Bringing back the two line pass will slow it down

Gretzky has 92 goals, 50/39 and is all time leader. 5th is just insane.
- James_Tanner

You want to boil it down to one individual season?

The year you reference for Gretzky, he played on a line with Jarri Kurri and Glen Anderson, playing 80 games. 1.15 goals per game

Mario's top goal year was 85 goals in 76 games, 1.11 goals per game, playing with Rob Brown and Bob Errey in 88-89. He scored THIRTEEN shorthanded goals, a record that still stands.

BUT even that isn't as good as 92-93 when he scored 69 in 60 games, while scoring 30 goals in the final 20 games after coming back from missing a full quarter of the season due to fighting off cancer. That's right, the guy took off a quarter of a season to beat cancer, came back and still finished with 69 goals. I can live with an argument that Gretzky and Mario are at parity in this department, but sorry, OV doesn't pass muster.

Mario (by a nose over)
Wayne
Bossy
Hull-OV

I agree with you in what the game needs to change---except for the hooking and holding. How about enforcing rules on the book AND shrinking the size of the goaltender's equipment? That would go a long way.
Or maybe going 4 on 4 the entire time!

Let's give the cheap-shot artist Ovechkin his due. He scores 50 goals and that ain't easy. But he runs around like a chicken with his head cut off taking runs at people and when he does hit someone illegally, he barely gets a penalty much less suspended. If he did this stuff back in the 80's, someone would have taken him out, or gone after a teammate.

There is no way Ovechkin is the best goal scorer in NHL history. A couple guys named Lemieux, Gretzky, Hull, Mogilny, Bure, and Selanne would have a lot to say about that

The speed of the game does not have as much to do with injuries as a whole host of other factors:

-The players are bigger.
-The players ALL can skate (unlike 25 years ago)
-The players ALL wear ridiculously hard pads that can be used as a weapon.
-The ice surface hasn't grown with the players.

The only thing that can and should be easily changed is to re-engineer shoulder and elbow pads to that you aren't mashing the other guy in the face with a kevlar shield when you hit him.

Also, want more scoring, shrink the goalie pads. Anyone who hasn't seen the Corey Hirsch video should watch it.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/h...-with-goalie-equipment-2/

A great stat would be % of ice time lost in the league perplayer now verse 70-80s. I dont know. i dont think it would be drastically different. i think it has a lot to do with how a player plays the game. Look at yandle. he is a work horse. he never misses a game. but its not like he plays a soft game. he plays smart.

I feel more goals = smaller goalie eq. especially with of leg pads and size of glove. more the glove. go back to a 60s-70s era size gloves. also soften the padding in the legpads. pads now are so stiff, on a hard shot the puck comes off too hot for guys in front to play the puck. if you soften the pads goalies cant direct their rebounds as well. and more pucks will stay closer to the net. heck a hard shot from the point seems to come off so hot unless it hits a guy that puck is rebounding to the boards. and the opposite harden the padding in the chest protector any shot to the chest is like hitting a sponge making it easier to trap.

i dont like change but what if the line for icing becomes the opposing teams blueline. or icing is treated as a delay of game like puck over the glass?

i would say have icing on the PK but i could see teams like the coyotes who are good in winning draws, just icing the puck over and over and over. unless icing is a 2min delay of game.

i dont think changes in the way the game is played are necessary. look at how goalies have changed over the years. bigger guys and even bigger equipment. you cant change a guys height but you can reduce the pads and not lessen his safety.

i would say go back to something like this...[/img]http://a.espncdn.com/phot.../1024/ny_islanders_05.jpg

wow, that comment about the leafs tanking with honor and class is very rich my friend.

I don't think it's possible to be both credible and incredibly bias at the same time. You should leave one at the door

The speed of the game does not have as much to do with injuries as a whole host of other factors:

-The players are bigger.
-The players ALL can skate (unlike 25 years ago)
-The players ALL wear ridiculously hard pads that can be used as a weapon.
-The ice surface hasn't grown with the players.

The only thing that can and should be easily changed is to re-engineer shoulder and elbow pads to that you aren't mashing the other guy in the face with a kevlar shield when you hit him.

Also, want more scoring, shrink the goalie pads. Anyone who hasn't seen the Corey Hirsch video should watch it.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/h...-with-goalie-equipment-2/
- Emperor Filonius

Referees are too inconsistent. One game, it's called one way, the next it's called the completely opposite. If players would be penalized for what they should be, there would be more peepers, and more ppg... therefore more scoring, and possibly less injuries due to players more reluctant to make the dangerous plays given the chance they might get called for a penalty.

I think your criticism of Rogers is misguided. Toronto's market size is irrelevant. Toronto was 19th in revenue in 2015 yet they have the 13th highest payroll. Rogers' wealth is also irrelevant. They're a public company accountable to shareholders, not Blue Jays fans. Given their revenue-payroll relationship, I would say Blue Jays fans should be quite grateful towards Rogers. Expecting them to spend on par with the Cubs and Giants is lunacy.

James, Do you think Doan should retire? He's 40 and he only had 28 goals this year. I was expecting 30. What a washed up bum he is!

