Quote:
Originally Posted by AustinL_NHL
I can't say I agree, or at least am on the side of the 90% of players, with the "respect for other players" argument.
You're getting paid millions to play a child's game. Least you can do is be a professional for the entirety of the game, no matter what the score is. I'd rather have the 10% of NHL players who are going to play their hearts out until the final whistle over the other 90% who stop trying once they *think* a score is out of reach.
That's why I love Darryl Sutter's "no talking with the opposition" approach so much, because it's pure business. You can show respect to your friends/family on the opposition after the game, but for that 60+ minutes of hockey, they're your enemy and you're doing WHATEVER it takes to come out on top. No respect.
In the regular season, I can see a little bit of an argument for not going all out with your hits, but if your players become used to letting up on their hits, or just not hitting at all and trying to make a play with their stick, that's a recipe for disaster and bad habits.
Not to mention hitting hard takes on a whole new value in the Playoffs, when big hits can cause the opposition player some good bruising and/or their nagging injuries to flair up a bit, while at the same time making the entire opposition start looking over their shoulder more often, giving your team a nice advantage in a lengthy series.
|
I think where you and I might disagree is the correlation to "playing your heart out" till the end of the whistle. I agree, players should do that, and agree that's part of the culture a great coach like Sutter instills.
Where I disagree is correlation you made to Bennett's hit last night actually being "playing his heart out". In terms of effort, or physical exertion, it certainly was. In terms of best move for his team, giving his team the best chance to win it wasn't, which is what in my mind "playing until the last whistle" entails. Bennett, in my opinion, went in the with goal to hit to hurt, regardless of the outcome of the play, he's conceded the game. If he hadn't, he'd have put as much effort into that play, but he'd have gone into the contact more controlled, because he would care about what happened to the puck after the hit. Presumably he'd have wanted to take the puck away, gain control and head up ice to try and start the comeback. That's playing to the end of the game................not what he did IMO which was make the biggest impacting hit I can.
Now where I do agree with you is on the construct of playoffs. If you look at the long game of winning a 7 game series, wearing down your opponent physically (and mentally) for the next game becomes a factor. Is it maybe smarter to go for the legal, but devastating hit with 3mins left, down three goals then actually try to win the game at hand and score 3 goals. In terms of positive impact to your desired outcome, win the series, it probably does make sense to make the big hit. Is that what we want......up for debate I'd say.