This is not right. This is not fun. This is not acceptable. This must end. I have been saddened by my team's play and troubles of late, and of the problems with the league, and that has kept me from blogging about the sport I love, but I cannot stand by any longer.
When I watch NHL hockey, I come to see the best players in the world play the fastest non-motorized team sport in the world, and generate some of the most exciting, guns blazing action in the sporting world. Games like one earlier this season on Hockey Night in Canada between the Sens and the Habs define the level of excitement that you can have, even without much scoring.
But this season we Sens fans have had to endure blasphemy. We have had to watch as the trap sucks the life out of the game. We have had to watch as Anaheim "abides" by the cap, and tears up the league with discount, unretired players at the steepest of discounts. But worst of all, haunting us every game, we find that the referees are butchering the game.
From the start of the season it has been non-calls, wrong calls, and not a game has gone by without plenty to complain about from the men in white and black. I think of memories of checks on puck-carrying Sundin that led to penalties, non-calls when sticks broke as they were cross-checked over our captain's back, blindness from the referees when our boys in red carry the puck and end up tripped, slashed, and brutalized, only to go unguarded by the referees.
We have the ability. I do not doubt the capability of our referees to call the games properly, but something must be done to fix this, to send the message that we hate the scourges that plague our game and strip it of its dignity. Fair and even refereeing needs to be established across the league, east and west. The appearance of home-team skewing and star and beloved players being blessed by the calls and non-calls around them needs to evaporate.
Maybe we need to remember that we once called goals only with a man behind the glass behind the net, and now we realize that many goals exist or don't exist when we use the magic of technology to slow down our game enough to lay fair judgement. Some form of technology, perhaps alongside the refs, or allowing 'penalty reviews' similar to goal reviews, with some form of limiting, could be investigated, but all this is moot. There is a problem, and it needs attention drawn to it, it needs to be fixed.
As a fan of the great sport of hockey, I feel that my sport has been cheapened, has been nickeled and dimed. I feel that the reffing in this league has been anything but perfect this season, and at many times worthless. I want all those, across the league, who would agree that our sport has been cheapened to join with me. For cheapening our sport, and letting it bleed, I want all hockey-loving and passionate NHL fans out there who share my views, no matter what colour your jersey is, to join me in sending Gary Bettman a message. If you feel as I feel, send a nickel to Gary Bettman. Send him a roll of them if you want and can afford it. Stamp, nickel, envelope and all, it costs you less than a dollar to complain, but the damage to our sport, especially should it go unnoticed, cannot have a price placed upon it.
Please join with me, and mail your nickel(s) to:
Gary Bettman
National Hockey League
1251 Avenue of the Americas
47th Floor
New York, NY 10020
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Withering Away the Sport
Hockey has never had it easy as a sport. Nearly all other Pro sports can be enjoyed with just a ball, or a ball and a bat, gloves optional, with baseball. Soccer, the world's most popular sport, is likely just that because all that is needed is a ball. With hockey, you need at the very least a ball and several sticks, and to play it true, you must also add skates, protective equipment, nets, and ice, far from easy or cheap to get.
In the States, a lot of negative reporting on hockey has stemmed from fighting. Cracking down on this was a good decision to avoid appearing like boxing on ice. But another attack on the game's credibility and accessibility is coming now. It's not coming from low-lifes though. In fact, the attack comes from some of the biggest and most respected names in the game: Niedermayer, Selanne and Forsberg.
After the thrill of winning a Stanley Cup with his brother, in Scott's case, and the thrill of finally winning one at all after years of toiling in Teemu's case, both men decided that they needed time off to mull whether or not to return to the game. Neither player was getting too old for the game, considering that Scott, at 34, and Teemu, at 37, are nowhere near Chris Chelios, 46, or the oldest player ever, Gordie Howe, who retired only at the 'tender' age of 52. Neither player was falling off in performance either, with Scott playing roughly 30 minutes a game and being one of the most sound defensemen at both ends of the ice, and with Selanne being only a few goals off from a Rocket Richard scoring trophy.
