[Tournament] 2008-09 NHL season discussion thread

Speaking of McGrattan, I was a bit surprised to see Phoenix scoop him up when they've already got a guy who can throw 'em as well as Carcillo can. I mean, sure, he's not the biggest guy around, but he sure stands in there like he is. I wonder if Gretzky's predicting him to have another problem year regarding lack of discipline and suspensions.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Smith appeared to have some good abilities in Dallas, so I don't think you'll have too much trouble as long as you get your defense sorted out.

As far as Roberts goes, his purpose was basically to take the kids into the playoffs and show them how it's done. He did that, he's served his purpose, and I'm sure all the young players on the Penguins learned a lot from him in the process. Sure, he's a guy that would be good to have back, but losing him is far from crippling.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Free Agent A didn't sign with the team I started liking the other year with everyone else when Crosby got drafted! I hope he suffers a potentially career-ending injury! Also I have perspective and am most certainly not a baby!

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

I don't want to be one of those guys who jumps the gun or anything, but as soon as we hired Gillis as a GM I said it could never end well, and so far my team's just completely falling apart.

Gillis as an agent has a horrible reputation with the other GMs, as in the actively dislike him. I can't see him ever being able to broker a mutually beneficial deal in good faith, because everyone is going to be out to stick it to him for costing them more money as an agent.

Nonis had a three-year plan he was working towards, and I really wish Vancouver's ownership would've let him use the last year now that we'd have some cap space. Instead, they got impatient, fired him, and now look at where we are. Offering a player who's never been the best player in the league - even when he was young, let alone now - the highest salary in the league. Jesus christ.

Additional Spam:
And at last, Jagr signs with... nobody!

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Yeah, but not everyone got to watch him play on a nightly basis like Vancouver did. God what a stupid decision.

How ya doing, buddy?

The whole reason the vote for Rory campaign started was to raise awareness of how ridiculous it is to allow fans to vote on players in the all star game. And this is why! You can't really blame fans too much for taking advantage of a broken system that is begging to be exploited.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

So if home ice goes to the winning conference, what incentive is there to finish the season first overall? A trophy? Nobody gives a shit about the Presidents' and nobody ever will; the Cup is all that matters.

Fan voting is never good for a sport, be it regarding rule changes, all-star game lineups, or anything else, because fans are stupid and the only way to control that stupid is to regulate its impact. Currently it is being allowed to roam free, and that will lead to nothing but embarrassment.

If the fans make a mockery of it, as you so put it, you don't give their fuck-ups even greater consequences what the fuck. You spank them and send them to their room without dinner.

How ya doing, buddy?

First off, until fairly recently MLB was two legally distinct leagues, and before home field advantage was given to the winner of the ASG it alternated between the National and American league team playing. The two situations are incomparable.

I don't think anyone intends for internet voting to be abused, but it always will be, and that is why if you care at all about the integrity of the voting process you simply don't allow it. The results are always stupid.

As far as home ice advantage goes, well, besides potential lost revenue which owners would certainly have an issue with, do you know how many times the team with home ice has won the cup in the last ten playoffs? That's right. Ten. How about the last twenty playoffs? Sixteen. Good luck convincing anyone that is involved with hockey in any way that home ice is meaningless.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Are you joking? Is this a joke?

MLB had two legally and functionally distinct leagues. They had different rules, and until a little while ago, teams from the two didn't even play during the regular season. Under those circumstances, I would agree that winning one "division" of the sport shouldn't have any bearing on games played between teams from the two. Being in an easier division, for example, shouldn't reward you unduly (note that was also a concern with the increased divisional games in the NHL).

The NHL, however (with the exception of the last couple of misguided seasons, but that's being fixed) has a long history of inter-conference play. Teams' overall league placement has always been a direct result of their success against all teams, not just teams on their own side of the continent, and their success should be rewarded by being ranked higher than said other team.

MLB had a tradition of awarding the home field advantage to the team from each league alternating. I thought you were a baseball fan, but you obviously don't know anything about tradition at all, so I won't put you through what I had originally indended to say. It wasn't determined by anything on the field in the first place, so changing the method of awarding it doesn't in any way undermine players' efforts during the regular season. If you change the way it is awarded in the NHL, you are telling those players who worked hard during the regular season to secure the most points they were able to that their drive to succeed didn't mean anything because now a couple of goofballs in a ridiculous Junior B end-of-practice deke competition determined that they don't get home ice anymore.

As far as the numbers for home ice cup winners go, that information is all freely available on the internet. I will assume (and hope) that much like you possess the ability to use the index or the glossary of a book, you also possess the ability to search for answers on your own. It is a valuable skill. Please develop it.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

New Jersey was just a lower seed in conference play. They finished the season with more points than Dallas, and had home ice in that series. Your numbers are wrong.

Thanks for playing.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Well darn, my memory was off regarding one playoff series from a decade ago. The home team still wins the majority of the games. It doesn't matter if it's all in the head, because it's in the head of the players. Sports (which you might know, if you had tried any beyond "see how many Krispy Kremes I can fit in my mouth at once") have everything to do with the mentality of the players.

It will never change.

How ya doing, buddy?