2021-22 NHL season

[mister d]

You watch them and can't believe a team with McDavid and Draisaitl can be so bad then you remember they intentionally gave term to Ceci and Mike Smith and traded for Duncan Keith.

[Nonlinear FC]

And don't be fooled, NHL loves fighting. Or else they could simply ban it.

Right, but it's sort of how the Republican party used to be subtle about all their evil shit, then Trump comes along and riles up the mouthbreathers, but the "smart" folks get nervous at letting the cat out of the bag.

IOW, for years and years, they've talked about player safety and eliminating the "goon" position on the bench. Which, frankly, I think they've done a decent job on that (goons).

It's just funny to see McCauley be so open about promoting it.

[degenerasian]

And don't be fooled, NHL loves fighting. Or else they could simply ban it.

Right, but it's sort of how the Republican party used to be subtle about all their evil shit, then Trump comes along and riles up the mouthbreathers, but the "smart" folks get nervous at letting the cat out of the bag.

IOW, for years and years, they've talked about player safety and eliminating the "goon" position on the bench. Which, frankly, I think they've done a decent job on that (goons).

It's just funny to see McCauley be so open about promoting it.

Teams got rid of goons not necessarily because of anti-fighting but because the game is so fast and fluid now. The teams who realized this early got rid of goons and then other teams with goons was just a waste of space, less and less guys to fight. You can't compete nowadays without 4 complete lines going full speed 40 second shifts.

Player safety is also a joke, look at their suspensions. If it makes the media (national US story) it's like a 40 game suspension to show they're doing something. Otherwise, it's 2.

[Nonlinear FC]

I think it's more nuanced than just "the league is faster now." These owners and GMs don't just individually decide to shift... It's a culture and it took time.

To that point, the junior leagues have adopted rules making fighting a lot less palatable for players. In the OHL, it used to be 10 fights would get you a suspension, now it's 3.

There was a culture shift, and it's a bit of chicken/egg discussion but... Again, I see all of it as a net positive.

=-=-=

If we're getting into cultural stuff I'd like to see addressed, how about some type of fine or penalty when a guy lays a clean hit and two a three of the guys jump on the guy and punch him with their gloves and cross-check him in the arms and ribs (that shit hurts like hell!) for no good reason.

[degenerasian]

You can't tell if it's a clean hit or not in the moment. You'd have to make it no retaliation for all hits, clean or dirty.

You see head to head dirty hits in football, defenseless receiver coming across the middle, and a brawl never happens as a result.

[govmentchedda]

[mister d]

You can't tell if it's a clean hit or not in the moment. You'd have to make it no retaliation for all hits, clean or dirty.

You see head to head dirty hits in football, defenseless receiver coming across the middle, and a brawl never happens as a result.

Not to speak well of football, but that's because they're far better about penalizing those types of hits.

NHL could very, very easily clean up a lot of this shit by going to a video review system for any type of potentially injurious hit, even if not at the level of a misconduct. Until they do, it incents both the hits and the reactions, knowing officials looooooove to find ways to offset the initial reaction penalty.

(I forget who it was, maybe Hajek, but someone on the Rangers did the standard "who the fuck are you to check my teammate" reaction and should have put the Rangers short-handed by the refs were able to find something in the ensuing scrum to make sure it was all level.)

((I checked, it was Hajek late in the 2nd against Florida.))

[degenerasian]

You can't tell if it's a clean hit or not in the moment. You'd have to make it no retaliation for all hits, clean or dirty.

You see head to head dirty hits in football, defenseless receiver coming across the middle, and a brawl never happens as a result.

Not to speak well of football, but that's because they're far better about penalizing those types of hits.

NHL could very, very easily clean up a lot of this shit by going to a video review system for any type of potentially injurious hit, even if not at the level of a misconduct. Until they do, it incents both the hits and the reactions, knowing officials looooooove to find ways to offset the initial reaction penalty.

(I forget who it was, maybe Hajek, but someone on the Rangers did the standard "who the fuck are you to check my teammate" reaction and should have put the Rangers short-handed by the refs were able to find something in the ensuing scrum to make sure it was all level.)

((I checked, it was Hajek late in the 2nd against Florida.))

Yeah right. Asking NHL officials to solve anything is laughable as you know.

NFL reffing, also not to speak well of football, is miles better than the NHL. NHL can't call penalties in certain situations, like late in games or penalty imbalance. NFL can call penalties late, see Bengals last week.

[govmentchedda]

Fuck the Flames. Wannabe tough guys.

[DSafetyGuy]

You watch them and can't believe a team with McDavid and Draisaitl can be so bad then you remember they intentionally gave term to Ceci and Mike Smith and traded for Duncan Keith.

Ken Holland doing bad things as a GM in a salary cap era? Weird.

[sancarlos]

Somebody please sign this guy and give the Sharks some cap relief.

[mister d]

I read it’s a contract termination and not standard release waivers.

[sancarlos]

I read it’s a contract termination and not standard release waivers.

Yeah, I just saw that, too. It’s a miracle!

(Pending nhlpa grievance process.)

[brian]

I read it’s a contract termination and not standard release waivers.

Yeah, I just saw that, too. It’s a miracle!

(Pending nhlpa grievance process.)

That should be interesting. The only cause they probably have is the fake COVID vax but he’s already been suspended. That case could go either way.

[sancarlos]

The only cause they probably have is the fake COVID vax but he’s already been suspended. That case could go either way.

There’s a second, new Covid-related infraction (allegedly). That’s what precipitated the contract termination.
ETA:

[wlu_lax6]

So Caps rookie goalie Furcale broke the record for longest start to a career without giving up a goal....but caps just scored on themselves (pulled goalie delayed penalty and he was pulled)

[sancarlos]

I thought this was interesting. Could play in the NCAA and NHL during the same week.

