Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Finally-GM’s discussing the worst rule change of all time
When goal scoring was up at the start of this current NHL campaign and maintained a higher pace as the season progressed fans and media alike wondered if the league had finally taken a step back in time, to the free wheeling 1980’s where the run and gun style of the Edmonton Oilers spawned like minded copy cat teams with the end result being a shoot out not only at the Calgary Corral but at every other rink in the NHL. In fact in 1985-86 fifteen of the twenty-one teams in the NHL scored more than 300 goals during an eighty game regular season. Last year, the twentieth anniversary of that season, two teams out of thirty in an eight-two game season scored more than 300 so we’re not quite there yet folks.
The other glaring difference to me and if this dates me so be it but from the time I began watching the game in the mid to late sixties right through the raucous seventies and the free wheeling eighties, the major difference between then and now is the lack of respect and the cheap shots that are prevalent in today’s game. Let me be more specific. There are more gutless twerps and more cheap shot artists in the game today than at any other time in the history of the sport and a huge reason for that is the most ridiculous rule in hockey, the instigator, that was brought in under Gil ‘The Thrill’ Stein’s watch. Regretfully he’s always going to be known for being the guy who tried to orchestrate his way into the Hockey Hall of Fame instead of the guy who arguably had as much to do with the changing of the game as the New Jersey Devils did with their ‘trap-style’ winning the Cup in 1995.
The real irony of the instigator rule is that a version of it has been on the books going as far back as 1976. Referees from that time had at any opportunity the ability to further penalize the player deemed to be the instigator in any fight. For the life of me I can’t tell you when it was applied in fact it would be a good trivia question and one that I’ll have to research but at their (the referees) discretion they had the ability to call an instigator penalty and have said player kicked out of the game. Regardless of when it was first called the bottom line is it was rarely called and for that reason players were accountable. If you ran a goalie, you were going to take a pounding. If you smoked somebody from behind, which was as rare as a Montreal loss on home ice in those days, you were going to take a pounding. If you went after Bobby Clarke, Guy Lafleur, Wayne Gretzky, Mike Bossy and a host of other talented but non-fighting type of players you were going to take a pounding. You played hard, the game was tough, very tough and that had to be backed up. Even after helmets became mandatory in 1979, even after visors became part of the landscape when Ric Seiling began wearing one in 1981 due to an eye problem, players still had a high level of respect for each other and the code of the game that had existed for decades. Not today.
Today’s game is filled with a new style of hit and run player and a style of player that to quote a recent email I received is ‘euro tough.’ These are the European players who now populate the NHL landscape who have either won Cups or major awards, play hard, start or are involved in a lot of crap on the ice but never, ever would back it up by dropping the gloves. And to be fair to them, dropping the gloves is not the option it was ‘back in the day.’ For the first time in recent memory the instigator rule is being discussed at the GM’s meeting. Brian Burke, GM of Anaheim opined that it definitely needs to be amended and its punitive measure reduced. Last night on local TV here in Ottawa, (February 19) President and CEO of the Ottawa Senators, Roy Mlakar stated that the entire instigator rule should be tossed out! Now that’s more like it. When questioned by Sportsnet Rob Faulds why he would like to see it tossed Mr. Mlakar replied, “What do you like about it?” Faulds was at a loss for words briefly. What is there to like about it? The removal of this rule will protect Sydney Crosby like it did Wayne Gretzky. The removal of this insane rule will save a goalie from serious injury. The removal of this asinine rule could undoubtedly save someone’s career. Why? Because you have to think twice before drilling somebody with a cheap shot that’s why. It will bring the respect level back to the game of hockey and that for one is reason enough to throw that piece of garbage rule right out the window. Got any comments? I’d love to hear them.
Liam Maguire
The other glaring difference to me and if this dates me so be it but from the time I began watching the game in the mid to late sixties right through the raucous seventies and the free wheeling eighties, the major difference between then and now is the lack of respect and the cheap shots that are prevalent in today’s game. Let me be more specific. There are more gutless twerps and more cheap shot artists in the game today than at any other time in the history of the sport and a huge reason for that is the most ridiculous rule in hockey, the instigator, that was brought in under Gil ‘The Thrill’ Stein’s watch. Regretfully he’s always going to be known for being the guy who tried to orchestrate his way into the Hockey Hall of Fame instead of the guy who arguably had as much to do with the changing of the game as the New Jersey Devils did with their ‘trap-style’ winning the Cup in 1995.
The real irony of the instigator rule is that a version of it has been on the books going as far back as 1976. Referees from that time had at any opportunity the ability to further penalize the player deemed to be the instigator in any fight. For the life of me I can’t tell you when it was applied in fact it would be a good trivia question and one that I’ll have to research but at their (the referees) discretion they had the ability to call an instigator penalty and have said player kicked out of the game. Regardless of when it was first called the bottom line is it was rarely called and for that reason players were accountable. If you ran a goalie, you were going to take a pounding. If you smoked somebody from behind, which was as rare as a Montreal loss on home ice in those days, you were going to take a pounding. If you went after Bobby Clarke, Guy Lafleur, Wayne Gretzky, Mike Bossy and a host of other talented but non-fighting type of players you were going to take a pounding. You played hard, the game was tough, very tough and that had to be backed up. Even after helmets became mandatory in 1979, even after visors became part of the landscape when Ric Seiling began wearing one in 1981 due to an eye problem, players still had a high level of respect for each other and the code of the game that had existed for decades. Not today.
Today’s game is filled with a new style of hit and run player and a style of player that to quote a recent email I received is ‘euro tough.’ These are the European players who now populate the NHL landscape who have either won Cups or major awards, play hard, start or are involved in a lot of crap on the ice but never, ever would back it up by dropping the gloves. And to be fair to them, dropping the gloves is not the option it was ‘back in the day.’ For the first time in recent memory the instigator rule is being discussed at the GM’s meeting. Brian Burke, GM of Anaheim opined that it definitely needs to be amended and its punitive measure reduced. Last night on local TV here in Ottawa, (February 19) President and CEO of the Ottawa Senators, Roy Mlakar stated that the entire instigator rule should be tossed out! Now that’s more like it. When questioned by Sportsnet Rob Faulds why he would like to see it tossed Mr. Mlakar replied, “What do you like about it?” Faulds was at a loss for words briefly. What is there to like about it? The removal of this rule will protect Sydney Crosby like it did Wayne Gretzky. The removal of this insane rule will save a goalie from serious injury. The removal of this asinine rule could undoubtedly save someone’s career. Why? Because you have to think twice before drilling somebody with a cheap shot that’s why. It will bring the respect level back to the game of hockey and that for one is reason enough to throw that piece of garbage rule right out the window. Got any comments? I’d love to hear them.
Liam Maguire
# posted by Liam Maguire @ 9:06 AM 
