9 replies to this topic

[ladiesandgentlemen]

Coach Randy Carlyle says (From the NHL game recap that DTP posted in the DAL GDT):

"We want to get back playing our grinding type of hockey."

We won the Stanley Cup with our grinding type of hockey, and our team is built to play that style.

But we have been banging our head against the same wall for the second season in a row with this issue of being overwhelmed by penalties. Almost every single one of our games is virtually controlled by the time we spend killing penalties. We rarely gain any momentum in our games before we are behind the eight ball in the penalty box, and even when we do gain an early advantage, we usually give our opponents an opportunity to get back in the games with the power plays we generously provide them.

We led the league in penalties in 06-07, but used it to our advantage then. Now, we are constantly at a disadvantage by the penalties we take. Though we have essentially the same core of key players, things are not the same.

The possible reasons for this change are many, but this is what I believe is the problem:
The NHL is not officiating the game the same as it did in 06-07 when the Ducks won the Cup.

Each season since the lockout, the league has been trying to increase scoring in an effort to make the game more exciting for newer fans and to showcase it's new superstars, in hopes of growing the game's appeal and thus it's revenue$. Their number one approach has been to change how rules against infraction are called against defenders. They are using the rules to limit smothering defensive hockey and promote the offensive side of the game.

I believe that the Ducks style of play is diametrically opposed to the kind of hockey the league wants to see. The NHL wants the speed and skill of the game to be in the forefront, and the red lamp to be highlighting the excitement. The Duck want to take away the Time & Space of their opponents in an effort to control play and keep the score low. This puts our team at loggerheads with the on-ice officials on a nightly basis, and we have seen the results.

I believe the NHL has targeted the style of play that Anaheim won the Cup with as anathema and is doing everything within it's power to stop strong, smothering defense from being played.

[TheJoeMan]

You know I not one for conspiracy theories but I'm with you on this one. I understand the league wants to crack down to such a degree that the tiniest, most insignificant infractions are called but they definitely are not being equal about it. I'm all for opening up the game and eliminating obstruction but to simply tap a guy on the forearm with your stick should not be a penalty. But if it is it should be for the other team too. I love the new rule about face-offs being in the offensive zone after a penalty call but that should have been the only change. The league's new nit-picky rules this year are killing me.

I am totally convinced that NHL officials want to penalize the Ducks more. If we were taking a lot of blatant penalties like high sticking, boarding, cross-checking (real cross-checking not like that phantom cross-check Kunie got called for a few games ago) and other aggressive penalties I wouldn't complain. Has we even played a game where we got less penalties than the other team yet? And don't get me started on the officiating when we play Canadian teams. It's so lopsided I can't even tell you.

If the league is really cracking down why don't they call so many of these bullshit penalties against other teams as much as they do us? It's effecting the way we play and it's pissing me off.

[ducks4adam98]

It doesn't take much of a conspiracy theorist if you look at this logically. No one can deny that the NHL wants to increase scoring, they've come out and said that time after time. We know that they want high scoring games. This means that they are calling more obstruction penalties on defenders. We know that the Ducks don't play a superstar type of game. They grind and keep the opposition to low scores night in and night out.

It's clear that the Ducks aren't playing the type of hockey that the NHL wants to promote and, whether intentional or not, we are suffering consequences because of it.

[finagler]

I disagree. Go back and watch a game from 06/07. The Ducks moved their feet, cleared the zone, and were way more physical. They successfully could puckhandle through the neutral zone. This season they linger in the corners, stop moving their feet, losing battles on the boards, and tons of take-a-ways. They are committing penalties because they're losing these key battles. I've also noticed us losing more fights this season.
Also, I think the PK was stronger then, so we notice the penalties actually hurting us more.

[West of House]

I disagree. Go back and watch a game from 06/07. The Ducks moved their feet, cleared the zone, and were way more physical. They successfully could puckhandle through the neutral zone. This season they linger in the corners, stop moving their feet, losing battles on the boards, and tons of take-a-ways. They are committing penalties because they're losing these key battles. I've also noticed us losing more fights this season.
Also, I think the PK was stronger then, so we notice the penalties actually hurting us more.