But mull the decision both men did. Nothing technically compelled Teemu, then a UFA, to return. Scott, on the other hand, still had two years at 6.75 million left on his contract, and was suspended when he didn't show up for training camp. Eventually though, both men returned, saying that they had taken the time needed to think over their returns.
All this would appear respectable and understandable, yes? Well, maybe not so much. When Scott was suspended, his salary was as well. He returned in time to lower his remaining salary, and more importantly his cap hit, to a reasonable 4.115 million, far below that of the next closest-in-calibre defenseman, Detroit's Lidstrom, who costs 7.6 million this season. Teemu returned to sign for the remainder of the season for 1.5 million. Had he signed for the whole season, that would expand out to 4 million, and considering Heatley, who scored 50 goals last season, 2 more than Teemu, re-upped with the Sens for 7.5 million and for 6 years, Teemu's basically signed for half of what a one-year deal with him should be.
Now, this could be suspicious on its own, but look closer still. If you visit nhlnumbers.com, you will find that Anaheim is actually now OVER the cap limit, although just by a hair, and with the excess deferrable until future seasons. This would be because of the 9.5 million they used to sign Matthieu Schneider and Todd Bertuzzi, arguably to replace Teemu and Niedermayer. However, upon Teemu and Niedermayer's return, neither of these players was moved elsewhere, hardly able to be called 'replacements' in that case.
Had Scott returned immediately, as his contract required, he would have cost Anaheim an extra 2.5 million. Had Selanne returned in September, he would have cost an extra 4-8 million, depending on how you value a 48-goal scorer on a team without many big-name offensive threats. That represents an extra 6.5-10.5 million that simply would not and could not fit under the cap. I would now like to suggest that it may not have been thinking time that was the sole reason for the delay in their returns.
Flash over to another hot topic of late, and you find that Peter Forsberg is about to test his foot in Europe, practicing with MoDo. He has made it clear that he wants to return to the NHL to play. Once again though, not quite. Word has been that many teams interested in his services have been turned down, and that reportedly only the Canucks, Avalanche, Flyers, Rangers, Blackhawks, Ducks and Sens remain as possible destinations, arguably all teams with a decided 'potential Stanley Cup contenders' flair to them. If Paul Kukla of Kukla's Korner turns out to be right in his thought, with or without any new injuries, Forsberg might return again next season around February to pitch his services to clubs, tempting as his skills and UFA status are, to aid in the highest bidder's Stanley Cup run.
What we have here is a huge discredit to the game. Hearing of these veteran's moves, I think of the word 'ringer'. The two definitions that apply to the word 'ringer' both seem to fit in this case. A ringer is an addition to a team meant to greatly enhance that team's ability. A ringer is also defined as a player added to a competition dishonestly.
Is this what our sport has degraded to? The point of the 82 games in our season is not only
to decide which teams will make the Stanley Cup playoffs, but also to decide which players have earned the right to compete for sport's greatest trophy, having battled through, barring injury, a full 82-game season just to get to the start of the competition. Now we are looking at degrading our sport to an 82-game exhibition season, followed by drastically different teams competing for the Cup.
Please forgive me, but I consider the addition of Selanne, Niedermayer, and possibly Forsberg to a team a complete redefinition of that team. It completely takes away from the hard work other teams have done to get into the playoffs, and the money other owners and GMs have spent to assemble their championship teams. What you can extrapolate to is teams being made to hit the cap floor and make it into 8th place at the end of the season, with the potential to add roughly 20 million dollars of pro-rated salary (almost equal to an entire team) to buy some ringers, and tear through the playoffs. Or you could find an already talented team, as the Ducks were despite their struggles prior to Niedermayer's return, and suddenly halfway through the season it becomes unfairly more competitive than the cap was meant to allow.