Suddenly, the University of Minnesota Gophers men's hockey team no longer has the services of one of college hockey's best goaltenders.

In a stunning move, fifth-year senior Jack LaFontaine on Sunday signed a one-year entry-level contract with the NHL's Carolina Hurricanes, ending his Gophers career a day after he backstopped Minnesota to a series sweep at Michigan State.

LaFontaine, the reigning Mike Richter Award winner as the nation's top goalie, has started all 20 games for the Gophers this season, posting a 12-8 record with a 2.69 goals-against average and .900 save percentage with one shutout. Last season, he went 22-7-0 with a 1.79 GAA, a .934 save percentage and five shutouts in 29 games on his way to earning first-team All-America honors.

The Hurricanes this summer negotiated with LaFontaine, who chose to return to Minnesota for a fifth season that was available because of the NCAA's COVID-19 waiver. Carolina has dealt with several injuries at goalie throughout its organization, and LaFontaine, a 2016 third-round draft pick, will help fill in behind Frederik Andersen and Antti Raanta, who was a late scratch for the Hurricanes on Saturday. Goalies Eetu Makeniemi and Beck Warm of the Chicago Wolves, Carolina's AHL affiliate, also are injured.

LaFontaine will earn $750,000 at the NHL level and $70,000 at the AHL level, plus an $88,500 signing bonus...

NHL teams typically don't sign college prospects in the middle of a season

link

[sancarlos]

[degenerasian]

That is desperation defined.

I hope it drives McDavid out Edmonton.

[mister d]

Think Ryan Strome + Libor Hajek + 2nd rounder gets it done?

[MaxWebster]

Tuch+
Krebs+
2 1st round draft picks.

and the circle is complete.

[mister d]

I wonder how many teams you could find where they wouldn't have to do any two players + multiple 1sts. Colorado and ... anyone else?

[mister d]

As of today, Julien Gauthier is having a historic outlier season in terms of creating chances but not finishing. Only one other forward in the past decade (200+ ES minutes) has been higher than negative one goal versus expected per 60 minutes so either he’s going to stop creating chances or he’s going to start scoring a bunch. And if the Rangers do give up on him, I’m sure he’ll end up going to a smarter and more patient team and settling in as the scoring 3rd line wing this team desperately needs.

[Ryan]

The Eastern Conference should just take a few months off. Playoff teams are almost a lock, right?

[wlu_lax6]

Ovi got an empty netter today. 6th of the season (25 goals total).
#99 had 56 in his career (6.264%), Ovi has 45 (5.960%), Jagr only had 22 empty netters, Howe 12

[sancarlos]

Not a bad afternoon. Still in the 2nd period, and Timo Meier has scored 5 goals.

[degenerasian]

Not a bad afternoon. Still in the 2nd period, and Timo Meier has scored 5 goals.

Any fan win anything in San Jose?

In Calgary, a name gets pulled before each game and if any Flames scores 5 goals, they win a million. It's never happened.

[sancarlos]

Not a bad afternoon. Still in the 2nd period, and Timo Meier has scored 5 goals.

Any fan win anything in San Jose?

In Calgary, a name gets pulled before each game and if any Flames scores 5 goals, they win a million. It's never happened.

Never heard of such a thing, so I assume we don't have that.

[degenerasian]

Not a bad afternoon. Still in the 2nd period, and Timo Meier has scored 5 goals.

Any fan win anything in San Jose?

In Calgary, a name gets pulled before each game and if any Flames scores 5 goals, they win a million. It's never happened.

Never heard of such a thing, so I assume we don't have that.

I guess we have good sponsors. https://scoreandwinhockey.com/

Last to do it was Laine
https://www.nhl.com/news/patrik-laines- ... -302284542

[sancarlos]

You probably recall that the NHL was planning on pausing for the Olympics, Feb 7-22. Now that they are not participating, they are planning to use that time period to play all the games that have been postponed for Covid, and say that this will allow every team to play a complete schedule (I guess they don't plan on postponing any more games this season?).

This linked story includes links to the revised schedule for 95 postponed games.

[govmentchedda]

You probably recall that the NHL was planning on pausing for the Olympics, Feb 7-22. Now that they are not participating, they are planning to use that time period to play all the games that have been postponed for Covid, and say that this will allow every team to play a complete schedule (I guess they don't plan on postponing any more games this season?).

This linked story includes links to the revised schedule for 95 postponed games.

Well, they're stopping testing unless players report symptoms, so...


ETA - gonna be crazy to see how many positives get caught at the border, and not with regular testing.

[DSafetyGuy]

Come on, guys, when has completely ignoring a problem ever backfired in the history of the world?

[ZaZ]

The Flyers suck balls.

[sancarlos]

Hey, bud.

That’s true.

[Rush2112]

For you Wordle guys, there's one with hockey names.

https://gordle.herokuapp.com/

[rass]

Gonna assume Crosby intended for that to be his third goal.

[mister d]

I don’t think I’ve ever been sports vindicated as decisively as with Kreider.

[Ryan]

For you Wordle guys, there's one with hockey names.

https://gordle.herokuapp.com/

3 for 3 so far but I’ve sweated them all. Today’s was a doozy

Gordle 5 5/6
gordle.herokuapp.com

⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜
⬜⬜⬜⬜🟩
⬜🟨⬜⬜🟩
⬜🟨🟩🟨🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

[mister d]

I don’t think I’ve ever been sports vindicated as decisively as with Kreider.

Hitting 30 while on a PP caused by Lemieux getting 5 + a game isn’t the absolute perfect scenario but it’s 99th percentile.

[mister d]

Rangers may have just played the first full 5:00, no 3 vs 3 OT since the inception of 3 vs 3.