Ryan Wilson: Matt Murray To Miss Start of NHL Season Matt Murray To Miss Start of NHL Season

Count me in as one of the selfish fans. Hockey causes injuries. I'd rather see Penguins heal and rest.

But....

The issue with Murray isn't the lost time, Fleury will be just fine. In fact, I would expect him to come out playing awesome hockey.

To me, Murray would have benefited from training camp, having some time to work on his glove hand issues. It's harder to get the necessary reps to improve a weakness during the regular season.

And I don't blame Murray for playing in the World Cup, but the World Cup has been pretty boring. The existence of Team NA and Team Europe killed the "playing for your country" vibe that makes international competition worth watching.

The issue with Murray isn't the lost time, Fleury will be just fine. In fact, I would expect him to come out playing awesome hockey.

To me, Murray would have benefited from training camp, having some time to work on his glove hand issues. It's harder to get the necessary reps to improve a weakness during the regular season.

And I don't blame Murray for playing in the World Cup, but the World Cup has been pretty boring. The existence of Team NA and Team Europe killed the "playing for your country" vibe that makes international competition worth watching.
- hardnosed

The existence of team North America killed team USA ...but they were the darlings of this tourney and there was nothing boring about them ...team euro is a an underdog to cheer for as well ..both are very gimmicky but they have made this tourney more watchable than teams like Czechs finns

Going through life being selfish is the biggest waste of emotions, especially when it comes to other people. I seriously laugh at those people that try to control other people and get upset when another person makes a decision that has nothing to do with another person.
There is no need to even mention that a player using their free will to play is okay, it shouldn't even be a debate or question. So what, an injury happened, life goes on for those that dont live and breath debating other peoples decision.

just ups MAF trade value when that time comes

The existence of team North America killed team USA ...but they were the darlings of this tourney and there was nothing boring about them ...team euro is a an underdog to cheer for as well ..both are very gimmicky but they have made this tourney more watchable than teams like Czechs finns
- Redmile247

There's no doubt that Team NA and Team Europe are very gimmicky but I would definitely rather have the made-up teams that can actually be competitive and play entertaining hockey than to have to watch Slovenia, Belarus and Germany get smashed because they only have 3-4 players that can compete at that level. I know it would weaken Team NA but the 1 change I would like to see is the "real" rosters being picked first and then the "made-up" teams get to choose from the remaining available players. There's obviously no guarantee that USA Hockey would have made better decisions but they shouldn't have been penalized from the get-go because they've produced a lot of good young talent in recent years.
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I must be selfish to think players risking their health for a pointless tournament that means nothing to any non hockey mega fan. Injury aside this tournament is a sorry excuse for the olympics, which I am not a fan of either but at least get the history. This, the ungodly amount of outdoor games, etc. the nhl is turning into a circus. But hey, at least Canada can brag about winning something

Ps. What about selfishly risking injury for what amounts to meaningless bragging rights? That's not selfish to the employer and fans? It works both ways.

Ps. What about selfishly risking injury for what amounts to meaningless bragging rights? That's not selfish to the employer and fans? It works both ways.
- ChrisMS

who cares if they are selfish? honestly! the players have played hockey since they were kids and they love hockey. But if they decide they wanna play hockey for their country and happen to have the bad luck of getting hurt fans call the players selfish and tell them to think about the fans when making their OWN LIFE CHOICES ABOUT THEIR OWN (frank)ING CAREER!

who cares if they are selfish? honestly! the players have played hockey since they were kids and they love hockey. But if they decide they wanna play hockey for their country and happen to have the bad luck of getting hurt fans call the players selfish and tell them to think about the fans when making their OWN LIFE CHOICES ABOUT THEIR OWN (frank)ING CAREER!
- martox

They are also making choices about their teams chances of winning. And for what? Especially the na team! They arnt even playing for the illusion they are playing for their country. The issue isn't as much on the players though.. At least to me. He could have hurt his hand in training camp. It's the nhl for putting on such a ludicrous tournament in the first place.

Go fake Olympics!

Ps. What about selfishly risking injury for what amounts to meaningless bragging rights? That's not selfish to the employer and fans? It works both ways.
- ChrisMS

(frank), this is one of the stupidest comments ever on hockeybuzzz.

High level hockey is high level hockey. Who cares if you think that this arbitrary league and trophy counts more than this other arbitrary league and trophy.

If it's such high level meaningful hockey then how come, even with espns help, it's ratings so far have barely topped a Wednesday night rivalry regular season game broadcast (even I was shocked by how bad this was). Another microcosm to look at is this site. Despite some great work by the bloggers the wc threads are often barren. A leafs thread for any regular season game has more comments than all the wc threads combined! And this is what the nhl is letting it's players risk injury for? The players deserve a little blame but not much. If they told the wc GSM they didn't want to play it would risk hostility among peers and could cost them in future international games. But the nhl blew this thing and the injuries are adding insult to, well, injury. Pardon the pun.

The issue isn't as much on the players though.. At least to me. He could have hurt his hand in training camp. It's the nhl for putting on such a ludicrous tournament in the first place.
- ChrisMS

Yep. It's just kind of weird. It's like a weird All Star Game that lasts three weeks, and no one even wins a truck.

