2023-24 NHL Season Thread.

[Zeoni]

I feel sorry for the American team if they have Letang on the back end, odds are he will play a crap ton of minutes and suck ass defensively like he usually does. People who think he is good because have a high plus/minus overlook the fact that point production makes up for failures defensively.

Yeah Letang is def Canadian lol. Sure, he's not that great defensively but man is he an offensive beast. Automatically makes your powerplay amazing, his skating ability alone would be an asset on the big ice too. I don't think he'll make Canada either but you can see why he'd be a really good pick for Olympic hockey. You don't exactly need defensive juggernauts to man the back end.

[Stommped]

Yeah I don't really know how to respond to that, I would love it if Letang were American. Too much Pens prejudice in this thread. I would imagine Letang and Keith will be Canada's top defensive pairing no? Maybe Doughty. When are they announcing their team anyway?

[Zeoni]

Yeah I don't really know how to respond to that, I would love it if Letang were American. Too much Pens prejudice in this thread. I would imagine Letang and Keith will be Canada's top defensive pairing no? Maybe Doughty. When are they announcing their team anyway?

Sometime in the weekend. I don't have Letang on my prediction. Weber Keith Doughty Pietrangelo Bouwmeester Subban. I woulden't mind seeing them bring Boyle for that veteran presence on the blue line ect.

[Irony]

Yeah I don't really know how to respond to that, I would love it if Letang were American. Too much Pens prejudice in this thread. I would imagine Letang and Keith will be Canada's top defensive pairing no? Maybe Doughty. When are they announcing their team anyway?

Letang might not even make Team Canada honestly.

Weber, Keith, Doughty, Pietrangelo, Vlasic, Bouwmeester and then any possibility of Phaneuf, Subban, Seabrook or Letang.

[Elgefar]

Yeah I don't really know how to respond to that, I would love it if Letang were American. Too much Pens prejudice in this thread. I would imagine Letang and Keith will be Canada's top defensive pairing no? Maybe Doughty. When are they announcing their team anyway?

While Letang is one of the top 5 offensive D-men, his continuing lack of defensive reliability and his high number of badly timed turnovers is going to make him such a liability to the team. He would arguably be better suited to bring as a forward rather than a D-man. He is also very injury prone so he would probably be out after the first game anyway.

And while I'm not fond of the Pens I am able to recognize how good they can be. However bringing the likes of Martin and Orpik over Keith Yandle is just shear idiocy in my opinion.

Keith will most likely be paired with Weber. Doughty - Pietrangelo on the second pairing, and Subban - Vlasic/Bouwmeester is the most likely third pairing.
Depending on how Yzerman thinks, he could also bring Seabrook to the table and pair him with Keith allowing a Weber/Pietrangelo pairing. But it's a bit far fetched.

[Greeney]

While Letang is one of the top 5 offensive D-men, his continuing lack of defensive reliability and his high number of badly timed turnovers is going to make him such a liability to the team. He would arguably be better suited to bring as a forward rather than a D-man. He is also very injury prone so he would probably be out after the first game anyway.

And while I'm not fond of the Pens I am able to recognize how good they can be. However bringing the likes of Martin and Orpik over Keith Yandle is just shear idiocy in my opinion.

Keith will most likely be paired with Weber. Doughty - Pietrangelo on the second pairing, and Subban - Vlasic/Bouwmeester is the most likely third pairing.
Depending on how Yzerman thinks, he could also bring Seabrook to the table and pair him with Keith allowing a Weber/Pietrangelo pairing. But it's a bit far fetched.

Pietrangelo & Bouwmeester will probably play together, I also think Keith and Seabrook will as well. If players have chemistry, I think they'll keep it together.

[Rennadrel]

Letang might not even make Team Canada honestly.

Weber, Keith, Doughty, Pietrangelo, Vlasic, Bouwmeester and then any possibility of Phaneuf, Subban, Seabrook or Letang.

Indeed, we are pretty deep on the blue line which isn't a bad thing at all.

[Stommped]

I think you guys are all crazy, if Letang doesn't make the roster I'll puke

[Elgefar]

Proceed to puke then! He is terrible defensively, and quite frankly Canada has so many other D-men that bring similar offense, but none of the drawbacks of bringing Kris Letang.

[draynay]

Kings keep on losing and KISS is gonna play at the outdoor game, can't get much worse

[Greeney]

I think you guys are all crazy, if Letang doesn't make the roster I'll puke

Do you really think he's better than anyone else Irony listed, besides Phaneuf?

[Stommped]

Do you really think he's better than anyone else Irony listed, besides Phaneuf?

Yes. As an overall player the only players I for sure would take over him in an instant would be Keith and Doughty, and then I would understand a Weber/Pietrangelo argument. Those 4 plus Letang and Meester is probably the 6 I would roll with, with Subban and Girardi as my reserves.

