2021-22 NHL season

[brian]

Good to see any Seattle fans are getting a quick introduction into the officiating in the NHL. Can't believe that goal counted. Can't believe he called it a goal on the ice.

You're allow to position your skate to deflect the puck in as long as you don't kick at it. It was the right call.

It looked pretty deliberate but if thats the standard then OK.

It can be deliberate, you just can't kick at the puck to deflect it in though I'll grant there's a world of gray in how the rule is worded/applied. In one respect, it's almost impossible to deliberately position your skate to deflect the puck without making a "kicking motion" since that's the natural way a skate moves.

So I get the argument for anyone who thinks it shouldn't have counted, but it's one of those weird rules that is difficult to enforce unless you have a puck just sitting there not moving and a dude takes a swipe with his skate. Personally, I think you should be allowed to actually kick it in but I get that it's probably a safety to thing to make sure guys aren't swiping razor sharp blades at a sitting puck when there's a question of if the goalie has it tied up.

[mister d]

I think this is one of the rare times the NHL got the rule completely right because of your last sentence. A team down a goal with like 10 seconds left and a puck floating in the crease would be an absolute massacre if you could deliberately kick in.

[BSF21]

That's exactly the reason for the rule. Really the only times I've ever seen it enforced are when the puck is still and someone kicks at it or (I think it was An drew Shaw several years ago) someone headbutts/punches in an airborne puck instead of using their stick. It's 100% a safety thing. If you can get you skate to a place where you can deflect the puck in, that's good hockey.

[wlu_lax6]

Just five more hours to go until Tom Wilson laughs while all our “big” off-season acquisitions ignore hockey to chase him around the ice and take penalties.

One of the popular blogs.
https://russianmachineneverbreaks.com/2 ... g-warmups/

Also just made my "under" bet on number of points for the caps this season. Guessing down year. Old, no faith in the goal keeping.

[bapo!]

Lucas Raymond, the Red Wings' 2020 1st round pick, made the opening night roster. I am pleased, as he was productive during their exhibition schedule.

Is he expected to stick? Or will this be a quick look before heading down to the AHL?

As always, I'm interested in the kids. Raymond is one of them. Beyond that, the usual names I've been talking about for a while: Zegras and Drysdale in Anaheim, Stutzle, Caufield, Dach, Cozens, etc. (Bowen Byram, all of 20 years old, is already an established star, and that's about the point when I stop paying attention. I'll make an exception for him, tho.)

[DSafetyGuy]

Lucas Raymond, the Red Wings' 2020 1st round pick, made the opening night roster. I am pleased, as he was productive during their exhibition schedule.

Is he expected to stick? Or will this be a quick look before heading down to the AHL?

I think he is, but he said Yzerman told him he still has a lot of work to do and could end up going down. They really liked having Bobby Ryan on the roster last season and there was some talk as the exhibition season wound down that it might be an either/or between those two. Jakub Vrana is on the shelf until January (injured ten minutes into his first practice!) and Raymond showed some scoring ability in preseason (six points in his first three games, but none in his final three).

Raymond will likely be on one of the top two lines and has skating with Larkin and Bertuzzi in practice. Joe Veleno, who they took at #30 in 2018, got sent down because they wanted him to play on a top line instead of being on one of the bottom two lines in the NHL.

[bapo!]

Thanks, DSafe. I see that Elmer Soderblom has 6 points in 9 games in the Swedish league. He wowed me a couple of times in the World Juniors last year. 6'8" Swedes with skill get me excited.

[sancarlos]

I think Vegas and Edmonton will be the top two teams in the Pacific. But, among the Sharks, Flames, Kings, Canucks, Kraken and Ducks, I don’t think there would be any order in the standings that would shock me.

[Rams Fanny]

I think the Kraken are going to be in a lot of games this year. They outworked and outplayed VGK 5-on-5 most of the game. VGK's first three goals were a direct result of a turnover then explosive transition speed. Kraken got 31 shots on goal and Vegas blocked another 19 which is a pretty good road effort.

If you ever want to see a team "out of ideas" watch the VGK power play. With the exception of a couple outlier spurts, it's been this way for about two years. I despise Pete Deboer.

[bapo!]

