The 2014-2015 season ended with the Blackhawks hoisting the Cup for the third time in the past decade, making them the closest thing to a modern dynasty since the 90s Wings. The 2015 playoffs were fairly straight forward, with the final four being all teams that were expected to be there: Blackhawks, Ducks, Lightning, Rangers
Stanley Cup Final 4-2 Chicago Blackhawks over Tampa Bay Lightning
Conference Finals 4-3 Tampa Bay Lightning over New York Rangers Conference Finals 4-3 Chicago Blackhawks over Anaheim Ducks
Second Round 4-2 Tampa Bay Lightning over Montreal Canadiens Second Round 4-3 New York Rangers over Washington Capitals Second Round 4-1 Anaheim Ducks over Calgary Flames Second Round 4-0 Chicago Blackhawks over Minnesota Wild
First Round 4-3 Washington Capitals over New York Islanders First Round 4-1 New York Rangers over Pittsburgh Penguins First Round 4-3 Tampa Bay Lightning over Detroit Red Wings First Round 4-2 Montreal Canadiens over Ottawa Senators First Round 4-2 Calgary Flames over Vancouver Canucks First Round 4-0 Anaheim Ducks over Winnipeg Jets First Round 4-2 Chicago Blackhawks over Nashville Predators First Round 4-2 Minnesota Wild over St. Louis Blues
Awards
TL PLAYOFF PICK 'EM WINNER: I_suck_at_acting's
Art Ross Trophy: Jamie Benn (87pts) Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy: Devan Dubnyk Calder Memorial Trophy: Aaron Ekblad Conn Smythe Trophy: Duncan Keith Frank J. Selke Trophy: Patrice Bergeron Hart Memorial Trophy: Carey Price James Norris Memorial Trophy: Erik Karlsson King Clancy Memorial Trophy: Henrik Zetterberg Lady Byng Memorial Trophy: Jiri Hudler Maurice Richard Trophy: Alex Ovechkin (53 goals) Ted Lindsay Award: Carey Price Vezina Trophy: Carey Price William M. Jennings Trophy: Corey Crawford, Carey Price
The offseason leading into the 2015-2016 was filled with lots of movement. Most notably, the Blackhawks once again had a roster purge to keep their core talent, getting rid of Sharp, Saad, Oduya, and others.
I gotta finish the rest of the op with the player movement but I am lazy atm.
The Red Wings better make a good playoff push this year. As a fan of all things Detroit they are constantly my only hope. I'm a perpetually disappointed sports fan
I feel like the Flames will be a playoff team as well. There had good young players but got luck last year. All those guys got better and they bought in a lot of new talent
With Quawk on that one - the Flames probably improved enough in the off-season to become an 'actual' playoff team this season as opposed to following in the regressive footsteps of the Torontos and Colorados that came before.
Regarding the Pacific, the Oilers will once again be not good (but hopefully not terrible) unless everyone magically figures out how to play hockey - I suppose stranger things have happened. San Jose should be worse, the Glendale Coyotes of Arizona are still awful, and the Canucks are falling fast. LA is still a bit of an unknown but it's completely reasonable to see Calgary finishing within the top three in the Pacific without much straining.
That said, I hope they lose every fucking game and get relegated to the AHL. /spits.
I think Washington has steadily improve the last two seasons. Their roster is a lot better than the ones from the last 5-7 yeras when the first line and Green carried the team to the playoffs each year.
is tay tay going to be able not being the new hotness? is CFMD as bad of a speller as tay tay?
I think for things I'd really like to see this year is for the Flames and Oil to make it and meet in the playoffs. Then we get to see stuff like this again
I'd really love all 3 NY/NJ teams in again, but the Devs are straight ass this year. I hope they get better soon because Schneider's a legit top 5 goalie wasting away his prime on a shit club.
Pffft, TayTay has better things to worry about than spelling.
CFMD was the Scholastic Player of the Year in the CHL for both his season there, so one has to assume that he was studying his spelling as opposed to douching it up as King-Shit-Teenager in Windsor ala TayTay.
I'm pretty sure that the Sharks are going to be back in the playoffs this year. Last year was just bizarre. Things should be back to normal now. More importantly, it looks like the Sharks are going to have a huge upgrade in net.
I honestly don't know what to think of the West in terms of playoff contenders. I would honestly be shocked if the Pacific have more than 2-3 teams in the playoffs. I think the Central will be more of a Thunderdome with a side of Mr. Toads wild ride than it was last year, but I don't really see the pacific teams managing to squeak out more points when the entire division minus phx has gotten better. I think the Ducks will win the Pacific and either the Sharks or Flames will be a 6-8th seed with the other teams all being Central
Torres is such a piece of shit. He's the king of those second late, drive his shoulder through your face hits. Those were sketchy 15 years ago. Fuck him forever.
You know this big suspension for him should have happened years ago after the Hossa hit in the playoffs. The fact that both he has continued with bad hits and that teams still sign him after how many suspensions for shit like this? This latest suspension pretty much ends his career though so there is that.
it doesnt kick in unless he's on a team too so that'a plus. I'm a fan of big hits, and I feel there's been a lot of clean hits taken out after some of the rules, but he is a straight up head hunter. Every hit is late and high.
FYI if anyone has hockeystreams, there was some kind of issue today where some old emails that were compromised said that the site changed to a different site, but it was some kind of scam. There's more on the site.
dam it was painful to watch the Habs vs Leaf yesterday. the only thing the commentators was able to say is how they praise their lord and savior Babcock.
On October 08 2015 09:40 QuanticHawk wrote: yessssssssssssss woooooooooooooooooooooo hockeyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy
FYI if anyone has hockeystreams, there was some kind of issue today where some old emails that were compromised said that the site changed to a different site, but it was some kind of scam. There's more on the site.
Man, hockeystreams seems so unreliable. I was thinking of signing up this year but I just can't trust it to be reliable when I need it to be.
I'm giving Gamecenter Live a shot (did a monthly sign up to test). I have a paid VPN I already subscribe to for the purpose of anonymous internet browsing, so I used that to sign up with an 'international' account and we will see how it goes. NHL blackout rules are nuts in Canada. You can't get any nationally televised games on Gamecenter (which equals a lot of games in this market) and you can't get any regionally televised games (and the regions they set are ridiculous). I love how you can live in Manitoba, for example, and be blacked-out of any Oilers/Flames games. That's two provinces over...
honestly, that is the first time I've heard a bad thing about hockeystreams. reddit hockey loves it, sa hockey loves it, most hockey forums swear by it. Honestly if my internet wasn't so ass here I'd have it by now
On October 09 2015 02:56 QuanticHawk wrote: honestly, that is the first time I've heard a bad thing about hockeystreams. reddit hockey loves it, sa hockey loves it, most hockey forums swear by it. Honestly if my internet wasn't so ass here I'd have it by now
first hockey hangover of the year yeahhhhh
Tru. I guess I'm just worried that 'the man' is catching up to them and it'll randomly go down and I'll have no recourse =(
On October 09 2015 04:40 sharkeyanti wrote: Going into 3rd year of GCL. For some reason the video quality is really great when I watch games from either Edmonton or Calgary.
Got myself another year of GCL too. Last year really enjoyed it, being able to watch from all the devices (i have an iPad and an android phone) while travelling (have a lot of travels around europe) was really good for me. And as was mentioned before really going for a reliable thing. Although i'll keep an eye on hockeystreams for the next year.
LA has played like shit during the regular season for a while. Last cup run they squeaked into the playoffs and went on a hot run. Both their cup runs followed that MO. That and they haven't really gotten better the past couple of off seasons. Combined with multiple arrests that's prevented players from playing/being traded the team has kinda collapsed
Anyone else see Kane and Panarin make a 5 on 5 shift look like a power play? Some sick passing and dangles followed by a ridiculous deflection for a goal off the only shot in the shift.
On October 11 2015 08:41 Blisse wrote: LOL i just got the title of this thread
hahahah
god Hank is so dreamy. That Lindberg kid is pretty good too. Good enough hands, but I've been really impressed with his ability to just head to the right areas on the ice. That's usually something that takes a couple years to develop. It also helps that he's played with Hayes a lot, and Hayes has looked like a goddamn monster at LW. He looks like a slower but more in control Kreider.
Really happy with the Canadians so far this year! Condon looked great last game and I like Pacioretty as captain. Creating good offense even if its still not our strongest point. Now we just really really need to work on our powerplays!
On October 14 2015 04:27 ComaDose wrote: Really happy with the Canadians so far this year! Condon looked great last game and I like Pacioretty as captain. Creating good offense even if its still not our strongest point. Now we just really really need to work on our powerplays!
LA was pretty much expected to be fucking terrible this year. It was pretty much a guaranteed rebuild year after last year plus this offseason's shit show.
On October 14 2015 12:19 xDaunt wrote: Sharks are looking pretty damned legit. Their play has been relentless so far.
yeah I've always liked DeBoer. He has his warts like anyone, but it's pretty apparent that if he's given some talent, he gets a lot out of it. Maybe in a couple years the narrative on LouLam's last few years in NJ will change. He was straight up bad after the Cup run, and the issues were starting to creep up before then anyway. I don't think Scotty Bowman could have coached any of those dumpy teams to the playoffs.
also yeah no one was expecting LA to be awful. I also don't put very much stock into the first month of an 82 game season, otherwise everyone would think the Leafs are good every year!
apparently AV said to Hank at the end of the season, we need you to be better at the start of the year...
Dude took it to heart, jesus christ. This and that paddle save last week, yowzer. It kind of blows my mind that he's going on 34 now, still feels like yesterday when I thought the team was stuck with Kevin Fucking Weekes and then he came along.
the contrast between how bad hank is at puck play vs how good he is at everything in life never ceases to amaze me. that save of the year candidate he has a week or two ago was the exact same thing: goalie adventure for puck, fucks up, makes bonkers recovery save to bail himself out
I still majorly doubt the long term success due to roster contruction and therrien being therrien. I would argue that the main reason for success (other than Price, obvs) is that guys like Galchenyuk and Gallagher seem to have taken the next step. That is huge, esp since the Habs don't have much in the way of genuinely good offensive players besides Pax.
God I hate the LA Kings. No team gets away with half as much as they do. Such a bullshit team.
edit: I know many of you guys follow Eastern Conference teams, so I'm not sure if you are fully aware of the bullshit that is the LA Kings. Basically, every time your team faces LA, you can be ready for some incredibly frustrating shit involving the following:
Constant interference, boarding, other chippy shit right in front of the refs.
The refs will call about 10% of the infractions while always finding a soft call to even it out.
Daryl Sutter's stupid face (kidding, I like him).
The Kings are a shit team that rely, moreso than other teams, on the refs' ability to impact the game through bad calls or non-calls. It's incredibly frustrating for anyone who isn't a Kings fan.
For example, let's look at last night's game and the sequence of events that determined the outcome:
1) Ref misses a nasty interference call involving crosscheck to the numbers of a player pursuing the puck. In his defense, his view was obscured by a guy getting interfered with 5 feet away from him:
2) Ref does the obvious thing and gives a horrible make up call against the other team because Kings. Seriously, this was called a 'hook' in the dying minutes of a tie game, lol:
3) And, just to add insult to injury, the Oilers appear to score with 5 seconds left, overcoming a mountain of bullshit it order to push the game to overtime.
Except...
As was pointed out on the broadcast, the puck begins to enter the net, at which point it begins to enter Quick's glove. Afterwards, Quick's entire damned glove enters the net.
While logic and common-sense dictate that the puck is in, that's not the criteria used by the league in these situations. Instead, it is based on whether or not the evidence is sufficient to over-turn the call on the ice. In this case, it was determined that it was not.
Except...
The call on the ice was a fucking goal. Though, in the ref's defense, he did change his mind before the review came up so that the burden of proof could be pushed in the other direction. He must have realized that there wasn't enough time left on the clock to afford the Kings another BS power-play.
I swear, shit like this happens EVERY TIME the Kings play.
wow lol i didnt watch last night, now I get it! I don't like that the ref can change his mind. I mean it still blows that even with technology you're still a slave to the call on the ice, but yeah that's a jobbing there wow
Man I'm so sad about tanking for Matthews while also maintaining respectable Corsi numbers :p
Now just to get rid of Bernier's and Reimer's awful goaltending and do something about our gross PK and PP. Even strength is great, if we weren't playing guys like Frose and Phaneuf... most of our games are good, it just feels a bit unlucky.
In light of this week's news about dogs, I think it's only fair that we note stupid Leafs fans were right about Kessel being cancerous, just not in the way they had originally thought.
Man, that play by CFMD on Subban on the Pouliot goal is the reason I will not miss a single game this year. Holy shit, he's good. We haven't seen anything like CFMD in the league in a long, long time.
And Dr.Drai played his first NHL game of the season today. Already more goals than Sam Bennett llloooololollll. More pullups too.
On October 29 2015 05:18 QuanticHawk wrote: In light of this week's news about dogs, I think it's only fair that we note stupid Leafs fans were right about Kessel being cancerous, just not in the way they had originally thought.
I don't get it? Whats the Kessel Cancer in Pitt? Blaming him for Crosby sucking?
On October 30 2015 20:45 JimmiC wrote: Its cause hotdogs now apparently cause cancer. And Kessel was accused of visiting a hotdog stand all the time as one of the reasons he was fat.
Rumors say its a fractured collar bone. Meaning zero long term issues if they allow it to fully heal before playing him again. And they god damn better let him heal to nothing short of 100% before he plays again.
My target return date is Feb 2nd vs Columbus. That's a little over 13 weeks away.
Fracture is not a crack. I screwed up my medi terms....5 weeks for that lol no.
The central is a freaking Thunderdome. Last year Dallas didn't even make the playoffs with 95 or so points. Most years that's good enough for the top of near top of a division. It's looking like 100 points minimum to makes the playoffs in the central
So this season I have nhl center ice and just heard Don Cherry for the first time. I may be a bit biased but holy fuck I feel legitimately 20 iq points dumber after listening to that.
He went on a rant about how the CMD injury was deliberate by the Flyers players and how they shoved him into the boards. Talks about how the two Flyers players leaned on him an shoved him harder AS THEY WERE FUCKING COLLIDING INTO EACH OTHER AND FALLING FORWARD AS WELL. Are you fucking serious? All my rage right now. Literally all of it.
On November 08 2015 12:27 Jinxed wrote: So this season I have nhl center ice and just heard Don Cherry for the first time. I may be a bit biased but holy fuck I feel legitimately 20 iq points dumber after listening to that.
He went on a rant about how the CMD injury was deliberate by the Flyers players and how they shoved him into the boards. Talks about how the two Flyers players leaned on him an shoved him harder AS THEY WERE FUCKING COLLIDING INTO EACH OTHER AND FALLING FORWARD AS WELL. Are you fucking serious? All my rage right now. Literally all of it.
