What's Your Most Controversial Hockey Opinion?

[Beauner]

Mine's that i dont value Ovechkin overall as a good hockey player. Good shooter yea he has had and will get crazy amount of goals because theyr team's stragedy is to get him goals, but really outside of shooting nothing special. My opinion is that if Ovechkin would be replaced by some other player Capitals wouldnt be effectively negatively at all lets say atm player like Tomas Tatar or somethink like that Capitals would be about same level team. Tatar ofc wouldnt get as much goals they would play differently, but removing Ovy wouldnt negatively affect Capitals at all they would just play different style.

I completely agree with bolded #1. Ovechkin has 2 skills, his shot and his physicality. I acknowledge his shot is top tier all time, but physicality also really isn't that noteworthy of a skill. And outside of that, he provides nothing as a hockey player. No playmaking, no defensive ability, his hands were pretty good at one point but he doesn't dangle at all anymore. It does say something though about how elite his shot is that it can be his only lethal quality as a player and teams still can't shut it down after all these years. He's been at the same spot on the PP for over a decade now and teams still can't stop it. Credit to guys like Backstrom and Carlson for being able to get him the puck.

Regarding the 2nd bolded, completely disagree. That team's identity revolves around his lethal shot. Without him they'd be lost. Not a lottery team, but probably right in the middle of the league.

 

[Cotton]

Canadians

Canadiens*

Leafs is not the correct way to spell Leaf plural

They are named after a military patch, so in that case they are Leafs, not leaves.

For the most part people that devalue or hate analytics don't understand what they mean

Actually, most people who use them don't understand what they mean. In the very best case scenario, after considering everything, they help support a trend, but instead you see people on here trying to slam dunk on other posters because they concluded something definitive after looking at a couple stats.

There was an article (out of Chicago I believe) a few years back from someone who uses them professionally in baseball basically explaining how their community hates it when fans and media use them because they habitually misrepresent the numbers and what they ultimately mean.

And if you googled the topic you would find sports analytics is taking a beating all over. They are about as popular as the glowing puck, and will likely enjoy the same lifespan.

The Leafs were "built on analytics?"

Well yes, seeing as their GM is an analytics guru and built the biggest analytics department in the NHL. Your argument pretty much highlights why fans and media shouldn't use them.


My own controversial opinion is that the amateur fancy stat community clings on to them because they believe them an equalizer in helping explain things they're incapable of spotting and understanding from watching play on their own.

 

[snipes]

TheJackAttack is the best poster on HFboards

Spicy

 

[Stamkos4life]

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

Totally agree.

Mine is that auston Matthew's is one of the most over rated players in the league. Every year he is voted as a top 4 center in the league. He is still not the 4th best center in the league.

 

[Nac Mac Feegle]

All players at all levels should wear full cages/shields.

Protective equipment like shoulderpads and elbow pads must have a soft outer layer (you can still have hard plastic in a middle layer, but it has to have sufficient outside padding).

 

[tony d]

That the current playoff format isn't that bad.

 

[Chiarelli]

That it’s a better sport than football

 

[Flying Dego]

I think it would be better for the game if goalies covering the puck didn't lead to a whistle, but instead they had to move it within 10 or so seconds, like in soccer.

I know it'll never change thougb

That would be interesting but the problem would be goalies getting injured at a high rate. Can you imagine the Hornqvists of the world not having to stop when the goalie covers the puck?

 

[Bocephus86]

Reffing is fine as it is, and replay has had more of a negative impact on the game than a positive one.

 

[Henkka]

Bettman rigged 2009 SC finals thanks to schedule.

 

[DannyGallivan]

Fighting is not a bad thing.

 

[1 Timer]

Players who turn away from a hit and get hit from behind did it to themselves.

 

[K Fleur]

Standing a player up at the blue line is interference and should be called every single time.

Doesn’t sound controversial but sure seems to be with the refs!

 

[Ceremony]

I am entertained by watching my NHL team play hockey and have been for some time.

 

[DaPhazz]

I was a better show when there was more big hits and genuine fights.

Torts' right, it became a no hit league.

 

[ohcomeonref]

I like fighting, hitting, and scrums.

