Nhlpa Should Demand A Lockout

[enterin]

So the players should demand that the NHL police the actions of the players? Why can't the players police themselves, and I do not mean fighting. The NHLPA should make it clear to their membership that they have to stop this kind of play They should take the initiative and police themselves.

regards,

G.

[Columbo]

Seriously remember these guys are players playing the game I would think it would be pretty hard to do that, That s like saying let all the criminals police them selves...

[UFCanuck]

I think the NHLPA should go into a lockout unless the Refs are governed properly and call the games consistently from Day one of the Regular season to Game 7 of the finals.

Regards,

P.

[Bananas]

It's not the same players who are making the hits that are "blaming" the NHL. The NHLPA is not one player, or one mind. Give your head a shake.

To an above poster, yes, I agree. The leauge SHOULD man the f*** up. They wont do that until the NHLPA takes action. The executives feel no repercussions. All they care about is money. If you threaten their pockets, then they will listen.

It cannot be put in the players' hands to police themselves. The problem with an above suggestion (the higher fines) is that the money that pays for these doesn't even come from the players themselves. Sponsors of various sources have their fingers in the matter, and trivial amounts of money is not the issue.

The only way the league is going to put an end to this nonsense is if their wallet is affected. A lockout would be the biggest hit.

I would like to add that this matter should not be regarded in a selfish way by the fans. "I wanna watch hockey!" is not good enough. The people who are subjected to this situation do not deserve this.

To the poster who mentioned that the NHLPA has taken no initiative, that is a good point. I feel that this post-season is the turning point. This is half way into round one, and there is more crap that has happened than all of the last few years put together. This is a result of a lack of initiative on the league's part to protect the players that sell tickets. All the cheapshot-artists see this, and they are "cashing in" while they can.

Surely there will be some discussions of sorts at this next CBA meeting, but I do not have faith in many (if any)potential solutions aside from a lockout. Anything else will ultimately be trivial and result in a temporary calm before yet another storm.

EDIT:

Retards

J

[BobCanuck]

Beyond pointing out that they are shooting themselves in the foot? That if the type of play continues then they might slow (or even stop) further US expansion, which means fewer jobs.

There's a consequence.

regards,

G.

[Bananas]

^Agreed. An expansion should be the least of the NHL's concern at the moment. It's not just about the southern states. It's anywhere. Cities are walking the fine line of losing their teams like Atlanta did.

The NHL's priority should be on player health. Unfortunately, that is not in their pocketbooks' best interests, and that is all that matters to these greedy fat-cats.

[xereau]

This is the time for a new league to emerge.

[Bananas]

Not necessarily. I don't think there is any potential for another league to muscle their way in. Not at this point.

Although, I wouldn't be surprised to see a few NHLPA members run off to Russia.

[enterin]

Bad analogy.

It's more like if criminals formed a union and then refused to cooperate with the police when they continue their criminal behaviour.

Really, it's a stupid analogy all around...

[Bananas]

It's not just the refs. It's everybody involved in discipline.

[Underachieving Hero of CDC]

Its been better since Shanahan took over. Everything is just more under the microscope. Think back to when Clifford hit Tanev from behind a couple years back and got no suspension.

Then there was the Ben Eager hit on Daniel Sedin last year, again no suspension

If either of these plays happened this year with Shanny as disciplinarian, there is absolutely no doubt at all that they would result not just in suspensions, but in very lengthy suspensions. Progress is being made.

[Bananas]

Progress is not being made because worthless bums are missing a game here and there; progress is definitely not being made if the matter is getting worse -- that is, more frequent as well as many cases where it is more serious.

I don't consider it progress when sports shows have to have "who's been suspended today?" segments on their sport shows.

[Tragoedia]

Sidney Crosby

Daniel Sedin

Jonathan Toews

Nathan Horton

Claude Giroux

Mike Richards

Michael Sauer

Jeff Skinner

Joni Pitkanen

Kris Letang

Zbynek Michalek

Marc Staal

Brayden Schenn

Radek Martinek

Marek Zidlicky

Nathan Gerbe

Ryan Miller

Nicklas Backstrom

Keith Ballard

David Perron

Chris Pronger

Pierre-Marc Bouchard

Kyle Clifford

Sami Salo

Alex Steen

Andy McDonald

Radek Martinek

Henrik Sedin and Zetterberg JUST narrowly avoided concussions

This is not a complete list, and mostly focuses on the stars, not just AHLers and scrubs.

And to throw in a few from last year, you know, just for fun.