No matter which way you slice this, these acts are a disgrace to the NHL, a disgrace to the Stanley Cup, and a disgrace to the respect we have shown these players. Yes, it is currently perfectly legal. However, just as the damaging potential of brutality in our game was strategically removed, so too should this situation be eliminated. Words have floated around about 'Declaration Dates' and other ideas, but it remains that something must be done. This is a wake-up call to you, Mr. Bettman, to you, Mr. Burke, and to you's, Mr.'s Forsberg, Selanne and Niedermayer. Don't destroy our game, and don't let this season mark the start of the end of the NHL.
In the States, a lot of negative reporting on hockey has stemmed from fighting. Cracking down on this was a good decision to avoid appearing like boxing on ice. But another attack on the game's credibility and accessibility is coming now. It's not coming from low-lifes though. In fact, the attack comes from some of the biggest and most respected names in the game: Niedermayer, Selanne and Forsberg.
After the thrill of winning a Stanley Cup with his brother, in Scott's case, and the thrill of finally winning one at all after years of toiling in Teemu's case, both men decided that they needed time off to mull whether or not to return to the game. Neither player was getting too old for the game, considering that Scott, at 34, and Teemu, at 37, are nowhere near Chris Chelios, 46, or the oldest player ever, Gordie Howe, who retired only at the 'tender' age of 52. Neither player was falling off in performance either, with Scott playing roughly 30 minutes a game and being one of the most sound defensemen at both ends of the ice, and with Selanne being only a few goals off from a Rocket Richard scoring trophy.
But mull the decision both men did. Nothing technically compelled Teemu, then a UFA, to return. Scott, on the other hand, still had two years at 6.75 million left on his contract, and was suspended when he didn't show up for training camp. Eventually though, both men returned, saying that they had taken the time needed to think over their returns.
All this would appear respectable and understandable, yes? Well, maybe not so much. When Scott was suspended, his salary was as well. He returned in time to lower his remaining salary, and more importantly his cap hit, to a reasonable 4.115 million, far below that of the next closest-in-calibre defenseman, Detroit's Lidstrom, who costs 7.6 million this season. Teemu returned to sign for the remainder of the season for 1.5 million. Had he signed for the whole season, that would expand out to 4 million, and considering Heatley, who scored 50 goals last season, 2 more than Teemu, re-upped with the Sens for 7.5 million and for 6 years, Teemu's basically signed for half of what a one-year deal with him should be.
Now, this could be suspicious on its own, but look closer still. If you visit nhlnumbers.com, you will find that Anaheim is actually now OVER the cap limit, although just by a hair, and with the excess deferrable until future seasons. This would be because of the 9.5 million they used to sign Matthieu Schneider and Todd Bertuzzi, arguably to replace Teemu and Niedermayer. However, upon Teemu and Niedermayer's return, neither of these players was moved elsewhere, hardly able to be called 'replacements' in that case.
Had Scott returned immediately, as his contract required, he would have cost Anaheim an extra 2.5 million. Had Selanne returned in September, he would have cost an extra 4-8 million, depending on how you value a 48-goal scorer on a team without many big-name offensive threats. That represents an extra 6.5-10.5 million that simply would not and could not fit under the cap. I would now like to suggest that it may not have been thinking time that was the sole reason for the delay in their returns.
Flash over to another hot topic of late, and you find that Peter Forsberg is about to test his foot in Europe, practicing with MoDo. He has made it clear that he wants to return to the NHL to play. Once again though, not quite. Word has been that many teams interested in his services have been turned down, and that reportedly only the Canucks, Avalanche, Flyers, Rangers, Blackhawks, Ducks and Sens remain as possible destinations, arguably all teams with a decided 'potential Stanley Cup contenders' flair to them. If Paul Kukla of Kukla's Korner turns out to be right in his thought, with or without any new injuries, Forsberg might return again next season around February to pitch his services to clubs, tempting as his skills and UFA status are, to aid in the highest bidder's Stanley Cup run.