 

[Neil Racki]

I was a better show when there was more big hits and genuine fights.

Torts' right, it became a no hit league.

I disagree. The game now is so much easier and funner to watch. Its open ice, 2 line passes, speed, the players have so much skill now.

Back in the day there was a scrum every 5 seconds bc defensemen where just freezing the puck along the boards every 5 seconds. There were so many stoppages in play. So many faceoffs. It was a choppy game with moments of open ice play.

Now its open ice play with moments of choppiness.

I grew up on 80s and 90s hockey.

 

[LarKing]

The offsides reviews are fine. You don’t like it because your team has recently been hurt by it or you feel it slows the game down yet we have commercials every 5 minutes or so.

This one isn’t really controversial but hockey is a team sport. When teams win in the playoffs their stars get all the credit, and all the discredit when they lose. Often it’s the second, third, fourth line guys who are the difference though.

To add to that, I find playoff stats and cups nearly useless when comparing players. Often when teams play at their best in the early rounds, one team dominates the other. In those cases, of course the players on the losing team aren’t going to put up great stats.

 

[North Cole]

I completely agree with bolded #1. Ovechkin has 2 skills, his shot and his physicality. I acknowledge his shot is top tier all time, but physicality also really isn't that noteworthy of a skill. And outside of that, he provides nothing as a hockey player. No playmaking, no defensive ability, his hands were pretty good at one point but he doesn't dangle at all anymore. It does say something though about how elite his shot is that it can be his only lethal quality as a player and teams still can't shut it down after all these years. He's been at the same spot on the PP for over a decade now and teams still can't stop it. Credit to guys like Backstrom and Carlson for being able to get him the puck.

Regarding the 2nd bolded, completely disagree. That team's identity revolves around his lethal shot. Without him they'd be lost. Not a lottery team, but probably right in the middle of the league.

It may seem that way now (I disagree) because he is older but he had lethal speed back in the day, at his size with that speed he was a runaway train and completely dominated. I'd argue physicality is a noteworthy skill when you use it as he has, and part of physicality is durability, which he has in spades.

He is the dream power forward, in an age of speed and skill, I wonder what he would look like in the coming years if he were still at his peak. He's basically Tom wilson if you turned Wilson's hockey ability to 20/10 and toned down the over the line plays a little, ovechkin used to take runs at players.

 

[Butch 19]

Don Cherry is an arrogant puke.

How is that controversial?

 

[LegendaryNumber5]

Spitting is not as bad as sucker punching.

 

[Butch 19]

Players who turn away from a hit and get hit from behind did it to themselves.

What about players that slide into a slap shot and get hit in the head with the puck?

 

[Captain Mountain]

Grading defensemen exclusively on how much offense they produce is insane.

Mine is that the NHL or scheduler is cheating to get the Canadians back into the playoffs by giving them the second game of a back to back playing the tired team 19 times. That is 1/4 of their season playing tired teams. And that is 12 more than the next which is Tampa Bay. Thats not a coincidence, its flat out cheating.

That's a lazy way to look at it, especially since 5 of those times Montreal is tired too.



Like, they have a favourable rested/tired split, but its definitely not as extreme as you make it sound nor are they the most favoured by the schedule makers.

It might be a less controversial hockey opinion if we could read it through the salt.

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

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 like this.

 

[izlez]

The offsides reviews are fine. You don’t like it because your team has recently been hurt by it or you feel it slows the game down yet we have commercials every 5 minutes or so.

I'll comment on this one because I've been passionate about eliminating all video reviews in all sports for a long time.

-Well, #1, I've been against it in all sports for years, so it's not some recent bad call.

-It's not an issue of "slowing the game down". I don't care if you speed up the reviews so they take 10-15 seconds. I watch sports for the excitement. The excitement comes from a goal, or a long diving catch (in football). If there is a close play in those situations, I know that we won't get an "official" ruling for 10-15 seconds or up to 3 minutes.

The fact that I have to wait for a coach to look down at the floor and make a decision on challenging, a ref to point to center ice, or watch a team scramble up quickly to the to get the next play off (in football) before I know if the exciting play will actually count, all takes away from my enjoyment of the game. I want to celebrate the big play as it happens. I can't do that right now