What's Your Most Controversial Hockey Opinion?

[dortt]

This shouldn't be controversial and only is because of people's cognitive dissonance. Along with an unfathomable mentality for old people to believe everything was better in their day.

The players of today being bigger, faster, stronger, more skilled is just a fact. One born from the science of dieting and fitness training.

If McDavid or MacKinnon went up against the defence and goaltending from Gretzky's generation, they'd easily outproduce Gretzky.

It would be as wrong as those who followed golf in the late 1980s and early 1990s were when they said there would NEVER be players who have careers rivaling Palmer, Nicklaus, Hogan, etc because the field was too talented. The truth is, the great players were in Europe and hardly played in the USA at the time. The PGA Tour fields were garbage! Then along came Mickelson and Woods and exposed those opinions as the bunk they were.

Same is true with saying nobody today could produce like Gretzky and Lemieux. The reasons seem so similar to what was being said in golf 30 years ago. We will look back in these years as the lean years a couple of decades from now

 

[Pyrophorus]

That's only a controversial opinion within Southern Ontario.

You know what is true (i.e. fact): The Leafs are one of two fanbases, which can take over a huge percentage Canadian arenas. You're in BC, watch the next Nuck game.

Its not controversial here, we're not deluded.

 

[Scrantonicity 2]

There are a few fanbases in the league comprised largely of people who really don't know anything about hockey but never hesitate to give you their opinion (loudly) anyway.

 

[Hasbro]

There’s nothing wrong with tanking.

 

[Gilles Meloche]

3 on 3 should be played for the entire game.

 

[member 300185]

Where to begin...I'll take the first 3 that come to mind.

1) Mario is miscast as part of the big 4, his offense was elite but his ESGF/ESGA shows that his impact wasn't nearly as great as the legend about him.

2) Playoff seeding should be 1-16, 2-15, 3-14 ect.. to even out travel for all teams and promote the idea that the 2 best teams in the NHL can actually come from the same conference.

3) Install the floating blueline like in ball hockey.

When a team gains the blueline, the line for offsides floats back to the center red line (which in essence become the blue line) thus providing more time and space for the skill in hockey to shine through.

I lied there will be a fourth one

4) Reduce the size of the goalie equipment more in line with historical sizes while keeping safety. The equipment still is too large and is there to prevent goals more than preventing injuries.

Heck I'll even add a 5th one
5) All goals should count, other than high stick ones, if a player kicks it in it should still count, heck he can even direct it in with his hand if he wants but still no closing the hand around the puck.

I dont hate your ideas except the kicking one. When players are allowed to kick their feet, wearing a 10 razor sharp blade, injuries will pile up and be severe. Say Chara kicked at the puck and it was against Marchand. His follow up with his leg could open up Marchands neck, or at the very least, cut the femoral artery in his leg. Granted, its Marchand so who cares but you get my point.

 

[Turin]

Connor McDavid is the best player in NHL history, like every other sport in the world, the players get better, stronger, faster as generations go on

Then how does he create less goals than a player 10 years ago in a lower scoring era?

He’s close, and he’s the fastest with the puck, I’ll give you that.

 

[TheDawnOfANewTage]

I dont hate your ideas except the kicking one. When players are allowed to kick their feet, wearing a 10 razor sharp blade, injuries will pile up and be severe. Say Chara kicked at the puck and it was against Marchand. His follow up with his leg could open up Marchands neck, or at the very least, cut the femoral artery in his leg. Granted, its Marchand so who cares but you get my point.

I’d argue that such a kicking motion would never be effective and thus would never happen, but I get that you wanted to get your shot in on Marchand. Really though, I agree with OP minus the high stick part. Headed in, punched in, and especially kicked in- we’d have to make sure goalies are safe, but I honestly think a rule change would just eliminate confusion. Sticks will always be the best goal scoring option, windups and follow-throughs just don’t really make sense, so we’d just be allowing more leeway between deflection/slight kicks. Puck is in a dudes skates, let him guide it on net with his skate- it’s a skilled hockey play, and I really just don’t see any realistic situations where a guy would be putting other players in danger.

As to new unpopular opinions- hockey culture can be toxic as f***, and one need look no further than HF for examples of that.

 

[Pens x]

An unpopular opinion that I’ve had for years is that Ray Shero has no business being a GM.

 

[Chet Manley]

Faceoffs aren't that important. If a player can win 1 of 3 than good enough.

High stick contacting the puck should be AOK. It is too hard for the officials and video review guys to get the borderline calls right... So just let them all go.

If Zach Kassian deserved 2 games for punching a flaming Turtle than any fight should be a 1 game suspension.

 

[SCampo98]

The instigator penalty should result in a game misconduct, not a minor.