What we have here is a huge discredit to the game. Hearing of these veteran's moves, I think of the word 'ringer'. The two definitions that apply to the word 'ringer' both seem to fit in this case. A ringer is an addition to a team meant to greatly enhance that team's ability. A ringer is also defined as a player added to a competition dishonestly.
Is this what our sport has degraded to? The point of the 82 games in our season is not only
to decide which teams will make the Stanley Cup playoffs, but also to decide which players have earned the right to compete for sport's greatest trophy, having battled through, barring injury, a full 82-game season just to get to the start of the competition. Now we are looking at degrading our sport to an 82-game exhibition season, followed by drastically different teams competing for the Cup.
Please forgive me, but I consider the addition of Selanne, Niedermayer, and possibly Forsberg to a team a complete redefinition of that team. It completely takes away from the hard work other teams have done to get into the playoffs, and the money other owners and GMs have spent to assemble their championship teams. What you can extrapolate to is teams being made to hit the cap floor and make it into 8th place at the end of the season, with the potential to add roughly 20 million dollars of pro-rated salary (almost equal to an entire team) to buy some ringers, and tear through the playoffs. Or you could find an already talented team, as the Ducks were despite their struggles prior to Niedermayer's return, and suddenly halfway through the season it becomes unfairly more competitive than the cap was meant to allow.
No matter which way you slice this, these acts are a disgrace to the NHL, a disgrace to the Stanley Cup, and a disgrace to the respect we have shown these players. Yes, it is currently perfectly legal. However, just as the damaging potential of brutality in our game was strategically removed, so too should this situation be eliminated. Words have floated around about 'Declaration Dates' and other ideas, but it remains that something must be done. This is a wake-up call to you, Mr. Bettman, to you, Mr. Burke, and to you's, Mr.'s Forsberg, Selanne and Niedermayer. Don't destroy our game, and don't let this season mark the start of the end of the NHL.
Sunday, December 23, 2007
Nycholat Recalled to Play in New York
Lawrence Nycholat was recalled to the Sens today, to face the New York Rangers, one of his former teams. Nycholat has done well for the baby Sens, racking up 23 points in 31 games, good for second place on the team scoring charts.
The question remains though: who will Nycholat be replacing? Most likely bet would be Luke Richardson. Last night against the Hawks, Luke's age showed, as he was often outraced and outbattled for the puck. Bringing in the much more energetic Nycholat should help to keep the Rangers large scoring depth at bay, and hopefully we might get some additional scoring chances from him.
The only other possibilities would be that he is replacing Shubert, whose stick seemed to constantly repel the puck last night, or Mezaros, should his hurting foot finally put an end to his Ironman streak, so close to 200 games as it is.
Update 4:12pm - It turns out that he will be replacing Joe Corvo, who has a possibly strained groin.
The question remains though: who will Nycholat be replacing? Most likely bet would be Luke Richardson. Last night against the Hawks, Luke's age showed, as he was often outraced and outbattled for the puck. Bringing in the much more energetic Nycholat should help to keep the Rangers large scoring depth at bay, and hopefully we might get some additional scoring chances from him.
The only other possibilities would be that he is replacing Shubert, whose stick seemed to constantly repel the puck last night, or Mezaros, should his hurting foot finally put an end to his Ironman streak, so close to 200 games as it is.
Update 4:12pm - It turns out that he will be replacing Joe Corvo, who has a possibly strained groin.
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Sens Age Shows Against Young Hawks
Tonight, the Sens lost 4-3 in overtime in their one and only meeting this season against the Chicago Blackhawks. The game was exciting from end to end, even from the highest row in the arena, with the standing room crowd behind yelling loudly. For all the smooth moves at both ends of the ice, countless chances hit crossbars and posts, or trickled just wide of the net (including another Chris Neil from behind the net wraparound, nearly identical to the one he missed against Atlanta.)
