 | The Idea and The Hit |
 polastem writes "A Fresh Idea for the Playoffs
Head-First Homstrom
A Fresh Idea: Thanks to Nick Kypreos, there is a bit of a buzz going around on a new idea for the Playoffs, even so that they have announced today on Sportsnet’s Hockey at Noon, in credit to Kypreos that Baseball is looking at adapting his idea to their league. After hearing the new drafting set up the NHL is about to conduct, I could actually see this happening. The idea goes as follows: After a balancing of the regular season is in tact, teams will be determined not based on Division leaders, and not based on Conference leaders, but League leaders as a whole. For instance, if looking at the league based on the 2006-2007 standings, it would be the following: - Buffalo
- Detroit
- Nashville
- Anaheim
- San Jose
- Dallas
- New Jersey
- Vancouver
- Ottawa
- Pittsburgh
- Minnesota
- Atlanta
- Calgary
- Colorado
- NY Rangers
- Tampa Bay
In order to ac*****ulate accurate rankings however, the league would firstly have to create a definitive schedule in which balancing is in order. After which, you take the stats for the entire year, and you allow the 1st Place team to the 7th Place team (after each round, the top teams) pick their opponent. This could be determined on whether or not a lower or higher placed team had lost their number 1 goalie, possibly a star player, or other reasons. It’s basically a draft-style playoff setup. The reason for this idea came about when the playoffs featured only 1 inter-divisional series (Ottawa vs. Buffalo). You play a team eight times a year (supposedly to create rivalries) and in the playoffs you never see them. It does not make sense to play 40 games a season against divisional opponents only to never see them in the playoffs, also, a team like Chicago for instance, which sees Detroit 8 times a year, basically awards the Red Wings 16 points before the season starts. I’m not saying that to criticize Chicago, all I’m saying is that teams who are better off in certain divisions rather than others based on playing weaker teams 8 times a season, is biased. Re-balancing the schedule and adapting this idea for the playoffs sparks instant rivalries, I’ll tell you how. Let’s say Buffalo decides to choose Atlanta in the first round. Do you not think that being selected as the “easiest team” for Buffalo to get through is going to instantly spark the Thrashers into wanting to prove Buffalo wrong for picking them? It makes for more interesting series, and even brings more emotion to the playoffs itself. I have to say, personally, I found this year’s playoffs a bit boring and emotionless. Barely any fighting and most of the series just weren’t all that interesting. Every Vancouver game played, you might as well just wait and watch the last 10 minutes of the third period to see if anything is going to happen. But back to the idea. Not only does it make for interesting setups on the Playoffs (Eastern Conference teams selecting Western Conference teams right off the bat), but it also takes the top 16 teams in the league, instead of top 8 and top 8, which sometimes has a team placing third when they could possibly have not even made the playoffs, and are only there because of the division championship. What are your thoughts? Pronger Hit on Holmstrom: Yes, Niedermeyer got punished, but do you think Pronger deserves a fine, or suspension for the hit as well? Micheal"
|
|
|
|
| "The Idea and The Hit" | Login/Create an Account | 36 comments |
|
| | The comments are owned by the poster. We aren't responsible for their content. |
|
|
|
No Comments Allowed for Anonymous, please register |
|
Re: The Idea and The Hit (Score: 1)
by Motherpucker on Wednesday, May 16
(User Info | Send a Message) | My only comment is on the hit. This is coming from a Southern Californian...Chris Pronger is getting off way too easy. No question his hands and stick were high, he ran him from behind, absolute 100% intent to injure. 1 game is a joke, the league needs to grow a pair and act consistently. All of the reporters are saying he is getting 1 game because of "the sensitivity of the playoffs." Sensitivity is a word that belongs on a condom box, not in the NHL.
|
|
|
Re: The Idea and The Hit (Score: 1)
by polastem on Wednesday, May 16
(User Info | Send a Message) | | The thing I really don't understand about the hit is that they calssified it as a hit to the head scenario and gave him a 1 game suspension, yet we've seen all season long hits to the head and nothing is handed out. In my opinion, Colin Campbell is a joke. |
|
|
Re: The Idea and The Hit (Score: 1)
by nonhl2005 on Wednesday, May 16
(User Info | Send a Message) | | I'm still waiting for Alfredsson's suspension for the hit from behind in Game 2. |
|
|
Re: The Idea and The Hit (Score: 1)
by revolution77 on Wednesday, May 16
(User Info | Send a Message) | i have mixed feelings on the hit. as a detroit fan i am pleased to see that chris pronger wont be playing in game 4 (not that he has been all that affective thus far in the series anyways). but on the flipside this is the playoffs, and chris pronger is a player who usually makes his team much more competetive. had this been in the regular season there is no doubt in my mind that it would have been a longer suspension, so in a way i feel that this was the correct call on the nhl's part.
