2023 NHL discussion and trash talking thread

So, the preseason is almost over.

The 'Canes have dropped their skating roster down to 30 players. I'm kind of amazed they haven't tried to trade Drury yet.

And apparently there is a punk song for every team.

Anyhow, I think the 'Canes have a solid group going into the season. I think DeAngelo is a good addition on the blue line, despite not liking him as a person. It's a good mix of veterans and younger talent.

I also think if we don't get a Cup this year, it'll be more difficult in the future. 



 

My team is likely to be the best golf team of 2024. My hopes are not high this year.

Could not read the punk article so I will put this here:

#LGR

Here for the Bedard show. Blackhawks will still be bad, but at least they'll be fun to watch for the first time in 5 years. 

In reply to mtn :

I'm with you. I'm thinking of adding a Bedard sweater to my jersey collection. They have a lot of young players so expectations are low. Besides, what else am I going to watch, the "let's run the same guys back" Bulls?

The dead wings will still suck.

A city should not be allowed to have an NHL franchise unless it gets cold enough for natural ice outside. 

And go Habs.

Lightning should be rested after their longest off season in about 4 years. They'll be without Vasilevskiy in goal for a couple months after he had back surgery. It will be nice to have a #2 goalie with some minutes and a rested #1 when the play offs start.

Hey Keith, it snowed in Tampa a couple times, I think 1987 was the most recent.

I picked up my first pair of skates in 30 years a week ago. I live walking distance to an outdoor rink/pond.

Injury reports shall follow.

In reply to preach :

Get them sharpened if you haven't - 5/8" or 3/4" hollow. Maybe even consider an 11' profile, more stable. 
 

Bend your knees. Wear elbow pads. Take video

Sucks that I can't get too many Avs games here. Enjoy watching them. Use to live within walking distance to the arena. Will be interested to see what happens this year. They have the players just need to keep them healthy. 

The World Record Chokers are 6-0. I am kinda surprised. Maybe I was wrong and I will have a long playoff beard this year...or they will choke like last year.

Finally got to see a full game last night- have been on the road camping for the start of the season.  Wings are playing well right now, but really got screwed by the refs last night against the Kraken- a Seattle player threw his stick at a pass breaking up a very good chance to score on a cross slot pass- and the refs didn't do a thing.  Should have been awarded a penalty shot for that.  I'm not mad at the Seattle player- as penalties go, that was one that you really had to take given how open the shot would have been.  Except that he scored later in the same play.  

And then later, the refs called a mystery penalty against the Wings for checking another player.  The guy crumbled like a rag doll trying to draw a checking from behind- which it wasn't.  So the refs had to make up a call- since it was so close to the boards to not be boarding.

But still, Stevies plan seems to be working.  They are scoring, and it may take some adjustments to clean up the D.  They won't win the Cup this year, but they have a good chance to not be the last one into the playoffs.

In reply to alfadriver :

That one was pretty bad. The replay makes it look a little like it may have slipped, but I don't know how they missed that one. 

I looked up the refs, and linesmen, all have been in the league for a while. Quite a while for the refs. But one thing that I've been noticing is that the NHL is pushing former players through the ranks as officials far more quickly than they deserve, and we're getting officials that are cutting their teeth at the AHL and NHL level. Which results in an embarassing amount of bad calls and missed calls. Meanwhile, USA Hockey and Hockey Canada both have a robust pipeline of kids that have been officiating for years, starting with youth and running through the junior and college leagues... Why are they not just tapping into that pipeline? Why are they trying to rush the players to the NHL? I don't get it. 

It really bothers me. Some officials that I mentored are stuck in the ECHL and AHL, and while I'm not sure they're NHL caliber, they're better than a lot of the former players that are getting pushed through. 

As for the other stuff... Blackhawks are turning out exactly as I expected. Bedard is the real deal so far, and arguably the most fun player to watch in the NHL right now... And the rest of the team is pretty terrible.

In reply to mtn :

Hopefully, Chicago and Connor can be a little patient.  Remember how many years the Wings sucked when Stevie came to town.  And they ended up being among the best in the league as his carreer progressed and wound down.  Or look back a decade.

alfadriver said:

In reply to mtn :

Hopefully, Chicago and Connor can be a little patient.  Remember how many years the Wings sucked when Stevie came to town.  And they ended up being among the best in the league as his carreer progressed and wound down.  Or look back a decade.

