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2020-2021 NHL Thread

I get the contract is awful and all but from 15/16 to 18/19 Skinner was 10th in the entire league in goals, and that includes a 40 goal season in the first year of his deal with Buffalo. And it's not even like he's that old or there's been an injury that's set him back. To go from being 10th in the league in goals over a 4-year span (would be a little less on a per game basis but still) to what he's doing now is pretty surprising. Wonder if this is entirely on him or if the coaching change has really hurt. Either way there has to be some scoring talent left there and the Sabres should pretty much be doing everything to find it.
 
Nik said:
bustaheims said:
3 straight 100+ point seasons. They're like the new San Jose Sharks - excellent in the regular season, but don't get deep into the playoffs much.
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Even if you go back to 13-14 where they win a President's trophy they beat a 93 point team in the first round, then get eliminated by a Habs team whose leading scorer had 60 points that year.
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And in 2011 when the Bruins won the Cup, Boston came within a Game 7 Montreal point-shot post going in from being eliminated in the 1st round.
 
CarltonTheBear said:
I get the contract is awful and all but from 15/16 to 18/19 Skinner was 10th in the entire league in goals, and that includes a 40 goal season in the first year of his deal with Buffalo. And it's not even like he's that old or there's been an injury that's set him back. To go from being 10th in the league in goals over a 4-year span (would be a little less on a per game basis but still) to what he's doing now is pretty surprising. Wonder if this is entirely on him or if the coaching change has really hurt. Either way there has to be some scoring talent left there and the Sabres should pretty much be doing everything to find it.
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Hall has 1, Eichel 2... it's unbelievable. Coach? Culture?
 
CarltonTheBear said:
I get the contract is awful and all but from 15/16 to 18/19 Skinner was 10th in the entire league in goals, and that includes a 40 goal season in the first year of his deal with Buffalo. And it's not even like he's that old or there's been an injury that's set him back. To go from being 10th in the league in goals over a 4-year span (would be a little less on a per game basis but still) to what he's doing now is pretty surprising. Wonder if this is entirely on him or if the coaching change has really hurt. Either way there has to be some scoring talent left there and the Sabres should pretty much be doing everything to find it.
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Yeah. The drop off is pretty extreme. I think most people expected him to still be a ~25 goal, ~50 point guy who was being paid more like a 35+ goal, 70+ point player.

Interestingly, though, his goals/game in Buffalo is now the same as at it was in Carolina (0.35).
 
https://twitter.com/hayyyshayyy/status/1364408490601705473
Remember when Stutzle ripped one over Hutchinson from a weird angle? Lightning quick release of a heavy shot from stretched out oddly far ahead.
 
Nik said:
Also, and this is kind of a side note, but does anyone else think the Bruins over the last 7-8 years have been a little overrated just because they've managed to beat the Leafs in the playoffs?

Like 17-18, they beat the Leafs and then get washed hard by Tampa in the second round. Last year, get by a mediocre Carolina team in the first round, again get beat significantly by Tampa in the second.

They had a playoff run in 18-19 because they beat the Leafs and then get incredibly lucky because Tampa, Washington and Pittsburgh all get knocked out of the first round by what were kind of inferior opponents. They beat Columbus and the Islanders on their way to the Finals.

Obviously you'd rather have their playoff record than ours but there's not a ton of quality there either.
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From this run-down, it doesn?t sound like the Bruins have underachieved in the playoffs. It simply sounds like they?ve been beaten by a better Tampa team a bunch of times.
 
Nik said:
OldTimeHockey said:
I know personally, that it's become a matter of waiting for them to drop off but they seem to continue being a top 10(top of the Atlantic) team. I mean last season, with only 14 regulation losses, it's pretty darn impressive that they just keep putting out this top flight team.
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I guess but like I'm sort of saying here I wonder how much of that is Rask sort of masking a fairly mediocre bunch.
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You may be 100% correct. It just seems like all their 2nd, 3rd line players all seem to turn out and their top 3 don't seem to drop off.
 
Nik said:
I guess but like I'm sort of saying here I wonder how much of that is Rask sort of masking a fairly mediocre bunch.
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Outside of Vezina calibre numbers last season, Rask has been pretty average to slightly above average since 15/16, and his numbers this season aren't very good so far (at least, his Sv%, especially his 5-on-5), and Boston is still rolling. It certainly helps that they allow the least shots per game and have some of the best possession numbers in the league. I'd say it's more that their elite 1st line (including Marchand and Pastrnak's unsustainable shooting percentages) and stifling defensive structure (or, potentially, weaker competition - other than Washington and Pittsburgh, they face some, uhh, suspect offences) are propping up a mediocre offence.
 
I'm kind of torn on that goal called back on Montreal.  Gallagher didn't need ot be in the blue paint.  Murray did get interfered with.  He took a weird approach to resetting himself and focused on swinging at Gallagher instead of getting back up.

4-5 seconds isn't a massive amount of time between the contact and the goal but what is the threshold for some incidental contact not being a part of the play?
 
L K said:
I'm kind of torn on that goal called back on Montreal.  Gallagher didn't need ot be in the blue paint.  Murray did get interfered with.  He took a weird approach to resetting himself and focused on swinging at Gallagher instead of getting back up.

4-5 seconds isn't a massive amount of time between the contact and the goal but what is the threshold for some incidental contact not being a part of the play?
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I think the right call was made. Murray was clearly interfered with. He was spun around by Gallagher, and as he's trying to reset himself, Gallagher's skate makes contact with his stick (it doesn't look to me like Murray is swinging at Gallagher, but that's definitely up for interpretation). He never gets fully reset before the shot is released.
 
Just a speedbump for the "best team in Canada" on their way to winning the Cup cause Craig Button and Brian Burke told me so.
 
So safe to say this is Marc Bergevin's last kick at the can?  It's the second head coach he's hired and fired now, how many chances does he get?
 
I actually like the idea that any team that loses to the sens this season 3 times needs to fire their coach. Keefe is on thin ice.
 
CarltonTheBear said:
As a Leafs fan who had a very high opinion of Julien as a coach, I approve of the Habs using him as their scapegoat.
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Going off exactly zero research, he seemed really good at getting a lot out of depth players, but doesn't quite maximize the skilled players.
 
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