What's Your Most Controversial Hockey Opinion?

[Cant Kick On 1 Foot]

Markstrom’s 22/23 season was not actually as bad as his stats show. I watched a majority of Flames games this year and observed him bail out his team more than he failed the team, or at least give his team an opportunity to win.

 

[Voight]

Or, the typical fan has very limited actual knowledge of the game of hockey beyond the rules. Many fancy themselves as quasi-scouts, coaches or GMs but almost no one has actual good insight or understanding

And even the insightful ones are chalked full of biases than influence how they elevate the game

Not to mention, most casual fans are puck watching/big play watching and miss 90% of the play off the puck.

And lastly, no causal fan has insight into the actual systems of the team. Teams develop specific strategies each game and fans have no knowledge of it. So someone could judge a player for having a bad game, when it reality they were following specific instructions by the coach. Perhaps they were told to play super high in the zone, or to cover closely a specific player. Maybe that leads to a goal against and the casual fan is ripping that player for being in the incorrect spot, but actually that is where they were instructed to play

Overall, I would say the causal fans ability to properly elevate the game of hockey is around a 2/10. Most GMs and scouts is likely only around a 6/10 based on how many bad moves teams make

Analytics aren't needed in hockey.

You dont need some made up stat to tell me if a player is good or bad. Theres no hidden information.

& I disagree about the bolded especially if you played the game even more so at a highish level.

 

[Slats432]

That Bettman has done a good job overall and doesn't hate Canada.

 

[tfwnogf]

Eliotte Friedman is the most handsome analyst in the business

 

[cptjeff]

Analytics aren't needed in hockey.

You dont need some made up stat to tell me if a player is good or bad. Theres no hidden information.

& I disagree about the bolded especially if you played the game even more so at a highish level.

Analytics are really helpful to try and get a better understanding of a player you can't watch every game. They can be really useful and help identify factors to a player's game that aren't always obvious from watching a game or two.

A lot of fans use them as "I can rank players by this obscure analytic and I have the one secret to identify the best players in the game", which isn't really how any stat should be used, and there are also some stats that are beyond useless in a way that's apparent to anyone who's seen the game. Some of the worst of it was when PDO was a thing- 'oh, these are the players who are secretly really good but unlucky' when in reality, what PDO was measuring was things like players who lacked finishing skill despite getting to to areas of the ice for good chances. That was something that analytics couldn't quantify, so a lot of analysts dismissed it as luck, when in reality what they were dismissing as luck was a major aspect of player talent.

Used well and with proper context, they're useful. Without the right context, they're useless or actively misleading.

 

[Reality Czech]

Analytics aren't needed in hockey.

You dont need some made up stat to tell me if a player is good or bad. Theres no hidden information.

& I disagree about the bolded especially if you played the game even more so at a highish level.

Was coming here to post something similar. I wouldn't go as far as saying analytics aren't needed but I think people are relying on them way too much these days. A lot of these stats should be looked at like +/-, which can give us some information but shouldn't be relied on to assess a player. So much of it depends on usage, how good or bad the team is as a while and other situational factors.

 

[Rabid Ranger]

Analytics are really helpful to try and get a better understanding of a player you can't watch every game. They can be really useful and help identify factors to a player's game that aren't always obvious from watching a game or two.

A lot of fans use them as "I can rank players by this obscure analytic and I have the one secret to identify the best players in the game", which isn't really how any stat should be used, and there are also some stats that are beyond useless in a way that's apparent to anyone who's seen the game. Some of the worst of it was when PDO was a thing- 'oh, these are the players who are secretly really good but unlucky' when in reality, what PDO was measuring was things like players who lacked finishing skill despite getting to to areas of the ice for good chances. That was something that analytics couldn't quantify, so a lot of analysts dismissed it as luck, when in reality what they were dismissing as luck was a major aspect of player talent.

Used well and with proper context, they're useful. Without the right context, they're useless or actively misleading.

Just give me actual goals and not expected goals.

 

[dirtydanglez]

that the eastern conference was filled with paper tigers this season.

 

[John Price]

NBC should take the league back. Espn is doing a bad job.

 

[EverTheCynic]

McDavid is a problem in Edmonton, not a solution. They aren't winning a cup paying a floaty PP specialist $12.5m a season.

McDavid needs to change his game in the postseason, or Holland needs to get really cute in building around him with the cap constraints of the modern NHL. A hard systems based coach might help too.

 

[JianYang]

I miss the big hits, fights and line brawls of the early 90's.

Stupid CTE.

I don't know if I miss it, but the crowds are certainly different. Probert coming to town used to be a big deal. I think the nhl has lost those strong antagonists, which a good story always needs.

I don't need fights, although I don't mind them. What I do need is some more emotion and dislike between teams to spice up the average game. Teams barely chirp each other anymore between the benches and this used to be a daily occurrence. You can ask anyone who works between the benches and they will tell you how different the atmosphere is today compared to even 10 years ago.

As much as I like the movement to offense and the showcasing of skill right now, I think the game has also gotten more robotic and stiff in certain respects at the same time.

 

[crowfish]

Roberto Luongo was a FAR better goalie than Martin Broduer.

