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2017-2018 NHL Thread

AvroArrow said:
Didn't Belak get something like 8 games for something more accidental than this?  Should be at least 10 in my books.

Six regular season games PLUS two playoff games.  So it was probably more like a 10-game suspension if we are going by the playoff games count for double rule.

This is the best video I could find of the slash.  Belak was reckless with his stick but it was pretty clearly a guy who was off balance and trying to get Vaananen off his back. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=porVFYsgScY
 
I tend to like it when athletes speak their minds on issues. At best, it can bring attention to important subjects. At worst, at least you know more about these guys and where they stand on things.

So I'm not saying "stick to sprots" to Ovechkin or Malkin but they should probably understand that being vocally pro-Putin right now is, you know, probably going to have some blowback.
 
Is it worth considering that Ovechkin and Malkin both have large extended families in Russia?

I'm sure the North American media's scorn is significantly easier to handle than whatever their families would face if they didn't play ball.
 
WhatIfGodWasALeaf said:
Is it worth considering that Ovechkin and Malkin both have large extended families in Russia?

I'm sure the North American media's scorn is significantly easier to handle than whatever their families would face if they didn't play ball.

That's assuming it's coerced in the first place as opposed to honest. To be honest I'm not entirely sure why the FSB would think endorsements from those guys would do much for them.
 
Nik the Trik said:
WhatIfGodWasALeaf said:
Is it worth considering that Ovechkin and Malkin both have large extended families in Russia?

I'm sure the North American media's scorn is significantly easier to handle than whatever their families would face if they didn't play ball.

That's assuming it's coerced in the first place as opposed to honest. To be honest I'm not entirely sure why the FSB would think endorsements from those guys would do much for them.

There is an "election" on the horizon...
 
WhatIfGodWasALeaf said:
There is an "election" on the horizon...

Sure but it's not like Putin doesn't have quite a bit of support either way. Considering the money that Malkin and Ovechkin have they could get their families out of Russia if it was something they really wanted. Regardless, I'm not inclined to think it was coerced.
 
Chicago formally announced for the 2019 Winter Classic.  This will be their 5th outdoor game in 11 years.
 
NHLPlayerSafety: Philadelphia?s Radko Gudas suspended ten games for slashing Winnipeg's Mathieu Perreault. nhl.com/video/gudas-su?

DPS not going easy on Gudas. Good.
 
As we, um, sharpen our swords in the wake of Saturday's 3-1 loss to Carolina, an utter snoozefest until the final eight minutes, there's one gnawing issue that keeps growing: What's going on with Jack Eichel?

Forget about an elephant in the room. This is an entire herd. Eichel is not the guy we've seen the last two years. He was invisible again for long stretches Saturday -- not getting a single shot on goal for more than 48 minutes.

Eichel has five goals in 20 games, tallying just once in his last 11. He's got a minus-9 rating for the season. Those are the numbers. Now let's move to things you can't measure.

Eichel's body language has been terrible much of season. It's a dirty little secret fans are finally figuring out that he floats off the ice far too much on the end of his shifts.

http://buffalonews.com/2017/11/18/mike-harrington-twenty-games-in-sabres-have-to-get-out-of-their-own-way/

McDavid is clearly a far superior player, but the numbers don?t lie: minus-2 against St. Louis Thursday, and minus-2 again Saturday, despite a goal and two assists. Your best player simply has to be better than that, and McDavid?s line ? with Pat Maroon and Drake Caggiula ? was on the ice for three even strength goals by Dallas, with McDavid also on for a fourth.

Somehow, too many turnovers have mixed into McDavid?s game, resulting in odd-man rushes the other way after high-risk zone entry attempts go bad. In his own zone, the puck is getting behind his goalie too often, even if the reasons are ever-changing.

Part of being a superstar is playing as well without the puck, and being smarter with it than McDavid has been this season. Your best player has to be just that ? at both ends of the rink ? to have success. And the Oilers aren?t having much of that this season.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/takeaways-mcdavids-turnovers-cost-oilers/

Buffalo and Edmonton media trashing their franchise player instead of their incompetent management is so beautiful to watch.
 
CarltonTheBear said:
Buffalo and Edmonton media trashing their franchise player instead of their incompetent management is so beautiful to watch.

My doctor said I should be eating so much salt, but you know what, I'm going to indulge in these.
 
CarltonTheBear said:
As we, um, sharpen our swords in the wake of Saturday's 3-1 loss to Carolina, an utter snoozefest until the final eight minutes, there's one gnawing issue that keeps growing: What's going on with Jack Eichel?