The best work of the game, once again, came from the top line. Heatley scored two very nice goals, and Spezza and Alfie helping to set up good chances and keep the Hawks at bay. McAmmond's lovely outwait-the-goalie shorthanded goal and assist on Heatley's second goal make him the best surprise of the game.
The Hawks, however, outworked the Sens on countless occasions. For long stretches, the Sens looked like they did around this time last year, slow and clumsy. The young Jonathan Toews would score the OT winner with help from Patrick Sharp, who took the puck from Chris Phillips right in front of Emery. Many of the Young Bloods gave plenty in this outing, and the win was certainly fully earned.
The disappointments from the Sens were many. Chris Neil took two very bad and unnecessary penalties, and the second one lead to the game-tying goal at the start of the third. Meszaros once again showed us all why pinching is a bad idea nine times out of ten. By far the worst performance came from Emery. Some would say that he did well, making key saves, but all of those came from very easy to handle shots. At least two of the four goals were successful because of Emery's lack of lateral speed. His quick glove and stick hands have shown us many great saves, and the quick-twitch muscles, typical of boxers (of which he is a huge fan) help to make his upper-body a tough nut to crack. However, boxing rarely focuses at all on any legwork or speed, and it always shows in his side-to-side movement. Hopefully Emery can begin to understand this vital weakness and fix it, before he is completely usurped by the Darth Gerber. Hopefully though, our defensive end work can tighten up, and we will see the Sens bounce back tomorrow against the low-scoring Rangers.
At least there was the satisfaction that we were beat by Khabibulin, who has a Stanley Cup ring, and not ex-Sen Lalime. We can also be proud that we kept Havlat off the scoresheet. He rewarded us by reminding us why we traded him, leaving the game in the second period with a sore groin.
The best work of the game, once again, came from the top line. Heatley scored two very nice goals, and Spezza and Alfie helping to set up good chances and keep the Hawks at bay. McAmmond's lovely outwait-the-goalie shorthanded goal and assist on Heatley's second goal make him the best surprise of the game.
The Hawks, however, outworked the Sens on countless occasions. For long stretches, the Sens looked like they did around this time last year, slow and clumsy. The young Jonathan Toews would score the OT winner with help from Patrick Sharp, who took the puck from Chris Phillips right in front of Emery. Many of the Young Bloods gave plenty in this outing, and the win was certainly fully earned.
The disappointments from the Sens were many. Chris Neil took two very bad and unnecessary penalties, and the second one lead to the game-tying goal at the start of the third. Meszaros once again showed us all why pinching is a bad idea nine times out of ten. By far the worst performance came from Emery. Some would say that he did well, making key saves, but all of those came from very easy to handle shots. At least two of the four goals were successful because of Emery's lack of lateral speed. His quick glove and stick hands have shown us many great saves, and the quick-twitch muscles, typical of boxers (of which he is a huge fan) help to make his upper-body a tough nut to crack. However, boxing rarely focuses at all on any legwork or speed, and it always shows in his side-to-side movement. Hopefully Emery can begin to understand this vital weakness and fix it, before he is completely usurped by the Darth Gerber. Hopefully though, our defensive end work can tighten up, and we will see the Sens bounce back tomorrow against the low-scoring Rangers.
At least there was the satisfaction that we were beat by Khabibulin, who has a Stanley Cup ring, and not ex-Sen Lalime. We can also be proud that we kept Havlat off the scoresheet. He rewarded us by reminding us why we traded him, leaving the game in the second period with a sore groin.
Friday, December 7, 2007
The Mounting Snore Threat
First off, for anyone who ever came here to read my little blog, sorry for no posts in 2 months. University is harder than a Volchenkov hip-check, and I've only now found time to think about taking a side pause.
When I do pause to think of the NHL, I look at the headlines and statements from high-ranking officials and hear that growth is the name of the game. We want to reach more homes in the US, so we should be on ESPN. We want to generate excitement abroad, so we should start more seasons with more games and teams playing overseas, and play for the IIHF's Victoria Cup.