I think Vegas and Edmonton will be the top two teams in the Pacific. But, among the Sharks, Flames, Kings, Canucks, Kraken and Ducks, I don’t think there would be any order in the standings that would shock me.

Agreed. A lot of youth and uncertainty in that division. The Kings are eventually going to be fun, but not quite yet.

You mentioned William Eklund making the opening-night roster for the Sharks. Are there any other 2021 draftees playing besides him and Cole Sillinger in Columbus? I know that all of the Michigan kids are staying in Ann Arbor. So many players lost a year of development last year, so they're all behind now.

[sancarlos]

I don’t know of any others. Really anxious to see rookies Eklund and Jonathan Dahlen play. Both will start the season on the top two lines, also getting power-play time.

Funny thing about the Sharks is that the internal vibe appears to be much better with Evander Kane out. The top scorer on the team, but apparently unpopular in the dressing room, for valid reasons. I’ve never before heard of addition-by-subtraction of one of the best players on the team, but it might make the Sharks a better, more united team. We’ll see. The whole idea of team chemistry is a murky one. Does attitude trump talent?

I’ve always been mostly in Kane’s corner, him being a black man in a lily-white sport. But, maybe he’s beyond redemption.

[mister d]

Oh man, had that same talk last week. A lot of the early Kane shit was just utter nonsense like the money phone and stuff but ... yeah. Lots of racists I'm sure are playing the told-you-so game over him. Would have been a lot better if he'd simply retired after one-punching Matt Cooke.

[bapo!]

It's opening night! (I wasn't home last night, so it didn't count. Tonight it's official.)

Storylines I'll be following: 1. The Leafs. Nothing they do before next April really matters, but they're my favorite soap opera. If anything, I'm curious to see how the Toronto fans react to Mitch Marner. I was immersed in Leafs talk after they got bounced last spring, and I saw a lot of 'fuck that guy' posts. He's absolutely hated by a segment of the fanbase up there.

2. Sort of similar, I'm interested in Pens goalie Tristan Jarry. He had a disastrous playoff series vs the Isles. (With an average goalie, the Pens would have won that series in 5 games.) So, again, his regular season won't matter. Unless it goes badly, which is always a possibility. I'll never understand goalies.

3. The Jack Eichel saga. (3b. Will MaxWebster stick to his promise to completely disown the Sabres? Or will he come crawling back after the first two-game winning streak?)

4. Fleury in Chicago.



The Oilers will be entertaining and frustrating, as always. I hate the Duncan Keith trade. I'll miss Adam Larsson and Ethan Bear. But Zack Hyman and Warren Foegele should do wonders for that forward group. They might actually have three lines this year, which is one entire line more than they've had thru-out the entirety of McDavid's career so far.

I have my air conditioner cranked up so that I can wear a Habs jersey. I'm feeling it, guys. I'm so happy that hockey is here.

[MaxWebster]

no worries there, by March they'll be comfortably in 32nd and i'll be poring over the spring training box scores.

3. The Jack Eichel saga. (3b. Will MaxWebster stick to his promise to completely disown the Sabres? Or will he come crawling back after the first two-game winning streak?)

Marner for Eichel straight up. Come on Toronto, it'd be great.

[bapo!]

Quick Marner story. Last spring, I read a bunch of hockey books. (Including a Don Cherry book that might be a nostalgiaganza post some day.) One of the books was Gare Joyce's book about the 2015-16 Leafs. That was Marner's and Matthews' rookie season.

I've probably talked about the London/Erie game I went to in 2014. McDavid, Strome, and Marner -- three of the top four picks in the 2015 draft -- played that night. And Max Domi and Christian Dvorak and Alex DeBrincat, etc. I looked for Marner, but barely noticed him.

Joyce wrote that Marner was so disappointed in his play that night that he left the team for a week to get his head straight and work with a personal coach. Marner came back, played well, and was named the OHL's player of the month. I've thought of that game over the years, but I didn't know it was that significant.



Tuning in to Leafs/Habs now. Didn't know that Matthews wasn't playing. Oh, well. Still a lot to enjoy about this game.

[rass]

TNT has shots on their score bug. ESPN didn’t.

[govmentchedda]

Wes McCauley is always great. Talking to Gretzky, and showing him on video at the same time is awful. Missed the goal.