Welcome to how Canada has felt for the last 15 years.
He used to be fairly spot on with alot of stuff. Now his 1970s mindset is....well too 1970s for todays game.
I hate Dubnyk.....so many ridic saves against Tampa yesterday...
After Carolina I thought the offensive struggles were behind us already...it seems that's not the case. Poor Bishop is not even to blame when the team in front cant score to save their life.
lol i never take don cherry seriously, i just love it when him and ron maclean awkwardly bump heads on live tv. but yea i agree, he was wrong about the flyers intentionally hurting connor mcdavid. in the replay mcdavid makes a move gets by the defender, shoots at a bad angle, loses his footing then gets awkwardly hit into the boards, it was mcdavid who tripped and fell to begin with
TLDR is that after the team won their game the coaching staff was canned and allegedly its because the owner was not happy with the ice time his son was getting
just came here to say again this season's thread title is the best ever Keeps me chuckling every time i see it well fucking done! PS. who's also pumped for the Datsyuk's possible return this Friday? I miss the magician.
the league is so much better when the leafs are comically awful
Bernier was pretty awful last night. Ron Duguay ripped him apart for it on the Rangers postgame.
that being said, Mats Zuccarello is turning into one of the best stories this season. missed most of the playoffs with a fractured skull and was unable to speak for several days, now he's leading the current best team in the NHL
the regular asg is boring because pro hockey is pretty lame without the hitting, physicality, etc.
3v3 format pimps their new ot, touches on the shinny roots that everyone had growing up, and will be way more fun.
also i think he's one of the biggest goddamn babies in the league right next to his canadian teammate, but Malkin is just smooth when he wants to be damn
I have figured it out. I know why Chicago is so good. They wear Black, White and Orange. You know who else wears Black, White and Orange?
The Hawks are simply not physically capable of getting a two minute penalty. Only the most blatant of things are called against them while weak calls a plenty for their opponents.
yup kessel off hte half boards got him in traffic, really pretty play by malkin and good vision by Kessel
Crawford has always reminded me of a slightly better Fleury. Starter yeah, and talented, but just kind of flawed in some inexplicable way that always keeps the other team in the game
On November 20 2015 03:10 QuanticHawk wrote: yup kessel off hte half boards got him in traffic, really pretty play by malkin and good vision by Kessel
Crawford has always reminded me of a slightly better Fleury. Starter yeah, and talented, but just kind of flawed in some inexplicable way that always keeps the other team in the game
Crawford is like Osgood IMO. Hes good enough that he won't be the reason you lose but will rarely ever steal you one
On November 19 2015 12:55 Orcasgt24 wrote: I have figured it out. I know why Chicago is so good. They wear Black, White and Orange. You know who else wears Black, White and Orange? + Show Spoiler +
The Hawks are simply not physically capable of getting a two minute penalty. Only the most blatant of things are called against them while weak calls a plenty for their opponents.
Not sure what you're watching, the Hawks get jobbed repeatedly by the officials. The Hawks are the softest team in the league and have been since the 2012-2013 season. They repeatedly get cheap shotted and run well after the puck is away by goon teams. On a rare occasion, one of those cheap shots gets called. Then the referees feel the need to do an evening out call and call the Blackhawks for a split-second hook or a stick-on-stick slash that the other team gets away with all the time.
For a recent example, find the video of Daley's penalty versus the Oilers. He gets hooked and slashed, and the opponent's stick is still up around his arms as he's skating the puck. So he grabs it for a split second to get it off his body. He gets called for a holding.
For a more classic example, try the video below from the 2013 Playoffs. Saad got run, punched in the face, then slammed to the ground (and also kicked in the head by Abdelkader, a nice on-purpose accident). And the referee calls both of them because Saad swiped at the other guys helmet while being thrown to the ground. Fucking ridiculous call that could have cost the Blackhawks a championship if the puck would have bounced Detroit's way in the overtime.
Oh, and the Hawks are black, white, and RED. Not orange.
On November 20 2015 03:10 QuanticHawk wrote: yup kessel off hte half boards got him in traffic, really pretty play by malkin and good vision by Kessel
Crawford has always reminded me of a slightly better Fleury. Starter yeah, and talented, but just kind of flawed in some inexplicable way that always keeps the other team in the game
Crawford is like Osgood IMO. Hes good enough that he won't be the reason you lose but will rarely ever steal you one
Crawford is very inconsistent. He absolutely loses games for the Hawks. However, he occasionally pulls out a brilliant game. The good news is that he tends to do better when the pressure is the highest. The crappy thing is that he'll throw easy games at times and hopes that the offense can bail him out.
I think he just doesn't prepare mentally for some games and that kills him. I've definitely seen him drunk (or very badly hungover) during one game where he left after the first period with an "upper body injury".
As a Hawks fan the Hawks probably get away with a lot of shit and get a lot of penalties called their way because of how they play. They're easily one of the fastest teams in the league with a lot of really good puck handlers and that leads to teams getting hooks and what not called on them because of that. That Hawks/Wings series a few seasons ago was an absolute shit show by the refs. There was some ridiculous shit that wasnt called. If you look it up theres replays of shit like Zetterburg literally dragging Towes around by Towes' stick and Towes getting called for hooking.
On November 19 2015 12:55 Orcasgt24 wrote: I have figured it out. I know why Chicago is so good. They wear Black, White and Orange. You know who else wears Black, White and Orange?
The Hawks are simply not physically capable of getting a two minute penalty. Only the most blatant of things are called against them while weak calls a plenty for their opponents.
black white and red? orange? maybe a little bit of orange in their icon but its not one of their main colours
I always find the Kings get away with more than most. They are a very grabby, interferey team largely because Daryl Sutter still thinks it's 1998. You could call them for something on most plays in their end. It's frustrating to watch. Effective though.
On November 21 2015 05:32 Flaccid wrote: I always find the Kings get away with more than most. They are a very grabby, interferey team largely because Daryl Sutter still thinks it's 1998. You could call them for something on most plays in their end. It's frustrating to watch. Effective though.
They really should be the most penalized team in NHL history.
So new drinking game for everyone since I just heard "Rogers" said 7 times in about 2 minutes during the Oiler pregame.
Take a drink every time the broadcast says Rogers.
man it's so weird with the rangers basically being god tier now. evne when they get thoroughly outplayed like they did by nashville, hank stands on his head, and the rangers convert the few opportunities they get. and they still manage to look very dangerous every time on offense.
I still can't get over how deep that damn team is, if you dont know player names or numbers you basically can't tell the first from the thirdl ine as far as skill
Rangers vs. Canadiens is going to be the biggest game of the year so far. Considering how horribly NYR played in Montreal last month, and how hot they've been since, plus the fact that the two teams are tied for first place in the East, it's going to be a big statement game to see who is top dog in the conference at this stage of the year.
NYR vs MTL ended up being a shit show. The oilers lost another player to a strange injury and the Sharks took almost 14 minutes to register their first shot in a big loss to CHI. What the hell happened today?
On November 26 2015 17:27 Kyhron wrote: NYR vs MTL ended up being a shit show. The oilers lost another player to a strange injury and the Sharks took almost 14 minutes to register their first shot in a big loss to CHI. What the hell happened today?
This is why I do not bet money on NHL hockey.
Baccarat is a much safer bet than any hockey game lol
a friend of mine was getting into sports gambling and was bugging me about hockey since he knows I watch entirely too much. my advice was dont fucking do it. hockey is a fickle beast.
i feel something like football or basketball, the more talented team will win more often. in hockey, you can have an ass team backed by Schneider that gets a little hot and whoa suddenly it's a fringe playoff team
On November 27 2015 10:22 QuanticHawk wrote: a friend of mine was getting into sports gambling and was bugging me about hockey since he knows I watch entirely too much. my advice was dont fucking do it. hockey is a fickle beast.
i feel something like football or basketball, the more talented team will win more often. in hockey, you can have an ass team backed by Schneider that gets a little hot and whoa suddenly it's a fringe playoff team
Not to mention any NHL goalie is capable of just randomly winning a game vs the best team in the NHL via shutout despite the team in front of him playing like ass.
Or Vezina goalies having a bad day and losing the game single handedly
On November 26 2015 04:45 LeeDawg wrote: Rangers vs. Canadiens is going to be the biggest game of the year so far. Considering how horribly NYR played in Montreal last month, and how hot they've been since, plus the fact that the two teams are tied for first place in the East, it's going to be a big statement game to see who is top dog in the conference at this stage of the year.
mmm this was such a great birthday present! go habs go
Another reason to never bet on hockey would be the Hakws Ducks game today. 2 goal lead with less than 2 minutes left? Better take a shitty penalty and let the Hawks tie it 2-2 then lose in OT. Standard Ducks this season
Klingberg with another 2 points tonight. Looking like he'll be the first defenseman since Lidstrom to hit 80 points. Last season, only 5 forwards hit 80, and 0 hit 90.
On November 28 2015 10:29 JimmiC wrote: The Bruins rangers game was a awesome watch today lots chances, physical great game. To bad about stepan but nothing wrong with the hit, Stephan just in and spot on ice and watching his pass.
it was maybe slightly late but i agree he's been caught way too many times now watching passes. still not as bad as anisimov at that. people finish checks, be ready for it.
Part of the reason no one broke 90 points last year was because 2 of the top point getters last year missed over a month each because of injuries. This year I'll be surprised if Kane, Benn or Seguin don't break 100 points. Kane has a 19 game point streak and is playing out of this world this year
agreed, all 3 of those guys are currently hovering around 1.5ppg through a decent chunk of the season and it's obviously not the first time for any of them. I would be pretty surprised if they didn't all break 100 if they stay healthy.
I think the rest of the top scorers will be 90ish and below probably. I do think part of the drop in 1st line scoring is def tied to teams having more depth and using it, so that's part of why there's probably less people over a PPG than the past few years
iirc, more than a few times that was brought up last year by MSM and in our thread and else where. I definitely recall seeing stats pulled about TOI for stars and then across the board. I think 2nd and 3rd line usage was way up.
I think the craziest thing this year is that Crosby and Ovi aren't even mentioned in considering top point getter. If you told most of us 5 years ago that either of those 2 wouldn't be near the top in points you'd call bullshit.
to be fair to OV, if he played 4 more games at his pace he'd be 4th.
No idea what is wrong with Crosby though. Though I've felt for ages that is a team that isn't really put together well. Top heavy worked last decade or so. Pitt is better than in years past as far as depth, but you can't continue to roll out shit bottom six like they did the last few years.
OBVIOUSLY KESSEL HAS HIM EATING TOO MANY HOT DOGS AND NOT BRINGING GRITENSITY.
edit: Pittsburgh is really weird this year. They just aren't scoring, in general. They have 4 guys with over 10 points. They have scored less goals than the Leafs, the Sabres, and 10 less than the damned Oilers. They were always gonna be top heavy but you'd expect more production from the top 6. Maybe it's a shooting percentage or PDO thing that will get better? I dunno. Also, I'm pretty sure their power play has been rather poor.
The Pens are a victim of their own doing. They have no depth year after year and their fans wonder why they bow out every year early int eh playoffs. Crosby's production is definitely an abberation from his normal play but it's to a point where teams especially the West but the East is starting to really catch on as well to having 3-4 really deep lines and the Pens have 2 at best. The Pens cup winning team has probably been their deepest team in years and it still didn't have th depth the Hawks or Kings have had in recent years. In some ways it's kinda disappointing that between Crosby and Ovi they have a grand total of 1 Cup, but at the same time they've been given shit teams around them. The way the league is now you need 3 solid lines offensively and 5 solid dmen minimum.
On December 01 2015 05:05 Flaccid wrote: OBVIOUSLY KESSEL HAS HIM EATING TOO MANY HOT DOGS AND NOT BRINGING GRITENSITY.
edit: Pittsburgh is really weird this year. They just aren't scoring, in general. They have 4 guys with over 10 points. They have scored less goals than the Leafs, the Sabres, and 10 less than the damned Oilers. They were always gonna be top heavy but you'd expect more production from the top 6. Maybe it's a shooting percentage or PDO thing that will get better? I dunno. Also, I'm pretty sure their power play has been rather poor.
to be fair i think a lot of that is tied to crosby being straight up awful this year and that's not exaggeration. He's on pace for something in the neighborhood of 40pts getting some of the most TOI out of any forwards.
my bet is just a nagging injury or a rough cold streak (he's shooting 7.7, career is 14.2 which is bonkers). as much as he's a little shit he's way too good to be that bad.
Also Dubinsky murdering him a few days ago didn't help
On December 01 2015 05:05 Flaccid wrote: OBVIOUSLY KESSEL HAS HIM EATING TOO MANY HOT DOGS AND NOT BRINGING GRITENSITY.
edit: Pittsburgh is really weird this year. They just aren't scoring, in general. They have 4 guys with over 10 points. They have scored less goals than the Leafs, the Sabres, and 10 less than the damned Oilers. They were always gonna be top heavy but you'd expect more production from the top 6. Maybe it's a shooting percentage or PDO thing that will get better? I dunno. Also, I'm pretty sure their power play has been rather poor.
to be fair i think a lot of that is tied to crosby being straight up awful this year and that's not exaggeration. He's on pace for something in the neighborhood of 40pts getting some of the most TOI out of any forwards.
my bet is just a nagging injury or a rough cold streak (he's shooting 7.7, career is 14.2 which is bonkers). as much as he's a little shit he's way too good to be that bad.
Also Dubinsky murdering him a few days ago didn't help
I rather dislike Crosby since I think he's a whiner, but that cross check by Dubinsky was disgusting. Doing that to a player who has a history of head and neck injury just makes it even worse. Naturally he went on to assist on the Game Winner too...
eh I don't think he meat to pop him in the head there since he hit him in the back and rolled up, not like he directly went high.,. Sucky but shit happens, probably wouldn't have been more than a penalty if he didn't pop him again while down
eh as a troglodyte who enjoys fighting and all that jazz, I agree on one level. As a coach (in a diff sport but still) a power play is a hell of a lot more valuable than going down a man, especially if it means you're losing a top 6 player in return. I think it sends a good message to back your teammates, but at the same time it's really hard to sit and say that's more valuable than going a man up. I mean shit, it would be dirty as hell, but if your main goal is revenge, take the PP, score, and spend the rest of the game trying to kill him is still way more productive.
I definitely do not think the problem with the Pens is that they need to trade in scoring for grit considering that they're already in the bottom 5 for scoring. Lucic is a bastard, but obviously useful. But the 20-30-50 you'll probably get out of him for $6.5+ a year (I would say $7+ easy if he goes UFA) is not worth the elite, generate offense on his own you get with Kessel for slightly more. Lucic would have to personally kill the leading scorer on every team to have that kind of impact on a nightly basis. And Kessel's style of play ages a hell of a lot better than Lucic's
On November 30 2015 22:18 QuanticHawk wrote: agreed, all 3 of those guys are currently hovering around 1.5ppg through a decent chunk of the season and it's obviously not the first time for any of them. I would be pretty surprised if they didn't all break 100 if they stay healthy.
