What To Do About The Preseason, Sadly Learning A Lesson From The Mets
Sector 1901 - What To Do About The Preseason
In the aftermath of Patrik Laine's knee crashing against the rocks of Cedric Pare's, there's been a flood of screams and wails about the preseason and what the NHL should do about it. Of course, most of this is pointless, because we know what the answer will be down the line, if any change comes at all. One only need to look slightly to the right to see what happened in the NFL, which also had a preseason everyone thought was too long and far too pointless. The NFL shortened the preseason eventaully, but only after they got to tack on another regular season game. As there has been noise about Gary Bettman wanting to go to an 84-game season, you see how this will work one day.
The NHL preseason probably doesn't need to be more than four or five games at most, but hockey also happens to be a physical sport and the league is never going to get through it without someone getting hurt. Nature of the beast, and the NFL can't navigate those choppy waters either. Like most things in hockey, a change in attitude would be the first lever that needs to be pulled, and also the least likely to be.
I was listening to Elliotte Friedman's 32 Thoughts podcast, and Friedman doesn't get his stuff from nowhere. And he suggested that there's some unspoken code (yes, another fucking one) that fringe and young players are supposed to know in the heat of battle to take it easy on the surefire NHLers. It's incumbent on those fighting for roster spots or even just call-ups in the future to make sure they don't do anything to subject their "betters" to any kind of physical jeopardy.
Clearly, that doesn't work. Pare, for example, can't just let Laine walk him and expect that one day he might get the call from Toronto to come up to fill in a gap they have on the blue line. Coaches tend to remember, as it's their job and all. And full disclosure, I didn't think Pare's hit was all that bad so much as accidental. Yes, Laine fakes him out of his jock and Pare is trying to adjust to get back to his left which causes his knee to jut out. It's dangerous for sure, but this isn't Matt Cooke-level.
The main issue is, though it isn't as prevalent as it used to be, it still feels that hockey coaches and GMs have given the impression to their fringe and young players that the best way to "get noticed" is to be physical and push the envelope. We've all seen some no-name no-hoper trying to barrel into everything he sees in order to make an impression. The AHL is still rife with this, and thus our fears about the Hawks sending any important prospect there.
Of course, not every prospect and AAAA player can dazzle offensively. Some will make their money being third- or fourth-line grinders who are defensively sound and good forecheckers. Some will make a living as pests. Some will die in hot pursuit while sifting through my ashes. Some will fall in love with life...sorry, that went somewhere else.
The game gets faster and more skilled every year and these players are slowly being phased out, but they won't be totally gone for a long time, if ever. Especially if coaching still reaches into that muck.
There's a nuance that could be added, with "getting noticed" being redefined as simply causing turnovers or being positionally sound or hard against the boards (not like that, perv) instead of beheading people.
The other problem for the NHL preseason is the mismatched rosters we see most nights. It at least used to be the way in the NFL that both sides kind of knew who was playing when in the preseason both throughout the schedule and in the individual games. NFL coaches are still figuring out how the three-game schedule goes, but in the four-game one everyone basically knew when the starters were going to play, when the #2s were going to, and then when everyone below that was going to play. Essentially, the skill-level was about equal on the field at all times.
Hockey has no such agreement. Veteran players don't go on the road, which means road teams are filled with AHLers and prospects going up against the home-based NHL-level opponent. Pare's hit wasn't so much a result of evil desires so much as just not being up to Laine's speed.
So how do you solve that? I've thought the NHL should use spring training-like split squads more often, and perhaps teams could agree ahead of time which level of roster they're sending where. For example, the Blues and Hawks could have split squad games, and they say ahead of time the close-to-NHL roster plays in Chicago and the B-teams play in St. Louis. To equal it out, they could then reverse those later in the week so both sets of vets have to take an unwanted trip while both sets of home fans can see close to an NHL caliber game (while still paying NHL regular season prices, obviously). You could do it again with the Wild or Wings the next week, and suddenly you're four games into the preseason, everyone's gotten two games to prep. Tack on another SS-set or just one more full dress rehearsal and that's probably enough for everyone.
It won't solve everything, and players are still going to get hurt, but it at least keeps vets who know who to ramp up for the season playing against similar, while the ravenous dogs can play against other ravenous dogs.
Between G-Man And Nisei - Sadly Learning From The Mets
I am the last person who ever wants to cede anything to the Mets. I grew up in a generation that hated the Mets as much as the Cardinals. Those scars don't ever heal completely. Also a close friend's husband bleeds Mets blue and orange, and I would never willingly give him even an inch.
That doesn't mean there isn't something to be gleaned from what goes on around baseball, even in Queens, especially when they took one of the playoff spots yesterday that the Cubs claim they want. And Francisco Lindor certainly illustrated the difference perfectly.
It's not really about the 9th-inning home run that punted the Mets out of one of their typical dry-heaves and into the wildcard spot. But he is that guy, and THAT GUY is what's keeping the Cubs at home.
Look beyond Lindor at the rest of the Mets lineup. It's just a bunch of pretty good players. 2-3 WAR guys like Mark Vientos or Brandon Nimmo or Francisco Alvarez or Pete Alonso now (and that the Cubs will probably make some noise about signing but probably shouldn't). You wouldn't say any of them are better than what the Cubs are sporting in the lineup every day. The rotation is full of #2-4 starters. No one had an ERA over 4.00 but none were aces. Sound familiar?
Want to go from the 84 middling, meaningless wins the Cubs have to the 89 the Mets have (which is a total that isn't even really acceptable to them but they said they were in a reset year anyway)? A team needs a Lindor. Maybe you can produce one, or you can buy one. But until you do either, no one needs to give a fuck.
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