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2019-2020 NHL Thread

Crake said:
Worse than Jose Theodore?

I wasn't a fan of the Sedin choice, but I'd argue even the Corey Perry one was worse.
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I think so. Theodore was an ok choice, he really did drag a terrible, terrible team into the playoffs with a flukey year and while Iginla probably should have won I think it's pretty close. Perry is a weird one. I don't know that he would have been my first choice either but I genuinely don't know who would be. It was a very strange year without a big standout performance.

Sedin though is really hard to justify. Ovechkin and Crosby both had monster years and while I'm sure someone will trot out the "Most Valuable doesn't mean best" thing, I really don't think anyone seriously thought Sedin had the best year in the league that year. That was just a "We're tired of always giving the trophy to two guys" thing.
 
All three are pretty questionable as far as I'm concerned, Iginla got punished for being on a weak team, Perry won the way Benn won an Art Ross in a weak year and Sedin did have an 80 something assist season and won the Art Ross if I remember correctly.

I don't agree with the Sedin win, it's more saying that it's by far worse than the other two that stood out.
 
Nik Bethune said:
Sedin though is really hard to justify. Ovechkin and Crosby both had monster years and while I'm sure someone will trot out the "Most Valuable doesn't mean best" thing, I really don't think anyone seriously thought Sedin had the best year in the league that year. That was just a "We're tired of always giving the trophy to two guys" thing.
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Not only did Crosby have a monster year that season, only one other forward on his team had more than 50 points. Hard to argue he wasn?t clearly the most valuable player to his team that season.

Some years, there a clear individual performances that elevated their team to levels they should not have achieved. Theodore is one of those - the Habs don?t make the playoffs without him, while the Flames miss the playoffs by a significant margin with or without Iginla. And some years, as you point out, there isn?t - which is why Perry wins by virtue of having a great year and leading the league in goals, helping his team outperform expectations (the Ducks were an 89 pt team the season before, a 99 pt team the year Perry win, then an 80 pt team the season after - they didn?t necessarily massively exceed expectations like Theodore?s Habs, but they were better than what many predicted, which always help in Hart voting). Sedin, on the other hand, had a great year for a team that was expected to be very good, with a strong supporting cast. Crosby practically carried Pittsburgh on his back alone that season. Sedin winning felt very much like a ?we should probably give one of these twins a trophy? type selection.
 
Crake said:
All three are pretty questionable as far as I'm concerned, Iginla got punished for being on a weak team, Perry won the way Benn won an Art Ross in a weak year and Sedin did have an 80 something assist season and won the Art Ross if I remember correctly.
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I don't see how that makes Perry a bad choice. It was a weak year for MVP candidates but that doesn't make the winner a bad decision.

As for Theodore, there's really no getting away from it being a .931 SV% over 67 game season. That's a remarkable season and I think you can make a fair argument it's as valuable as what Iginla did that year. It was a flukey year, yeah, but it was not on its face statistically a bad choice.

I just don't think the same is true with Sedin. Aside from what Busta said about Crosby's lack of a supporting cast that year, the goal scoring alone makes a huge difference. Throw in Crosby being better on face-offs, better defensively...I just really don't see the argument for Sedin other than three points in the Art Ross race which is pretty weak.
 
https://twitter.com/TSN1040/status/1257474435809832960
This could be interesting.

There was some friction the previous year when the scouts needed Trevor Linden to tiebreak their pick that ended up being Elias Pettersson (instead of the Cody Glass Benning wanted to pick). With Linden gone, Judd Brackett might look to ply his trade elsewhere.

Edit:
https://twitter.com/TSN1040/status/1257773345480888320
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Edit:
https://twitter.com/sportsnet650/status/1258552710971834369
This sounds like an Ottawa offer
 
https://twitter.com/FriedgeHNIC/status/1259887743477391367

Okay so... who is Dubas going to poach
 
Bettman not contemplating cancelling the season:

During a question-and-answer period as part of a virtual town hall on Tuesday, commissioner Gary Bettman told members of the San Jose Sharks? business alliance that shutting down the 2019-20 campaign and not handing out the Stanley Cup is ?not something I?m even contemplating.?