I was there for the dark ages of the Blackhawks. This feels very much like the 07-08 season to me. The team isn't as good as the 07-08 team was, which was pretty stacked for a team that missed the playoffs (Kane, Toews, Sharp, Ladd, Keith, Seabrook, Havlat, all pretty young), but it has that same feel of "we're gonna see something special in the next 5 years". And with the cap space they have... Well, I'm excited. 

I'm still cheering for Vancouver, and anyone else who's beating Toronto.

That was not a pretty site to see for Blackhawks fans. Well the first 30 seconds were exactly what you want to see. The rest of it was... not.

We were absolutely hardcore fans and never missed a game. But neither of us can get onside with what our local team, the Leafs, have become. And I don't think anybody has the balls to do what needs to be done. We haven't watched a game in 3 years  

The playoff format is absolute garbage.

The game has become formulaic, boring and pussified.

The officiating is terrible. I don't care how many times you say it's the best in the world, it's not good enough.

Bettman has ruined the game and needs to go.

Get off my lawn.

8-0-1 

Thanks to that horrible freak accident Sunday,  quite a few NHL players are trying out neck guards. I suspect they will be adopted quickly. 

In reply to alfadriver :

Personally I doubt there will be widespread adoption. These events are not rare. It has happened twice in the NHL in the past 30 years. Outside of the NHL, there have been at least 2 fatalities in the last 2 years, maybe another in Russia 3 years ago, that a neck guard may have saved their lives. Hopefully I'm wrong and players start to wear the neck guards. This incident sure is getting a lot more mainstream attention than past incidents. If it does happen, here is how I would predict it: 

1. Oshie starts wearing it and convinces Ovechkin to wear it. If Ovi starts wearing one, a lot of others will. (Oshie owns or is involved with Warroad, which makes cut resistant base layers)
2. NHL owners make it a thing in the next collective bargaining agreement. Those are extremely expensive assets they have skating around out there, and realistically there are 4 ways to die in a hockey game. Only one doesn't have any mitigation efforts against it. The mitigation efforts cost between $15 and $215 per player. It is very cheap insurance against a catastrophic outcome in potential loss of life, reputation damage, and protection of your asset

On one hand, they're adults, let them make their own decisions. On the other hand, I think it should be required for youth hockey (it is in Canada and I'm pretty sure in Europe; certain state and district affiliates in the US and certain leagues), and I sure got a lot of pushback when I used to have to enforce it in Illinois (no longer required in this state, bad timing). If the kids see the NHL players wearing them, they'll hopefully shut up. 

It is interesting. Ignoring things like heart attacks, I figure that there are 4 ways to die in a hockey game. Head trauma, broken neck, puck shot to the chest causing a heart attack (Chris Pronger), and injury to the carotid/jugular. For head trauma, helmets are now required. For the broken neck, touch icing has been removed in favor of hybrid icing. Stricter checking from behind penalties have been implemented. Puck shot to the chest? Players wear shoulder pads with a chest protector. 

But the neck guard still gets a lot of pushback. I never minded wearing one. I get that they're not going to stop every incident like this, but they'll probably stop a lot of them and reduce the severity. 

I really don't have much of a dog in this fight. My kid will be wearing one if she plays. If USA Hockey mandates them, I'll enforce it. If not, I can't enforce a rule that doesn't exist. 

This was a long rambling post. Didn't intend to get on a soap box and start preaching on this topic. It will be interesting to see the players' response and the NHL's response.

In reply to mtn :

They've been mandatory here for about 30 years

In reply to mtn :

You know more about it than I do- I don't even remember it being even brought up when I played- which was back in '85 when USA hockey had any influence.  I even was in the era where helmet and face masks became required, and one helmet was banned because of one dumb dad left a bolt too long which ended up killing his kid.  Things changed fast in the 70s.  

But no neck thought.

Horrible tragedy, for sure, and I at least expect USA Hockey to make it a thing, given Canada requires it.

ShawnG said:

I'm still cheering for Vancouver, and anyone else who's beating Toronto.

Canucks are looking pretty hopeful at this point, but lots of season left for the usual implosion.