 

[BrockLobster]

Female hockey players would dominate in the new NHL if they were given the chance

No they wouldn't. Not one would even make a team.

 

[Eisen]

Hockey, and many other sports, will be replaced as the top revenue generators by e-sports in the next 20 years.

I would not be surprised.

 

[Smeagoal]

A 18 year old “High end” prospect isn’t more valuable than a proven NHL star.

That's debatable as it depends on the NHL star in question... if its a top-line NHL star then yes, but if its an 18-year old 'high end' prospect: Hughes/Kakko of last year. I'd consider them more valuable, even unproven in the NHL, then an NHL star such as idk...Horvat, Nugent-Hopkins, Nylander, DeBrincat, Radulov, Trochek. Not high-end NHL stars, but NHL stars regardless.

 

[Czechboy]

You should have to sit in the box the entire 2 minutes regardless of if your opponent scores.
You should still have to go to the box even if the team scores during the delayed penalty.
Jagr played in a much lower scoring area than Gretzky/Lemieux and should be in that conversation if you prorate the scoring.
If Hasek was born a decade later and was able to come to the NHL at a younger age, he'd be considered the greatest goalie of all time.

 

[frisco]

I'm glad the NHL doesn't go to the Olympics. Shuts down the game for three weeks. The first week is meaningless just to see which one of Norway/Germany/Kazikstan goes home. Then the rest is just a crapshoot, one game and you're done. Big ice is boring and unless it is played in North America. Games are on at all hours of the morning. Just too many negatives. Should have a real World Cup every four years in September where teams have a training camp and time to jell. Canada/World Cup has always had superior hockey.

My Best-Carey

 

[Cats2TheCup]

Forcing women into the NHL all star game was cheap and insulting to everyone, especially the women.

 

[TheTechNoir]

Modern NHL is FAR more entertaining then the "the good old times" of NHL.

As a matter of fact, the current version of NHL is as close to ideal league then we've seen in any sport, maybe ever.

Playoff seeding doesn't seem to even matter these days. President Trophy winner hasn't won the SC in 6 years and only twice in the last 17. Which league in history can you say that about?

Just compare this league to what is happening in NBA...

Devil's advocate: Is that a good thing, though? I don't mean it's good for PT winner to get the cup consistently, per say. But, is it good that the team that performs the best over an 82 game span consistently does *not* win the most coveted prize? Why is this, and why is this good? Is it because playoff hockey is different, and some teams are built for the playoff grind more than the regular season and vise versa? Is luck a large component of hockey? Is it all a crap-shoot, all the time? Are best of 7s not enough hockey to sift through the random results?

Myself, I know one thing that influences my preference for present-day NHL (I'm not sure what you mean by modern, I think modern NHL is usually defined as 70s to present? but from context it sounds like you are talking post-2004 lockout), and that is HD coverage. I never got to watch live NHL until the last few years, and while I have very fond memories of (perhaps some nostalgia sprinkled in) 90s hockey in particular, I do love HD coverage.

 

[JofaBucket87]

I miss the way hockey equipment used to be so varied player to player. I think it gave each guy a distinct look and was more fun as a player choosing all these different styles. For example when you think of Messier you think of that Winwell helmet, Osgood the back up mask and helmet, Fedorov the white Nike skates. There were a ton of brands and models of everything to choose from. As a player you even had to use some ingenuity putting in a new blade on a shaft, blow torching your curve, mixing and matching etc. Before everything was bought up or whatever. Now everything pretty much looks and is the same, not as much variety. Safer, sure, but not as fun or interesting.

 

[TheTechNoir]

The NHL, and other major professional sports leagues, should be investing in developing AI tech to aid officials and improve officiating.

Any proposals at all on implementation/deployment? Like - not asking you about how would one design the tech or program it or anything - just - do you have any more direct ideas as far as over-arching concept?

 

[TheTechNoir]

Some of these don't seem controversial at all. But I like a lot of them.

EDIT: Controversial opinion: This thread probably has less hot takes than the majority of threads on this board.

 

[LakeLivin]

I'd like to see the standings sorted by percentage of available points won rather than raw total points (display both). Sure, games in hand are in a sense magic beans, but those beans do have value. E.g., which team has performed better, one that's 5-0-0 with 10 points or one that's 5-5-1 with 11 points?

 

[DVision44]

Hockey is supposedly for everybody but there are no players from S America... /s

 

[HisIceness]

The NHL should give Atlanta another shot. This time with a competent owner and front office who knows what they are doing. I think most posters here would be surprised at how successful an Atlanta team could be with a Jeff Vinik or Tom Dundon type owner.

 

[Mumbo]

Fighting is boring