Mark Madden: Stanley Cup playoffs should be a showcase, but this display is terrible

Let’s be blunt about the NHL playoffs. They’ve been awful so far.

• Too many lopsided games.

• Terrible goaltending. (Today’s NHL has so few good goalies.)

• Two of the best teams got eliminated in the first round, namely regular-season champ Boston and defending Stanley Cup winner Colorado. As with March Madness, upsets are romantic. But then the good team doesn’t get to play anymore.

• The level of play is sloppy. The NHL has too many teams, not enough talent. The flat salary cap since the pandemic has spread quality thinner than ever.

• The refereeing has been terrible. Absolutely clueless. Devoid of even a shred of consistency.

• Too much dirty hockey. Too many end-of-game “messages” being sent.

Hockey is proficient at soiling its pants, then convincing itself it smells good. TV ratings for the playoffs are up 10% from last year, but the number of viewers per game isn’t even the equivalent of second-string pro wrestling. (Hey! EW)

Things hit bottom Wednesday when Las Vegas’ Alex Pietrangelo tried to amputate the arm of Edmonton’s Leon Draisaitl with a vicious slash. Pietrangelo’s whack was meant to injure. It apparently didn’t. But that doesn’t excuse the act or intent.

Pietrangelo’s wanton act was triggered by Edmonton having the temerity to win 4-1. The Oilers’ Evander Kane had run amok in prior games of the playoff series between the teams. The referees’ failure to control Kane provided an excuse as per hockey’s culture.

But Pietrangelo didn’t go after Kane. He went after Draisaitl, who has six goals in the series.

It was terrible, felonious assault used as a tactic, an attempt to eliminate a big opposition weapon. Can you imagine an NBA player trying to seriously hurt LeBron James or Steph Curry by cynically taking a flagrant foul? No, and if it did occur, the sky would fall.

But in hockey, it happens all the time. Jacob Trouba concussed Sidney Crosby in last year’s playoffs. Adam Graves broke Mario Lemieux’s hand in the 1992 playoffs. Bobby Clarke fractured Valeri Kharlamov’s ankle in the 1972 Summit Series.

Pietrangelo got a despicably lenient one-game suspension. Because the NHL doesn’t want to take Pietrangelo out of the series. Even though Pietrangelo tried to take Draisaitl out of the series.

All the old-school hockey idiots immediately downplayed Pietrangelo’s slash. ESPN’s P.K. Subban called it “part of the game.” TSN’s Craig Button said, “No supplemental discipline in my view. I think (Pietrangelo) will get a fine.”

Hockey wants toughness to be as impactful as skill. The ex-player analysts suggest that constantly.

But what Pietrangelo did was cowardice, not toughness. Pietrangelo is a good player, but his act reflects zero professionalism. No pride in his work or the sport he plays. Pietrangelo should want hockey to be better than that. Everybody involved with the NHL should want hockey to be better than that. What price victory?

Edmonton mega-star Connor McDavid went after Pietrangelo in the wake of the slash, then called for a suspension when talking to the media. In the context of hockey’s culture, that’s braver than you think. Few want to offend the brotherhood.

Hockey looks ridiculous when that side of it is thrust into the spotlight. It looks sadistic, boorish, childish, undisciplined, disorganized and dumb. That’s why hockey ranks seventh among the four major sports.

Hockey lifers enjoy that nonsense. The rest of the world rolls its eyes and reaches for the remote.

These playoffs are terrible. Anyone who says otherwise is shilling, stupid or both.

It’s supposed to be a showcase. Instead, it’s an excrement show.