Monday Open Ice

this topic wasn’t mine. I woulda suggested a ‘Desert Island Album’ list. :)

Ryan Lambert & THN. We’re boned.

Big days for the Wild faithful

http://wild.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=536557

Lambert still comes off like a stupid no talent doucherocket. That was possibly one of his worst written articles, and he’s got a lot of shit to sift thru to find the smelliest. I hate him less when he hates the canucks.

When was the last time Detroit, whom I’m calling the most consistent team in the last ten years, had a goon? The old dad and I were trying to come up with a name since Probert and the best I had was Kocur who retired in ‘99 and had relatively few penalty minutes in the 90’s. There’s now more heat of the moment fights between players whose number one job is to score or defend rather than drop the gloves. End of the day the game has had a lot of positive changes over the last five years that initially had the hardcore fan worried, but in the end has made for a much more entertaining game and eliminated the need for goons.

http://www.nucksmisconduct.com/2010/8/30/1652428/mock-nhl-expansion-draft-what

But there’s always room on my team for a tough-as-nails shit disturber who can actually play the game.

Couple other links, if’n your interested. My co-writers at Pass it To Bulis absolutely killed it in these two posts on the Captaincy debate.

Qris starts the ball rolling.

And Harrison responds.

When it comes to goons, I don’t think they have a use anymore. The NHL has shifted towards being a league where speed is the most valuable tool and older slower and sometimes stronger players can’t impede the faster smaller younger more skilled players. Obviously this is a generalization but it indicates a gradual moving out of the goon position. I have no problem with fighting in hockey, its great to go to a hockey game and see a fight, but if a player can fight and do nothing else, then that is where I draw the line. Especially when that goon doesn’t even fight sometimes and just does cheapshots. If you don’t know already, I pretty much despise Downie and Carcillo. But I can acknowledge that they have hockey skills. Boogaard, has none, and he is being paid more than Asham and Wellfed. The latter doesn’t even have a contract yet! What is the point of having a guy who can play minimal minutes, usually just 5 minutes at the end of the game, skating around with his arms out looking to cheapshot someone or start a fight. Furthermore, the goon has even less of a place on a right up to the cap team that needs scoring, not fighting, in a tough division (relatively) like the Rangers. I have no problem with ATL signing Boulton despite him being a goon because he works hard, is good in the locker room, and most of all, only costs 650 K in a team that has a lot of cap room. I didn’t mind the Hordi signing when it happened, but now I never want him to wear the blue and green ever again. I don’t think goons have a place, but if a GM insists on them, make sure that the goon is signed not at the expense of defensive responsibility or offense.

Now I just have to wait till someone flames me.

Also, since we’re talking about the Rangers, here is a great article about Dolan’s madness.

I am all for de-gooning the league.
Paying someone hundreds of thousands of dollars to play 5 minutes of useless hockey is stupid. And watching one goon fight another good is boring. I would love to see a goon beat the crap out of Matt Cooke (or another cheap-shot player), but those players never fight, they just turn their back on you, and if you whack them, your team goes under for 5 minutes. So, what’s the point?

On the other hand, if a good happens to be a good hockey player, then he will cease to be a goon, since a team cannot affort to lose a good player because of a fighting misconduct, every game.

The CDC caught whim of your brabarian post and is sending hordes of traffic our way

http://forum.canucks.com/topic/284823-the-brabarian-explodes/

http://www.puckprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=617

Goons, no. Players who can contribute with something more than their fists, while still being willing to drop the Coopers if need be, yes.