Forget about an elephant in the room. This is an entire herd. Eichel is not the guy we've seen the last two years. He was invisible again for long stretches Saturday -- not getting a single shot on goal for more than 48 minutes.

Eichel has five goals in 20 games, tallying just once in his last 11. He's got a minus-9 rating for the season. Those are the numbers. Now let's move to things you can't measure.

Eichel's body language has been terrible much of season. It's a dirty little secret fans are finally figuring out that he floats off the ice far too much on the end of his shifts.

http://buffalonews.com/2017/11/18/mike-harrington-twenty-games-in-sabres-have-to-get-out-of-their-own-way/

McDavid is clearly a far superior player, but the numbers don?t lie: minus-2 against St. Louis Thursday, and minus-2 again Saturday, despite a goal and two assists. Your best player simply has to be better than that, and McDavid?s line ? with Pat Maroon and Drake Caggiula ? was on the ice for three even strength goals by Dallas, with McDavid also on for a fourth.

Somehow, too many turnovers have mixed into McDavid?s game, resulting in odd-man rushes the other way after high-risk zone entry attempts go bad. In his own zone, the puck is getting behind his goalie too often, even if the reasons are ever-changing.

Part of being a superstar is playing as well without the puck, and being smarter with it than McDavid has been this season. Your best player has to be just that ? at both ends of the rink ? to have success. And the Oilers aren?t having much of that this season.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/takeaways-mcdavids-turnovers-cost-oilers/

Buffalo and Edmonton media trashing their franchise player instead of their incompetent management is so beautiful to watch.

I like how Spector mentions McDavid's line with no irony. Do you think that playing with Pat Maroon and Drake Caggiula (who, I guess, is an actual human hockey player?) just maybe might have something to do with that line, like, not being the best? Or maybe "too many turnovers" mixing into McDavid's is a result of...wait for it...playing with Drake freaking Caggiula?
That franchise is just a trainwreck....
 
herman said:
CarltonTheBear said:
Buffalo and Edmonton media trashing their franchise player instead of their incompetent management is so beautiful to watch.

My doctor said I should be eating so much salt, but you know what, I'm going to indulge in these.

https://theathletic.com/160024/2017/11/19/melnick-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly-game-21-montreal-0-toronto-6/

Right now the only difference between the Canadiens and the Titanic is that one is old, rusty and at the bottom of the Atlantic. The other is a ship.

nom nom noms
 
Nathan MacKinnon has 22 points in 19 games this season, on pace to score 95. His current career high is 63 points, which he scored all the way back in his rookie season. Looks like this might finally be the season where he breaks out and becomes that elite offensive threat everyone thought he could be.

Also, for whatever reason, if you asked me how old MacKinnon was I would have probably said 24, maybe 25. He's only 22.
 
CarltonTheBear said:
Also, for whatever reason, if you asked me how old MacKinnon was I would have probably said 24, maybe 25. He's only 22.

Damn. I would have made the same assumption.
 
19 games into the season and Brent Burns is still without his 1st goal. He leads all defencemen in shots with 82, the next highest is 69. He scored 29 goals last season and 27 the season before that.
 
Reading Oilers articles after their losses has become a new passion of mine:

They quit.

Walked over in Dallas, now crushed in St. Louis, the good ship Oiler rolls into Detroit on Wednesday at its nadir, one day before American Thanksgiving and as far away from the playoffs as it is from an identity forged last season.

The Edmonton Oilers were not remotely competitive in an 8-3 loss to the St. Louis Blues Tuesday, and the saddest part? They quit.

That?s right. Quit.

...

Klefbom isn?t of the same pedigree as those aforementioned D-men, but he is the Oilers? best rearguard, and they count on him. He had yet another stinker on Tuesday, getting knocked off a puck far too easily on the Blues? first goal, and drifting softly through another pointless, minus-4 evening.

The old clich? says your best players have to be your best players. Klefbom has consistently been one of Edmonton?s worst players, and it shows in the standings.

...

From Zack Kassian, who we are not sure has even reported for camp yet, through to an uncharacteristically bad Mark Letestu, to Draisaitl, to a seriously in-decline Pat Maroon.

If you?re the type who thinks the GM should have seen these performances coming, then you?ve got Chiarelli squarely in your crosshairs.

Me? He hasn?t done a good job, and grades out like his team at a D-minus. But I won?t blame him when players digress for no particular reason. The players play, and in Edmonton, too many of them have let the jersey down this season.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/oilers-hit-new-low-quitting-blues/

jrqQx.gif
 
CarltonTheBear said:
https://twitter.com/gabrielletf/status/933952481553502208

Oh.

Yeah, I'm sorry but Pittsburgh hanging out with Trump looks awful with this kind of context.
 

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