[mister d]

I guess when you dress the lineup and goalie that says “we’re not really here to score or win” it shouldn’t be a surprise when you don’t score and are losing. Loving the Drury era. Let’s do a fight in the 3rd, maybe grab an instigator.

[wlu_lax6]

If I am Jack Campbell ("Soupy") how do I not have goalie masks with Warhol soup cans or Some Clarence Campbell old school NHL references

[bapo!]

I guess when you dress the lineup and goalie that says “we’re not really here to score or win” it shouldn’t be a surprise when you don’t score and are losing. Loving the Drury era. Let’s do a fight in the 3rd, maybe grab an instigator.

Haven't been watching, but I'm assuming that Tom Wilson hasn't concussed anybody tonight. So, the Rangers (and, by extension, all of us) are winners.

[mister d]

I don’t know that you could intentionally fuck a late-stage rebuild as well as Drury/Sather/Dolan did in presumably good faith.

[govmentchedda]

I don’t know that you could intentionally fuck a late-stage rebuild as well as Drury/Sather/Dolan did in presumably good faith.

You go all those years with Dolan not giving a fuck about his other team, wait patiently, then one game happens and the whole applecart is overturned. Maddening.

[MaxWebster]

I have to chuckle a little at this - there is (or was) a not-insignificant segment of the Sabres' fanbase (media, really) that has venerated good old clutch intangibles cap'n Drury jusssst a wee bit more than his worth, and for *years* July 1 2007 was (and still is) brought up [that was the day both Drury and Briere signed huge UFA contracts leaving Buffalo] as the day the franchise began to die or whatever.

Anyways anytime in the last 5+ years of this current shitshow where there was a vacancy - and there have been plenty! - it's *always* DruryDruryDrury. Hire him back. He's a winner. He's clutch. Pick any of my favourite words/phrases.

Interesting to hear a little perspective.

I guess when you dress the lineup and goalie that says “we’re not really here to score or win” it shouldn’t be a surprise when you don’t score and are losing. Loving the Drury era. Let’s do a fight in the 3rd, maybe grab an instigator.

Back to Buffalo, there's this fun tidbit from the Buffalo News today:

A season-ticket base that was in the 16,000 range as recently as the 2017-18 season is now at about 6,500, the team confirmed on the eve of the opener.

I remember wayyyy back when i was a kid you couldn't hope to get a ticket to a game, pretty sure they sold out like 10+ years in a row. Even as "recently" as 2007 I think ESPN pegged them as something like the top sports franchise for fans or some nonsense like that. Ancient history from a dead franchise, I know. When are the Nordiques returning?

[mister d]

If I am Jack Campbell ("Soupy") how do I not have goalie masks with Warhol soup cans or Some Clarence Campbell old school NHL references

Or a different kind of images making reference to his first name?

[rass]

If max is lying to us and went to the game we’ll be able to pick him out of the crowd

[mister d]

It was dirty and cheap and all that but I have little problem with what Dylan Larkin just did:

[DaveInSeattle]

[MaxWebster]

:D

jeeeezus that's devastating to see, honestly.

but fk Terry Pegula, i hope nobody bought any souvenirs.

If max is lying to us and went to the game we’ll be able to pick him out of the crowd

[MaxWebster]

(although to be slightly more fair, with the border still being closed that's likely a few thousand short even in good yea...uh, decades. ~15% of season ticket holders annually are from Ontario which is like 2 miles away...)

((but even if so, that'd still only be ~10k fans which is still a kick in the groin))

[DSafetyGuy]

It was dirty and cheap and all that but I have little problem with what Dylan Larkin just did:

Considering he was coming off a season-ending neck injury, yeah, I get it. And Rasmussen later got cross checked headfirst into the boards.

After several months of zero shots, Tyler Bertuzzi had four goals. Can't wait for him to start missing games in Canada.

[govmentchedda]

Former St. Pete Times Bolts beat writer (and current independent team blogger) only had Bertuzzi as 3rd star, and Raw Charge (the team SBNation blog) didn't list him at all.

[govmentchedda]

It was dirty and cheap and all that but I have little problem with what Dylan Larkin just did:

Considering he was coming off a season-ending neck injury, yeah, I get it. And Rasmussen later got cross checked headfirst into the boards.

