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Congrats to the Pens and all...they certainly deserved it. Especially Phil Kessel. But I definitely feel like less of an NHL fan after this season. It wasn't just my team's faceplant that did that. A lot of ugly truths and harsh realities finally came out and made the sport I treat like a religion a bit less enjoyable
Yep totally agree. I tried my best to get into the SCF but was left with a feeling that something was missing. There were plenty of good storylines (Sid, Murray, Jumbo, Jones, The Pens in general, The Sharks in general), but the series lacked a genuine hook for me and I have been searching for answers since Round 1.
Answer? The quality of the on ice product is the shits.
Like in the dead puck era, NHL hockey has gotten stale again. The game needs more goals. Period. The players are faster, stronger and better than they have ever been. So why is there less scoring? There is simply no room for the players to move and no space for the stars to shine like they once did. The league fails to recognize that fundamental changes need to occur to facilitate more goal scoring as Coaching improves every year. Either that or the NHL can't see the cold hard truth about the game and think it's fine.
Okay so the game needs to evolve. Bigger nets? Smaller goalie gear? Bigger ice surface to Salt Lake City olympic size? Less rule changes made on the fly by the NHL? Everything would take 8 years to review and implement with the dinosaurs who run it. At least they are finally talking about the size of goalie gear reaching monumental proportions. Duh.
The integrity of the league is in question and I am not even close to being conspiracy theorist - just a pragmatist. The league is not being pragmatic about the game it marshals. There is just to much evidence to suggest that biases are in place to benefit the select NHL an old school boy's club agendas - a process which is not transparent and all of whom are in the dark about the quality of the on ice product they present.
Example: There was absolutely ZERO CHANCE that there would be more than 4 Power Plays dolled out last night. You could bet your house on it. Were there more than for 4 penalties? 100% Absolutely. I read somewhere that the average power plays given in Round 1 was 7, Round 2 was 6, Round 3 was 5 and Round 4 was 4. Last night there were 3. Bloody ridiculous.