Sabres at it again

[agentrygraphics]

Call me a traditionalist, but I don't mind the low scoring games. Games with each side scoring less than 5 goals each doesn't affect whether I buy a ticket or not. Wait, isn't there another sport that very often has scores of 1-0, 2-1, etc...oh yeah...it's Soccer...the most popular game on Earth and no one seems to mind that the final scores of THAT sport aren't 11-10, 15-8, etc. (note: soccer and hockey are vastly different sports, I realize that.)

Would anyone else agree that MAYBE the problem isn't the fact we need bigger nets and smaller goalies, but that low scoring games = evenly matched teams and evenly spread talent?....If that's the case, then just expand-expand-expand until the talent pool is so thinly spread out that the norm will become blowouts of 15-2 and such. Hasn't the MLB run into that problem over the past, say 10 years or so?

[officeglenn]

Don't get rid of fighting. It's how the players police themselves. The furthest I'd be willing to go is that two major penalties on one player is an ejection, and any majors for fighting thereafter are automatic player/coach ejections.

The Jr. 'B' league around these parts has a one-fight-and-you're-gone rule, as well as a rule that suspends coaches one game for every fight more than three in a game. There were still a lot of chippy games, esp. between regional rivals, but I think a variation of it could work in the NHL.

[Pat]

They look cool

But that doesnt take away form the fact that this is totally ridiculous

[Stampman]

Call me a traditionalist, but I don't mind the low scoring games. Games with each side scoring less than 5 goals each doesn't affect whether I buy a ticket or not. Wait, isn't there another sport that very often has scores of 1-0, 2-1, etc...oh yeah...it's Soccer...the most popular game on Earth and no one seems to mind that the final scores of THAT sport aren't 11-10, 15-8, etc. (note: soccer and hockey are vastly different sports, I realize that.)

Would anyone else agree that MAYBE the problem isn't the fact we need bigger nets and smaller goalies, but that low scoring games = evenly matched teams and evenly spread talent?....If that's the case, then just expand-expand-expand until the talent pool is so thinly spread out that the norm will become blowouts of 15-2 and such. Hasn't the MLB run into that problem over the past, say 10 years or so?

I agree with most of that.

Low scoring hockey games are only boring if they're low scoring because of the trap and/or incompetant play.

If they're low scoring because of great goaltending or defensive play--then yes they are exciting--and each goal is that much more important, and exciting...

[jkrdevil]

Fighting must go. It makes the game bush league to the casual fan. Obviously, when it comes to penalties giving out it would have to be up to the ref to detirmine. If both players agree then they are both gone. But if a team uses a goon to take a star out and the star fight in self defense the goon is gone and his team recieves a 5 min major penalty. If they do that give the other team a 5 min power play. That would stop it. Also the refs would have to crackdown on the cheap shots. It can work

I don't agree with removing the red line for 2 line passes. I think it would hurt more than help. Defensive teams will back up even further, and slow down the game more. I heard the most of the european leagues are looking to put the red line back in. There is a reason why they haven't taken out the red line after all the years of talking about it.

Beware when lloking at international rules, sure they look great at the olympics and world championship tournaments. However you must remember those are all All-star tournaments at that level. Bring it to the NHL and it might just have the opposite effect of what you want.

As for the gym teacher comment, we are playing floor hockey now in gym and the keep telling us not to hit each other. But we do anyways.

[NJTank]

There is nothing worng with the occassional 1 on 1 fight in Hockey its fun and exciting we dont need to get up tight about fight in hockey too we are up tight about it in every other sport now and tahst getting annoying.

[-Helix-]

Fighting is stupid and a waste of time.

It's alright sometimes in a heated game between rivals. Then it can be exciting. But 1 on 1 fights break out with no reason... It's just retarded.

The lightning rarely fought, and when they did it was near the end of the regular season when they weren't playing that great and getting angry. That made me lose interest, because I thought it was pathetic. Sadly, it's the same for almost every team.

Oh and by the way. Incase you can't read. BUFFALO introduced the net design. Not Bettman.

Blame the sabres, not some guy that just speaks on behalf of the owners. Bettman has no real power. The "blame Bettman" thing is getting old.

[Phil]

Fighting must go.

Agreed. You may be surprised to hear that coming from a Canadian, who are all supposed to be "Don Cherry's good ol' boys".

The excuses I've heard for fighting in hockey are pathetic. Heated games with lots of physical contact? Sure, but that doesn't mean you need to fight it out. I've seen lots of heated football games, where the linemen are engaged in more frequent, heated, and sustained contact, and their 'fights' never go much beyond a shove either way.

Another excuse fighting proponents like to use is that it keeps the players accountable for cheap shots. Get serious. If you need that to keep players accountable, you have bigger problems. Sure NBA players could routinely undercut opponents' jumpshots but they don't out of a level of respect and the knowledge that they would not last long in the league if they continued. Similarly with football... helmet-to-helmet collisions have been reduced greatly since the NFL introduced much stiffer penalties to combat them... they didn't need 6'3" 280 lb behemoths roaming the field, picking fights and pulling each others' jerseys over their heads to get the point across.

Fighting exists in hockey because it's tolerated. Some would say that it's not tolerated... players get 5-minute-majors for fighting. Get real. In the past, hockey has used fights as a marketing tool... the first sport I know of to promote itself based on an act it claims to be illegal.

People think it's a part of the game, but I feel it's a part of the game that could go and not be missed. Nobody watches NCAA basketball and thinks "the only thing that would've made UNC-Illinois better is if Dee Brown and Rashad McCants had gone toe-to-toe at center court."

If fighting wasn't tolerated, it would help eliminate the goons from the ice, making the game that much better. Plus there would be trickle down effects to all other elements of the game, and the quality of play would increase. And besides, what fans would you be alienating? The guys whose brain cell count equals their tooth count? Darn.

I have no problem with bone-jarring, hard-hitting play. I'm a big football and hockey fan, and one could not expect either sport to go with no-contact. However there is a big difference between physical contact and fighting... one is an acceptable use of force and ingrained in the fabric of the sport, the other is a bush league, unprofessional display of what happens when testosterone outranks IQ.

[Brian in Boston]

This is why Bettman must go

And Gary Bettman's position within the Buffalo Sabres organization is what exactly? Enough with the, "Everything that's wrong with the NHL is Gary Bettman's fault," tirades!

Boston Bruins President Harry Sinden - a guy as committed to the health and welfare of the National Hockey League as any long-time coach/executive could be - is squarely in Bettman's corner. That should serve as some indication that not all hockey traditionalists consider Gary Bettman to be professional ice hockey's "antichrist". He's simply a guy who took on one of the most thankless jobs in pro sports: trying to shepherd a glorified regional, niche-sport league into the 21st-century.

Bottom line? The NHL's problems run far deeper than the gentleman now occupying the commissioner's office.

[Stampman]

I'm not a fan of Sinden's either...