Vanilla Playoffs: Where has the Hatred and Nastiness gone?

[Danarqhy]

This year's first round is completely devoid of any nastiness or hatred. No rivalries, no fights, no anger... Maybe it's the playoff format, maybe it's the phasing out of fighting and violence, I'm not entirely sure... but that magical element that makes the Stanley Cup playoffs the best show on television has been glaringly absent so far in the first round. This no longer feels like the playoffs I'm used to, anybody else feel the same?

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[aylib]

It’s the direction the league is heading

 

[wgknestrick]

Maybe you should watch more games? I've seen plenty of fights, rivalries, and incredible comebacks.


I guess its not quite the thunderdome you were hoping for?

 

[ZJuice]

I thought the Oilers vs Kings had a ton of hate and hard battles. Lots of big hits from both sides. Ekholm and Arvidsson were involved in alot of rage battles this series which carried over from last year and the regular season.
Doughty was targetted a ton too.

 

[TheBeastCoast]

Boston and Toronto certainly hasn't been a friendly series lol

 

[Danarqhy]

Maybe you should watch more games? I've seen plenty of fights, rivalries, and incredible comebacks.


I guess its not quite the thunderdome you were hoping for?

I knew this comment would come, and I've watched like 80% of games, even stay up late to catch the WC games. And no there hasn't been tons of fights or rivalries... I don't know how long you've been watching or if you're new to the NHL but the Stanley Cup playoffs used to have a lot more hatred & nastiness than what we're seeing this year, and it's not even close.

 

[End of Line]

The lack of division games

 

[Iggys Dome]

Has the playoff format really instilled rivalries and hate like it was supposed to? I know we’ve seen repeat match ups but I’m not sure it’s done much in that department vs the 1v8 format.

 

[Hamilton Bulldogs]

Half the playoffs ended in quick fashion. Not a ton of time to really build anything. This year featured a handful of bad teams / teams that were overmatched and thus the first round was pretty eh.

Hopefully this makes for a good second round.

 

[fasterthanlight]

I dislike the knights < --- there's your hate

 

[5 Minute Major]

I hate to be the guy that remembers the good old days but, yeah.

 

[Ray Mercer]

The only highlight I saw was from the Vegas Dallas series and that sequence of big hits but Benn is a throwback and that kind of toughness just doesn't exist in the NHL anymore. Hockey is no longer a sport played by tough Saskatchewan farm boys but rather rich kids from privileged backgrounds.

 

[Grifter3511]

This year's first round is completely devoid of any nastiness or hatred. No rivalries, no fights, no anger... Maybe it's the playoff format, maybe it's the phasing out of fighting and violence, I'm not entirely sure... but that magical element that makes the Stanley Cup playoffs the best show on television has been glaringly absent so far in the first round. This no longer feels like the playoffs I'm used to, anybody else feel the same?

Isn't this what we want hockey to become? The 'beautiful' game where skill and speed are put on display and barbarism and violence are non-existent? Where player's wellbeing, both physically and mentally, are of utmost importance?

 

[LemonSauceD]

Canucks and Preds is probably the only series with real “nastiness”. Both those teams are already top 10 in NHL history for most hits through 5 games in a playoff series.

 

[Jee]

Don't we all hate Boston and Vegas?

 

[vanarchy]

Colorado/Vegas and Edmonton/Van would probably bring some drama but we'll see how the rest of this round shakes out.

 

[BoHorvat 53]

1st round series rarely have that edge - that almost always occurs in rounds 2 and 3.

 

[Nicko999]

This year's first round is completely devoid of any nastiness or hatred. No rivalries, no fights, no anger... Maybe it's the playoff format, maybe it's the phasing out of fighting and violence, I'm not entirely sure... but that magical element that makes the Stanley Cup playoffs the best show on television has been glaringly absent so far in the first round. This no longer feels like the playoffs I'm used to, anybody else feel the same?

I do think the refs are too soft to fighting and giving out game misconducts.
But on the other hand do you want to see skilled players making a difference Colorado for example) or teams cheapshoting the best players for the sake of winning like the below?



The answer is obvious to me

 

[Mitch nylander]

Boston and Toronto certainly hasn't been a friendly series lol

But Tampa vs Toronto last year was far more nasty.

5 fights, a suspension, scrums every whistle etc.

 

[MikeyMike01]

Playing 32 cross conference games every season has killed rivalries and eliminated most excitement from the NHL. Only 4 out of 82 games against division opponents (4.8% of the season). Sometimes just 3 games!

Meanwhile, the NFL dedicates 2/17 games to divisional opponents (11.7%). That’s the equivalent of 9 NHL games per season.

 

[overlords]

I don't know how long you've been watching or if you're new to the NHL but the Stanley Cup playoffs used to have a lot more hatred & nastiness than what we're seeing this year, and it's not even close.

you know it's on like donkey kong when the op is dropping fully spelled out AINECs 6 posts into the thread.

 

[Kranix]

Watch more games.
Fighting has gone up the last three seasons, and really jumped up in 23-24.
Fighting is rare in the playoffs dating back to your grandad's day.
The myth perpetuated by Chris Chelios, that there's no hatred in the playoffs because the Big Six don't get to play each other enough, is likewise, pure hogwash.

 

[KeydGV21]

Teams play 39% of their games against the other conference meaning they don’t play division/conference opponents enough for hatred to be present for game one of a series

What used to be there at the drop now takes to game 3 or 4 to develop…

 

[Crosby2010]

I have noticed this playoff round did not have the nastiness. Now, there is the kinder gentler NHL out there and that plays into it, but I think it may have been softer even compared to 2023. A couple of theories are probably correct. There were lots of early finishes. There may not be a single Game 7 this round. 5 of the series were 5 games or under. I do think though that even last year you would see teams fighting in Game 1 and Game 2 in anticipation of setting a tone. This hasn't happened this year. For example, Toronto really needed someone to drop the mitts after Game 1 or Game 4 if only to set a tone, to show you aren't going down easy.

Overall, fighting in the regular season has seen slight bumps this year. 0.26 fights per game, which is not all that much, but it is higher than 4-5 years ago.

Someone might be right who mentioned that hockey has turned into a rich kid's game with preppy kids playing it. Not farm boys so much. Jon Cooper wasn't far off with his comment the other day about skirts when discussing his series.

 

[RefalancheStillLose]

They made rules to take out all those aspects. This is what you get.