?I believe that if the right time comes, and the right circumstances, based on all of the options that we?re considering and our ability to execute them, we?ll get this season done,? Bettman said, via Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News. ?I don?t want to sound Pollyanna, but cancelling is too easy a solution. That means you stop working hard to do all of the things that we?re doing, and I ultimately believe that there will be an opportunity.?

https://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/report-bettman-not-contemplating-cancelling-remainder-nhl-season/
 
OldTimeHockey said:
Rob said:
Love to see the condition of the ice in late July.
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I'm not sure that will be an issue. They play hockey in Arizona, California, Florida and Las Vegas with no real big issues.
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They don't play NHL playoff hockey in July.  The 15 degree temperature low and 13 degree temperature high difference from May to July in Arizona is a big issue.
 
L K said:
OldTimeHockey said:
Rob said:
Love to see the condition of the ice in late July.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure that will be an issue. They play hockey in Arizona, California, Florida and Las Vegas with no real big issues.
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They don't play NHL playoff hockey in July.  The 15 degree temperature low and 13 degree temperature high difference from May to July in Arizona is a big issue.
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Also there have been issues with playing in those places once the temperature starts to really get up there, like when Vegas was in the Finals: https://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/nhl/stanley-cup-final-capitals-knights-ice-conditions-1.4683635

Granted not having the arena full of fans would help the strain on the A/C systems a little.
 
L K said:
OldTimeHockey said:
Rob said:
Love to see the condition of the ice in late July.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure that will be an issue. They play hockey in Arizona, California, Florida and Las Vegas with no real big issues.
Click to expand...

They don't play NHL playoff hockey in July.  The 15 degree temperature low and 13 degree temperature high difference from May to July in Arizona is a big issue.
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I guess time will tell if that's the case. Their refrigeration systems are world class. But, you are correct.

I actually wasn't even thinking of those locations in July. I was just thinking Toronto mainly. That's me not being able to look outside my little box.
 
A terrible year for good hockey players but a pretty good year for oddly memorable weirdos. Like who doesn't remember Dan Cloutier or Jeff Friesen.

Digging a little deeper it's actually a super weird year for the draft. The first few rounds are pretty unimpressive but then you get stuff like there being four goalies taken in the 9th round who combined for 1028 wins. Including three guys taken back to back to back at picks 217, 218 and 219. That doesn't include two other goalies taken outside the 1st who also won 275+ games apiece.
 
Heroic Shrimp said:
https://twitter.com/EvolvingWild/status/1261338741785784321

Wow.
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Love Belak and O'Dog. Both are funny guys. One of the best vids. 30 goals, 40 assists, that's 100 points lmao. So sad he's gone.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4SBDKnIkbw
 
Nik Bethune said:
A terrible year for good hockey players but a pretty good year for oddly memorable weirdos. Like who doesn't remember Dan Cloutier or Jeff Friesen.

Digging a little deeper it's actually a super weird year for the draft. The first few rounds are pretty unimpressive but then you get stuff like there being four goalies taken in the 9th round who combined for 1028 wins. Including three guys taken back to back to back at picks 217, 218 and 219. That doesn't include two other goalies taken outside the 1st who also won 275+ games apiece.
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Good thoughts, although I should also clarify that my stupidly vague "wow" was actually about my surprise that Evolving Wild knew virtually none of these players. Yes, there were really no big stars, but nonetheless there were 7 guys who played at least 800 games, plus a goalie in Cloutier, as you mentioned, who kicked around for 10 years. Not only that, but Botterill is a current NHL GM, and there's also 3 guys (Lindros, Primeau, and Kharlamov) with pretty notable hockey family connections.  I just would have figured that a guy who follows hockey enthusiastically would have had more familiarity with many of these guys.
 
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