I think the rest of the top scorers will be 90ish and below probably. I do think part of the drop in 1st line scoring is def tied to teams having more depth and using it, so that's part of why there's probably less people over a PPG than the past few years
Kane has never hit 90 points in his career and has only hit 80 once. Obviously right now it looks like he'll pass 90 with ease, but he's played under 70 games in his last two seasons, and most great players will peak in points before the age of 26. It's a good sign that he's continued to put up points after Panarin cooled off so much, but it's definitely not a foregone conclusion that he'll hit 90.
Last season Kane would have easily hit 90 points if he hadn't be derailed by a serious injury. The fact that hes still producing at a nearly 1.5 ppg pace this far into the season along with the current 20 game point streak while playing in the arguably more defensive conference leans towards it being more than possible. Dismissing the possibility through the fact he hasnt done it before is bullshit especially as he plays on a team that doesnt have to rely on him scoring as much as possible like Crosby and Ovi were in the past.
Watching Kane and Panarin in the offensive zone is just awesome. Kinda reminds me of the Sedins. Kane with 1g 2a so far tonight the 2nd no look pass to Anisimov was sick.
Kane extended his point streak with a freaking defensive zone hand pass up to Panarin for an empty netter. Having the early season MVP and Rookie of the year favorites on the same line feels like cheating
On December 04 2015 09:50 Kyhron wrote: Last season Kane would have easily hit 90 points if he hadn't be derailed by a serious injury. The fact that hes still producing at a nearly 1.5 ppg pace this far into the season along with the current 20 game point streak while playing in the arguably more defensive conference leans towards it being more than possible. Dismissing the possibility through the fact he hasnt done it before is bullshit especially as he plays on a team that doesnt have to rely on him scoring as much as possible like Crosby and Ovi were in the past.
You can't use pace as a certainty - he could have cooled down while playing the games he missed. But he can definitely hit 90 points and is an early favorite for Art Ross - partially because he plays on the team that relies on him scoring as much as possible this season (like Crosby and Ovi in the past). I wouldn't be so sure about 100 points though - league scoring is going down every year, he fights against statistics.
On December 04 2015 09:50 Kyhron wrote: Last season Kane would have easily hit 90 points if he hadn't be derailed by a serious injury. The fact that hes still producing at a nearly 1.5 ppg pace this far into the season along with the current 20 game point streak while playing in the arguably more defensive conference leans towards it being more than possible. Dismissing the possibility through the fact he hasnt done it before is bullshit especially as he plays on a team that doesnt have to rely on him scoring as much as possible like Crosby and Ovi were in the past.
You can't use pace as a certainty - he could have cooled down while playing the games he missed. But he can definitely hit 90 points and is an early favorite for Art Ross - partially because he plays on the team that relies on him scoring as much as possible this season (like Crosby and Ovi in the past). I wouldn't be so sure about 100 points though - league scoring is going down every year, he fights against statistics.
Now I don't know how much you follow the Hawks and what not, but thisyear with Kane is something thats been kinda brewing the last few years. He's benefitting from having not only a ridiculously skilled fellow winger in Panarin, but also actually has for maybe the first time in his career a consistent center that can both win faceoffs and keep up with his speed in play. Toews doesn't really count in that regard due to the fact that the vast majority of the time they are on separate lines. The guy has taken all the shit he was dealing with and has put it into just playing like a mad man on the ice this season. I don't care what he ends up scoring this year, all i know is that he's one of the best players in the league have a ridiculous and special year and I'm enjoying the crap out of it.
fucking amazing start of the season for Caps, quite a lot of talent in this team, including Holtby who might easily steal a Vezina from Price this year. Maybe time for conference finals finally?
Never again in the history of professional sports will a like ever generate as much meaningless discussion as that like currently, and will continue to generate.
Why exactly is this Flyers year turning out to be like every other one. We're the terror of every top team in the league and can take 2 points from any team on any given night, but when we play the basement dwellers we look like the worst team on the ice.
You watch, we're going to end up beating Dallas on their ice, because fuck logic.
So Gretzky commented on that he thought that Kane's continued points streak was more impressive and harder earned than his own 51 game streak. As a statistical reference the Oilers averaged 6 goals a game during Gretzky's streak while he averaged 3 points a game. The Hawks are averaging 2.5 goals a game with Kane factoring 1.5 points a game. Once again putting how insanely good Gretzky was.
On December 11 2015 17:10 Kyhron wrote: So Gretzky commented on that he thought that Kane's continued points streak was more impressive and harder earned than his own 51 game streak. As a statistical reference the Oilers averaged 6 goals a game during Gretzky's streak while he averaged 3 points a game. The Hawks are averaging 2.5 goals a game with Kane factoring 1.5 points a game. Once again putting how insanely good Gretzky was.
The two eras are just so different that its hard to compare. Scoring was so much more common back in the 80s that for any top line player to go more than 2 games without a point was pretty rare.
I agree with #99. Kanes current streak is harder to achieve.
But ya, Gretzky was just soooooo mcuh better than anyone else during his time its pretty insane.
On December 11 2015 14:28 Jinxed wrote: Why exactly is this Flyers year turning out to be like every other one. We're the terror of every top team in the league and can take 2 points from any team on any given night, but when we play the basement dwellers we look like the worst team on the ice.
You watch, we're going to end up beating Dallas on their ice, because fuck logic.
Medvedev has looked shaky. I cringe every time I see him out there with Shultz as they always seem to have a hard time clearing the zone. Those two together are just trouble and seem to spend more time winning the puck back after bad turnovers than actually moving it. Gudas and Del Zotto are really holding their own though. This game against the Stars so far is really showing how far the team has managed to come defensively. Gostisbehere has certainly made that a lot better. We finally have a defenseman that can move the puck.
I've already accepted the fact that they are probably not going to be great, but they have surprised me with how good they manage to look on most nights. We have the most overtime games of any team in the league, and we're pushing really good teams to their limits regularly. I just wish that we wouldn't lose to teams like the Sabres or Carolina as often as we seem to.
Gotisbehere is looking so good. 3 game winners so far, and he is so good with the puck. He's even looked fine defensively. He has a good chance at challenging the top rookies this year. He's making a good case for himself.
Love to see him as an all star, but i dont think he'll make that yet.
On December 11 2015 17:10 Kyhron wrote: So Gretzky commented on that he thought that Kane's continued points streak was more impressive and harder earned than his own 51 game streak. As a statistical reference the Oilers averaged 6 goals a game during Gretzky's streak while he averaged 3 points a game. The Hawks are averaging 2.5 goals a game with Kane factoring 1.5 points a game. Once again putting how insanely good Gretzky was.
Just some Gretzkying, like when he talked about Crosby or McDavid maybe being able to break his records. Yeah, they're different eras, but that only means so much. The only other player to ever go on a streak longer than 30 games was Lemieux at 46. Gretzky's was 51 games. It was only five years ago when Crosby went on a 25 game point streak.
Gostisbehere went to college like 15 minutes from me. When I was in school I once interviewed him for a story I was doing, a year before they won the NCAA final. I've really enjoyed the success he's been having, even if it is with the Flyers. Now if only Troy Grosenick could do something at the NHL level....
The wheels have been falling off the Pens bus. Lost badly to Boston last night and are not looking like a post season team at all. Honestly couldn't happen to a better team. Maybe they can go back to being awful quick enough to get Sid his second cup before his career is over.
I dont know their fancy stuff off the top of my head, but even on the eye test I always thought the Ducks were very top heavy. it also didnt help they sent out some good 2nd-3rd tweeners in Palmeri and Belesky and their replacements haven't been very good
Just noticed Karlsson is the leading scorer in the Eastern Conference by 6! points. Crazy with the star power in the East that no one is even close and not like they are injured for any significant amount of time. Ovechkin/Backstrom/Kuznetsov/Crosby/Malkin/Stamkos/Tavares/Giroux/Voracek etc etc all around 20-30 points while Karlsson has 38
The Ducks drop off isn't that surprising if you actually looked at their stats last year. They won something like 21 1 goal or come from behind games last year and won the absolute dumpster fire that was the Pacific last year. Their stats were inflated last year and they really didn't improve in the offseason. They probably overachieved a bit last year making it to the conference finals last season. This year they're playing a bit worse than last year not getting those bounces to win the one goal games and the pacific is playing far better than last season.
I think everyone got blinded by the ducks points and playoff run during the offseason the fancy stats got swept under the rug because people just want someone not named the Hawks to be the favorite from the West
On December 24 2015 10:12 ii.blitzkrieg wrote: Just noticed Karlsson is the leading scorer in the Eastern Conference by 6! points. Crazy with the star power in the East that no one is even close and not like they are injured for any significant amount of time. Ovechkin/Backstrom/Kuznetsov/Crosby/Malkin/Stamkos/Tavares/Giroux/Voracek etc etc all around 20-30 points while Karlsson has 38
For all those guys I feel like they've gone through periods of being hot/cold. Credit to Karlsson, he's quietly just gone out and done work. I haven't gotten a chance to watch a lot of their games, but he's been playing really well from what I have managed to see, and the points have been following. Meanwhile there were a lot of slow starts from that group and they haven't caught fire for any lengthy periods of time. As the season goes on I would expect some of those guys to catch up though. There is far too much talent on that list for Karlsson to keep that large of a lead for the rest of the season.
Hard to believe that Caps is currently leading the league in goals against and with Ovechkin currently being on top-7 in plus-minus category is that team that was in the dumpster of defence under mr Oates lol. The new D of this team really works. I do remember how many of those embarassing moments Washington would have with holes in their own zone. Not seeing a lot of that anymore. On the other hand, fucking Holtby is so damn hot.
Ditto - didn't watch any jrs. I was moving over the holidays, so that kind of messed up my hockey watching schedule, but even so I just never really got super excited this year. Usually really look forward to this.
The Possession Superstar is now a Washington Capital.
Also. John Scott for All-Star MVP. Must be Trade deadline day. LA picks up Luke Schenn and Vincent Lecavalier while the Flyers get Jordan Weal (prospect) and 3rd rounder. Philly is also holding onto half of Lecavalier salary. So basically LA traded nothing for 2 guys.
Nashville TRADED AWAY Seth Jones to CBJ for Ryan Johansen. WTF!!!!
On January 07 2016 08:28 Orcasgt24 wrote: LA picks up Luke Schenn and Vincent Lecavalier while the Flyers get Jordan Weal (prospect) and 3rd rounder. Philly is also holding onto half of Lecavalier salary. So basically LA traded nothing for 2 guys.
You have that a bit backwards. The Flyers traded away 2 guys who weren't worth a bag of pucks together, and managed to get a prospect and a draft pick. Rumors are that Hextall is looking for a true second line winger, and now actually has some cap space to work with.
I take it a little diff I like jones but I think he's not an elite dman now or in the future. Johansen kicks ass playing with a bunch of momos. Now imagine him with forsberg and Neal yowzer
Yea it's hard to describe just how bad Lecavalier was in his time as a Flyer. He had maybe 2 or 3 good games. It's so difficult to believe that a HOF level guy would have such a big decline so fast but he's just too slow and not sharp enough. He's still got the slap shot, but that's about it.
yeah Vinny fell off a goddamn cliff really fast, it is sad
he also seemed to have aged 10 years in his philly stint. Dude alwyas looked like he was in his 20s until then. It reminds me of the evolution of Phaneuf's face hahah.
On January 09 2016 02:58 Tephus wrote: Even better than the nickname is the emoticons 👻🐻
This is the correct way to spell his name. The best was at a recent game a fan had them up against the glass right by the Flyer's bench. Also it's a pain to look up how to spell it every time so we won't be doing that.
👻🐻 has been really really good. Had a goal and an assist against Montreal the other night and has been a regular contributor to the 1st power play line. He's only played 20 some games, but already has 7 goals and 9 assists (including 3 game winners). He's tied with Parayko of the blues for points by rookie D men even though Parayko has played all year.
Thankfully the knee seems to be his right knee and not his left (he had an ACL injury on that one last year).
If Crosby didn't win a cup with the number of first overall picks the Pens had on that team he would have been considered a bust. Ovechkin has had to do more consistently with a lot less. IMO (albeit I'm biased as hell here) Ovechkin is already the best of this generation.
Injuries for Crosby really puts him behind Ovechkin for the "best of the generation" moniker. I think you could make a case for Bergeron, Chara, or Datsyuk. Ovechkin though has been consistently impressive since day one. It's especially apparent when you're at the rink, the guy is out of sight.
I definitely agree that Crosby has had way less to work with throughout his career (Backstrom is great but he is no Malkin). This is the first time ever that I genuinely think the Caps have a really good team, even if you took away Ovechkin. But I am not sure about best of his generation. That's a hard comparison because W (esp LW in particular) and C, totally different responsibilites.
And still, Sid's got him beat on ppg: 1. Sidney Crosby 1.325 2. Evgeni Malkin 1.180 3. Alex Ovechkin 1.166
Backstrom is 5 so he is no slouch, but lose Ovechkin I don't think he goes off for an MVP 100+ season like Malkin did.
Ovechkin is without question the best goal scorer of this generation though. I don't think best offensive player is a lock though. Sid did extend Dupuis' career by at least 5 years longer than it had any earthly reason to exist, and turned Kuntiz into a goddamn Olympian.
my fav thing is that as bonkers as Ovechkin is, he's nothing to the all time guys, even when you factor in the scoring difference between the 80s and now:
The 30-year-old sniper hit the mark in his 801st NHL game, trailing only Wayne Gretzky (575 games), Mario Lemieux (605), Mike Bossy (647) and Brett Hull (693) as the quickest to reach the 500-goal plateau.
I feel like the Oilers should get the 30th overall pick if they win the lottery at this point. The amount in ineptitude and failure running through the organization and team despite having top10 picks for the like what 10 years with multiple number 1 picks?
I'd bet the winning powerball ticket on Arizona getting the first overall pick this year if they have an eligible pick for the lottery (either their own or one acquired via trade)
On January 12 2016 07:19 Orcasgt24 wrote: I'd bet the winning powerball ticket on Arizona getting the first overall pick this year if they have an eligible pick for the lottery (either their own or one acquired via trade)
I'm not so sure about that. You'd think if the NHL was willing to rig the draft lottery, then they'd have rigged it to make sure Edmonton didn't get McDavid.