David Perron

Dan Hamhuis

Derek Boogaard

Johan Franzen

Jason Pominville

Drew Doughty

Peter Mueller

Max Pacioretty

Chris Tanev

Brad Richards

Mike Green

Cal Clutterbuck

Jordan Staal

Dave Bolland

Gilbert Brule

Rostislav Klesla

Scott Timmins

Kyle Quincey

Simon Gagne

Mattew Lombardi

And a few from who missed 2010-11

Marc Savard

Paul Kariya

David Booth (didn't miss entire season)

An appalling list that demonstrates the lack of protection. Nearly every team is losing one of their stars to these injuries.

Now I realise there are those on here who recieved their concussions from accidents not coming from dirty play like Chris Pronger. But the major issue here is, that this trend is showing that nearly every star player will recieve a concussion over the course of 2 or 3 seasons. And the worst thing is the culprits aren't being punished, or at least punished harshly enough.

I like Shea Weber, but that hit had to place in the game. Throw the book at him.

I didn't like the Byron Bitz hit even though I like him to. But I still say throw the book at him.

I don't like Dustin Brown, and that was a later hit than the Rome hit, with Sedin not even aware that a player was coming at him due to how late it was. He deserved 5 minutes and the gate. And then a 4 game suspension.

I know a bunch of people who have stopped watching hockey, who are hockey lovers, because of the sh!t that goes on, not only unpunished, but often rewarded.

The NHL needs to protect its stars (and players in general) from these hits.

My main beef though for the zebras who couldn't ref a peewee hockey tournament let alone a professional game, is I see our players try to retaliate, but they only take our players off. So we can't even defend ourselves, so we are stuck losing the game because of penalties, or letting them take shots at our stars. What do they want us to do?

And before someone accuses of me about whining about my team losing, this is a league spread issue. Ask the Rangers coach Tortorella what he thinks about the quality of the officiating, or maybe what Babcock thought about the Shea Weber incident. Well first off they would be scared of the fines the NHL office of corrupt beareaucrats would issue for honesty, but if they answered honestly, you would probably get an earful.

[Trollerblader]

Takes a lot for me to say something like this, but I agree. Player's Association should demand a lockout.

Regards,

N.

[Bananas]

<snips the big post to avoid clutter>

[Columbo]

A lot of the reason we're seeing such an increase in concussions is actually simply an increase in the AWARENESS of concussions, and an increase in precautionary measures. Twenty years ago, probably even ten, Crosby would have probably played this entire season.

The NHL is doing a good job of forcing players to sit out if they have symptoms, and they are trying to eliminate head shots more than ever.

[Columbo]

How many of these hits would have been suspensions today? How many of the players hit by Stevens here are very slow to get up? And how many of them were back in the lineup the next game, if not the next shift? The NHL has changed, for the better. Let's be serious.

[Bananas]

It's hard to be serious when you can't even watch the players you pay to see. If it's about ratings to them, then awareness and sitting players out can't be the only step they take. These morons need LENGTHY suspensions for doing what they do. They shouldn't return until the player does, but with a minimum of 10 games if there is intent to injure.

If there is clearly no intent, the 10 games don't apply, but that is all. You can't differentiate your punishment among players depending on random variables. The deterrent has to be firm. If you hurt another player, you don't deserve to play. It's as simple as that. Fans, as well as the NHLPA, would much rather these mad-dog idiots be off the rink than the star players.

Rather, the league endorses it when the star players do it. "Oh, we can't suspend him, he's Chuck Norris Shea Weber..."

It's the result of a business that has been subject to corruption. Solution: lockout. Plain and simple.

[German_Canucks_Supporter]

Boston set the golden standard last year, and everybody is raising the bar. This is what happens when you endorse this circus. We saw what happened when Detroit and Pittsburg were winning cups: teams were going for skill. A cup for Chicago, then Boston, and the league turns upside down.

[Bill Sikes]

Every team that has won the cup has had its share of tough guys, it's an important part of the mix, you need skill players, solid goal tending, agitaters (or sh*t disturbers) and enforcers. The Canadians of the 70's had tough guys (Lupien, Bouchard, Chartraw, and Savard & Robinson weren't afraid to get thier noses dirty) the Isanders had Gillies, Howat, Langevan, the Oilers had Semenko, McSorley, Smith and Bucaboom, the nonsense usually starts with a cheap shot or two, the one melee I saw near the end of the Flyers/Penguins started when Crosby took two hacks at the Flyers goalie after the whistle, another was when Neal took a run at Geriux's head.