however, take a look at the nba. now i dont watch basketball nor do i care or really know anything about the sport itself. but take a look at the two players from the pheonix team that were suspended 2 games each for walking about 10 feet away from the bench. i just find it funny that pronger is handed a one game suspension by the nhl for ramming holmstroms head into the glass, and those two dudes from the nba were given 2 games for leaving the bench. it just goes to show you how much more the nba takes matters than teh nhl does. not to mentiion the fact that a lot of the rulings in the nhl have a lot to do with who the player is and not as much what actually happened. given what unfolded i feel that this is the best possible outcome for the situation (although i feel that a big reason that pronger was suspended was due to the lack of punishment on calagary in the first round). but yeah could have been worse, but its acceptable punishment. im jsut happy holmstrom wasnt injured.
wow that was kind of long.
|
|
|
Re: The Idea and The Hit (Score: 1)
by tacitus on Thursday, May 17
(User Info | Send a Message) | | I think Pronger is lucky to only get 1 game. Dirty hits are one thing, but when ur playing with reckless regard for peoples safety and just wanting to hurt people cuz ur down 4-0 is awful. I didn't think the league was gonna even suspend Pronger cuz Holmstrom came back, im glad they actually made a decent decision. Like after the Calgary game where Iginla McLennon got very dirty i hope the Wings to not sink to the level of the less talented team by trying to hurt people. Sign an enforcer in the off season to settle those scores next regular season. I wouldn't condone any redwing hitting people like that unless it was Claude Lemieux, or Ulf Samuelsson. |
|
|
Re: The Idea and The Hit (Score: 1)
by Radio on Thursday, May 17
(User Info | Send a Message) | | Holmstrom will probably keep his helmet on tighter now. That thing popped off before he even hit the boards. Hit to the head is a hit to the head, but just cause it's illegal doesn't mean you shouldn't prepare for it. Him not doing so made it worse than it would have been. Cracked skulls and blood always get people's emotions in a tuss, and that's the rest of the story. |
|
|
Re: The Idea and The Hit (Score: 1)
by Jrugges (Jrugges@netscape.com) on Thursday, May 17
(User Info | Send a Message) | | Anyone that defends the hit pronger made is clearly a complete moron. I've heard someone say, " He only hit him high b/c he stopped..." What the hell does that ever matter, players know where someones head is moving or not. Not to mention it was from behind to start with. Clearly the intent was to injury or hurt him maybe not as bad as he did but he wanted to hurt him. Luckly for Pronger Holmstrom only got stickes but things could have been much worst. People can break their necks easily that way. He should be out for the seriers in my mind but the league always plays baby when a star does something wrong especailly Pronger, (Not the first time he's done something like this.) He's a dirty player, always has been, and I personally am completely disgusted the way the league handled this situation. It shouldn't someone breaking there neck to crack down on hits like this, you give the punishments no matter how injuried the player is or isn't so another situation doesn't occur again. |
|
|
Re: The Idea and The Hit (Score: 1)
by malkin_71 on Thursday, May 17
(User Info | Send a Message) | | Finally Colin Cambell is making some sence if you look at it all season and all playoffs if a star player played dirty they would get nothing unless you guys consider Radulov a star but thank god Colin did something this time. |
|
|
Re: The Idea and The Hit (Score: 1)
by mundus80 on Thursday, May 17
(User Info | Send a Message) | i had not seen the hit until just now. i was, before seeing it, ready to defend pronger. no i'm not a ducks fan or a pronger fan, but i'm tall(6'5)and i have been called way to many times for elbowing or a high hit even when i keep my arms down. and i have seen that in the nhl to many times.
but pronger did not keep his arms down.
when your tall you get the bad call here and there because of your hight, so you should learn that you keep your arms down. he did not, his hands were almost to his own head level.
if holstrom got hurt pronger would have been out longer then a game. i do think that rob niedermayer also hitting just before he got there made things worse then they were and pronger should have not been penalized for that. so one game in the playoffs is about right if you consider every thing.