On January 12 2016 07:19 Orcasgt24 wrote: I'd bet the winning powerball ticket on Arizona getting the first overall pick this year if they have an eligible pick for the lottery (either their own or one acquired via trade)
I'm not so sure about that. You'd think if the NHL was willing to rig the draft lottery, then they'd have rigged it to make sure Edmonton didn't get McDavid.
Bit different. Mathews is an Arizona kid and they need that for ticket sales and merchandising. And Bettman loves trying to help Phoenix out.
Exciting night of Hockey tonight. Max Domi's hat trick was awesome, and it was probably one of the better overtimes I've seen. The game winner was a beauty as well.
Coyotes look to be for real. Starting to rise a bit out of the clusterfuck that is the Pacific.
On the one hand it's shitty, and feels dirty as hell.
On the other, the fans voted for a guy that literally couldn't keep his job in the NHL. If it was an actual third or fourth line grinder that was an NHL vet I'd be more sad, but he hasn't even consistently been in the NHL.
EDIT: He literally has only played over half a season twice in his entire career.
On January 16 2016 15:15 Jinxed wrote: On the one hand it's shitty, and feels dirty as hell.
On the other, the fans voted for a guy that literally couldn't keep his job in the NHL. If it was an actual third or fourth line grinder that was an NHL vet I'd be more sad, but he hasn't even consistently been in the NHL.
EDIT: He literally has only played over half a season twice in his entire career.
Doesn't matter. The NHL let us pick an All Star Captain. He was an eligible choice. We picked him.
FYI All Star game winning team gets $90,000. Scott is making $575,000 per year. Its not like the money is chump change to him either.
On January 17 2016 13:35 Jinxed wrote: Kane should have been a Flyer.... god we were so fucked by the lottery.
JVR as a consolation prize...ouch.
That draft is bad. Kane and Ryan McDonagh are the only good players from it basically.
Edit. Just went down to further rounds.
PK Subban was 43rd overall and Jamie Benn at 129. So ya. Basically every team passed 4 times on the guy sitting number two in goal scoring this year. Insane when ya think about.
On January 19 2016 05:26 Flaccid wrote: It's only a matter of time before someone calls Cherepanov the biggest bust of the Kane draft ...
Putting money on it being Don Cherry.
if he does it without talking about Russians lacking heart I'll be upset. Thankfully he's probably starting to get senile enough to forget that.
Deflections are great in hockey. Something always cool about seeing someone with that great hand-eye. Or defensemen who understand how to slap pass off the end boards - always one of my favs
Nuge out for 4-6 weeks apparently. First Eberle, then McDavid, then Klefbom and Yakupov. Now Nuge. Amazing that Hall, of all people, is the one staying healthy this year.
On January 20 2016 01:12 QuanticHawk wrote: did the oil get whacked like that a couple years ago too?
one of Hall or Anisimov is going to die on the ice eventually. it's a minor miracle hall isnt injured. dudes never keep their heads up
Yeah. The Oilers set an NHL man games lost record the year they won the lottery the first time I think. Been pretty bad since. Team even replaced the entire med staff hoping that would help.
reminds me for when the nordique super fans were touring the league enmasse that one year. I always find that stuff funny haha. I also loooove the maple leaf jerseys so much.
reminds me for when the nordique super fans were touring the league enmasse that one year. I always find that stuff funny haha. I also loooove the maple leaf jerseys so much.
On January 19 2016 23:55 Flaccid wrote: Nuge out for 4-6 weeks apparently. First Eberle, then McDavid, then Klefbom and Yakupov. Now Nuge. Amazing that Hall, of all people, is the one staying healthy this year.
Everytime I hear something new about the Drouin situation in Tampa I wonder just how much more one can potentially screw up their budding NHL career. It's like hes throwing a temper tantrum on the advice from his agent that it'll help him get out of Tampa faster. I hope Yzerman just buries his ass in the AHL until his ELC is up.
If I was an NHL player, whatever cup I had been using gets replaced to whatever Hendricks was using. To take a shot that hard in the nuts and be fine is insane. Just look at the cup!!!
On January 23 2016 04:15 Kyhron wrote: Everytime I hear something new about the Drouin situation in Tampa I wonder just how much more one can potentially screw up their budding NHL career. It's like hes throwing a temper tantrum on the advice from his agent that it'll help him get out of Tampa faster. I hope Yzerman just buries his ass in the AHL until his ELC is up.
I don't get it either...if he was smart, he would go down, play the best he could in the AHL, make himself look like a no brainer for other GMs (or even for JC and SY in Tampa) and then get the top6 time he thinks he deserves.
There must be something else going on to make someone do something as stupid as this.
On January 23 2016 04:15 Kyhron wrote: Everytime I hear something new about the Drouin situation in Tampa I wonder just how much more one can potentially screw up their budding NHL career. It's like hes throwing a temper tantrum on the advice from his agent that it'll help him get out of Tampa faster. I hope Yzerman just buries his ass in the AHL until his ELC is up.
I don't get it either...if he was smart, he would go down, play the best he could in the AHL, make himself look like a no brainer for other GMs (or even for JC and SY in Tampa) and then get the top6 time he thinks he deserves.
There must be something else going on to make someone do something as stupid as this.
Honestly it sounds like his agent has been doing a really shitty job giving him advice. Like telling him the other day to skip an AHL game because a trade deal was almost done.....its like really? Guys get pulled out of fucking practice if a trade deal with them is almost done. If there really was a trade deal about to be finished he wouldn't have been told to play. Plus there were supposedly a good number of scouts at said AHL games to evaluate him. If he doesn't work his ass off and put up the numbers he thinks he should be getting at where ever he ends up he may end up being another top tier draft pick that ends up being a bust to his own ego.
On January 23 2016 04:15 Kyhron wrote: Everytime I hear something new about the Drouin situation in Tampa I wonder just how much more one can potentially screw up their budding NHL career. It's like hes throwing a temper tantrum on the advice from his agent that it'll help him get out of Tampa faster. I hope Yzerman just buries his ass in the AHL until his ELC is up.
I don't get it either...if he was smart, he would go down, play the best he could in the AHL, make himself look like a no brainer for other GMs (or even for JC and SY in Tampa) and then get the top6 time he thinks he deserves.
There must be something else going on to make someone do something as stupid as this.
Honestly it sounds like his agent has been doing a really shitty job giving him advice. Like telling him the other day to skip an AHL game because a trade deal was almost done.....its like really? Guys get pulled out of fucking practice if a trade deal with them is almost done. If there really was a trade deal about to be finished he wouldn't have been told to play. Plus there were supposedly a good number of scouts at said AHL games to evaluate him. If he doesn't work his ass off and put up the numbers he thinks he should be getting at where ever he ends up he may end up being another top tier draft pick that ends up being a bust to his own ego.
In my honest opinion Steve Yzerman should let the kid rot. He holds the rights to him till 2022. Make him wait until then, effectively ruining his career. Only trade if the deal is high advantageous to the TBL.
There is no maximum to him. He's set his own trade value down the shitter with his recent shenanigans. That and when he was given top line minutes he had mediocre production. Having him rot in the AHL for the next year or two might actually be good for him if he pulls his head out of his ass and realizes acting like a spoiled 5 year old throwing a temper tantrum isnt going to get him what he wants and working his ass off and actually improving and producing points will. Currently he's an okish offensive threat and a liability on defense. Hell he got his ass benched for most of the Cup Final last year because he was leaving Teravainen open constantly in the first 2 games.
On January 26 2016 06:26 Kyhron wrote: There is no maximum to him. He's set his own trade value down the shitter with his recent shenanigans. That and when he was given top line minutes he had mediocre production. Having him rot in the AHL for the next year or two might actually be good for him if he pulls his head out of his ass and realizes acting like a spoiled 5 year old throwing a temper tantrum isnt going to get him what he wants and working his ass off and actually improving and producing points will. Currently he's an okish offensive threat and a liability on defense. Hell he got his ass benched for most of the Cup Final last year because he was leaving Teravainen open constantly in the first 2 games.
this is totally wrong
he scored at .46ppg clip getting something more like 3rd line minutes (13:14 to be exact). He never got top minutes, not even close. He doesn't have a full 82 through two seasons, so it is hard to say that's a proper sample size, but unquestionably he was not getting top minutes.
A 40pt season for a 19 year old is pretty damn solid, even if the goals arent there. And stats say the team puts up a hell of a lot more shots on net than they let up when he plays. He is pretty obviously a net positive for the team. Sticking a 40 point 19 year old in the A is pants on head silly. What would he learn by smashing career pluggers on the first line in the A? A guy like that is never going to get defensive assignments in the A.
I saw that. I have no clue at all. People are trying to say he was brain scrambled, but he didn't even get checked for a concussion and didn't miss a shift. That needs to be a long suspension.
only in 2016 could you go 'oh my brain is scrambled' as a response to why you were visibly pissed about a hit, skated directly at the ref staring at him, and blatantly follow through on a big cross check.
i cant even believe that's being accepted by people and fuck him for even trying to play that off
I think the only 'rational' defense he has is he was closing his eyes (form the pain... it happens..) or was kinda looking down at the ice as he was skating.. A combination of the two could posssibblyyy result in that..
He does change the direction of his skates in the moment before the hit too..
The John Scott show was great. I've never had a reason to be a fan, but it was great to learn about the guy behind the face punching. Really decent dude and it was wonderful to see him have such a nice night.
1) John Scott voted into the game by fan poll, mostly seen as a joke because people want to see a guy who can't skate in the ASG. The ASG is kind of a joke anyways, so fun was had.
2) John Scott, who asked people not to vote for him because others deserved it more, is then asked by the league not to play. They ask him "would this make your kids proud?"
3) John Scott is like "on second thought, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and you guys are being dicks. I'm going."
4) John Scott is traded from Arizona to Montreal in what many see as a way to keep him out of the game. Bettman has gone full McMahon, John Scott's family is uprooted and sent to another country. Montreal demotes John Scott to the AHL.
5) People get mad and many articles are written about how shitty the NHL is.
6) More articles are written which give insight into John Scott, beyond the face puncher, and he becomes unlikely hero instead of joke addition to the game.
7) The NHL caves and lets John Scott play. He scores a couple of goals (including a nice breakaway shot) and the team he captains, the Pacific Division, goes on to win the tournament. John Scott, as pointed out by others, now has more ASG goals than Sidney Crosby.
8) John Scott gets the MVP award, again voted by the fans. He gets a new car and a cut of the $1M cheque.
9) Bettman takes a moment to pose for this hilarious photo:
Good god did 44 misplay that one. If someone goes 1 vs 2, that weak side D should come over and take his head off, leaving the strong side D with cleanup duty. Instead he meekly poked at the puck and got walked while his partner expected help on the body, not the puck.
Sure, it was a great play by McDavid, but a clear botch by the defense.
yeah but 44 also got baited into doing what he did bc mcdavid let it the puck stretch so far and did that crazy ass drag to pull it back. the damn thought he was losing the puck and going to clean up vs going for the hit and leaving it open. goddamn.
Good god did 44 misplay that one. If someone goes 1 vs 2, that weak side D should come over and take his head off, leaving the strong side D with cleanup duty. Instead he meekly poked at the puck and got walked while his partner expected help on the body, not the puck.
Sure, it was a great play by McDavid, but a clear botch by the defense.
99% of high sex appeal goals are because defense fucked up in someway.
Thats was so beautiful though. I think its absolutely hilarious people are talking Calder. He missed too much time and there is no reason to think Panarin, Larkin or Eichel will slow down.
On February 03 2016 23:53 Jer99 wrote: The 1% is that ovi goal where he's lying back on the ice looking like he's a mobius strip and somehow dragfucks the puck into the net
yup and dragfuck is a fantastic term, thank you for introducing it to me.
even with the fuck up goddamn those handsssssss
i wish there was a livefeed of flaccid watching that
let's pour one out for mike comrie, the fat faced lazy hockey player who was married to hillary duff until today (when's the last time anyone mentioned either of those names??)
remember the better times mike you still got this under your belt
Deserved. Probably will be appealed, but that's just standard procedure. If he had gotten checked for a concussion or anything like that then maybe 10 would have been okay, but because he chose not to then it almost has to be 20.
On February 04 2016 07:33 Jinxed wrote: Deserved. Probably will be appealed, but that's just standard procedure. If he had gotten checked for a concussion or anything like that then maybe 10 would have been okay, but because he chose not to then it almost has to be 20.
I think 20 is because of how much pressure the ref union put on the NHL.
As the rules are written I think it was a 10 game offence
Not that it means much since the pa had to but am appeal was filed.
I'd be really surprised if it was rescinded because he lit him up like you would a player in front of then net and the league and arbitrator probably aren't keen on setting thenprecedent that concussion basically means free for all
i saw this in person tues, this dude was ripshit drunk yelling in the halls and I'm probably right behidn the guy who snapped this. I was a half step too slow
Too bad April 1st is well after the trade deadline. I feel like the NHL is the one leauge in which teams would go crazy with the bullshit prank trades and news articles.
Is there anything left in pro sports that is the equivalent of being an Oilers fan of the last decade? I used to say the Cubs, but they are legitimately good now. Maybe the Browns?
Holy shit was Fowler ever committed to getting at least some sort of penalty there, if not 3 or 4. Great goal! If Crosby were an Oiler, he would have busted up his shoulder going into the boards. Thanks, Obama.
Sure, I don't follow Ottawa or Toronto much, but I dont recognize any real value going either way in the trade (other than those who think Phaneuf is really good). Even when you count phaneuf, i just see 8 players I either dont know, or like Milan Michalek.
Is there some value there I'm missing due to ignorance?
On February 10 2016 02:06 Tephus wrote: Sure, I don't follow Ottawa or Toronto much, but I dont recognize any real value going either way in the trade (other than those who think Phaneuf is really good). Even when you count phaneuf, i just see 8 players I either dont know, or like Milan Michalek.
Is there some value there I'm missing due to ignorance?
Thats the thing. This is a zero value trade IMO. Shitty contracts going both ways and prospects. Shittiest of the contracts is Phaneufs so I think TO wins it
On February 10 2016 02:06 Tephus wrote: Sure, I don't follow Ottawa or Toronto much, but I dont recognize any real value going either way in the trade (other than those who think Phaneuf is really good). Even when you count phaneuf, i just see 8 players I either dont know, or like Milan Michalek.
Is there some value there I'm missing due to ignorance?
Thats the thing. This is a zero value trade IMO. Shitty contracts going both ways and prospects. Shittiest of the contracts is Phaneufs so I think TO wins it
It is not like that..don't be so harsh. So TO gets rid of a long term heavy contract (a big step in their dream to get a big ass FA this summer or maybe next......sigh) and OTT gets a 2nd pair Dman (he is not a great first pair but he will probably manage to be decent on a second line) and gets rid of some players that are close to finishing their contracts (short term the cap hit is bigger on Toronto I think).