I agree. Though there have been many suspect penalty calls (there always will be), the Ducks are committing some boneheaded penalties, and way too often, right in front of the official!

We also take a lot of stupid penalties with guys jumping in on a fight, which is basically handing the other team a free power play. They have to be more disciplined about this, I'm sure other teams know about this and try to exploit it.

[MrsBevo]

The question is not whether Carlyle is adapting to the way they call penalties. The question is whether or not the players are adapting. Pronger adamantly refuses to change his style and the things he does will result in calls. The players are responsible for how they play. They know the rules and are lazy at times with old habits.

As for the way the game is called - you have to play the way the game is called, agree with it or not.

[Veca]

Ah, great words from the levelheaded Mrs.B, as always. Them boys got to get their fertilizer together and play the way they are supposed to play....like it or not, the boss is always the boss....

[Duckbill]

Is our type of hockey being discriminated against by NHL officiating?

Yes and it has been since the lockout ended, ever since the NHL tried to overhaul the rules to increase scoring and cut back on fighting.

Do the Ducks need to make counter-adjustments to the officiating?

We just need the discipline. As an example, NHL refs seem to be looking for an excuse to call hooking penalties, this means that you have to be more careful in how you move your stick around the opposing player. It doesn't mean that if someone is skating with his head down at center ice while playing the puck you can't cleanly hit him and make him wonder how the freight train got onto the ice.


Is Randy Carlyle adapting to changes in the way the game is being officiated?

I don't know, I don't care. The team cannot control how the game is being officiated, but I do not believe we should allow the league to dictate the style of game that we play. If we start changing things now to try and be less of a phsyical team and more of a skill team I do not believe that we will be a winning team for much longer. Personally, I think we need to cut back on the mental mistakes and the avoidable penalties. One of the ways we can do this is to keep the puck out of our zone, because we take A LOT more penalties when the other team is keeping the puck down in front of our net and it may be the case that we need to HIT MORE on the forecheck to take away the other team's opportunities.

I'm all for a cleaner game, i'm very much against head shots, and I love watching talented skill players make spectacular moves. But if I want to watch a game full of sissies scoring a bunch of points making too many fancy moves I'll watch basketball.

On a side note...

Pronger may need to tweak his game a little, but the NHL needs to realize that if a short guy skates into Pronger's side that does not F'ing constitute an "elbow". The guy is big, GET OVER IT.

[ladiesandgentlemen]

Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts, Duckbill. You bring up some very good points. The Pronger issue is significant, and is sort of the poster child for our challenge with the officiating.

I want to clarify that I don't believe there is a conspiracy against the Anaheim Ducks per se, but there certainly is a concerted effort by the league to cut back on defensive hockey to allow scoring and scorers to flourish. Our style of hockey is to put a wet blanket on the opponent's scorers and scoring, so we are swimming against the tide.

We won the Cup with our style, and we should stick with it. And just like we adjust to what the other team is throwing at us by matching lines, we have to adjust to what the game officials are whistling our way.

A strong PK is the most important thing, but percentages alone dictate that we cannot afford to go shorthanded as often as we do. We could have the best penalty-killing percentage the league has ever seen, but still give up the most PP goals through the sheer number of times we go on the PK. We have got to figure out a way to stay out of the box. Discipline is part of the answer, but not all of it.

[Duckbill]

I'd just like to point to last night's game as an example of exactly what I have been talking about. In the first period despite being outshot we were aggressive up front, took the puck away, and had an early lead. I can point to a couple of penalties that were simply brutal to us though, and they were both badly timed cross checks. First was a Getzlaf cross check that kept us on our heels, continued Detroits momentum just as we were about to take it back and even though there wasn't a PP goal the sustained pressure led to the game-tying goal. Then Pronger's bad crosscheck in the third when we had the late power play erased over a minute of PP time we sorely needed. The hitting was there, and for most of the first half of the game the discipline was also there, and we were beating the defnding champs and one of the best teams in the league.