Penalties the first few games
I know the referees and the league want to show everyone that they are going to continue to enforce calls, but man there have been alot of them lately. I guess this shouldn't come as a surprise, but when 1/2 the games are special teams play its kind of noticable. Thoughts?

Yea I think it is a little over bearing. I was watching a Yotes game the other night and they had about 5 straight penalities called on them. Also, too many hooking and holding penalties.

I don't know, I think they could actually be a good thing. In the late '90s, and even up until last season, there were huge problems with stickwork getting in the way of the game, and the inconsistencies in penalty calls were downright stupid in some cases. A lot of teams won a lot of things because of biased calls, so at least everyone is getting the same treatment this year. All it'll take is a few months for the sticks to stop hooking themselves on other people, and then we'll get to see hockey how it should be played, without everyone holding everyone else in the corner for eight minutes at a time.

Yea it might be a matter of getting used to how the refs are going to call the games and what to expect

This happened last year too.

But, like I said, it happened with bias. No one knew when a penalty would or wouldn't be called, and it made the game lopsided for a long time. Now you know that you'll be penalized for stick-on-body contact, and it happens with excellent consistency. If they keep it up how they are, it won't be the end of the year before you start seeing games really open up.

i dont find it nearly as bad as last year

I think last year was real brutal. I believe their is a minimal improvement