To wins just because phaneufs contract sucks and they are bad enough for the foreseeable future that they can't use him properly. Might be worth it on a better team that can deploy him in the offensive zone more. To fuckin buried him like he was a shutdown dman just because he was paid a lot
On February 10 2016 04:48 QuanticHawk wrote: I thought mihalik was dead
To wins just because phaneufs contract sucks and they are bad enough for the foreseeable future that they can't use him properly. Might be worth it on a better team that can deploy him in the offensive zone more. To fuckin buried him like he was a shutdown dman just because he was paid a lot
Ottawa is not that team though. Premium offensive zone starts are always going to go to Karlsson and his partner.
I'm at work now so I can't look up who plays what side but I'm pretty sure at one point phaneufs ozs was near bottom of the league and his qc was super high.
Like even just fairly neutral deployment on the 2nd pairing would be huge help for him
On February 10 2016 05:11 QuanticHawk wrote: I'm at work now so I can't look up who plays what side but I'm pretty sure at one point phaneufs ozs was near bottom of the league and his qc was super high.
Like even just fairly neutral deployment on the 2nd pairing would be huge help for him
It was in previous years but they pumped-and-dumped him this year by giving him sheltered competition while still handing him big minutes. It was like what the Oilers did with Schultz, playing him with Klefbom, except the Oilers then got confused and started to belief that Schultz wasn't actually that shitty and re-signed him, looool. Now Klef is hurt so the real Jultz has stood back up.
TOR going all in on Stamkos not resigning in TB and they're going to make a run at him? Thats the only thing I can think of with this trade. What other big names are FAs this year? Ladd seems unlikely.
Something that I realized (aka someone else brought up and I read it) is that even tho it's an awful cap hit, it's low-ish actual pay, and as Ottawa has real money issues, can help them stay up cap wise. Also, Dion's biggest problem is he was the #1 guy in Toronto, and he won't be in Ottawa, that'll help him too I feel.
The thing with the Clarkson/Horton trade was the CLB operates under their own organizational cap and it made more sense to pay Clarkson a bit more and actually have someone on the ice than it was to pay Horton to never play again and another player to actually play. That trade was all about CLB getting a player they could actually put on the ice and TOR being able to eat Hortons contract without even blinking
On February 10 2016 23:25 JimmiC wrote: As someone from Canada but not from Toronto I have grown up with some Leaf hate due to them being stuffed down my throat every Saturday night and every TSN (toronto sports network) but I have to give some props to them right now.
In pretty short order they were able to unload 3 of the worst contracts in the NHL.
Clarkson: Kinda dumb luck that CLB a team with a internal cap decided Clarkson playing was better then spending there money on Horton who will never step on the ice again. But the leafs still found a partner and pulled the trigger
Kessel: A one dimensional scorer with work ethic concerns on a super long term deal when he is already just outside his prime. Here is a guy who at BEST is barley worth the money he is getting paid now. And that contract is going to get uglier and uglier. Not only that but they got some real assets back. Also to all you Kessel apologists, and OMG he is going to score 70 with the Pens, what now?
Phanuef: Dude is a OK dman, but he's not 7 mil if he was 5 than totally. And again it's a long deal so when he gets worse this is will look like a bad contract. Also, him being OK now doesn't help them as they are rocking the tank show.
So as much as it pains me the leafs have made some quality moves to free up a lot of space, if they use it wisely a turnaround should be incoming.
eh it's TO, water wet, they will always choke, etc
those 3 deals are nothing alike though.
Phaneuf, outside of maybe when he first broke into the league and people were briefly enamored with BIG HITZ AND SHOTZ, was never, ever considered even close to even the top 10 for his position. And he's going on 31 with a long term contract that makes him the 7th highest cap hit for dman. Even getting garbage back (which they did) it provides flexibility that TO needs moving forward.
Saying the Leafs got assets for Kessel - less than 10 pts between those three players. The players coming back are younger, so that's not exactly the fairest way to look at it, but those players are also definitely not blue chip prospects. The only tangible, definite benefit there was cap space, which frankly, a team like TO doesn't need. 6.8 per for the next five years, including this, is entirely fair for a 28 year old who has been an elite scorer for several years now. His scoring is off now, but so was sid's up until the past month, and it's definitely not a coincidence that the Pens are once again very top heavy and having problems.
Only reason Clarkson and Horton get traded is Hortons contract is uninsured against injury. If it was insured, trade never happens. TO got super lucky.
Petrovic got beat 3 times by the same dude. Embarrassing
On February 11 2016 08:32 QuanticHawk wrote: Evander Kane took a break from being a useless, overrated, possible rapist to throw down three times in a game
On February 10 2016 23:25 JimmiC wrote: As someone from Canada but not from Toronto I have grown up with some Leaf hate due to them being stuffed down my throat every Saturday night and every TSN (toronto sports network) but I have to give some props to them right now.
In pretty short order they were able to unload 3 of the worst contracts in the NHL.
Clarkson: Kinda dumb luck that CLB a team with a internal cap decided Clarkson playing was better then spending there money on Horton who will never step on the ice again. But the leafs still found a partner and pulled the trigger
Kessel: A one dimensional scorer with work ethic concerns on a super long term deal when he is already just outside his prime. Here is a guy who at BEST is barley worth the money he is getting paid now. And that contract is going to get uglier and uglier. Not only that but they got some real assets back. Also to all you Kessel apologists, and OMG he is going to score 70 with the Pens, what now?
Phanuef: Dude is a OK dman, but he's not 7 mil if he was 5 than totally. And again it's a long deal so when he gets worse this is will look like a bad contract. Also, him being OK now doesn't help them as they are rocking the tank show.
So as much as it pains me the leafs have made some quality moves to free up a lot of space, if they use it wisely a turnaround should be incoming.
Phaneuf, outside of maybe when he first broke into the league and people were briefly enamored with BIG HITZ AND SHOTZ, was never, ever considered even close to even the top 10 for his position. And he's going on 31 with a long term contract that makes him the 7th highest cap hit for dman. Even getting garbage back (which they did) it provides flexibility that TO needs moving forward.
Phaneuf was widely considered a top defenseman in his early years on Calgary. He received the second most Norris votes in 07-08 and was 5th in scoring for defensemen. The year prior, he was 6th in votes. Obviously he isn't a top defenseman anymore, but he definitely used to be.
McDavid is on the ice: Don't blink, you'll miss magic. All our offence is coming. McDavid is on the bench: Defensive meltdown after defensive meltdown and turnover city.
In the unlikely event someone figures out a way to shut McDavid down the Oilers are fucked. NOBODY else scores other than McDavid, Eberle and whatever warm body they toss on the line with them.
honestly he's so stupidly good that they would have to actually gameplan to be bad in order to suck still in like 3 years. Him combined with the others is inevitably going to force teams to pick their poison in the same way teams have to pick putting their best dman vs Sid or Malkin.
obviously not this year but I'd be pretty surprised if they're not flirting with playoffs in 2-3 years.
there's zero upside to trading a stud 25 year old on a favorable deal. he is legitimately a top 5 LW, a ppg player, he'd easily get 8.5+ on the open market. 6m per/5 years is a total steal for the player he's turned into. So as far as skill and cap hit you can't do much better.
minny's got some good but far from great young dmen. Spurgeon is far and away the best of the younger guys, and he's no where near close to Hall in terms of value. Tossing in other young dmen wouldn't make that an even deal still, and there's like a zero percent chance of minny giving away two top 4 dmen, not just because of that but because that would add yet another lw to the team and necessitate a trade of someone like Vanek, who isn't gonna have much of a market.
just around the league, i really struggle to think of any kind of trade involving hall that would net a worthwhile return in terms of talent and $. Hall's deal is one of the few things edmonton has done right i nthe last decade
yeah I agree with that, just don't think there's any pound for pound value for him. like with the jones-johannsen trade, right now johannsen has more value straight up. CBJ rolled the dice that Jones will continue to improve, but they def lost if he doesn't. I actually think considering the circumstances they got pretty damn good value considering that he was vocal about wanting out, but something like that would not be a net gain for edmonton.
like short of getting someone like karlsson back or an established top young dman, def do not think it would be close to worth it. I think cap will majorly play in edmonton's future soon, because eventually CMFMD (flaccid please correct my usage if wrong) and to a lesser extend, Draistl and Yakcity, are going to be up for renewals in the next 3 years. Nurse as well. They'll also be out from under guys like purcell and pouliot but it's gonna be hard to squeeze in those deals and secondary players around three $6m/per guys in eberle, nudge, and hall (all of whom are worth it).
On February 14 2016 03:00 JimmiC wrote: Hall and Schultz for hamonic and okposo and a top prospect. Just spit balling but they could get lots of they did
this still runs into the same issue about talent and cap space. Okposo and Hamonic are both good and underrated. Okposo is also going ufa and due to get a bump into the $6m+ range, which means probably $7m in the extra edmonton has to pay to retain/draw in talent on the open market.
talent wise, hall is worth at least hamonic and okposo heads up. no need for schultz, and it defeeats the purpose of the trade to give away a dman. schultz is good but miscast. he's a guy you feed offensive minutes. they use him all over the place since they have shit otherwise. adding someone like hamonic would be huge for edmonton and schultz, because it would mean better player usage for both.
also prospects really arent of use to a team like edmonton. they need roster players
Fun little thing that was on Reddit. Sorts out favorite/least favorite teams. My results are rather boring tbh, typical Flyer fan response I would think.
1 Philadelphia Flyers 2 Winnipeg Jets 3 Dallas Stars 4 Edmonton Oilers 5 Nashville Predators 6 St. Louis Blues 7 Columbus Blue Jackets 8 Anaheim Ducks 9 Minnesota Wild 10 LA Kings 11 San Jose Sharks 12 Washington Capitals 13 Arizona Coyotes 14 Vancouver Canucks 15 Calgary Flames 16 Ottawa Senators 17 Carolina Hurricanes 18 Colorado Avalanche 19 Tampa Bay Lightning 20 Florida Panthers 21 Detroit Red Wings 22 Chicago Blackhawks 23 Buffalo Sabres 24 Toronto Maple Leafs 25 Boston Bruins 26 Montreal Canadiens 27 Pittsburgh Penguins 27 New York Rangers 27 New Jersey Devils 30 New York Islanders
1 Philadelphia Flyers 2 Dallas Stars 3 Minnesota Wild 4 Columbus Blue Jackets 5 Edmonton Oilers 6 San Jose Sharks 6 St. Louis Blues 8 Washington Capitals 9 Tampa Bay Lightning 10 Winnipeg Jets 11 Nashville Predators 12 Florida Panthers 13 Calgary Flames 14 Anaheim Ducks 15 Chicago Blackhawks 16 Detroit Red Wings 17 LA Kings 18 Colorado Avalanche 19 Toronto Maple Leafs 20 Carolina Hurricanes 21 Arizona Coyotes 22 Montreal Canadiens 22 Vancouver Canucks 24 Ottawa Senators 25 Boston Bruins 25 Pittsburgh Penguins 25 New York Rangers 25 Buffalo Sabres 25 New York Islanders 25 New Jersey Devils
Rank Team 1 Edmonton Oilers 2 Winnipeg Jets 3 New York Islanders 4 Tampa Bay Lightning 5 Washington Capitals 6 Montreal Canadiens 7 Dallas Stars 8 New York Rangers 9 Detroit Red Wings 10 St. Louis Blues 11 Nashville Predators 11 Florida Panthers 13 San Jose Sharks 14 Pittsburgh Penguins 15 Ottawa Senators 16 LA Kings 17 Chicago Blackhawks 18 Anaheim Ducks 19 Philadelphia Flyers 20 Columbus Blue Jackets 21 New Jersey Devils 22 Arizona Coyotes 23 Minnesota Wild 24 Buffalo Sabres 25 Boston Bruins 26 Carolina Hurricanes 27 Colorado Avalanche 28 Toronto Maple Leafs 28 Calgary Flames 30 Vancouver Canucks
officiating in this Rangers-Blackhawks game has been nonsense. Kreider gets interfered with and gets called for a pretty ticky-tack holding, and I have no idea what the officials were looking at with the Stalberg penalty in the third. at least they made the right call on the disallowed goal, but still.
My rankings 1: Edmonton Oilers 2: Opponent of the Toronto Maple Leafs 3: Washington Capitals 4: LA Kings rest don't really matter Second Last: Calgary Flames Last: Toronto Maple Leafs
On February 18 2016 12:24 LeeDawg wrote: officiating in this Rangers-Blackhawks game has been nonsense. Kreider gets interfered with and gets called for a pretty ticky-tack holding, and I have no idea what the officials were looking at with the Stalberg penalty in the third. at least they made the right call on the disallowed goal, but still.
To make it worse they dont call anything on Yandle after he 2 hand chops Panarin's ankles after he puts in the empty netter.
So Therrien is a moron (duh). Granted, PK was getting a little adventurous at the blueline for a tied game late in the third, but how he shoulders the blame when the goal happened because Pax has no idea how to mark up 3v3 is insane.
The trade stuff is most likely media or opposing gm manufactured garbage, but the Habs were dumb enough to hire Therrien in the first place so who knows!
What's your top 10 look like that he's not safely in that????
I mean I could maybe see argument against top 5. But top 10 is an absolute no brainer. He's regularly near the top for dmen scoring, he's always a major major net positive on possession, very good in his own end, a pain in the ass to play against, fantastic skater, and phystcal.
Keith, maybe Weber and Karlsson are the only ones I would say are definitely better. But no matter how you cut it easy top 10 for sure, come on now
this min-chi game getting really chippy fast. dumba got a clean but huge hit and got steamrolled in response. Somehow he ended up in the box for roughing for having the audacity to defend himself (minny still got a pp). Then Hlamersson boarded the christ out of Parise and got away with it.
I'm not a avid NHL follower but I just noticed that Canadian teams are firmly holding the bottom four positions of western conference and not heading to playoffs in eastern either, sad times. Didn't Canadiens have a good start to the season too.
On February 23 2016 19:28 Vaelone wrote: I'm not a avid NHL follower but I just noticed that Canadian teams are firmly holding the bottom four positions of western conference and not heading to playoffs in eastern either, sad times. Didn't Canadiens have a good start to the season too.
GOOD
On February 23 2016 17:37 CorsairHero wrote: i think the fan base is quite angry after trading away shinkaruk
he sucks, and 100 should be fired for being bad and thinking that garbage ass team still has a shot at playoffs, but tripping about shinkaruk is silly, dude's never gonna be an NHL top 6 player, and isn't cut out for bottom six detail. AHL superstar heyooooooooooo. Granlund could at least be a useful checking line forward like every Finnish person ever.
On February 24 2016 06:45 Jaaaaasper wrote: I hope the Habs extend Therrien. Another 5 or 6 years of him seems solid.
