in value, that's pretty second tier. And i'm pretty you would be hard pressed to find anyone who would give up a Cup for any number of Presidents trophies.

SJ arena is 25th among all NHL arenas in capacity so using attendance rank is incredibly misleading.

 

[n00bxQb]

The season is far too long. The season should end in February, the SC Champiion should be decided in April
No on wants to watch hockey in June (or May, for that matter).

I agree with this. 62 game regular season (play each team twice, get rid of divisions and conferences), average 3 games/week (instead of the 3.2 currently). Regular season finishes 5 weeks earlier (end of February), postseason should wrap up late-April/early-May.

 

[n00bxQb]

I came to post quite the opposite:

3v3 is so boring. Better than shootout but that’s a low bar.

So everyone - which one is the unpopular view?

I hate both. Wish they'd do 5 minutes of 4-on-4, 5 minutes of 3-on-3, shootout instead. 3-on-3 was fun for like a month and it's BARELY real hockey.

 

[Midnight Judges]

Hockey is the best sport ever and the NHL does a **** job of showcasing that fact.

Totally agree, but if the NHL got as high profile as the NFL, would things change for the worse?

 

[Pyrophorus]

Totally agree, but if the NHL got as high profile as the NFL, would things change for the worse?

The criticism would be sky high: No one could take Strombo as an example. There is still a very strict conservative bent
in hockey, and it would take so much to fix it. Always wear the suits, whatever happened to good old hockey (i.e fights and damn the CTE). Many think its pretty soft now.

No way could quite a few people not take, the direction of a higher profile. People still bitch about the Yotes, Panthers and Canes-but these places will lead to a higher profile of hockey. Matthews is just the tip of the iceberg of what could be.

 

[Pyrophorus]

I hate both. Wish they'd do 5 minutes of 4-on-4, 5 minutes of 3-on-3, shootout instead. 3-on-3 was fun for like a month and it's BARELY real hockey.

You want real hockey. Lets have OT...and then a tie.