also i like the idea of the top 16 teams making it, but it will only work if you get some balance to the teams schedule. so if that happens then i think it would be good.
i dont think i like the idea of picking your own opponent. i think you should play the team you played the most . and if your tied how many times you played a team then the high placed team would play the next highest out of the tie. that way in the fist round you get the rangers/devils, sabers/senators kind of match ups. we have the senators/sabers right now but maybe we would not have and even though the series is not going like most would have guest, you need rivalries to make the playoffs even better.
but it will also be more of a just league if the top 16 make it. the only thing would be the odd west vr east first rounder. like this year. maybe just have all the top teams get figured out with the system i stated above. then the bottom of the barrel teams would play according to place, so they would play the team closest to there own point total. this system would give the under dog more of a chance while we get to see the best rivalries. also when teams are matched according to point total then that will be a better series then a 1 vr 8. now you have something like 7 vr 8. the longer a series goes on the more money for teams and the league.
|
|
|
Re: The Idea and The Hit (Score: 1)
by hero11 on Friday, May 18
(User Info | Send a Message) | I'm sorry, but you sound like another american pissant!!
Prickreos, sucked as a palyer, and sucks even worse as an analyist!!
It's you american'ts that keep trying to change OUR (canadian) game!
The Pronger hit........should have went unpunished.
Don't worry, no WMD up here. except our hockey players!
p.s. you can keep Brett Hull. defect!!!
|
|
|
Re: The Idea and The Hit (Score: 1)
by Radio on Friday, May 18
(User Info | Send a Message) | "Veteran Anaheim Ducks defenceman Sean O'Donnell remembers a time when if one team got a big lead in an NHL game, they eased off the hitting and just tried to get through the night without anyone getting hurt. Not any more. "What I'm amazed at is a team can be up 6-0 and some of the players on the team that is up are still running guys and doing late hits," O'Donnell said shaking his head prior to the Ducks facing the Detroit Red Wings Thursday in Game 4 of the NHL Western Conference final."
From Yahoo Sports article by Jim Morris, about Pronger Hit.
http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/news;_ylt=Aqh*****J6aVgJstvwBdRC2UV7vLYF?slug=cp-nhl_players_respect&prov=cp&type=lgns
More unintended consequences in the NHL. Betteman though it would be great when "no lead is safe" in the "new" NHL. Well, there's a result he and his cronies didn't think of beforehand. There's nothing "amazing" about it O'Donnell, it's the way the game's been changed by the league. |
|
|
Re: The Idea and The Hit (Score: 1)
by my_sphincter (johnny@yahoo.com) on Friday, May 18
(User Info | Send a Message) | | The reason for having conferences is to cut down on travel time. If you did the playoffs this way, they would take 3 months to complete. Also, having the top teams pick their opponent is downright ridiculous. |
|
|
Re: The Idea and The Hit (Score: 1)
by Kyleton on Friday, May 18
(User Info | Send a Message) | I think the best solution is to keep the conferences but lose the divisions in the NHL. Each teams plays everyone in the conference an equal number of times and also play the other conference teams at least twice a year, one home, one away. This does many things. 1.) eliminates weaker teams from getting a top 3 spot because they are in a weaker division. 2.) ensures every team can be seen everywhere. 3.) makes sure that teams that meet each other in the playoffs have played each other at least twice in the regular season, which in my opinion will ensure better rivalries.
|
|
|
Re: The Idea and The Hit (Score: 1)
by wingsfan13 on Saturday, May 19
(User Info | Send a Message) | | there is no way the pronger hit should have gone unpunished. he hit him in the head. period. if u hit someone in the head you deserve, whether purposely or not, to be suspended. it's going to happen im 6'6" or he should have had his helmet on propely are immature whiney excuses. there is no place for head hits and everyone knows it so when you do it be mature and responsible and just own up say ya didn't mean harm and serve your time. goes to show u the type of person pronger is that despite his actions he isnt responsible and doesnt own up to the consequences. and it serves him right that he was suspended because he wasn't penalized to begin with when he should have been and for taking cheap shot runs at players when being blown out. stupid salad-bowl-head interfering gump oager. |
|
|
Re: The Idea and The Hit (Score: 1)
by wingsfan13 on Saturday, May 19
(User Info | Send a Message) | | o yeah and i was astounded to see they even gave pronger a suspension cuz everyone just drools over him. we're lucky he got suspended one game. |
|
|
| |
|
