Today's NHL: What Does Happen

Remember the first season post-lockout when game announcers seemed to feel they weren't doing their job if they didn't say at least three times that "in today's NHL, no lead is safe"?

Those sure were times and now I feel like we've got a new "today's NHL", but it's about something entirely different than big comebacks. Here's what I see in the game today...

Players

- The ridiculous defending with fists of teammates who are hit with a clean check.

- Teams starting games with repeated cheap shots to "test the toughness" of the other guys. Just seems like silly posturing most of the time.

- The apparent disregard for the safety of fellow players. I'm not the first to say it, but the danger is someone eventually getting killed on the ice due to either a head shot or head hitting the ice. Scary stuff and there doesn't seem to be any efforts being taken to reduce the danger.


Management

- The dumbness of the league not going to 3 points for a regulation win. Even though I think shootouts are a gimmick of a way to decide games, I'm fine with them for regular season games. So silly, though, to have some games count for 2 points total and some for 3.

- The abject dislike of the Canadian market by league headquarters. Recently Commissioner Bettman talked about how no US teams would move to Canada, but perhaps an expansion team might go there? Taking a page from former New Orleans Saints coach Jim Mora... "expansion???, you want to talk expansion???!!!"

- Too high of a % of scoring coming during man advantage situations. This one could be argued as to what management could or should do about it, but I do find it frustrating that games are so frequently decided based primarily on special teams play.

Ok, all that said, I love hockey and will continue to do so. Just some stuff definitely bugs me about the NHL right now.