2023 NHL discussion and trash talking thread

The 'Canes seem to be slowly turning it around. Starting every season with a long road trip due to the NC State Fair being right next to the arena has been tough, but I appreciate how berkeleying awful it was when they tried to have both in the same place at the same time.

I'm not sure if Aho isn't 100% yet, but it seems like he's playing a bit softer and being more hesitant than he was before. Maybe he's under order to do so, I don't know.  It hasn't mattered as much as it could, because Teravainen is kicking ass.  Svetch is back, and his extended rehab seems to have left him in good form. 

Tomorrow's game will be interesting. I was a Rangers fan (and still am, sort of) when I lived in NY, and a friend of mine who is also from NY and living in NC now gives me grief about it constantly. If the 'Canes drop the game against the Rangers, I'm going to hear about it.

preach said:

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.

I thought that was still the Patriots. Same city, though. 

In reply to Peabody & alfadriver :

They're even required in the OHL and the Q. And in most of youth hockey for IIHF as far as I can tell. So I'd figure that at least 50% of NHL players have worn one at least until they're 18. Looks like the Penguins are requiring it for their AHL and ECHL affiliates. Maybe Sid or Malkin or Letang start wearing one. That'd go a long way to getting others to start. 

Back to lighter issues... It is really weird to see the Pens in last place. And I'm pretty surprised at how bad the Oilers are looking. I probably shouldn't be surprised, they're going to go as far as McJesus and Draisaitl can take them, but without a goalie - and they haven't had a goalie in a long time - you're just not going to make it far. 

Brett_Murphy (Agent of Chaos) said:

It hasn't mattered as much as it could, because Teravainen is kicking ass.  

I miss Turbo. I got to see his first NHL goal in person. Ancient history now and I understand the reason why, but I still get annoyed that Chicago had to give him away in order to get Bickell off the books. Bowman literally gave away a top 6 forward. And then Bickell getting diagnosed with MS just made the entire thing even more unpalatable. E36 M3 luck.

Ranger50 said:

The dead wings will still suck.

Annoyingly, it seems that this has been a poor prediction. I really don't want the Yzerplan to work out, because DETROIT SUCKS.

Joke that the team I support can't back up: Why do they call Chicago the Windy City? Because the Blues blow and the Red Wings suck and we get caught in the middle.

alfadriver said:

Thanks to that horrible freak accident Sunday...

I think the kick was intentional but the slitting of the throat was accidental. Pretty horrible.

i'm glad i didn't see it, and i'm not gonna go looking for it.

regarding neck protection, i was a goalie in high school lacrosse about a million years ago.  my neck protector took a beating.  i hope there's not too much pushback on adopting some form of protector at all levels of ice hockey.

In reply to preach :

So then it was an accident. 

mtn said:

I miss Turbo. I got to see his first NHL goal in person. 

That's pretty cool, nice.


 

Go go black and gold!

10-1-2

Choke or Seal the Deal in 6? 

Game 7 tickets are something like $350 each for an OK seat...I could take a train there.

In reply to preach :

I don't see them doing it. After a slow start, Dallas looks really good. 
 

The fun question now is if the leafs can break a ~60 year playoff drought against the bruins or not. Which would also mean consecutive first round chokes for Boston. I don't think they will pull it off, but it's a fun thing to wonder. 
 

IMHO, the best teams right now are Florida and New York in the east and Edmonton and Colorado (cough choke ugh) in the west. 

In reply to alfadriver :

Yeah, I'm probably trimming my beard in a week or so.

I want to see Edmonton take the cup, simply because I grew up in the Gretzky era. Here's hoping we get Avs vs Oilers in the western final.

In reply to Keith Tanner :

It would be pretty epic if a Canadian team won the cup. It's been a while. 

I heard that it was 57 years ago today the last time the Leafs won the cup.

The important part is that the playoffs were over on the second of May

alfadriver said:

In reply to Keith Tanner :

It would be pretty epic if a Canadian team won the cup. It's been a while. 

The painful thing will be if Vancouver and Edmonton both make it through to the second round. It's guaranteed that there will be one fewer Canadian team in the race after that series. But it'll be a fun watch.

It's been way too long since a Canadian team won. The Leafs haven't won one since the Original Six era.

Let's Go Rangers!

Woah!

Hey! Hey! Hey, Hey, Hey!

Wow, I know im biased, but that has to be the most one sided officiating. 

- the double minor on Boston, looked like the blood was from Bertuzzi (I think) hitting his chin on the ice when he flopped

- not calling the boarding on Toronto, but calling the icing on Boston leading to a goal

- Offensive zone faceoff for Toronto after putting it in the netting from the neutral zone.

- giving Toronto an unofficial timeout into a 3rd period icing because they tried to sneak in a change. They should make that a delay of game penalty since it benefits the team that iced the puck. 

Boston didn't play the way they needed to, only 1 shot in the 1st period, but the way the calls were made seems to be designed to lead to a game 7. 

I know I tell the kids you can't blame the loss of a game on a call, but it seemed more like a pattern of missed calls. My cynical side says the NHL wanted a game 7 for the TV revenue. 

In reply to No Time :

The officiating is only one of the reasons I no longer watch NHL hockey 

In reply to No Time :

Didn't see the first one. But of all the rest, the only one Boston made a beef about was the boarding. And that would have been double minors since the Boston player was blatantly holding the stick. Which was why the boarding looked so bad. 
 

So since Boston didn't care about the rest, either they were good calls, or they don't care. Given how they played, either could be true. 

In reply to alfadriver :

I should have put my post in the minor rants, since that more of what it was, but "oh well".

It is interesting the difference if you watch the local/regional broadcast on NESN vs ESPN that it is like any other MSM reporting. The national broadcast will not show some of the bench reactions or if a coach gives the official an earful about a call during a commercial break, where the regional will. 

It dawned on me last night as I was watching that just piss-poor, nonchalant effort the Bruins put in last night, that that's why they tried to bring Lucic back- 

This team has ZERO leadership.  Including the coach.  Marchand isn't the guy, and quite honestly I don't know if there's anyone on the team that can be.  Mayyybe McAvoy, but even he gets antsy sometimes.  there isn't enough of an established vet presence to get through to the younger players to get their heads out of their butts, to stop pressing, or just to put some freaking effort in. 

The bruins look so scared to make a mistake that they're completely unwilling to risk anything.  They're gonna get smoked by a leafs team thats 0-6 in playoff game 7's...  I already know it.  They're wayyyyyyy too tight, their b-holes are clenched tighter than a snare drum, as my Pepere would always say. 

Lifelong B's fan here.

I have ZERO trust in them after the last two games. 

They can't take entire periods off, and they have been doing so these past two games. There is no leadership at all. No one to rally the troops, get them fired up, etc. The talent is there, but it's as if most of the team could care less if they play well or not. They are going to get their butts handed to them by a bad Leafs team without their best player, and that's just embarrassing. This was supposed to be the easy route! 

Even if they squeak by, they have Florida waiting for them, and you all know what happened last year with them. They need to make major changes in the offseason. 

In reply to Tony Sestito :

Now you know what it's like to be a *Leaf's fan.

*I'm not, but I wouldn't exactly call them a bad team. A very poorly put together and unbalanced team, but not really a bad team.