But when I look behind them at the game we're peddling, I see it slowly being eroded. Hockey is by far the fastest paced sport in North America, and one of the top major sports worldwide. This is starting to change though. Fans in Toronto cheered earlier in the season, when their Leafs were finally able to beat the Sens, 3-0, in their fourth matchup this season. Despite the win, though, one would have to wonder what there was to cheer about, or even to show up and watch.
The game was highlighted by a tight trap by Toronto, leading to most of the game being puck, sometimes with player, enters Leaf territory, puck gets sent back out. On the other end would be puck goes into Sens territory, occasionally followed by a single Leaf, and eventually maybe a second. While it worked, it was about the dullest hockey around. Leafs management knows that fans want wins, and they are rabid and carefree enough to not care how they come.
Is that so wise though? The Isles beat the Sens later on in their losing stretch using a similarly tight and dull trap game. Looking into the stands, the announced 9,000 or so for attendance was all but an admitted farce. Even the Devils - who have captured the Cup and contended very well for many years, and who feature great veterans, exciting youngsters, and one of the game's greatest goaltenders - could not manage to fill their new arena just one game into its hockey lifetime, getting just over 13,000 fans for a 6-1 win in October over the Lightning.
The sportswriters are quick to suggest that lower scoring is what's taking the game down. However most would agree that 3-0 for the Leafs should have been exciting... only it was a snore. The most exciting game I've seen this season, and perhaps ever, was a 3-1 Sens victory over Montreal. Countless scoring chances, hard hits, end-to-end rushes, it was an edge of your seat thriller. All that excitement despite the fact that it only featured one goal in the first 55 minutes (interestingly coming at 11:11 of the first on the day before Remembrance Day), and the last goal being an empty-netter.
This goes to show you that exciting hockey is about just that - exciting hockey. The trap is not that, nor are the now ever-expanding teams who allow scant few shots on goal per game because of blocking, shooting lane sabotage, and crafty sticks. Not all bad things, but when it means that you only see just north of 20 shots in a game, and most of them being poor chances affected by the brick wall defensive play, it just destroys the game. The surprising Isles pay for it with their poor support. New Jersey is only now paying penance for their style, despite their success with it. Sadly, should Toronto push it even further, it will destroy the league even more.
Should Toronto take up the game of bore and trap hockey, it will sadly go unpunished. Their legions of fans clamor only for victory. That may suit Toronto well now, but what of the rest of the League? When a less-than-rabid fan tunes in for or attends a game featuring the Leafs 'playing' this kind of hockey - or worse, attempts to turn others onto the game by treating them to a game against the 'pinnacle of popularity in the league' - you will never win a fan over, and instead just turn them away. It would be the same in UFC or football. Nobody would be turned onto the sports if fighters only used a single-blow to end the match, and it became a trial of luck to see who would land it first. Nobody would tune into the Superbowl either, if the teams mounted a strategy that merely pushed the line forward 10 yards each down, holding back their opponents, and then on the last down attempted a field goal.
That is the problem facing us today, the real threat of boring hockey. Toronto may think that winning at any cost is what is best, but even they will feel it eventually. Boring hockey could cause league shrinkage, which would likely lead to fewer games for them to make money off of, or seasons of 10 visits from the Sens, which fans are saying even now is not what they want.
This is no easy problem though. Most fixes suggested so far don't tackle the heart of the issue. Decreasing goalie equipment or increasing net size only makes more of those badly blocked poor shots go in, and the latter would upset countless dedicated to the purity of the game. Tackling the boring play requires more than that, and simple rule changes would have difficulty in tackling the snore-fest slowly inching across the league. Real answers are needed, or else we may lose our game forever, Leafs fans be damned.
