Any hockey fans out there?

[seeth07]

Generally with you on FIN stepping up in internationals, but man is their D-Corps in rough shape with the injuries for this tournament. Their bottom 5 D are like 3rd pair guys in the NHL (or 2nd pair guys on mediocre teams, sorry Utah fans).

That's a tough hill to climb when the USA/CAN 7th D-men are Norris candidates.

Can't wait though.

That is exactly where I'm coming from with my statements. Defensive cores wins in hockey over the long run. This is a short enough event that perhaps some weird stuff can happen - you only get three games to determine if you are good enough. All teams but Finland have an amazing top 4 D core while USA/Canada that extends down to the top 6/7

 

[seeth07]

Last weekend I was in Iowa where I can sports bet so I did a round robin bet for the 6 games. Tonight I took Sweden with the +1.5 spread. Will it be the Gus Bus in the net and can he be remarkable stopping the Mac attack? I know I would be terrified having to face both of those players at once.

 

[Wild Bill]

I'm in the minority, but I think this tournament is stupid, to put it lightly.
Why the hell are we putting it in the middle of the regular season? I understand international competition is huge, and guys want to play for their country, but why are we sending them off to do it while guys are busting their asses to try and put their teams in contention for a cup run?
Once every 4 years with the Olympics is enough the way it is.
This could have been done in late summer/early fall before the season started to give guys a chance to heal up before playing for the team that pays their salary.
And as far as competition goes, no international hockey tournament is legit unless the Ruskies are lacing up their skates.

 

[SD_Prairie_Goat]

I'm in the minority, but I think this tournament is stupid, to put it lightly.
Why the hell are we putting it in the middle of the regular season? I understand international competition is huge, and guys want to play for their country, but why are we sending them off to do it while guys are busting their asses to try and put their teams in contention for a cup run?
Once every 4 years with the Olympics is enough the way it is.
This could have been done in late summer/early fall before the season started to give guys a chance to heal up before playing for the team that pays their salary.
And as far as competition goes, no international hockey tournament is legit unless the Ruskies are lacing up their skates.

I think it's all to do with swapping out the all star game/weekend for a new event. The all star weekend was getting weak viewership so they tried something new with this four nations tourney.


As for ruskies, I'd say it's likely due to all the Russian sanctions. Plus everyone usually goes for even number of teams, so who would be the other team added? A misc. Team from the rest of the world?

 

[Gr8bawana]

I see this 4 Nations tournament much the same as the NBA all-star game or the NFL Pro-Bowl of the MLB all-star game. I don't watch any of them, they're just exhibition games.
These guys don't want to take the chance of getting hurt for nothing.

 

[seeth07]

I think it's all to do with swapping out the all star game/weekend for a new event. The all star weekend was getting weak viewership so they tried something new with this four nations tourney.


As for ruskies, I'd say it's likely due to all the Russian sanctions. Plus everyone usually goes for even number of teams, so who would be the other team added? A misc. Team from the rest of the world?

Russia is banned from international competitions due to their on going war with Ukraine.

 

[cedahm]

I'm in the minority, but I think this tournament is stupid, to put it lightly.
If we're going to create a tournament out of thin air, why the hell are we putting it in the middle of the regular season? I understand international competition is huge, and guys want to play for their country, but why are we sending them off to do it while guys are busting their asses to try and put their teams in contention for a cup run?
Once every 4 years with the Olympics is enough the way it is.
This could have been done in late summer/early fall before the season started to give guys a chance to heal up before playing for the team that pays their salary.
And as far as competition goes, no international hockey tournament is legit unless the Ruskies are lacing up their skates.

I agree with a lot of those points - mainly that not having RUS and CZE is lame (And there aren't enough NHL'ers to build a roster once you go below those two countries)

But, Bettman and the Players needed a good stepping stone to get NHL players back to the Olympics at all (remember - no NHL players in the Olympics since 2014, and the Winter Games will always be in the middle of the NHL season).

AND, they also are trying to solve the same problem every major sports league has with in-season All Star games (meaning that they all suck and almost nobody likes them).

It's a good start to more International hockey with some flaws.

 

[seeth07]

I see this 4 Nations tournament much the same as the NBA all-star game or the NFL Pro-Bowl of the MLB all-star game. I don't watch any of them, they're just exhibition games.
These guys don't want to take the chance of getting hurt for nothing.

If you think that these guys aren't going to giving 110% for this tourney, you must be kidding yourself. You don't have to watch, thats fine.

 

[Wild Bill]

AND, they also are trying to solve the same problem every major sports league has with in-season All Star games (meaning that they all suck and almost nobody likes them).

Yea, I am ready to be done with all the all star games and pro bowls and all that BS. They're all trash and have been for a long time. The players have long ago stopped caring about them.

Issue is you can't just get rid of them because contracts have accelerators, bonuses, and clauses that pay out based on being named to these teams. I'd rather see the player's unions and leagues agree in their next collective bargaining agreements to do away with them and find an alternative to base incentives on instead of some fan or writer vote.

If you think that these guys aren't going to giving 110% for this tourney, you must be kidding yourself.

Exactly, and I don't need to see an injured Ericksson Ek, who plays an incredibly physical brand of hockey, sitting out the last game (for the team that pays his salary) before the break leaving them to play with 7 defensemen and getting their asses kicked, only to hop on a plane to go play injured for Sweden. Nor do I want to see Gus go and potentially lose the mojo he seems to have finally found by getting lit up by a Canadian all star team.

I'll enjoy watching it because I enjoy watching hockey, but I'll be in anguish any time someone loses an edge in a hig traffic area, or goes into the corner after a puck with someone on their tail. Especially any Wild players.

Somehow, MLB, who has fumbled or bungled about everything they've touched in the last couple of decades, got their international competition right by putting it before the season. Even so, ask the Mets how they felt coming off of a 101 win season only to see their star closer tear his patellar tendon in the WBC.

 

[cedahm]

Nor do I want to see Gus go and potentially lose the mojo he seems to have finally found by getting lit up by a Canadian all star team.

As an Avs fan, Gus losing his mojo is an OK outcome for me

But don't think I won't be noticeably wincing every time Makar or Toews goes into a corner after a puck with one of the Tkachuk's bearing down on them at 20mph looking to be first, fast and violent (my HS coaches mantra)

Still - this is 1000X better than the AS "game" or watching guys sauce pucks across the Bellagio Fountains (well, that was pretty cool)

 

[seeth07]

There is still about 8 weeks left of hockey coming out of this in season tournament.

For the vast majority of the league, its a welcomed two week rest period to give their bodies a much needed rest after playing a lot of hockey over the last 4 months or so. That benefit alone I'm sure most team GM's are happy about. Get healthy right before the final 2 month push to the playoffs.

As for the 100 players competing, yes there is some risk of injury but the actual risk is really minor. These players play 82 game seasons and this is 3-4 more games on top of that for those select few. We aren't talking about a huge statistical jump here in all these guys getting knocked out for the rest of the season as a result of this.

 

[Wild Bill]

'spose I shouldn't get worried about anything. Not like the Mild, I mean Wild, are going to do anything other than lose in the first round again...