James, Do you think Doan should retire? He's 40 and he only had 28 goals this year. I was expecting 30. What a washed up bum he is!
- Gomey

While he has 396 goals in 20 seasons, his shooting percentage was well above 9% in that time; that's bound to regress to the mean in the coming decades.

I just can't do it anymore with the Doughty bashing.

It amazes me how people find ways to criticize the guys that always win.

It's a desperate attempt to sound smarter than others

I just can't do it anymore with the Doughty bashing.

It amazes me how people find ways to criticize the guys that always win.

It's a desperate attempt to sound smarter than others
- sbroads24

Doughty's only good in this particular reality. In parallel universes, his relatively pedestrian PDO is exposed and he is quite an ordinary player on other timelines in the multiverse, many of which feature Nazim Kadri as the Hart Trophy winner, while his teammate Jake Gardiner is a Norris Trophy finalist.

Grimes, the smiths AND joy division !!?

Absolute home run today James
- HB77

Glad you like it.

I think your criticism of Rogers is misguided. Toronto's market size is irrelevant. Toronto was 19th in revenue in 2015 yet they have the 13th highest payroll. Rogers' wealth is also irrelevant. They're a public company accountable to shareholders, not Blue Jays fans. Given their revenue-payroll relationship, I would say Blue Jays fans should be quite grateful towards Rogers. Expecting them to spend on par with the Cubs and Giants is lunacy.
- DoubleDown

Couldn't disagree more..

Doughty's only good in this particular reality. In parallel universes, his relatively pedestrian PDO is exposed and he is quite an ordinary player on other timelines in the multiverse, many of which feature Nazim Kadri as the Hart Trophy winner, while his teammate Jake Gardiner is a Norris Trophy finalist.
- Snowblind

I just can't do it anymore with the Doughty bashing.

It amazes me how people find ways to criticize the guys that always win.

It's a desperate attempt to sound smarter than others
- sbroads24

I'm not bashing him, he's great. It's an amazing feat to be one of the ten best defenseman in the NHL, but giving him a lifetime achievement Norris is disrespectful to the whole process.

Erik Karlsson makes the Senators the best team in hockey when he's on the ice and is fourth in NHL scoring. What more needs to be said?

James, Do you think Doan should retire? He's 40 and he only had 28 goals this year. I was expecting 30. What a washed up bum he is!
- Gomey

I think Doan is good, but the Coyotes need to get away from their entire fraternity of players and get a clean start under new management and leadership. Let Doan go play somewhere else.

The blog started off with deep thoughts then crashed once i got to the Weeaboo Grimes and became KIA when BvS was mentioned.

I'm not bashing him, he's great. It's an amazing feat to be one of the ten best defenseman in the NHL, but giving him a lifetime achievement Norris is disrespectful to the whole process.

Erik Karlsson makes the Senators the best team in hockey when he's on the ice and is fourth in NHL scoring. What more needs to be said?
- James_Tanner

I'm not saying Karlsson shouldn't get it. He should. But Stralman over Doughty? Come on really? Probably the 2nd most important player behind Kopitar on a team that has a serious shot at a cup? He's an amazing player

I'm not bashing him, he's great. It's an amazing feat to be one of the ten best defenseman in the NHL, but giving him a lifetime achievement Norris is disrespectful to the whole process.

Erik Karlsson makes the Senators the best team in hockey when he's on the ice and is fourth in NHL scoring. What more needs to be said?
- James_Tanner

He's on the ice 30mins/GM - Sens are not very good to be honest.

I'm not saying Karlsson shouldn't get it. He should. But Stralman over Doughty? Come on really? Probably the 2nd most important player behind Kopitar on a team that has a serious shot at a cup? He's an amazing player
- sbroads24

There's an argument that he might be even be more integral than Anze.

Love stralman, jumped all over his bandwagon during last years playoffs. Didn't realize how underrated he was. One of the games best.
But there's no scenario where one chooses him over drew doughty imo. Doughty is just such a dominant player all over the ice.

EK 51.5 cf% Doughty 58.9 cf %

That's miles apart and points are just luck

I don't get how you argue for Corsi like its life and death and then totally dismiss it in this case?

EK 51.5 cf% Doughty 58.9 cf %

That's miles apart and points are just luck

I don't get how you argue for Corsi like its life and death and then totally dismiss it in this case?
- Garnie

To be fair to Tanner, this is a huge problem with all analytic based opinions. Picking and choosing what is important to support a biased opinion.

Doughty outscored Stralman by 17 points. That doesn't matter

Karlsson outscored all other defensemen. That matters

Yes, always loved Grimes Art Angels really is my guilty pleasure of last year, great album with lots of addicting songs.

I'm not bashing him, he's great. It's an amazing feat to be one of the ten best defenseman in the NHL, but giving him a lifetime achievement Norris is disrespectful to the whole process.

Erik Karlsson makes the Senators the best team in hockey when he's on the ice and is fourth in NHL scoring. What more needs to be said?
- James_Tanner

Yet again, Doughty and Keith (arguably the most important individual players on their respective teams) are still playing. Sure there are other factors, including the talent that surrounds each.

Karlsson is an exciting player with a lot of skill. But there's an argument against elevating him to Bobby Orr status too.

So there's that.