2012 NHL Offseason Thread: ROCK OUT WITH YOUR LOCKOUT

[Callisto]

The owners have a very different situation from the players. There's less of them, and they're not unanimous about wanting the lockout. Bettman's gag order isn't about him being a dictator, it's about a lawyer protecting his clients from themselves. If they were allowed to talk freely, some owners would definitely let it slip that they don't support the lockout, and that's when the ranks would start to break.

If three out of hundreds of players state they just want to play, that's not very damaging. But if three out of 29 owners say they just want to be done with it that's a very big chunk.

Bettman's dealing with a bunch of billionaires who are used to saying what they want without repercussions; he's not administering the Gestapo, he's babysitting.

[Richybear]

But with Twitter and other social media, you get the actual emotions of some of the players. Rather than "We gotta go play 100%, win it for ol Gimpy." cliched bullshit, you'll have some players slip with how they actually feel. Is a lot of it babyish whining/venting? Oh for sure. Am I on any side? At this point, I could give 2 shits. I miss hockey, but that feeling is fading more and more each day. Earlier in the summer or closer towards the season, I was like "OMG, are they talking?! are they?! huh? Huh? Huh?" and now it's like "I wonder if Fehr and Bettman are gonna sche... fuck it, I'll find out at 5 during Sportscentre."

[BadKarma]

[Richybear]

Oh man, reading more of that Cheap Throat blog - which is getting more priceless as the days go on.

Quoting from one of his timestamped rants:

"8:01PM — Dad used to tell me stories of Mario in junior, how Laval had a kid whose job it was to keep Rothmans lit and going for Mario so he could smoke on the bench without taking his gloves off between shifts. I don’t know one guy who smokes anymore. Hell, most guys don’t even drink beer. It’s all Smirnoff Ices and shit. Fucking Patrick Kane is the worst. Kaner drinks the fruitiest, pinkest girl drinks you ever seen. You see all those pictures of him loaded with chicks, but when I’ve been around him, the girls all just laugh at him. What a fucking douche that kid is. Toews must wanna fucking cut him right in the mouth. Toewsy can’t stand that shit. Wouldn’t be surprised to see Kaner traded, if we have a season."

[Sepukku]

I always was on the Mario side of the fence on the Mario vs Gretzky debate but even my mind was blown recently when an NHL13 clubmate told me in juniors, when they were both at equal health at that stage in their careers, Wayne Gretzky in his best season finished just under 3 points per game. In Mario's final junior season he averaged OVER 4 POINTS PER GAME (282p in 70 games), by far a P/G record across all junior leagues. When Mario's team went on to win the QMJHL playoffs they were led by Mario's 29 goals and 52 points. In only 14 games.

I know a lot of people 'tear up' juniors, but thats on a whole new level by itself.

[Richybear]

Yeah, damn near 300 points the one year in the Q as well.
I was always a Mario guy, and it's fueled even more living in 80's~era Edmonton who expect Eberle/Hall to be the next Gretzky/Kurri. If nothing else, but to troll the piss out of people here.
The owner of a company I used to work for always had Oilers paintings done by some artist from here. Of course he paid retarded amounts of money for the artwork, and always had these stupid elaborate unveilings in the lobby of the office area. My 3rd day there was the first time this happened, and everyone was all sucking up and "Ooooh! Ahhhh! Very nice, Barry!" brown-nosing. A couple people asked what I thought, and within earshot of the owner (who I didn't know was the owner at the time) I blurted "Flip the 99 around and paint a real hockey player." The silence was awesome. LOL
The funniest thing, was so many people freaked out like "Don't you realize who that is?" referring to the owner. So from what could've been the most awkward introduction for a new employee, him and I got along right away because of it. He got the last laugh the one day he asked me what I thought of his newest purchase, then revealed a mounted (I think that's the right word.) polar bear. >.<

[Aksannyi]

Mario is pretty much my hero.

[Deader2818]

I hate Gretzky,

[Ratatapa]

I'M GARY BETTMAN

[Callisto]

It has been proven that Gretzky has superior genes.

[Wulfgang]

Mario was the more exciting player, but Gretzky is the better overall player imo. I think Mario's story is great though with the comebacks and basically saving the Penguins from financial ruin.

[Sepukku]

Overall what? More complete?