When I do pause to think of the NHL, I look at the headlines and statements from high-ranking officials and hear that growth is the name of the game. We want to reach more homes in the US, so we should be on ESPN. We want to generate excitement abroad, so we should start more seasons with more games and teams playing overseas, and play for the IIHF's Victoria Cup.
But when I look behind them at the game we're peddling, I see it slowly being eroded. Hockey is by far the fastest paced sport in North America, and one of the top major sports worldwide. This is starting to change though. Fans in Toronto cheered earlier in the season, when their Leafs were finally able to beat the Sens, 3-0, in their fourth matchup this season. Despite the win, though, one would have to wonder what there was to cheer about, or even to show up and watch.
The game was highlighted by a tight trap by Toronto, leading to most of the game being puck, sometimes with player, enters Leaf territory, puck gets sent back out. On the other end would be puck goes into Sens territory, occasionally followed by a single Leaf, and eventually maybe a second. While it worked, it was about the dullest hockey around. Leafs management knows that fans want wins, and they are rabid and carefree enough to not care how they come.
Is that so wise though? The Isles beat the Sens later on in their losing stretch using a similarly tight and dull trap game. Looking into the stands, the announced 9,000 or so for attendance was all but an admitted farce. Even the Devils - who have captured the Cup and contended very well for many years, and who feature great veterans, exciting youngsters, and one of the game's greatest goaltenders - could not manage to fill their new arena just one game into its hockey lifetime, getting just over 13,000 fans for a 6-1 win in October over the Lightning.
The sportswriters are quick to suggest that lower scoring is what's taking the game down. However most would agree that 3-0 for the Leafs should have been exciting... only it was a snore. The most exciting game I've seen this season, and perhaps ever, was a 3-1 Sens victory over Montreal. Countless scoring chances, hard hits, end-to-end rushes, it was an edge of your seat thriller. All that excitement despite the fact that it only featured one goal in the first 55 minutes (interestingly coming at 11:11 of the first on the day before Remembrance Day), and the last goal being an empty-netter.
This goes to show you that exciting hockey is about just that - exciting hockey. The trap is not that, nor are the now ever-expanding teams who allow scant few shots on goal per game because of blocking, shooting lane sabotage, and crafty sticks. Not all bad things, but when it means that you only see just north of 20 shots in a game, and most of them being poor chances affected by the brick wall defensive play, it just destroys the game. The surprising Isles pay for it with their poor support. New Jersey is only now paying penance for their style, despite their success with it. Sadly, should Toronto push it even further, it will destroy the league even more.
Should Toronto take up the game of bore and trap hockey, it will sadly go unpunished. Their legions of fans clamor only for victory. That may suit Toronto well now, but what of the rest of the League? When a less-than-rabid fan tunes in for or attends a game featuring the Leafs 'playing' this kind of hockey - or worse, attempts to turn others onto the game by treating them to a game against the 'pinnacle of popularity in the league' - you will never win a fan over, and instead just turn them away. It would be the same in UFC or football. Nobody would be turned onto the sports if fighters only used a single-blow to end the match, and it became a trial of luck to see who would land it first. Nobody would tune into the Superbowl either, if the teams mounted a strategy that merely pushed the line forward 10 yards each down, holding back their opponents, and then on the last down attempted a field goal.
That is the problem facing us today, the real threat of boring hockey. Toronto may think that winning at any cost is what is best, but even they will feel it eventually. Boring hockey could cause league shrinkage, which would likely lead to fewer games for them to make money off of, or seasons of 10 visits from the Sens, which fans are saying even now is not what they want.
This is no easy problem though. Most fixes suggested so far don't tackle the heart of the issue. Decreasing goalie equipment or increasing net size only makes more of those badly blocked poor shots go in, and the latter would upset countless dedicated to the purity of the game. Tackling the boring play requires more than that, and simple rule changes would have difficulty in tackling the snore-fest slowly inching across the league. Real answers are needed, or else we may lose our game forever, Leafs fans be damned.
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