2023-24 NHL Season Thread.

[Rennadrel]

but then some people overreact to everything

No, that was more like me waking up this morning and seeing that they lost 4-0.

[Drikkink]

If anyone thinks these NHL playoffs have bad reffing just watch some of the IIHF games coming up here, you're in for a reality check. Tapped on the stick? SLASH! Swearing? UNSPORTSMANLIKE!!! NHL reffing never costs anyone to win or lose a game no matter how much anyone wants to think they do in 99% of games. Sure, they might put a team at a bad disadvantage but they will never straight up lose you the game except for few cases (COUGH DALLAS STARS CUP CHAMPIONS)

The Flyers series had absolutely terrible officiating BOTH ways. I've never seen refs miss so many calls and then make so many phantom calls both ways in my life.

Also, Flyers "promote" Holmgren out of GM. Flyers name Hextall new GM. There is a god.

[Armourboy]

Well Preds hire Laviolette. Can't say I'm surprised, considering his connection to USA hockey and Poile. One things for sure, he's the total opposite of Trotz and for once we won't be able to argue that the coach just destroys any offensive creativity with young players. Should be interesting to watch.

[Deleted]

'mon the Penguins!

[Rylon]

If that Jussi goal was a Puck Rhino, Lundqvist makes the save

[Zeoni]

Well Preds hire Laviolette. Can't say I'm surprised, considering his connection to USA hockey and Poile. One things for sure, he's the total opposite of Trotz and for once we won't be able to argue that the coach just destroys any offensive creativity with young players. Should be interesting to watch.

I hope you guys can get your hands on some offensive players while you're at it to compliment the system. Forsberg is good but you'll need something else too. Word is they want to add Lecavelier as well. Sucks you're not higher in the draft, everyone outside the top 3-5~ players are extremely meh.

[Rennadrel]

Well, North Bay certainly got shown up tonight. Guelph routed them 10-1 in game 4 of the OHL finals, the series returns to Guelph for game 5 with the Storm leading the series 3-1 now. As far as I am concerned that series could be over Friday because Guelph is just a much better team all around. Their goalies might not be as great but their skaters are for the most part a mature group in age and skill on the ice.

[VanillaO]

Well... looks like the Rangers are done. They don't seem to have any fight and their PP is legitimately the worst I've ever seen in the playoffs. If they can get an early 2 goal lead in game 5 maybe they have a chance... otherwise I think they're pretty boned. Doesn't help that their top 3 players (arguably Richards/St. Louis/Nash) are throwing up goose eggs so often.. Nash especially has been pretty awful in his 2 postseasons in New York - 9 points in 23 games now from a guy who has career regular season 0.8 points/game. I've never really noticed before, but is it possible Nash is hella overrated from one Rocket Richard Trophy (that was a 3-way tie)?

[draynay]

Doesn't help that their top 3 players (arguably Richards/St. Louis/Nash) are throwing up goose eggs so often.. Nash especially has been pretty awful in his 2 postseasons in New York - 9 points in 23 games now from a guy who has career regular season 0.8 points/game. I've never really noticed before, but is it possible Nash is hella overrated from one Rocket Richard Trophy (that was a 3-way tie)?

I don't know what it is about going to the Rangers and then flopping but its been a popular past time for star players, including guys that used to be seen as clutch (Richards). As for Nash, he was the #1 overall pick so there was hype from the get go, and then in his second season he erupts to tie for the lead league in goals. He had some nice power moves, scored some Mario-esque goals, he was a lot of fun to watch. He looked like he was on the cusp of becoming a big star but instead he just became a steady 30 goal scorer. This year he had a pretty crummy season but he still managed 9 game winning goals, and now 4 assists in 10 games is pretty terrible for somebody as capable of contributing offensively as he is.

[Knails]

I just want to let everyone know that I jumped on the Blue Jackets band wagon this season and was hoping to see them eliminate the Pens...it was sad they came so close to making that huge 3rd period come back. But I got my Matt Calvert jersey on the way so I can wear it and confuse all my friends. Thanks.

[draynay]

Also, Flyers "promote" Holmgren out of GM. Flyers name Hextall new GM. There is a god.

forgot to comment on this earlier, Hextall did a good job in LA, hope things work out with him there

[Deleted]

Well... looks like the Rangers are done. They don't seem to have any fight and their PP is legitimately the worst I've ever seen in the playoffs. If they can get an early 2 goal lead in game 5 maybe they have a chance... otherwise I think they're pretty boned. Doesn't help that their top 3 players (arguably Richards/St. Louis/Nash) are throwing up goose eggs so often.. Nash especially has been pretty awful in his 2 postseasons in New York - 9 points in 23 games now from a guy who has career regular season 0.8 points/game. I've never really noticed before, but is it possible Nash is hella overrated from one Rocket Richard Trophy (that was a 3-way tie)?

I was confused when watching the Pens - Rangers game last night, but the crowd was booing at Nash/St. Louis right? If that was the case it must be very frustrating for them.

[Zeoni]

http://www.sportsnet.ca/damien-cox-j...-nhl-coverage/

JESUS FUCK I don't care I don't care I don't care fuck this stupid Rogers deal. Are they fuckin joking! Jesssssssssus!

[VanillaO]

Damien Cox is the worst... he is worse than the clowns who do half the hockey analysis for that company.

