What are some of the best/worst NHL traditions?

[Goptor]

Best: Hat Tricks

Worst: Refereeing in the playoffs

 

[Breakers]

Guys that still go without a helmet in warmups

nobody cares that much about your hair.

 

[FunkySeeFunkyDo]

Best: Handshake lines

Worst: TSN reporting the full dollar value of a contract not the AAV. Sillinger is getting $4.5M per year?! No, no he is not.

 

[leeroggy]

Best
The Rangers and Leafs combining for 1 Cup in 150 seasons, knowing there's no end in sight
Worst
Playing YMCA on the first night of a cruise (yep, doesn't belong, but so what? It truly needs to go . . .)

 

[Lshap]

Best: Another vote for the handshake line. I like the message that you can play an intense, physical series and are expected to respect your opponent when it's done.

Worst: More a bad habit than an actual tradition – fans banging on the glass. What are they doing?? Are they trying to communicate? Do they want players to throw them peanuts? Are they confused there's an invisible barrier separating them from the ice?

 

[LevelingSolo]

I just don't get why Montreal and Toronto just has to be the season opener every year

 

[Albatros]

Guys that still go without a helmet in warmups

nobody cares that much about your hair.

Counterpoint:

 

[Shane Diesel]

Worst: immediately having to fight after laying a massive, but ultimately clean hit.

 

[Section 104]

Best
National anthems
Islanders facial hair policy
Handshakes when playoff series over

Worst
No touching conference cup
No use of ping pong balls for lottery
95% of the third jerseys. Maybe someday I’ll see one that I think looks nice but off the top of my head I can’t think of any
Removing Kate Smith’s statue.

 

[pvr]

Best: Panthers fans tossing rats on the ice after wins. It’s from a fun early year where we went to the Finals.

Worst: chanting a goalie’s name and saying it’s all his fault after a goal if you’re not Nashville. Not a big fan of them doing it, but I’ve seen other teams’ fans doing it. That’s their thing.

Nashville stole it from University of Wisconsin and/or University of Michigan (don’t know which one did it first, but it’s many decades old). They also have other great scripted chants for key points or moments in the game.

 

[Nogatco Rd]

Removing Kate Smith’s statue.

Had to google as I'd never heard of her. Those lyrics tho... yikes

 

[The Panther]

Surely the worst was the rookie / initiation "shave" of the 1970s/80s (don't know when it started?).

If you don't know what I'm talking about, "shave" here does not refer to hair on one's scalp.

Some players were slightly traumatized by it, including Finnish star goalie Pelle Lindbergh.

 

[Markster]

Worst: Vegas' tradition of keeping a big salary guy on LTIR until Game 1 of the playoffs.

 

[Nogatco Rd]

Best:
-Stadium organists
-Each player getting a day with the Cup
-Rangers’ goal song
-Caps goal horn / siren
-O Canada, the GOAT national anthem IMO
-Fans from the DMV shouting the “O” for Orioles in the 2nd to last verse of the star spangled banner

Worst:
-Trashy fans throwing garbage on the ice to protest a call
-Corporate naming rights for almost every arena
-“storm surge”
-Military propaganda during the game

 

[Senor Catface]

Guys that still go without a helmet in warmups

nobody cares that much about your hair.

Bald guy alert

 

[BelovedIsles]

The handshake line and handing off of the Cup followed by a hoisted skate around give me goosebumps every time.

 

[x Tame Impala]

Love: The handshake line after playoff series. It’s the personification of sport

Hate: Booing Bettman every year. At worst, hockey is doing just fine under his tenure. You’re either a meathead or a Canadian conspiracy theorist to think he deserves to be booed.

 

[Bizz]

Hate: shouting "HOW MUCH TIME IS LEFT?!?!1" with one minute left to play in a period.

No, the PA announcer wasn't addressing you directly. You're not that f***ing special. Now stfu and watch the game like everyone else, dumbass.

shit was cringeworthy 10 years ago and even worse now.

 

[Rowlet]

Add me in to the group who thinks the national anthem is stupid

The government pays the league to sing them, that's silly

 

[Jumptheshark]

I’ve got bad news for you if you think Nashville originated that particular cheer.

Didn't know the preds were around in the late 70s. A few home fans did it for a few sessons until they got a good goalie

 

[JoVel]

The worst traditions are all the pre-game stuff that delay the puck drop, whether it's national anthems, military propaganda or whatever.

I'll allow jersey retirements if it's a player I like.

 

[CharasLazyWrister]

Worst: Nashville's "you suck" chant. What are they, 12?

“Refs…you suck” has become a popular crowd chant around the league in the past decade or so. Shit is so stupid. 90% of the time it’s not even a bad call that prompts it.

At least learn the refs name. “Refs you suck” just sounds so f***ing amateur and “I don’t know what’s going on but I’m going to whine about officiating”.

 

[JabbaJabba]

•Not stepping on the logo in the floor of the locker room. Maybe don't put one there then?

This. If your team's logo is a sacred symbol, maybe put it somewhere else than on the ground. Like put it on the ceiling, so that the team members are watched over by the symbol.

Some traditions I don't care for:
- Anthems before the game when its not a national game. Seems unnecessary when it's like Columbus against Minnesota and when bunch of their players are not even from the US. And no, I don't like this when they do it in the Finnish league either.
- Throwing dead animals on the ice. Just a waste and probably not nice to clean up either.

Best ones:
- Shaking hands after playoff series. Hockey games sometimes are very intense but in the end its just a game and shaking your opponents hand after is a gentlemanly gesture.
- All players get their moment with the cup on the ice and afterwards. They won it so they get to enjoy it.

 

[Nogatco Rd]

Add me in to the group who thinks the national anthem is stupid

The government pays the league to sing them, that's silly

I don’t think that’s accurate

 

[Machinehead]

Best "Potvin Sucks" chant by Rangers fans every time they play Islanders. It's crazy to think they still say it and he's been retired since 1988 gotta love it !!

This is the worst. Possibly in the league.

I spend $150 on a ticket, we're down 6-1, and some f***ing asshole starts whistling. It's enough to make you support James Dolan's arena bans. Where's the facial recognition when you need it?

One of the ones I actually do enjoy at the Rangers games is during then anthem when somebody screams "LET'S GO RANGERS!!!" every time the singer stops. It's pretty hype.

Granted, it's funny to me that 99% of the people doing so "stopped watching the NFL" when the players started kneeling, but it's still hype.