Not exactly his fault that the team is 100% reliant on Price being an obvious Vezina winner year in and year out. Fire the GM. He built a shitty team but an amazing goalie makes it look good.
On February 24 2016 06:45 Jaaaaasper wrote: I hope the Habs extend Therrien. Another 5 or 6 years of him seems solid.
Not exactly his fault that the team is 100% reliant on Price being an obvious Vezina winner year in and year out. Fire the GM. He built a shitty team but an amazing goalie makes it look good.
both need to go. he's proven time and time again he's coaching about 15 years behind the times, and bergevin specifically built the team how he requested.
wonder if the Hawks soured on Dano a bit? Ladd def helps them more this year and their window is starting to close a tad, but still. Bowman said he thinks Dano will be a good player for years to come, but for obvious reasons you're not going to publically bag on a player you just straded and alienate a potential trade partner down the road.
Bowman is probably the best GM in the league when it comes to getting trades done. Dano was alright with the Hawks. One of those wasn't bad could have some good upside or could never develop and be a career 3rd liner. Definitely a pricey cost for Ladd, but Ladd also fills the one big hole in the Hawks lineup and thats a first line LW. I wouldn't be surprised if the Hawks pull away from the Central now that Toews and Hossa have an actual LW to play with.
The biggest problem with Dano for the Hawks is that hes a RW and the Hawks are absolutely loaded on the RW. Plus they also have Hartman in the AHL who is more or less the same exact player as Dano but a natural LW. Bowman has been taking the WIN NOW approach the last couple of years getting great rentals and occasionally good prospects.
Man if Shaw brings that kind of return not so sure I want the Bruins to extend Erickson. Loui's better than Shaw, I could see a better prospect a first and a second being the return.
On February 27 2016 08:50 JimmiC wrote: Do you mean Ladd?
Ladd yeah, I was thinking of him and saw a picture of baseball players named Sam Travis and Travis Shaw next to each other (spelling out Travis Shaw) and then that happened.
On February 28 2016 00:19 JimmiC wrote: More big shake ups north with the oilers grabbing another 5 th rounder. Even their trades are disappointing
Are you kidding?
We got rid of Shultz!!!!!!!!
I couldn't care less what came back or how much salary we hold onto. Someone took him for us! The Purcell and Nillson trades were meh though. Probably got fair value. Too bad we didn't trade Nillson at the start of the season when he was hot. Woulda been good stuff coming back i bet
I am not sure what they expect him to be tbh. They got Stepan and Brassard already, who are kind of 1a/b players. Not studs, but solid 60pt+ guys each season.
My best guess is that they want to basically run 3 fairly even lines, with pretty even TOI distribution. AV has always been big about that, and it at least helps on draws since the Rangers are pretty awful at that outside of Moore. So it's nice having a top 6 guy who can play there. Staal also plays wing.
Still, kind of high price for what I assume is a rental. I don't see how NYR fits him next year even at half price.
Schultz seemed like a good buy low, only a 3rd. His qualifying offer is going to be liek $3m which is dumb though. But I think Schultz not having to play 25 min/night on an awful team will be good for him, the same way Ott not having to roll dumb shit Deon on the first will help him out too.
but then again, I've felt for ages the Pens are a really flawed team that has, for years, relied entirely on Sid, Malkin, and Letang to overcome bad coaching and bad roster creation. They still lack a bottom six, and don't exactly have a good D overall.
But basically, Schultz is mobile, young, and has a nose for offense. He's someone who can be productive in the right situation. Kind of like how MDZ is having a career resurgence in Philly. He's never gonna be a shut down dman, but if you use him right, give him lots of OZS, and put better defensive players out for the harder assignments, he's useful.
I'm convinced that Schultz had some kind of guaranteed ice time clause which was offered to him to get him to sign in Edmonton. There was no other rational explanation for the ice time he received.
On February 29 2016 23:18 QuanticHawk wrote: Eh not a lot of big minute options other that sekera who probably shouldn't get it either. How's nurse looking??
The three best defensemen this year have been Sekera, Klefbom and Davidson. Of course, Dreamboat has been injured since forever and Davidson is a rookie so yeah, that leaves Sekera. Missing Klefbom for this many games has been terrible.
Nurse needs work. He is fun to watch but brings too much chaos to be anything but a 6/7 at this point.
I think Erickson still gets moved, sounds like he and Boston are still pretty far apart, and its really a choice between keeping him this year or March& next year
Colorado also just got Gelinas off the Devs for a 3rd.
Kind of odd to see the Devs give up on Gelinas, because he looked promising just two years ago. It's also odd to see the Avs being buyers for the right to get curbstomped by CHI/LA.
Dallas is fun as hell to watch, and they have some of the best jerseys in the league, but idk about conference finals. Firewagon hockey ain't gonna work against teams like LA and CHI, unless Benn and Seguin go even more bonkers. They're so fun to watch together.
Speaking of fun players to watch (and great deals) remember when everyone was bagging on Dallas for that Klingberg contract? Yeesh.
a few last minute trades. mostly insignificant stuff but the Bruins got JM Liles for pretty cheap. He's an ok soft minute offensive dman if that's your market
Welp back to Fire Sweeney here in New England. Then again the Canucks have the guy who thought the Seguin trade was a good idea running things (although Segs would never be as good in Boston as he has been in Dallas(
CHI or WAS are the favorites IMO. LA isn't as strong as the last few years and they haven't exactly run away with a rather weak Pacific this season. STL has to overcome their Round 1 Demons and get through CHI and DAL in the first 2 rounds. DAL still has big question marks on D and in the net plus the ever burning question of can barnburning hockey be sustainable enough for a Cup run. WAS has to be a favorite with how well they've done through the season so far and how well they matched up with CHI on Sunday.
Wow there's reports coming out of both Dallas and Vancouver that the Stars offered their first and third to Vancouver for Hamhuis and the ownership nixed the deal. Thats why Dallas picked up Russel instead of Hamhuis. Wow thats really awful.
On March 01 2016 18:27 Kyhron wrote: Wow there's reports coming out of both Dallas and Vancouver that the Stars offered their first and third to Vancouver for Hamhuis and the ownership nixed the deal. Thats why Dallas picked up Russel instead of Hamhuis. Wow thats really awful.
I'm okay with the bruins deadline moves in hindsight, untill I realized the Bruins traded a second and a forth for a guy who was in cap for them and willing to sign for the minimum.
So we gots about 20 games left. Playoff teams are pretty certain except for a few:
east: 8th seed is probably down to PIT (major favs), with PHI and NJD as major underdogs. In the west, it is basically MIN and COL fighting for the 8th seed.
I think PIT gets it in the east, they've got the standings advantage and are just better overall than those two. West, i would think Min is probably better
Min is probably the better team, but Colorado has a far easier schedule down the stretch. Min has 2 games against Col, 2 against Chi and 1 against LA. The best teams Colorado have are the Minni games, a pair against STL and one against FLA.
On March 02 2016 04:16 QuanticHawk wrote: So we gots about 20 games left. Playoff teams are pretty certain except for a few:
east: 8th seed is probably down to PIT (major favs), with PHI and NJD as major underdogs. In the west, it is basically MIN and COL fighting for the 8th seed.
I think PIT gets it in the east, they've got the standings advantage and are just better overall than those two. West, i would think Min is probably better
Pittsburgh is playing really well and they certainly have a lot of talent. However they also have that weird 'literally can beat anyone except the old Atlantic' thing going on. I think they have the best odds, but it isn't a lock as of yet.
The fact that the Flyers are even this close is nothing short of miraculous. Most fans are literally just waiting for the season to end because next year is when we really start to become scary. #2 (Provorov) and #3 (Konecny) of our big 4 are rumored to come up with #4 (Sanheim) probably starting off in the AHL. With Schenn, Vinny, and (likely via buyout) Umberger no longer on our books we'll finally have cap room as well.
I don't think adding Staal hurts the Rabgers chances at a Cup but at the same time I don't think it's that missing piece they need for a Cup run.
So currently Chicago, St. Louis and Dallas are all tied for first in the West/Central. Granted 13 points behind the Caps but still ridiculous when you think about how many times they play each other year and take points away from each other. I'd love to see what one of their point totals would be if they got a season in the East.
I'd call this a successful season as a low-expectations Oilers fan (is there any other kind?) simply to win the lottery (tlolronto) and then sign Stamkos (double tlolronto). That would be all kinds of hilarious.
I think they actually have a fair bit of cap space next year, what with NikitinikinikitiNikitin coming off the books and then maybe buying out the last year of TheCaptainAndrewFerence. In the long run they may have to lose one of the $6M contracts, but fuck it because Stamkos. With some of the other bigger contracts not coming back, they could probably find a way to manage the raises of new contracts next year (Davidson, Klef, etc.) and free up the necessary munnies. Plus Katz just sold some drug store shit for $3B so there's that too.
Just gotta find somebody to take on Korpikoski's 2.5M hit =\
And then worry about paying CFMD truck loads of money in a few years.
I would think it would be Eberle of the three (even though I think his deal is alright actually). He's just the least dynamic of Hall (stud), Nudge (p good), and himself.
The Oil would help themselves immensely if they could draft some top 4 dmen and have them all get good in the next 2-3 years before they back up the dumptruck of money to CFMD's house
On March 02 2016 12:28 JimmiC wrote: He's still a useful player and is not going to decline between now and playoffs. The rangers have to go for it now, lunquist, nash, most of there Dman are all at best at the end of there prime. Making one last run before they tear it down makes sense.
well yea they have to make win now moves esp in light of past moves.
on my end it's more of a told you so with the souring staal and girardi decisions over keeping better players.
I will never get behind the idea of trading RNH; I just can't do it. He has done nothing but put up good metrics against the Toews and the Kopitars and the Thortons of the WC since he was 18. Not to mention how the Oilers have fallen off (even more of) a cliff since his injury. You just can't have enough center depth, especially in the WC. Someone is always gonna be hurt =P
He's an outstanding player on a good contract. Honestly, given the likely return I'd probably rather trade Hall than RNH. And I love Hall.
edit: Let's take a second to appreciate what RNH and Hall have done since entering the league. Here are their relative rankings in regards to quality of fwd competition faced and even strength ppg (as stolen from another blog):
On March 03 2016 07:27 Flaccid wrote: I will never get behind the idea of trading RNH; I just can't do it. He has done nothing but put up good metrics against the Toews and the Kopitars and the Thortons of the WC since he was 18. Not to mention how the Oilers have fallen off (even more of) a cliff since his injury. You just can't have enough center depth, especially in the WC. Someone is always gonna be hurt =P
He's an outstanding player on a good contract. Honestly, given the likely return I'd probably rather trade Hall than RNH. And I love Hall.
edit: Let's take a second to appreciate what RNH and Hall have done since entering the league. Here are their relative rankings in regards to quality of fwd competition faced and even strength ppg (as stolen from another blog):
Kind of unreal, honestly. I'd love to see what they could do against the soft parade that other top forwards see.
edit2: And these team NA jerseys are pretty dope:
Eichel gonna take a shit on CFMD while leading the team
god combining two of the biggest rivals was so fuckin dumb. At least the main roster still allows me to be horribly xenophobic! iirc, ESPN picked this up in the states so it will be on national TV?
I can't imagine the return on Nuge or Hall ever being worth it. It almost never is when trading a the best player in a deal, and most teams aren't dumb enough to do a Lindros-esque trade these days. If any team would be, it's the one that already owns the players being discussed!
he was even more mad after 3 goals in under 2 min. didnt help the rangers skaters looked like ass out there. the rangers pinch a whole damn lot these days which helps generate a lot of chances. but with boyle, staal, and girardi all really declining sharply, they tend to flub those a whole lot these days.
im bored out of my fucking skulll at work so i pulled some of the more amusing predictions, observations, and quotes from the start of the season - yay!
On November 30 2015 20:21 Jer99 wrote: I would have said Kane is the favorite to get the most points, the man is a monster.
Beauty goal by Malkin too
On November 30 2015 03:25 Kyhron wrote: Part of the reason no one broke 90 points last year was because 2 of the top point getters last year missed over a month each because of injuries. This year I'll be surprised if Kane, Benn or Seguin don't break 100 points. Kane has a 19 game point streak and is playing out of this world this year
On November 30 2015 22:18 QuanticHawk wrote: agreed, all 3 of those guys are currently hovering around 1.5ppg through a decent chunk of the season and it's obviously not the first time for any of them. I would be pretty surprised if they didn't all break 100 if they stay healthy.
I think the rest of the top scorers will be 90ish and below probably. I do think part of the drop in 1st line scoring is def tied to teams having more depth and using it, so that's part of why there's probably less people over a PPG than the past few years
On November 30 2015 22:18 QuanticHawk wrote: agreed, all 3 of those guys are currently hovering around 1.5ppg through a decent chunk of the season and it's obviously not the first time for any of them. I would be pretty surprised if they didn't all break 100 if they stay healthy.
I think the rest of the top scorers will be 90ish and below probably. I do think part of the drop in 1st line scoring is def tied to teams having more depth and using it, so that's part of why there's probably less people over a PPG than the past few years
Kane has never hit 90 points in his career and has only hit 80 once. Obviously right now it looks like he'll pass 90 with ease, but he's played under 70 games in his last two seasons, and most great players will peak in points before the age of 26. It's a good sign that he's continued to put up points after Panarin cooled off so much, but it's definitely not a foregone conclusion that he'll hit 90.
On October 14 2015 14:48 GolemMadness wrote: LA are looking awful. Vancouver's looking surprisingly good so far.
On October 14 2015 16:17 Kyhron wrote: LA was pretty much expected to be fucking terrible this year. It was pretty much a guaranteed rebuild year after last year plus this offseason's shit show.
On October 14 2015 22:04 JimmiC wrote: What? I think most people thought la would bounce back, with van taking a massive step back cal maybe taking a step back and sj having uncertainty in net. Pretty sure most pundits had la as the only lock other then Ana in the postseason.
On October 14 2015 12:19 xDaunt wrote: Sharks are looking pretty damned legit. Their play has been relentless so far.
yeah I've always liked DeBoer. He has his warts like anyone, but it's pretty apparent that if he's given some talent, he gets a lot out of it. Maybe in a couple years the narrative on LouLam's last few years in NJ will change. He was straight up bad after the Cup run, and the issues were starting to creep up before then anyway. I don't think Scotty Bowman could have coached any of those dumpy teams to the playoffs.
also yeah no one was expecting LA to be awful. I also don't put very much stock into the first month of an 82 game season, otherwise everyone would think the Leafs are good every year!
On October 21 2015 23:33 Flaccid wrote: Poor Jackets.
eh their team probably fits his style pretty nicely
I also think Torts is going to be quite a bit different this time. He was Mr Safe is Death in TB before the stoneage hockey years in NYR
On October 23 2015 11:04 JimmiC wrote: Kessel shocker not working out. So common that the big trade or signing blows up. pitts needed depth not a one dimensional scorer. Who when not scoring like now, is a big negative.