After several months of zero shots, Tyler Bertuzzi had four goals. Can't wait for him to start missing games in Canada.

Took me a minute

[BSF21]

It was dirty and cheap and all that but I have little problem with what Dylan Larkin just did:

Considering he was coming off a season-ending neck injury, yeah, I get it. And Rasmussen later got cross checked headfirst into the boards.

After several months of zero shots, Tyler Bertuzzi had four goals. Can't wait for him to start missing games in Canada.

The Rassmussen one was soft.

Also between Larkin and Rasmussen this game and what Landeskog did to Kirby Dach, guys have got to stop putting themselves in these positions ducking towards the boards late. I'm not excusing the hits from behind and crosschecks by any stretch, but guys have got to protect themselves out there, putting your face at board level a half a second before you're up against them is a recipe for disaster.

[sancarlos]

Speaking of poor behavior...

[DSafetyGuy]

It was dirty and cheap and all that but I have little problem with what Dylan Larkin just did:

Considering he was coming off a season-ending neck injury, yeah, I get it. And Rasmussen later got cross checked headfirst into the boards.

After several months of zero shots, Tyler Bertuzzi had four goals. Can't wait for him to start missing games in Canada.

The Rassmussen one was soft.

Also between Larkin and Rasmussen this game and what Landeskog did to Kirby Dach, guys have got to stop putting themselves in these positions ducking towards the boards late. I'm not excusing the hits from behind and crosschecks by any stretch, but guys have got to protect themselves out there, putting your face at board level a half a second before you're up against them is a recipe for disaster.

I've never played hockey, so my question is this: Are guys taught to drop their center of gravity (bend knees, squat a little, widen their base, etc.) when contact is coming to help brace for contact/shield the defender away when they are about to play a puck at their feet while at the boards? I ask because doing so while looking down for the puck in your skates can lead to the head dropping and getting set up for bad things.

[rass]

Oh gosh MAF

[BSF21]

It was dirty and cheap and all that but I have little problem with what Dylan Larkin just did:

Considering he was coming off a season-ending neck injury, yeah, I get it. And Rasmussen later got cross checked headfirst into the boards.

After several months of zero shots, Tyler Bertuzzi had four goals. Can't wait for him to start missing games in Canada.

The Rassmussen one was soft.

Also between Larkin and Rasmussen this game and what Landeskog did to Kirby Dach, guys have got to stop putting themselves in these positions ducking towards the boards late. I'm not excusing the hits from behind and crosschecks by any stretch, but guys have got to protect themselves out there, putting your face at board level a half a second before you're up against them is a recipe for disaster.

I've never played hockey, so my question is this: Are guys taught to drop their center of gravity (bend knees, squat a little, widen their base, etc.) when contact is coming to help brace for contact/shield the defender away when they are about to play a puck at their feet while at the boards? I ask because doing so while looking down for the puck in your skates can lead to the head dropping and getting set up for bad things.

Certainly can’t say I’ve ever been coached at that level but getting lower especially in a checking situation defensively is always of benefit. What concerns me, and I want to be clear there’s no excuse for hitting from behind - if you play you know if you see someone’s numbers you pull the fuck up- but the NHL is so fucking fast that guys making these moves right at the boards and turning their backs is terrible. Sometimes guys simply don’t have time to adjust their angle. Larkin put himself in a bad position. I’ve seen multiple angles now and I came away with 2 things. Larkin put himself in a dangerous position that I’m not sure Joeseph could have completely avoided. In addition, Joeseph definitely gave him a shiver to the back of the head during the finish of the check that was dirty as shit.

I still don’t know how I feel about the Rasmussen one. Another late turn and honestly it looked like whoever hit him pulled way up and almost rolled off him.

There’s no easy fix here but when guys are flying around this fast and you’ve recently had a bad neck injury like Larkin, don’t go neck high to the boards 8 feet away from the blue line on a nothing play. Regardless of penalty or not, you’re asking for trouble.

[sancarlos]

Nathan MacKinnon tested positive again yesterday. Beginning to think he might be out for awhile.

[Giff]

My fantasy hockey team weeps.

[sancarlos]

My fantasy hockey team weeps.

Yeah, I have him in Oiler's league, so I feel your pain.

(Giff, you can put him on IR+ in fantasy, and pick up another player.)