Since +/- is the NHL's worst stat, I thought it would make sense to appropriate it and make it useful as we review the best and worst of the past week in the NHL.
MINUS: I don't really understand this concussion lawsuit. You used to play hockey without a helmet on - a game played on razors blades, on ice, with six foot sticks, where hitting and fighting are encouraged - and it's someone else's fault that you might be suffering long-term repercussions?
If you didn't already know this, maybe it's not the NHL's fault you have brain damage?
I mean, the entire culture of the sport is predicated on the notion that you are a word I certainly can't print here if you don't play hurt.
I will never stand with the league against players, but I am somewhat confused on why the NHL - where you only get to play after playing roughly 15 years of hockey elsewhere - should be responsible for head injuries suffered while playing an obviously dangerous game as a consenting adult.
Hey - maybe I am wrong. Like I said, I don't get it.
PLUS: Connor McDavid. So it is not even up for debate: he's the best hockey player in the world.
That goal is so nice that, apparently, after watching it, Vladimir Tarasenko wanted to retire from hockey. "What is point of life if I am not score nicest goal?"
PLUS:The X-Files most recent episode "Mulder and Scully Meet the Were Monster" was, in my opinion, one of the single greatest episodes in series history.
So far, this comeback is rivaling Mario Lemieux's 2001 comeback.
MINUS: If you have never written anything for the internet, you may be surprised how vicious people can be. The comments on hockeybuzz can get rough sometimes, but at least they are moderated so that most of the Ted Cruz supporting types get banned. But out in the wild, in the unmoderated world where you might post links to your stuff so you can, you know, get paid for your work and feed your kids, things get insane.
Now, I figure anyone who has to call me names isn't worth my time and I feed on the hate like a wrestling heel (or Gary Bettman) but there is one thing I can't get over: how many people suggest banning me from their various groups.
Like, I don't care what you call me, but I am seriously offended over the idea that people who don't tell you what you want to hear should be banned. That's a little fascist for me.
In an unmoderated forum like facebook, you can literally say anything you want to and/or about me, and yet, you call for me to be banned? That's so weak.
Now, I bring this up not only to roast these turkeys, and call them the cowards that they are, but also to make a very important point about a real societal problem: Banning everything you don't agree with is a chicken-s__ knee jerk reaction. You should not be so closed off to new ideas, thoughts and challenging of beliefs that you want to shut down anyone who isn't a boring, group-think spouting corporate stooge.
Here's the thing: Terminator wasn't about a literal robot takeover. It was a metaphor and Skynet already won.
It's funny, I hear people reference the second amendment all the time - but no one wants your damn guns. But the first amendment? People keep trying to kill that eveytime a facebook post goes up they don't like.
PLUS: Just one more time. Come on.
MINUS: All reviews. I am convinced that video doesn't help us get the calls all that much more accurate anyways, but it does waste time and ruin momentum / interest in the game.
Most called off goals are called off on such minor details it's nauseating. The NHL has botched this completely. Coaches Challange's are hands-down the stupidest thing introduced to the NHL since the trapezoid.
Let's just go back to normal.
PLUS: The NHL All-Star game was really exciting. Well, ____ didn't count the final game on it's "contest schedule" so I didn't watch that one, but the first two were fun as hell and I won $87.50.
I don't know if this is a compliment though - I'd watch an 8-bit Q-Bert tournament if I had some cash on the line. Or sorry, if I entered a "contest" about it.
MINUS: A lot of people sometimes tell me that I should retire because of such a high ratio of critical comments to nice ones (Shout out for Johnny Dupain and EddieShack!!). But if I ever even needed a reason to not heed the cry of populism, it was when I learned that Paul Blart 2 made a profit of $70 million dollars.
And people actually think the Oilers will miss the Playoffs.
MINUS: In case you actually wonder why some sports fans say inane things, last night, Glen Healy, one of the most influential people in the game (due mostly to his position between the benches on the most watched broadcasts and not merit) said, and I didn't record it so I'm paraphrasing, something like "This is where the Leafs miss Bozak," ....because of.......wait for it...........FACEOFFS!!...this despite the fact they started Kadri instead. You know, the guy who, if he and his linemates shot the NHL average in shooting percentage and who, if not for being the single unluckiest player in the NHL this year would likely be a top ten scorer?
Old Heals might be crazy, but you'll notice that I don't think he should be fired, I don't dispute his right to say crazy things etc. I could even go on facebook and talk about his mom (I won't), but even though I think he is bad at evaluating players, he might not be.
And even if he is, we should still have some bad opinions out there.
PLUS:
MINUS: If you signed a petition to "Bring Back Ron McLean."
Look, I like Ron. But be an activist for something that might possibly matter. Like, I am certain someone somewhere just said that someone runs like a girl.
Get 'em.
MINUS: Whether it’s because of Jonathan Drouin or Dennis Wideman, so far in 2016 a popular topic seems to be how entitled “this generation” is.
If people feel they are more entitled to things, well that isn’t for me to say. It might be true. But if it is, it has nothing to do with the person’s age – it would be a society wide phenomena. I know/have met idiotic, entitled people from all age ranges. It’s not the kids. It’s not “this generation” and it isn’t ever. There are certain representatives from each generation when it gets to 40-60 years old that have to bitch about “the kids.” It is inevitable and will never stop.
Your great grampa complained about about your father’s generations and your father’s father’s great grampa did the same. You’d think people would know it's BS, since it always happens, but this isn’t the case. Every group of olds who complains about the kids thinks they have actual insight. But they don’t.
How do I know this? I've read books. Hundreds of them. Hell, Faulkner wrote books in thirties where old people complained about the new generation. And I think he was making fun of them.
For every phone-addicted rude, entitled , lazy millennial out there, there is his exact same losery doppelganger who’s in his 30s, one in his 40s, and some in their 50s and 60s.
People are entitled. But it ain't the kids. It's everyone.
Now give me my money!!!
MINUS: Can we just get back to the fact that Paul Blart 2 made $70 million dollars for a second? That's it. I don't think anything else, ever, can offend me. *Existential Crisis Alert*
MINUS: Tough week for the Coyotes, but it gets easier: up this week are the Canucks, Sharks and Canadiens.
PLUS: Connor McDavid could end up in the top ten in points, if he misses no more games and scores about 2.5 points per game he could even finish third. That is an insane amount of scoring and I was only sort of joking when I said it, but I just watched that goal again.
MINUS: It doesn't matter if the Senators suck. Erik Karlsson is still the best defenseman in the NHL and hockey is still a team game.
Here's the facts: When he is on the ice, the Sens are among the NHL's best teams. Possibly the very best team. When he is off the ice, they are possibly the worst team. Hockey is a team game. This shouldn't prevent him from winning the Norris Trophy because its a joke to give it to anyone else. No one is even in his stratosphere.
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