This is not actually controversial statistically, only narratively.

 

[Zur En Arrh]

McDavid is a problem in Edmonton, not a solution. They aren't winning a cup paying a floaty PP specialist $12.5m a season.

McDavid needs to change his game in the postseason, or Holland needs to get really cute in building around him with the cap constraints of the modern NHL. A hard systems based coach might help too.

He's does have the ability to make a purse from Walmart look Gucci though...

 

[RogerRoger]

I love the Fox TRAX Glow puck and wish there was a feed with it for every game.

 

[JimEIV]

Scott Stevens was the best Defenseman of his era.

No other defenseman had the ability to change the game and force the opposition to play differently than Stevens. Years of watching some of the best players in the league afraid to cut across the ice or come down the left wing in the playoffs was something I have never seen before or since

Mario Lemieux tried everything possible to not matchup with Stevens in the 2001 playoffs...even faked a shift. He hopped over the boards and Stevens followed... Mario went back on the bench and took his shift after Stevens shift was over....Mario was held goalless in the series...no Dman had that sort of influence over the game. Nobody was afraid to skate down Lindstrom's wing...nobody was faking a shift to avoid Bourque No player altered the way they played for any other Dman...Scott Stevens was a force and the most dominant Dman I have ever seen.

 

[Lazlo Hollyfeld]

Was coming here to post something similar. I wouldn't go as far as saying analytics aren't needed but I think people are relying on them way too much these days. A lot of these stats should be looked at like +/-, which can give us some information but shouldn't be relied on to assess a player. So much of it depends on usage, how good or bad the team is as a while and other situational factors.

Agreed.

Baseball is much better suited to analytics because you have offense and defense separated. Pitcher versus batter. And one pitch at a time.

Hockey is everything everywhere all at once. So the stats need a ton of context and much of the time aren't supporting the conclusions people are using them for.

 

[GrumpyKoala]

Mine is that for the most part analytics are for nerds who've never played hockey. The vast majority of podcasts, twitter people, bloggers etc who preach about analytics above all else have never played hockey in their life. Hiring a bunch of 30 year old nerds who never played hockey over experienced people who understand how hockey works is stupid and we’re saying that play out in the failed Toronto experiment. People who bash the “Old Boys Club” are akin to young people who bash their manager or CEO thinking if they got rid of any hierarchy and let them all equally run the show things would go better. A lot of people online think they know more than NHL GM’s who’ve spent their entire life around the league.

Nerd here:
Mine is Save % is the most useless stats to evaluate goaltending performance.

 

[McShogun99]

The league is rigged against Canadian teams.

 

[Right Wing]

Too much time wasted in OT 3vs3 with taking the puck back to your own end and resetting. I think if you take it back inside your D zone the whistle is blown and face off in your end

 

[Channelcat]

Growth killed NHL hockey

 

[Grate n Colorful Oz]

Eliminate blue line zone entry offsides, although keep the zone exit offsides.

While keeping the no two line pass rule (both blue lines).

This eliminates most traps

 

[tTheVeganWoofMate]

Brad Marchand and Charlie MacAvoy are two of the most overrated players in nhl.

Brad Marchand is a quitter.

 

[johnjm22]

The draft should be completely random. Equal weighted 32 team lottery. Each team gets 1 ball.

The Stanley Cup finals should be 1 game. Not a series.

It's not scoring that makes the game exciting. Its game flow. The NHL should focus on minimizing play stoppages. The less whistles the better.

 

[hskey]

-Hockey culture, for the most part, is brutal. I've never played against a bigger group of macho, idiotic, whiny babies in my life and that includes soccer. Parents are terrible, I feel so badly for referees. I think it comes as a product of being a sport where you're flying around at 20mp/h with armor and a weapon, I guess it's just natural that a barbaric sport would produce a bunch of roided up angry madlads.

-I'd rather have a player like McDavid to cheer for for a decade than win a single cup. A team wins a cup every year, only seldom does a player like McDavid come along and dozens of teams will never get a player of his calibre, ever.

-Bring back ties, I love ties. I'm sick of 3 point games. Either bring back ties, or make a regulation win 3 points, OT/Shootout worth 2.

-Blaming the refs, or complaining about refereeing, is the mating call of the loser AND it hurts the industry as a whole. The more people complain, the less likely potentially talented refs will chose that profession. If you don't credit the win to a ref, you can't blame them for a loss. Terrible mentality.

 

[BlackFrancis]

"game management" is an ear worm that has infected hockey fandom. Patient zero was some poor Canadian who read an article or blog post containing the phrase, and it rapidly melted the synapses of every NHL fan it came into contact with.

You think this is new? That it's only the NHL? Or hockey?

MLB home plate umpires have a flexible strike zone depending on the inning and the score. The NFL is notorious for never, ever calling offensive holding late in games against a team that's chasing. The NBA does not foul out stars, or at least they don't now, now that Earl Strom is retired.

If you played any sport as a child, you know this is just the way of things and it is likely almost all due to human nature.

While it may be "game management", it has always been with us and we aren't getting rid of it until the unveiling of ZebrAI. Then we'll all say the screwjob is coming from hackers.