On The Eve of the New Season: North of the Border Editio

vansmack wrote:
As long as Bruce Boudreau remains in charge, I have to temper expectations for the playoffs.

How he keeps getting work is beyond me.

Wings have no consistent, competent goalie play. Tampa would have to melt down for them to get out of the first round.

Wings completely stole that game last night. Outshot 46-14 and somehow won that thing. Good lord.

Of course Wings won a game 1 of a series they had no business winning last season and that was the last game they won all year. . .

RatBastard wrote:
The shoot out in the NHL and the penalty kicks in professional kick ball (oops I mean soccer) are similar gimmick rules.  Either play the spot to the end or be OK with the fact that some games will end in a tie.  Some of the best hockey games I have ever watched ended up as a 0-0 tie.

I particularly do not like the shoot outs in the NHL where they mysteriously create an additional point for OT games.  Every regular season game should carry the same weight in the season long standings.  The only reason the NHL did this is so the casual non-fan would watch the games and see an 'exciting' play.  (IOW its all about the money.)

Here you go.

I'm fairly certain I'm the only one watching this,  but I thought I would share that you cannot score a header in hockey.

I was bummed because I thought it counted (and it was pretty awesome) but alas,  we play a 3rd OT….

hey jules - what's your take on the Babcock move?

sweetcell wrote:
hey jules - what's your take on the Babcock move?

Oh, thank you for asking. I'm sad to see him go. I'm not going to say he's not the best coach in the NHL and Wings prolly don't make the playoffs the last three seasons sans him. Undeniable.

That said, I understand when you offer a guy 60% above the next highest paid coach in the league that you can't be faulted for marching an offer 233% above 2nd highest coach in the league. He's not hockey Jesus. Especially with Blashill (who I maintain would have an NHL a year ago if the organization let him talk to other teams) waiting in the wings. If Blashill is the coach, then I'm ok with Babcock leaving. Wish it wasn't in division but whatever. We have a lot of Grand Rapids talent joining the wings in the next 24 months and he knows them better than anyone.

In short, I'm not devastated about it. It'll be ok. Blashill is an NHL-replacement+ level coach in my (biased) estimation.

Now, if the Wings don't sign Blashill, come talk to me again, I reserve my right to blow up this take.

3 goals in 37 seconds?!  I couldn't even giz on my 4K tv it was so fast….

thought this was cool

oh my god I want the rangers to lose so badly

Hawks/Bolts would be a great series.

DeathFromAbove1979 wrote:
oh my god I want the rangers to lose so badly

Hawks/Bolts would be a great series.

The NHL pretty much needs either the Rangers or the Hawks in the final. 

Good thing for them, the Ducks are managed by Boudreau.

Isn't this the farthest the Boodge has made it? I can't hate him. He'll always have a little bbq sauce on his cheek… in my heart.

Just…. Just anyone but the Rags.

DeathFromAbove1979 wrote:
Isn't this the farthest the Boodge has made it? I can't hate him. He'll always have a little bbq sauce on his cheek… in my heart.

Yes, first time in the Conference Finals.  Great regular season manager - 7 Division Titles in 8 years, and the one year he didn't win, DC fired him midseason and Anaheim hired him 2 days later.  Thanks? 

And he always seems just minutes away from turning the corner, then the bottom falls out, usually in the last 5 minutes of the third period in a pivotal game.  I thought we were seeing that when Toews scored two goals in the last 2 mins of game 5, but then Anaheim went on to win in OT.     

He's 1-5 in Game 7's and the all of those Game 7 losses were at home.

Bruce Boudreau: compensated hockey coach. Jesus.

Poor, Bruce. Was really pulling for him. Those Blackhawks, man. Gah. Go Bolts?

vansmack wrote:
As long as Bruce Boudreau remains in charge, I have to temper expectations for the playoffs.

I kept this rule until the Game 5 OT win.  Then I forgot, got excited and paid the price Saturday night.  Or, to be honest, my liver and my head paid the price.

I really don't know what you do if you're Anaheim.  They made all their off season moves with that series in mind, and it still didn't work, blowing a lot of leads to have to play a game 7.  Can you really fire Boudreau right now?  I don't think they can.   

To be fair, Chicago is about to implode salary cap-wise. With the Toews/Kane deals going into effect next season, they're going to be at the cap with only 13 guys signed. And then they have to go out and actually keep guys like Andrew Shaw who are RFAs/UFAs. They're going to be cutting directly from the bone.

I'd say Anaheim could just stay pat and move ahead of Chicago by default but then again I have the strongest confidence in Boudreau's ability to get the absolute least out of his team as possible as we have dicsussed before.

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/is-marian-hossa-a-hall-of-famer/

Thoughts on this? I say definitely yes, he's quite underrated.

The Bruins firesale is in full effect. Hamilton and Lucic both already gone.

Weird side note: as of this moment, the Bruins hold the #13, 14, and 15 picks in the draft.

?The Los Angeles Kings today have exercised the team's right to terminate the contract of Mike Richards for a material breach of the requirements of his Standard Player's Contract. We are not prepared to provide any more detail or to discuss the underlying grounds for the contract termination at this time.?