Yeah, the only way things get better is if the league decides it wants to crack down on this kind of thing. And there is nothing to suggest that they do.
IMO, the biggest problem that the league faces is with the quality of the officiating. And I have absolutely no doubt that these are the best refs on the planet. The problem is that it is their mandate to manage the game, instead of officiate infractions.
I believe a penalty should be a penalty every time - first period, OT, first time, 20th time. It's a penalty or it isn't.
Officiating to manage the flow of the game is ruining the game. And the irony is that the game already has more competitive balance than it ever has. Teams are really evenly matched now, with the salary cap. Let them play.
And if a team takes 20 penalties and loses a game 10-0, so what? The occasional blow out never hurt anyone. It's a long season.
NFL really started to crack down on Illegal contact in 2004. All that has happened since is QBs are throwing record number of TD's and yards and you will be hard pressed to find a team that consistently gives up less than 14 points in a game. Old school thinkers didn't like it but it has been great for the NFL
To me the NHL needs to crack down on these slashes or anything that could hurt star players. To me it isn't right that not only did the Flames not get a PP but Gaudreau is out until about xmas now. For what? A play us fans enjoy watching? Great slash! Hope it's on tonight honour role. That's good hockey!
I also don't think the Flames should be adding goons or calling up Bollig to stop this from happening. It won't unless the refs call it and in end I doubt Staal was trying to hurt Johnny. Bit of bad luck but not allowing him to get away with it stops it from happening
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They're arguing about this on the Fan on the way home. Wills believes there should be a suspension if you injury a guy with a slash on the hands. Pat and Will think it's part of the game.
From my perspective the league wants to protect sticks more than players hands. You rarely see a slash called for anything other than a broken stick.
That and the interview I came in midway through on my drive home with Duha was infuriating, they were saying the same stuff. They know the difference between body checking and repeatedly slashing at someone's wrists right? Slashing wrists is a part of the game we need to preserve?? Dummies
They're talking like we're asking to take all physical contact out of the game, and I have no idea how they arrived at that conclusion from the incident. How are checks and slashing one in the same? I felt like I was taking crazy pills listening to that convo.
Last edited by Sainters7; 11-16-2016 at 06:38 PM.
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Hartley would bench Johnny if the refs weren't calling anything and he was being targeted. I know you shouldn't have to do that, but it was a smart move to protect him. I'm still all for a pure enforcer, they don't have to "follow Johnny around" but with them sitting on the bench, the other team knows not to mess with our star. Such a weak team that doesn't stick up for each other, at least those horrible Flames teams in the 90s would play with passion and pack mentality even though they lost a lot.
How the team plays tonight without a day between games will be telling. Execution aside, if passion and anger is there, there's still some hope for the group.
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Sounds a lot like Brouwer's comments posted earlier in the thread, where he says it's part of the game and he does it himself to other star players. What an odd response. If the team is furious but wants to remain calm in the media, I would think a simple "no comment" goes much further.
Hartley would bench Johnny if the refs weren't calling anything and he was being targeted. I know you shouldn't have to do that, but it was a smart move to protect him. I'm still all for a pure enforcer, they don't have to "follow Johnny around" but with them sitting on the bench, the other team knows not to mess with our star. Such a weak team that doesn't stick up for each other, at least those horrible Flames teams in the 90s would play with passion and pack mentality even though they lost a lot.
So the solution is to bench your best player? On what planet is that the right solution to this issue?
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Sounds a lot like Brouwer's comments posted earlier in the thread, where he says it's part of the game and he does it himself to other star players. What an odd response. If the team is furious but wants to remain calm in the media, I would think a simple "no comment" goes much further.
I agree, it's odd, and other than the obvious this is apparently what they are made of (which will be too bad) I can only think of a handful of potential explanations.
1. They are mad and just going out of their way to say things that will avoid any claims of pre meditation when they do get pay back next time.
2. We are already in the ref bad books re: Wideman and realize they just can't call them out anymore.
3. They are sending Johnny a message, for whatever reason, that at the moment they don't have his back.
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"The NHL has tried to crack down on that stuff," Gulutzan said. "What we did last night was we addressed it with the officials, after the second period. There were a few whacks there that Johnny had to go off for. But the third whack got him. But we addressed it."
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So What Can Be Done to Prevent This From Happening Again?
Honestly, I have no idea. Maybe the NHL could actually step up and regularly call slashing infractions? Enough of this “game management” garbage, call penalties when a penalty happens. If that means calling 7 penalties a game on a team for slashing Gaudreau, then so be it, because there have been games where that really should have happened. People watch the NHL to see the stars of the league, so maybe the NHL should do a better job of protecting them from dirty plays. Gaudreau is not the only victim of this; I regularly watch Winnipeg Jets games and a similarly skilled player in Nikolaj Ehlers is frequently victimized by such plays. It happens to many smaller, fast players throughout the league. It is on the NHL to make it stop, regularly calling penalties would be a good first step.
Some may argue that the Flames should make teams pay for going after Gaudreau and in a sense I agree, but what exactly are his teammates supposed to do about it? Good on Sam Bennett for hunting down Suter later in the game and giving him a good crosscheck, but that does not negate what happened to Gaudreau. The Flames have players like Micheal Ferland, Troy Brouwer and Deryk Engelland that can make teams pay physically, but are they supposed to go take retaliation penalties that will put the team at a further disadvantage and not really help prevent such a thing from happening again in the future? Gaudreau was slashed all the time last year when the Flames regularly dressed Brandon Bollig and Lance Bouma. Are the Flames supposed to go and mercilessly slash other team’s skilled players to even the playing field? That does not sound like a good solution. There are no winners in that scenario.
As much as we'd all like for Gio to go full-Gudbranson to the media "Staal is ####ing dead!", that would all but guarantee Staal and Suter would never suffer any actual consequences as the league would be watching very closely.
At least this way, pretending that such is life, it leaves the door open for the team to potentially retaliate when the Wild come to Calgary in a couple weeks.
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So the solution is to bench your best player? On what planet is that the right solution to this issue?
I said you shouldn't have to do it... But if it's constantly happening and the refs aren't going to call it, it's a quick solution that has been done before. Protects the player and it sends a statement to the league to crack down on this BS. I personally want the enforcer solution.
If you're dealing with a bully you shut them down as soon as they try to pull some crap. You can't wait to exact revenge it's best to be truculent, as in quick to fight back. Backing down only encourages it, Gio should go nuts, so should Engelland.
Get kicked out of the game, take a 5 minute major and get fined if you have to. Letting our best player get slashed over and over resulted in where we are today, many people have been noting this since last season. Only so many slashes before a hand will break.