On October 25 2015 17:13 FaCE_1 wrote: 9-0-0. We are unstoppable :D
Price is just the best player, all position combine, in the worlds.
We had a badgame vs toronto yesterday,they shot 52 time. Price stop 49. Hell yeah
On October 29 2015 22:59 QuanticHawk wrote:
On November 29 2015 13:51 GolemMadness wrote: Klingberg with another 2 points tonight. Looking like he'll be the first defenseman since Lidstrom to hit 80 points. Last season, only 5 forwards hit 80, and 0 hit 90.
On October 03 2015 03:22 Jer99 wrote: Leafs make the playoffs
On October 02 2015 23:29 Flaccid wrote: Oilers miss the playoffs by a fair bit, CFMD gets 1000 points. Those are my only predictions at this point.
On October 02 2015 15:41 GolemMadness wrote: I tihnk Calgary will be a strong competitor for winning the Pacific. I think it'll be between them and Anaheim.
On October 01 2015 21:49 QuanticHawk wrote: I think Washington has steadily improve the last two seasons. Their roster is a lot better than the ones from the last 5-7 yeras when the first line and Green carried the team to the playoffs each year.
I also think Holtby is really really good
i am bored out of my skull at work right now here are some amusing predictiosn
On October 03 2015 14:22 xDaunt wrote: I'm pretty sure that the Sharks are going to be back in the playoffs this year. Last year was just bizarre. Things should be back to normal now. More importantly, it looks like the Sharks are going to have a huge upgrade in net.
On November 30 2015 20:21 Jer99 wrote: I would have said Kane is the favorite to get the most points, the man is a monster.
Beauty goal by Malkin too
On October 05 2015 18:03 Kyhron wrote: I honestly don't know what to think of the West in terms of playoff contenders. I would honestly be shocked if the Pacific have more than 2-3 teams in the playoffs. I think the Central will be more of a Thunderdome with a side of Mr. Toads wild ride than it was last year, but I don't really see the pacific teams managing to squeak out more points when the entire division minus phx has gotten better. I think the Ducks will win the Pacific and either the Sharks or Flames will be a 6-8th seed with the other teams all being Central
On October 09 2015 02:56 QuanticHawk wrote: honestly, that is the first time I've heard a bad thing about hockeystreams. reddit hockey loves it, sa hockey loves it, most hockey forums swear by it. Honestly if my internet wasn't so ass here I'd have it by now
first hockey hangover of the year yeahhhhh
Tru. I guess I'm just worried that 'the man' is catching up to them and it'll randomly go down and I'll have no recourse =(
I agree with your underdog picks, esp Nash. They've got crazy depth all over now. Boston is scary for the reasons you listed, but I don't think they have as much D depth. I think they're on par with NYR as far as having great o depth, great goaltending, little bit lesser D. I also think forward depth and goaltending matter a whole hell of a lot more than D these days.
Washington is so stupidly good right now though it's insane
Looking at the Sharks in a vacuum (ie ignoring their rich history of playoff futility over the past 10 years), they should be considered a dark horse to win the cup now that they're finally relatively healthy.
Yeah I'd be down with Thornton getting a Cup, always felt he was tremendously underrated. I feel a little less confident about them than I do the Preds.
I feel like anyone that's not the Chicago/LA/Anaheim trifecta is a dark horse in the West since they're more than likely going to have to go through at least 2 of those 3 teams on the way to the finals. My East pick has to be the Panthers purely for the combination or Jagr and the myth of Florida hockey being stupid
lol a Ref went down in the Oilers game...they are playing so dumb tonight that even a simple puck clear on the PK (WITH A FREE CENTER ICE!) was disastrous as Fayne was able to hit the freaking ref on the boards...
Norris- Keith, Subban, Karlsson because this points make a difference in this for some reason Karlsson probably favorite.
Vezina- Holtby, Crawford, Quick.....Holtby has to be favored because of how well the Caps have done this season but Crawford has quietly put up better numbers than Holtby outside of wins.
Adams- Trotz, DeBoer, Hitchcock....I'm probably completely off on this one, but they're the ones that have done the best with their teams this season.
Richard- Ovi or Kane...Ovi has 3 more goals than Kane with 14 to play.
Art Ross- Kane.....17 points up 14 games to goal dude hasn't scored in like 6 games all season no ones gonna catch him.
Selke- Marchand, Toews.....both perennial Selke contenders would be shocked to not see either of them win.
Calder- Panarin, Gostisbehere, McDavid.....McDavid was the obvious favorite preseason, but between his injury and Panarin playing highlight reel hockey all season with Kane that Panarin steals the show.
Hart- Kane, Price......Kane has been the obvious favorite all season, but Price should be considered for how absolutely awful the Habs have been without him.
yeah I am inclined to agree on those. I'd be amazed if Panarin and Trotz don't win their awards. Norris is open imo. Vez will probably go to Holtby because he is a major reason for their success. Crawford is better than I give him credit for, but I don't think it's a coincidence that Was getting very good coincided with him progressing each year
March& isn't going to win a award becuase lets be honest "bad guys" have to be way ahead of the pack to win the award. Slewban won a award, but he was by so freaking far the best dman that year. Bergeron/Toewes are much more likeable, and thus they're much more likely to win becuase people are much more inclined to give Bergy credit for March&'s success than the other way around, as they aren't looking for a argument to not give "that asshole" the win.
Thats my thought with Subban. The Norris is less about who is actually a good Dman and more who scores the most lately. Granted Keith is one of the few exceptions lately as hes probably the best 2 way defenseman in the league right now.
Crawford is such a sleeper on a lot of people because he had a couple of bad years at the start of his career and everyone remembers that and don't pay attention to the fact hes quietly gotten better and better and keeps putting up better and better numbers. That and people push so much of his improvements off on the team in front of him. Granted that probably helps considering the Hawks did win a Cup and had the best GAA during the lockout seasin with Ray fucking Emery as a backup.
The norris is about who has the most impact on the game from a Dman. If a guy gives his team 30 points above average from offense and only 5 from defense, hes just as vaulable as a guy who gives his team 30 point above average form defense and 5 from offense
On March 08 2016 07:03 Jaaaaasper wrote: The norris is about who has the most impact on the game from a Dman. If a guy gives his team 30 points above average from offense and only 5 from defense, hes just as vaulable as a guy who gives his team 30 point above average form defense and 5 from offense
Thats what is supposed to be, but the last 5 or so years its been more about offensive defenseman winning. The voters don't seem to care about stay at home defenseman when it comes time for voting.
On March 08 2016 07:03 Jaaaaasper wrote: The norris is about who has the most impact on the game from a Dman. If a guy gives his team 30 points above average from offense and only 5 from defense, hes just as vaulable as a guy who gives his team 30 point above average form defense and 5 from offense
Thats what is supposed to be, but the last 5 or so years its been more about offensive defenseman winning. The voters don't seem to care about stay at home defenseman when it comes time for voting.
Which is a weird thing since it wasn't that long ago that the trophy defaulted to Nick Lidstrom. He wasn't exactly a powerhouse scoring machine from the blue line.
I have as many good posts as Lidstrom had seasons in which he didn't score 10+ goals. And he still won the Norris one of those years (with the most D points at 59). You're just misremembering! He was an elite puck mover, well ahead of his time. His style of play fits more with the likes of the top dmen now than it did with the guys of his era.
even in years he didn't lead in points while winning he was never worse than 3rd. McInnis and Zubov not getting was the only real jobbings I remember, but Lidstrom was a damn stud offensively, and would probably be even better in new era NHL if his prime were now
man i got lost for hours in hockeyreference this morning i love that site. I also miss Zubov - criminally underrated. Fuck that trade forever
On March 11 2016 00:55 JimmiC wrote: My ideal final 4 would be Was vs Bos and Dal Vs SJ
I like the Rangers more and more with Stepan-Brassard-Staal down the middle. So many combinations they can run now. Wash is so deep this year it's still weird to me. I think Boston and TB are the only other realsitic threats in the east.
I'm just rooting for the Capitals or Sharks to win it this year. Have had great teams for a long time with players who really deserve it, and they're both fun to watch. Wouldn't mind the Lightning either.
But hey if Steve Mason wants to go nuts a la J.S. Giguere I'm okay with that too!
So this article came out today and all I really get out of it is a bunch of GMs being salty as fuck because Stan Bowman does their job better and takes into account every little detail in putting together Cup winning teams unlike them.
Hmm, it seems unlikely that teams would specifically create a strategy to take advantage of that because the trade deadline is way before the start of the playoffs. Salt indeed.
Canucks have a chance at history today: be the first team to be shut out 4 times in a row in the modern era. They'll probably score with Hansen back in the lineup though. He's the guy stirring the drink on the Sedin line this year.
Heya, So when watching NHL lately, I have really wondered about some ref calls regarding embellishment. How can it be that in a single situation Refs call embellishment for player A against player B and at the same time also call a foul by B against A. Either A made a dive or he was fouled by B... But how is it called both more often than not? Don't get it It happened again twice yesterday, once in the Habs game I watched live but also saw it in another games stats.
On March 27 2016 21:10 mahrgell wrote: Heya, So when watching NHL lately, I have really wondered about some ref calls regarding embellishment. How can it be that in a single situation Refs call embellishment for player A against player B and at the same time also call a foul by B against A. Either A made a dive or he was fouled by B... But how is it called both more often than not? Don't get it It happened again twice yesterday, once in the Habs game I watched live but also saw it in another games stats.
It's sort of two different situations that happen
A. A player outright dives looking for a call when nothing illegal happened. This is the one that's punished in soccer with a yellow card and indirect free kick, but it's rarely called in hockey (I don't know if I've seen it ever).
B. Something illegal does happen to the player, but he has a theatrical reaction well out of proportion to the contact, or clearly was trying to buy the call. This is the one that's punished in hockey, both players will get the penalty. In soccer they pretty much call these as fouls because technically they are, and the embellishment doesn't get punished.
It basically seems to me that each game covers one of the scenarios, but neither does a good job covering the acting completely. The difference I think it's a product of the structure--in hockey it's easy to give equal offsetting penalties, which is not really possible in soccer (one team has to get the ball).
Hm.... okay, that makes sense. Thanks for the explaination. I am so used to "Once the guy touched you, you can whirl around like a ballerina hit by a rhino" from soccer. :D
On March 28 2016 02:15 mahrgell wrote: Hm.... okay, that makes sense. Thanks for the explaination. I am so used to "Once the guy touched you, you can whirl around like a ballerina hit by a rhino" from soccer. :D
You can see a fine example from last night in Tampa's game....Condra was clearly tripped yet besides falling from the trip he decided it would be cool to spin and roll on the floor.
The Florida dude got the deserved tripping penalty and Condra got an embellishment penalty. This is a strong motivator to avoid players doing the ridiculous acts they do in football (soccer). As a consequence I see a lot less (and I mean a LOT) diving in north American sports.
Plus, I think the culture helps and our euro countries most think is legit to throw yourself to the ground to make sure the ref saw the foul (or made up foul in some cases to avoid losing the ball).
On March 28 2016 02:15 mahrgell wrote: Hm.... okay, that makes sense. Thanks for the explaination. I am so used to "Once the guy touched you, you can whirl around like a ballerina hit by a rhino" from soccer. :D
You can see a fine example from last night in Tampa's game....Condra was clearly tripped yet besides falling from the trip he decided it would be cool to spin and roll on the floor.
The Florida dude got the deserved tripping penalty and Condra got an embellishment penalty. This is a strong motivator to avoid players doing the ridiculous acts they do in football (soccer). As a consequence I see a lot less (and I mean a LOT) diving in north American sports.
Plus, I think the culture helps and our euro countries most think is legit to throw yourself to the ground to make sure the ref saw the foul (or made up foul in some cases to avoid losing the ball).
While I think culture is a factor (North American sports tend to dive less, and South American/Iberian countries have a lot more diving), there's still a LOT of diving in American soccer. It's really a problem specific to the sport and the nature of refereeing.
Randy Numbers @randynumbers If DET beats BUF and PHI beats WPG in regulation or OT, then all 7 Canadian teams will have been officially eliminated from the playoffs. 1:55 PM - 28 Mar 2016 145 145 Retweets 77 77 likes
I think Yak is just tired of the Oilers and all the retarded bullshit with the team. The old management fucked the team so hard between drafting and scouting it's probably going to be another 2-3 years before they are a serious playoff team. Yak has always come off as a guy with a lot of passion for the game and wants to win as much as possible and with how bad the Oilers are its probably come to a point he wants to just get out of there and on to a team that isn't a doormat for most of the league.
Canada not making the playoffs is odd but not entirely unexpected. The Oilers weren't really expected to make them. Calgary overachieved last year and regressed back to where they probably should be at. The Jets underachieved this year and probably should have been atleast in the playoff hunt. The Habs got exposed for being a 1 man team when Price went down. Vancouver has turned into an absolute shit show with their new owners and management combined with the Sedins starting to regress, probably should have been a playoff contender but injuries turned the team into a tire fire. Not 100% sure on what went wrong with Toronto or Ottawa haven't payed much attention to them this season.
On March 28 2016 02:15 mahrgell wrote: Hm.... okay, that makes sense. Thanks for the explaination. I am so used to "Once the guy touched you, you can whirl around like a ballerina hit by a rhino" from soccer. :D
You can see a fine example from last night in Tampa's game....Condra was clearly tripped yet besides falling from the trip he decided it would be cool to spin and roll on the floor.
The Florida dude got the deserved tripping penalty and Condra got an embellishment penalty. This is a strong motivator to avoid players doing the ridiculous acts they do in football (soccer). As a consequence I see a lot less (and I mean a LOT) diving in north American sports.
Plus, I think the culture helps and our euro countries most think is legit to throw yourself to the ground to make sure the ref saw the foul (or made up foul in some cases to avoid losing the ball).
While I think culture is a factor (North American sports tend to dive less, and South American/Iberian countries have a lot more diving), there's still a LOT of diving in American soccer. It's really a problem specific to the sport and the nature of refereeing.
Correct me if I'm wrong but aren't most players (or at least a very significant part) in NA soccer actually foreigners? (I confess my ignorance but from across the pond this is how we thing soccer works there).
With so much foreigner players there, the culture gets influenced by them. For instance as an example of the opposite scenario, the BPL has a lot of non British dudes playing...but when they get there, they learn that diving is not going to work (both by culture and style of refs) so they adapt quickly. I think in NA it might have happened the other way around? So if this holds, I don't think the sport in itself is flawed in this regard.
Still, I mostly agree with you and completely agree on the part that the ref's style has a big role in how the game is approached by the players.