The Canada Cup meant something when the Canadians and Soviets were playing epic games against each other under the backdrop of political strife. The three game finals in 1987 was the most exciting and meaningful hockey ever played outside of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

The WC as it exists today is beyond meaningless, it's just a world-class cash grab for the NHL. The week worth of exhibition games was strictly to sell tickets, but what it did was kill the momentum and intrigue of watching these All Star teams play.

I would have been very interested to see what team NA looked like or what Crosby looked like with Marchand and Bergeron if my first chance to see them was in a game that at least counted for something. Instead, by the time the exhibition week was over my interest was gone.

The hype is 100% media driven. There's like 8 blogs a day on here about the WC, and most of them struggle to get to 20 comments. So it's giving people stuff to write about, but few are reading/watching.

Yep. It's just kind of weird. It's like a weird All Star Game that lasts three weeks, and no one even wins a truck.

The Canada Cup meant something when the Canadians and Soviets were playing epic games against each other under the backdrop of political strife. The three game finals in 1987 was the most exciting and meaningful hockey ever played outside of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

The WC as it exists today is beyond meaningless, it's just a world-class cash grab for the NHL. The week worth of exhibition games was strictly to sell tickets, but what it did was kill the momentum and intrigue of watching these All Star teams play.

I would have been very interested to see what team NA looked like or what Crosby looked like with Marchand and Bergeron if my first chance to see them was in a game that at least counted for something. Instead, by the time the exhibition week was over my interest was gone.

The hype is 100% media driven. There's like 8 blogs a day on here about the WC, and most of them struggle to get to 20 comments. So it's giving people stuff to write about, but few are reading/watching.
- hardnosed

Dead on. I can't blame the players too much. There is some forgetting who is butering their bread going on but its hard to blame them. For reasons I mentioned above plus... look at who they get to play with. Can you blame Crosby for wanting to play some games with Berg and
marchand? sure beats sheary, gibbons, kennedy, etc.

"Only selfish fans would be upset and hold a grudge against a player for doing something that they enjoy."


It's not selfish to possibly hinder your teams season? The company you work for and has invested in you and has you on a contract you signed is always priority over the fake Olympics. I'm not saying to not do the world cup. Just this statement is stupid, whiny, and hypocritical considering how you seem to come from the stand point of being a fan wanting to watch a certain team like the people you call selfish do. You just want a team for a different event.

It just gives our little Tristan a chance to get some NHL minutes in a backup role. And Murray did have training camp, he had World Cup training camp. AND his so called glove hand limitation is total BS.

Yeah if there is anything Canada is known for its bragging. Americans wish they had one thing that brought their whole mess of a country together, aside from police executing minorities that is.

And Murray did have training camp, he had World Cup training camp. AND his so called glove hand limitation is total BS.
- Dcoms

Did the Team NA staff have a responsibility to prepare Murray for this and following NHL seasons? Nope. It wasn't even close to being an NHL training camp. It's like saying that Battle of the Network Stars got Mark Harmon ready for another shot at the NFL.

And Murray's weakness is most definitely his glove. Pretty obvious.

Its already playing out exactly as i saw the last time i ate lsd and watched hockey vids on youtube for 8 hrs.

Could you guys be any more bitter? USA hockey sucks get over it. It's always a new excuse. Wah our best players played on the under 23 team. There is zero chance any of those guys are going to be playing on A Tortorella team period end of discussion. You can suppose all you want it doesn't change that fact. USA brought a $hit team out so now those of us from other countries have to listen to you whine about how the tournament sucks and blah blah blah. The only thing that sucks is USA hockey and whoever put that abomination of a team together. Sorry you have no horses in the race but just like the rushians and swedes and all the others to be fair are honoured to represent their country. And the tv ratings tonight in Canada and Rushia will be huge for those 2 countries. Maybe they would be higher in the US too if anyone with even a quarter of a brain knew not to get their hopes up.

Did the Team NA staff have a responsibility to prepare Murray for this and following NHL seasons? Nope. It wasn't even close to being an NHL training camp. It's like saying that Battle of the Network Stars got Mark Harmon ready for another shot at the NFL.

And Murray's weakness is most definitely his glove. Pretty obvious.
- hardnosed

That's such a dumb analogy, Jesus man. Pretty obvious. Go cheer for the Flyers. Or get used to the idea of Murray for the next 15-20 years, your choice.

Could you guys be any more bitter? USA hockey sucks get over it. It's always a new excuse. Wah our best players played on the under 23 team. There is zero chance any of those guys are going to be playing on A Tortorella team period end of discussion. You can suppose all you want it doesn't change that fact. USA brought a $hit team out so now those of us from other countries have to listen to you whine about how the tournament sucks and blah blah blah. The only thing that sucks is USA hockey and whoever put that abomination of a team together. Sorry you have no horses in the race but just like the rushians and swedes and all the others to be fair are honoured to represent their country. And the tv ratings tonight in Canada and Rushia will be huge for those 2 countries. Maybe they would be higher in the US too if anyone with even a quarter of a brain knew not to get their hopes up.
- Dcoms

I can't speak for every American on here, but I could care less about the American team and never have. I root for Penguins players, that's it. From Lemieux til now.