@Kerdoz - I wasn't watching (that's the one series I really can't be bothered to watch even a second of ), but I heard people were booing Nash, so it's probable they were booing St. Louis as well. From the players' perspective, yes it is probably frustrating. They aren't contributing at the level they're expected to, and they're stressed, and their dreams of winning a(nother in St. Louis' case) Stanley Cup are pretty much done for the season. On the flip side, put yourself in the shoes of the fans. You have a guy making almost 8M a year who is playing probably the worst 8 months of hockey in his career. He's been in a slump since last year's playoffs started. People were getting on Crosby's nuts for not scoring any goals, but he at least has thrown out 7 or 8 assists to contribute in other ways. As for St. Louis, the Rangers traded away fan favourite and team captain Ryan Callahan plus a draft pick to acquire him. He's not performing at the level he was in Tampa, and people are kind of mad about it.. understandably mad IMO. Another guy who is almost a career point/game player and he's thrown up less than 0.5 points/game in a Rangers uniform. For a little perspective, he is (as of last night) a point/game player in the playoffs.

If I were a Rangers fan (sorry, Reg), I'd be more than a little bummed right now. Glen Sather does not know how to run a team, you've got guys underperforming like crazy, and you have 48% of your cap (next season's cap no less), tied up in a goalie who is great but has stretches where he struggles now, 3 forwards who aren't playing anywhere near the level expected of guys making 5.625/6.667/7.8, and a defenseman who actually might be closer to worth the 5.5 he's making starting next year (Girardi). The reason the Rangers were so good 2 years ago when they went to the Conference Finals and had a damn good chance of winning it from the start was their depth and role players. What the fuck has Dorsett done? 0 points in 9 games average 9.5 minutes? McDonagh 1 point (I know he's D, but there's got to be a reason their PP isn't working, and it usually starts with 'no one in front, and poor back end angles'. Boyle, Brassard, Moore - 3 points each. These guys have the talent to at least get to a Conference Final, and they shit the bed every year. This could be 2 straight seasons of 5-game losses in the 2nd round for a team that was so close to being in the big game just 2 years ago. I don't understand how Sather has been the GM of this team for so goddamn long.

But back to the original point, when your team that makes millions of dollars is playing like shit, they will get booed quite often in a lot of North American markets.

[Zeoni]

https://twitter.com/TSNBobMcKenzie/s...72651075813376

Not really surprised tbh

[Stommped]

https://twitter.com/TSNBobMcKenzie/s...72651075813376

Not really surprised tbh

I am. Don't you think he deserved to get fired more than Torts did?

[Deleted]

I am. Don't you think he deserved to get fired more than Torts did?

To be honest, both deserved the pink slip to a pretty much equal degree. I can't even begin to imagine what the Leafs front office was thinking.

[VanillaO]

I just don't understand why they give him an extension. He still has a year on contract. Leafs fans all over are fucking maaaaaaad. That horrible stretch to end the season. It's not the GM's fault. It's not the Coach's fault (by this news). Is it the players' fault? Who is MLSE blaming here? Obviously it's on the players in terms of 'they're the ones on the ice'... but this gives your fan base 0 fucking answers that they were looking for.

[Elgefar]

No wonder the Leafs have gone 47 years without a cup. They are handing out 7 year contracts to a 3rd liner and a lazy lazy top 4 d-man.

They hand out a 2 year extension to a coach that has no defensive strategies at all. Back to back years the Leafs have had GA/Gs of 2.67 and 3.07 with 32.3 SA/G and 35.9 SA/G. Is this a guy who is really going to take the team to the playoffs year after year? It's going to be year after year of first round losses assuming they actually make it there.

It's a rare moment when I feel sorry for Leaf fans. I did not expect that any time soon.

[Tojara]

I think Toronto might make a go at Babcock when his contract expires at the end of next season, and they would be wise to throw a lot of money at him if it's indeed an option. The extension is weird though, I don't think Carlye alone is the source of their collapse but he certainly didn't make things better.

Toronto doesn't roll four lines like most of the 'contenders' and they typically pay for it the end of the season when everybody becomes gassed and teams start to adapt. Bernier is for sure their number one goal tender but they should have given Reimer a few more starts, perhaps then Bernier wouldn't have actually had an injury to begin with.

Mostly I think it's a ton of things. They don't have the type of players to play Carlye's system and the team they put together just doesn't mesh well outside of their top two lines. Even then their top two lines while offensively impressive at times, will also completely disappear. Let's not talk about their commitment to playing a two way game, they are incredibly awful in their own end.

Toronto has good goalies, they just have awful defense and forwards that don't know how to play in their own zone at all, absolutely zero support. You look at teams that consistently make the playoffs every year and you see teams that are defensively minded, and have loads of their forwards who play an excellent two way game. Players like Bergeron and Toews don't grow on trees, but those are the type of players I'd want on my team.

Also be happy about the officiating in the NHL honestly. They miss a lot of calls, but I highly suspect that something will change in the future. Might slow the game down some, but it's worth it to get the call right. It could be worse. It could be the NFL where the rules are so confusing that it's unlikely any ref knows all the rules, or it could be even worse, it could be the NBA.

I don't mind them throwing out the rule book during playoff hockey and not making calls unless they are blatantly obvious or end up stopping a potential scoring chance of happening. As long as it's called both ways. I'd much rather have 60 minutes with a couple penalties for each, than a game that is constantly on the PP/PK. Although PP/PK can be exciting as well, lol.