Maybe the stars should quit while they’ve a head
One can say that it’s always been the case in the NHL that stars have been targeted during the NHL playoffs, and to some degree that would be correct.
But the circumstances are much different now. In the old days, when Bobby Hull or Frank Mahovlich were the targets of hard checking, the player involved in the harassment had to fight the other team’s tough guy and the linesmen were perfectly prepared to let that fight be decided until the point was reached where one participant was in trouble.
Now, under the direction of the league office, the linesmen come in as quickly as humanly possible to break up any possible fight and it’s even become manly, part of the strategy, not to fight.
It’s almost like the reverse code, so you get a guy like Dustin Brown who targets stars on the other team, makes his hits and then gets off the ice as quickly as possible.
Not saying he hasn’t had a great playoff, particularly shorthanded, but is this the new star in the game? Teams can load up on bangers and neutralize teams with stars which means now talent counts for a lot less than it once did in the league. No matter how good the Montreal Canadiens might have been in days of old, there was no way a team even with their edge in talent could string Cups together today.
The degree of punishment stars are now dealt in the playoffs has become absurd. The Flyers basically just attacked Sidney Crosby and Evgeny Malkin. Jonathan Toews was consistently hammered by the Coyotes, as was Henrik Sedin by the Kings in the first round. It was the same for Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk. Alex Ovechkin was neutralized in the first round to the point where his coach played tough guys much more than the Russian star.
And now in the second round you see L.A. has already taken out Alex Pietrangelo, which pretty much has the Blues hooped so far.
It’s almost reached the point where it’s an advantage not to have a star, or if you do, he’d better be a giant like Anze Kopitar.
What is the fun of participating in the playoffs if you’re a star? It’s absolutely miserable and it’s utterly dangerous — and at what point are the likes of Crosby and Toews going to figure out the risk isn’t worth it?
Consider that both have already won a Stanley Cup and an Olympic gold medal among other various world junior titles. Both already have all the money they will ever need for the rest of their lives. Crosby has already been paid $38 million U.S. in salary over his NHL career and has made heaven knows how much more off the ice with endorsements. He’s so big he could still make a massive living just being Sidney Crosby if he retired today.
How much fun would it be trying to spend that money if you couldn’t remember where you parked your car or you needed a wheelchair to get to it?
Toews has only made a little over $16 million with his bonus loot made in the Cup year so he isn’t quite as loaded, but clearly this guy doesn’t live the high life so he has all he could ever need and would be well positioned to learn lots more in the game if he stopped playing. And both have had severe concussions already in their young lives. What more is there to gain? Why would they stay in there and take the risks that every player takes but then grow much more serious and pronounced once the playoffs begin because they become targets?
Where are these guys’ parents, their friends, their real friends?
If it wasn’t for the fact they haven’t won a Cup and they seem to have had their manhood challenged by various lunatics over the years, the same is pretty much true for the Sedins, particularly Daniel, who suffered that concussion late this season. Why play? They have each made just over $30 million U.S. so far in their careers, won an Olympic gold medal — which is massive for Europeans — and both could be very happy with their families with one-tenth of that money, such is their lifestyle. What’s in it for them? Why would Henrik Sedin again put himself in that position whereby Brown can run at him from behind, knock him senseless, and both he and the team have to smile sweetly and say it was a clean hit so as not to be called whiners? More importantly, why would Daniel?
It’s reached the point where it’s nuts for these guys to keep playing.