Mario is the only player to score 30+ PPGs in one season multiple times and one of only two players to score 10+ SHGs in one season multiple times. Thats dominance in all situations. Only player to score ENG/ESG/SHG/PPG/Penalty Shot in the same game. Holds most of the top 10 listings, including #1, for biggest % of a team's season goal total factored in on by either goals or assists. Thats dominance and carrying your team and not having a support cast for many of his seasons at the beginning/twilight of his career.

Wayne was more important to the game, but Mario was the better player.

[BadKarma]

Overall what? More complete?

Mario is the only player to score 30+ PPGs in one season multiple times and one of only two players to score 10+ SHGs in one season multiple times. Thats dominance in all situations. Only player to score ENG/ESG/SHG/PPG/Penalty Shot in the same game. Holds most of the top 10 listings, including #1, for biggest % of a team's season goal total factored in on by either goals or assists. Thats dominance and carrying your team and not having a support cast for many of his seasons at the beginning/twilight of his career.

Wayne was more important to the game, but Mario was the better player.

Thats complete homerism talking.

When you talk about the Gretzkys, LeMUX, and the Orrs of the game, you cant say one is better then the other. Had Mario not missed a few years of his career, would he have really scored OVER 1000 FUCKING POINTS to catch Gretzky? And Wayne still averaged more PPG in his career (which was longer) then Mario did. Gretzky has more assist then most people do points, in alot of cases less games

[Sepukku]

Thats complete homerism talking.

When you talk about the Gretzkys, LeMUX, and the Orrs of the game, you cant say one is better then the other. Had Mario not missed a few years of his career, would he have really scored OVER 1000 FUCKING POINTS to catch Gretzky? And Wayne still averaged more PPG in his career (which was longer) then Mario did. Gretzky has more assist then most people do points, in alot of cases less games

Had Lemieux not lost the 2004-2005 season to the lockout (the rest of the top players including Gretzky had retired), even if he only played 2/3-3/4 of the season at his average points rate for the years preceeding/following the locokout he would've moved up from 7th to 5th in points. And am I to sit here and think that a mere .02 points per game difference between the two is too large of a rate to be accounted to playing a decade with Jari Kurri, Mark Messier, and Paul Coffey? Am I to sit here and think that a mere .02 points per game difference between the two is too large a rate to be accounted for from having played a greater portion of his career in the clutch, grab, maim, trap defenses that rose to dominance in the mid 90s? Am I to sit here and think that BOTH THOSE REASONS COMBINED still can't even account for a 0.02 points per game difference?

[Sepukku]

But I guess you're incapable of accounting for other factors influencing the bottom line. If your life had a subtitle, you'd be called Badkarma: The elusive concept of context.

[bluefan]

First thing I read when I get up is another Super Mario vs The Great One debate?

Screw you guys, I'm going back to sleep.

[Brill Weave]

This is what happens when we have no season.

[Aksannyi]

I laughed.

Then I had a sad.




I do miss the old hockey days, maybe that's partially due to the fact that my dad, brothers, and I all used to sit in the living room yelling at the TV and watching intently as my mom rolled her eyes and desperately tried to get the attention of at least one of us. Those were the days, when such things as a lockout were unheard of. Nostalgia bombing hard. Late 80s to mid 90s were some amazing times in hockey.

I think it's time to consider getting some of those NHL channels and watching some classic games.

[NynJa]

I think Mario was better, of course he's from montreal and gretzky is from ontario, and fuck ontario, so thats just homerism obv. Overall throughout their careers, I'd say Gretzky was backed by a stronger lineup than Mario. There are also the big "what if Mario didnt have cancer, what if Mario didnt suffer from chronic back pain" questions.

Either way, no answer is wrong. They were both two of the greatest, the best of the best of the best, that have ever played the game.

[Richybear]

I know a couple of years ago, we created our all-time teams based on our favorite teams, so obviously Habs fans had more to choose from over say an Anaheim fan (which I don't think we've ever had on BG.) But I was thinking, since we have nothing else to really talk about, what would be your all-time dream starting line-up? It can either be your favorite players, or just an elite line in general. But to make it easier, just go 3 forwards, 2 dmen and a goalie.

Obviously it might be tough since I'm sure those who pick Bobby Orr never got to see him actually play - aside from the same looped highlight of "the goal".

Goalie: Patrick Roy
Defense: Ray Bourque, Paul Coffey
Forwards: Mario Lemieux, Joe Sakic and.... Stephane Richer.

That was actually harder than I thought. Maybe a full roster would be more fun to make. haha