On March 28 2016 23:12 QuanticHawk wrote: Yakcity requested a trade rip
I look forward to him tearing it up elsewhere
That's good but sad. He has been playing a lot better in that first line these past few games. And watching the McD Eberle line has been fun and they have several dominant shifts across the game so EDM is not thaaaat bad.
The problem is, more often than not, a freaking goal against comes out of nowhere (with nowhere being equal to a retarded give away, a complete lack of defensive coverage, a freaking bad goalie). They have their good games but most are inconsistent as hell.
Yak has never been put in a position to succeed in his Oilers career, sans a handful of games with CFMD (at which he did succeed).
Hi did very well under Krueger, then spent multiple years getting Eakins'ed. Then he finally got a new coach and got injured by a linesman. You can't make this shit up.
He will be a case study for future generations on how to completely botch the development of a skilled player. Couldn't happen to a nicer guy.
Randy Numbers @randynumbers If DET beats BUF and PHI beats WPG in regulation or OT, then all 7 Canadian teams will have been officially eliminated from the playoffs. 1:55 PM - 28 Mar 2016 145 145 Retweets 77 77 likes
it is done
I never unerstand why teams regularly saddle players like Yak with bottom six grinders. It's one thing if you run a scoring third like the Rangers or Hawks, but the Oil do not have that.
At first I was like was it an offside call? No way that was an offside call I guess it was a bad penalty called for a trip or something? Holy shit it was called offside
Reffing seems even worse than usual this year for whatever reason
On March 30 2016 05:34 KobraKay wrote: What is wrong with Bishop? o.O :D
Any chance he gets to win some award this year? Do you guys think there is any possibility to have him in the run for Vezina?
Maybe? His numbers are good but I think its really going to be hard to beat Holtby I think. Only other thing would be the lowest GAA for team but TB is still behind a few teams with not a lot of games left.
At this point the only awards more or less wrapped up are Ross and probably Hart are Kane, Rocket is most likely Ovi's but again Kane is only a few goals back. Everything else at least has a few people in contention. I'm mostly curious on how the Calder nominations go.
if it's not Holtby should be Hank imo. been rocking best 5v5 sv% for a while, and all his breakdowns show he has basically carried the rangers once again while posting elite stats again
I was thinking today. Whens the last time we had a guy be as absolutely dominating in the scoring race and been the most talked about Hart candidate for almost the entire season like Kane has been this year. Granted a lot of eyes on him early was because of the offseason bullshit, but still whens the last time we had one guy doing what hes done. We had those couple of seasons of Ovi vs Crosby vs Malkin a few years back.
Crosby in '14 probably. Before that there was usually more competition like you said between those big 3 or Stamkos for a couple years. Kane has cooled off big time lately though. Cherry picking his last 12 games he has 6 points, still 9 up on Benn with 5 games left so he should be ok but may not be as clear cut for the Hart as it was mid season. He may not even hit 100
Can anyone give me short summary of how your league actually works?
like how many from which conference (what the hell are divisions???) gets into what kind of playoff and what is wildcard and oh my god this is confusing...
And do bad teams get demoted? and how many?
I'm really a big fan of hockey, watching the DEL regularly, watching World Championships and ofc Olympics but i really can't get behind your league system ^_^
The most important thing about the NHL is the best trophy in the world, The Stanley Cup! Combine a bunch of rowdy 'Muricans and a bunch of dumb, hillbilly Canadians with a giant trophy with a bowl, and you get lots of fun stories.
On March 30 2016 05:34 KobraKay wrote: What is wrong with Bishop? o.O :D
Any chance he gets to win some award this year? Do you guys think there is any possibility to have him in the run for Vezina?
Maybe? His numbers are good but I think its really going to be hard to beat Holtby I think. Only other thing would be the lowest GAA for team but TB is still behind a few teams with not a lot of games left.
At this point the only awards more or less wrapped up are Ross and probably Hart are Kane, Rocket is most likely Ovi's but again Kane is only a few goals back. Everything else at least has a few people in contention. I'm mostly curious on how the Calder nominations go.
I know I know, Holtby has been a monster this season. But I'll be happy if Bishop is at least in the mix for the award.
yeah that's some shit. That's only 1 playoff game for a dude who now has two serious incidents where he tried to decapitate someone. I get that he's not a 'repeat offender' as far as the CBA is concerned, but this incident alone was so fuckin stupid it deserved more
On April 01 2016 23:12 Sermokala wrote: The most important thing to understand about the american sports system is the draft. Once you get that everything else falls into place.
On April 01 2016 20:08 Harris1st wrote: Can anyone give me short summary of how your league actually works?
like how many from which conference (what the hell are divisions???) gets into what kind of playoff and what is wildcard and oh my god this is confusing...
And do bad teams get demoted? and how many?
I'm really a big fan of hockey, watching the DEL regularly, watching World Championships and ofc Olympics but i really can't get behind your league system ^_^
Bold part: welcome to any American sports league. It really makes no sense and is unnecessarily confusing.
The organization (conferences/divisions, especially in American football), not the draft. The draft is awesome.
He got 5 for getting sedin with a dirty elbow a while back and got a playoff game for slashing carter in the face. Apparently consideration for repeat offender only applies to fines. If you have a history of dirty play your suspension could be extended which is what makes this more ridiculous
On April 02 2016 23:05 QuanticHawk wrote: He got 5 for getting sedin with a dirty elbow a while back and got a playoff game for slashing carter in the face. Apparently consideration for repeat offender only applies to fines. If you have a history of dirty play your suspension could be extended which is what makes this more ridiculous
To be fair Sedin should have also gotten a couple games for his hit on Keith earlier in the same game. People are all up in arms over "repeat offender" when hes been suspended 3 times over like 6 seasons. Theres guys that get more than that many per season. Chill it with the 25 games crap. Keith fucked up yes but theres hits much worse that don't even get 10 games plus they aren't going to fuck a team like the Hawks for the playoffs when the guy that was hit didnt even miss a game.
What do you guys think is the reason Canadian teams performed really badly this season? First time since 1970 that we have 0 Canadian teams in Stanley Cup playoffs
On April 03 2016 09:28 Gamerhcp wrote: What do you guys think is the reason Canadian teams performed really badly this season? First time since 1970 that we have 0 Canadian teams in Stanley Cup playoffs
Different reasons for every team. Oilers continue being the worst managed team in the NHL. Hiller playing like an AHL backup all season killed the Flames. Price getting injured killed the Habs. Toronto is just Toronto ect. It's just a series of bad luck.
On April 03 2016 09:28 Gamerhcp wrote: What do you guys think is the reason Canadian teams performed really badly this season? First time since 1970 that we have 0 Canadian teams in Stanley Cup playoffs
Different reasons for every team. Oilers continue being the worst managed team in the NHL. Hiller playing like an AHL backup all season killed the Flames. Price getting injured killed the Habs. Toronto is just Toronto ect. It's just a series of bad luck.
Honestly the fact that Price getting injured was the reason the Habs aren't making the playoffs is kinda shit. If the team needs a goalie that badly there a lot more wrong with that team. Toronto got wrecked by injuries early on didnt they? Flames over performed last season and regressed more than they probably should have this year. Vancouver is in a need to start a rebuild and tried to push it off with their shitty ownership. Oilers are still recovering from the shit show that was their old management and the Sens will probably be a solid playoff team in 2 years if not next year.
I think that Condon, Scrivens and Tokarski have been playing at .900 this season. Same thing with Hiller, Ramo and Ortio. Niemi and Backstrom? have been awful well, but Dallas is an offensive juggernaut (top 3 corsi?) unlike the other two. I would definitely say Flames and Canadiens are at the very least playoff competitive with some decent .920 goaltending. Oilers would also be 10-20 points higher if McDavid, Klefbom, RNH, Yakupov + others haven't been injured. I don't think there's any regression going on.
Difference between .920 and .900 goaltending is like 45-50 goals over the course of a season. That's going to lead to a lot of games lost.
Senators are in the exact same spot as last year except they didn't have Hammond steal like 24 games in a row or something.
Detroit is still hanging on. Howard is solid and getting some confidence just at the right time. They are winning crucial hockey games and doing their job.
But... something I noticed yesterday and couldnt stop thinking about. They don't seem to enjoy themselves on the ice anymore.. The group/team dynamic and mentality seems off. The tight group and connection from past teams seems lacking and as a result they lose confidence in the team and go more like individuals. I know that they are stressed out and tired due to battling for the playoffs and I might be totally off but I'm still worried about this. :/
It's also something I believe is a underrated attribute with Babcock, his ability to wield together a team, create a great group dynamic and then keep it balanced with emotional control and confidence no matter the circumstances. This especially pays off in the crucial parts of the game and makes them clutch. Babcock is great.
If Bruins lose to Hawks today in any fashion, the Panthers will secure a playoff spot, could say the same for Islanders, Rangers and Lightning but we'll see.
Philly vs Detroit in ~4 days, winner secures playoff, assuming Tampa wins vs Islanders
Considering the Hawks are absolutely spanking the Bruins right now the Panthers are in the playoffs. Kane with a Hatty and both him and Panarin have 4 points 5 minutes left in the second.
On April 06 2016 04:51 QuanticHawk wrote: McDonagh is dead and so am I rip
With or without him we're not getting out the the first round, realistically. AV's refusal to play young guys with upside like McIlrath and Lindberg instead of struggling veterans (Girardi, Boyle, Glass) combined with an insistence on playing the same style every night even when it doesn't work will be the doom of the Rangers. Such a shame because this team has the pieces to challenge for the cup again, but they aren't being used optimally.
On April 06 2016 04:51 QuanticHawk wrote: McDonagh is dead and so am I rip
With or without him we're not getting out the the first round, realistically. AV's refusal to play young guys with upside like McIlrath and Lindberg instead of struggling veterans (Girardi, Boyle, Glass) combined with an insistence on playing the same style every night even when it doesn't work will be the doom of the Rangers. Such a shame because this team has the pieces to challenge for the cup again, but they aren't being used optimally.
eh i think hank + forward depth can overcome a lot, but add girardi to that now jesus.
Unless you drop down to the second wild card or turn Hank into a literal brick wall I'm pretty sure the Pens will out you in no more than 5. They are just playing at an absolutely insane level right now.
It makes perfect sense. If you're tied but team A has 45 wins and team B has 35 wins why the fuck should team B be in the playoffs over team A. Head to head should only matter if both teams have won the same amount.
What? It's ROW. Regulation+Overtime wins. They're basically just saying that shootout wins don't count as much because it's more random. Teams with same points but rely on. 5v5/3v3 more are preferred over SO teams. H2H points is the second tie breaker.
The fact that the last playoff spots in the East basically comes down to who sucks the least says a lot about the state of East teams right now and why the Caps had so many points this season. It seems like theres going to be about 6? East teams in the next couple of years starting their rebuild or in the midst of one.
Except the Flyers have been one of the best teams in the league the past two months. Detroit and Boston have been up and down, but I'd hardly say they've sucked either.
i'll make a thread later for easy tracking and hockey dominance of the forums... same as last year, dump a SS of your picks in the thread too so we can quickly see who you are and what your dumb ass picks are
Wow, Flyers fans started throwing the Ed Snider memorial bracelets at the Caps, which resulting in a 5v3 while they w ere down 5-1 with 5 minutes to go.
On April 19 2016 11:46 sung_moon wrote: Wow, Flyers fans started throwing the Ed Snider memorial bracelets at the Caps, which resulting in a 5v3 while they w ere down 5-1 with 5 minutes to go.
Just wow.
Jesus fucking....
The bracelets had nothing to do with ed. Literally nothing. They were the same rubber garbage with a light that has been given out in a number of other stadiums. Is it a joke? Absolutely. But how about educating yourself even a little bit before you attemt to talk about a subject.
Lol damn dude, it was used in his memorial pregame ceremony. And it's more of the fact that my city's fans were being asshats in a game that was a bloodbath after the first minute puck dropped.
It was close until the end of the second period. This whole series has had so many penalties, it's really a shame because PHI can at least sort of hang with WSH at 5v5. They said on the broadcast during the 2nd period that up to that point the Caps were 5 for 12 on the PP and the Flyers were 0 for 12.
That shit at the end though... man what the hell happened.
EPT
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/Z4OUJfy.jpg)
Jesus that save, wtf man.![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/XLx8XDc.gif)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/Uc2qzju.gif)
![[image loading]](https://postmediaedmontonjournal2.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/csn607qukaarhrj.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/p1Anqp7.png)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/uGUktNG.png)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/Fz6Mba9.png)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/FoEIJzi.png)
![[image loading]](https://a.thumbs.redditmedia.com/s5CJK3T8YAMNztiZI7pwLv5Jnu4k_QOhOaLSm2BuS50.png)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/J4EV7Em.png)
![[image loading]](http://giant.gfycat.com/EducatedBleakLabradorretriever.gif)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/A4pV6Wp.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://jrhockeyrecruit.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/w640xh480_494845713.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--XZFwvsmv--/c_fit,fl_progressive,q_80,w_320/1524406520399730863.gif)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/MlUFh83.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://giant.gfycat.com/CapitalCriminalAsiandamselfly.gif)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/N8cpx58.jpg)
![[image loading]](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BDlMzWpCEAAyNtL.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/7xDGAHF.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/Iv3c3ki.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/owbpQhY.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://cdn-jpg.si.com/sites/default/files/2015/11/13/torres640.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i.lvme.me/gj224xt.jpg)
![[image loading]](https://i.imgur.com/rAxMAng.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i.cbc.ca/1.3428114.1454297971!/fileImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/16x9_620/john-scott-and-gary-bettman.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--0X86vsAm--/ba78yku9gyzulql3cydd.png)
![[image loading]](http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/01/19/article-2264923-170283D0000005DC-920_634x775.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/O9wexUS.jpg)
![[image loading]](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CaQIZzQUEAAwCcs.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/lhoXWWz.gif)
![[image loading]](http://lowetide.ca/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/mcdavid-ppg.png)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/Ug96zd6.png)
![[image loading]](https://pbs.twimg.com/tweet_video/CbtFpKBUsAAJoNt.mp4)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/khnWZT2.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://imgur.com/P2jaa33.jpg)
![[image loading]](https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/32/41605518_f6af116906.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/ALIGMnI.png)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/IoKFm4I.gif)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/hbLzjQ2.jpg)
![[image loading]](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cck70DrUMAA3yMs.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/5zkGIh2.gif)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/4ldCMS1.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://static.thesuperficial.com/uploads/2014/04/16/freedom-boner.gif)
![[image loading]](https://i.imgur.com/tMh0oid.gif)
![[image loading]](https://cdn.fansided.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/99/files/2016/04/charlie-coyle-nhl-ottawa-senators-minnesota-wild-850x560.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/ymMswrC.jpg)