[Greeney]

My argument is that other than Seabrook & Vlasic all play the same amount of time on ice (approx 25 min). All have a better +/- than him outside of Weber. All have more points per game than him besides Phaneuf & Vlasic. All of them are more responsible defensively IMO. Additionally, he's injured right now and has had all sorts of issues (concussion, groin, and knee problems) since 2010. Maybe you take him for a stronger powerplay, but between all the superstars we have offensively I don't see the need for him.

[Zeoni]

Yes. As an overall player the only players I for sure would take over him in an instant would be Keith and Doughty, and then I would understand a Weber/Pietrangelo argument. Those 4 plus Letang and Meester is probably the 6 I would roll with, with Subban and Girardi as my reserves.

I put Subban and Letang in the same catagory, they're practically the same player except Subban is more physical. I think if you take Letang, you have to play him in the top 4 where I don't think he quite belongs. Letang has been kinda shitty this year, he's -6 playing on a team with that much fire power? Pretty bad imo. I don't want to sound like a homer but I'd rather see Mark Giordano on team Canada over Letang. He can play defense, block shots, be physical, play offense (has more points than Letang in 2 less games on a FAR FAR FAR FAR FAR FAR worse offensive squad) all without being a liability on the ice. If you don't watch the Flames (Not that anyone besides Calgary fans would) on a regular basis you woulden't really understand how underrated he really is. Not that I think he should be on the team ahead of any of the other guys mentioned but if they're looking at a 6th/7th slot D man, I'd put Gio over Letang any day of the week.

[Zeoni]

The reffing in this Canada/Finland game, wowwowowow LOL

Okay this is getting fucking ridiculous. Zebras come on.

Welp, that was a brutal game. That's what they get for bringing so many retarded grinders and leaving notable players off the team. I still can't believe they took Dumba over Darnell Nurse and their reasoning was they didn't want him to take bad penalties. How many did Dumba have? Jeeeeeeeeeeeez.

[VanillaO]

Was the reffing actually bad? I was reading yesterday that it's been pretty consistent the whole tournament. Strict as fuck, but consistent.

Either way, I hope Hockey Canada wakes up and realizes they need to start working on getting goalies to be goalies from a much younger age.

[Zeoni]

Was the reffing actually bad? I was reading yesterday that it's been pretty consistent the whole tournament. Strict as fuck, but consistent.

Either way, I hope Hockey Canada wakes up and realizes they need to start working on getting goalies to be goalies from a much younger age.

The calls in that game were just retarded. Drouin got a 10 minute misconduct for a "hit to the head" when he hit some kid who ducked at the last second. Then they gave Petan a 10 minute for saying something to the ref after being roughed up in a scrum by 2 Finns. But when a Czech HITS a ref knocking him to the ice, it's only a 2 minuter. Then they review the Finland 3rd goal for 5 mins when there shoulden't have been any dispute because they waved it off (was a clear goal). Following this were a bunch of weak make up calls made the 2nd/first half of the 3rd just a complete shit show. Besides that, Canada didn't deserve to win anyways. Too many chiefs, not enough indians. Everyone was just trying to be a 1 man show when the Finns were protecting their lead instead of being patient and making calm advances with the puck.

This year goaltending wasn't actually the problem. Fucale stood on his head vs the USA and played pretty damn well today vs Finland. He made an absolutely amazing save that should have rallied the troops but a bad defensive breakdown later and the puck is in the net. Hockey Canada team selection was atrocious. Whoever was in charge of not bringing Nurse, Domi, any goalie other than Patterson shoulden't have allowed to choose next year. Horvat was a massive disappointment, really thought he had a shot to do something at this tournament because he got a shitload of icetime playing on the 2nd line too. Mantha had a great tournament, Drouin seemed a little too selfish at times. And when I say a little, I mean a lot. He'd pass the puck after making 40 moves forcing an awkward play and whoever got the puck just gave it up. Out of all the forwards they brought, only 2 of them are in the top 20 in the OHL in scoring. I know points don't =/= omg bring this guy but it was clear they didn't have enough guys who can score goals. Too many grinders. Once they throttled McDavids icetime back after the Czech loss, I felt he played way better. Was way too much responsibility for a 16 year old to be playing on the 2nd line. Can't wait to see what he'll do next year once he's a bit more mature and bigger.

Players I was very impressed with were Mantha, Lazar, Sam Reinhart, Ekblad, and Gauthier. I'd be excited for Gauthier as a Leafs fan, he took a bunch of defensive zone faceoffs and won a fair bit of them iirc. He didn't show much offensive flair but he's huge and looks like he'd be a really good 3rd line centerman. Not exactly a high octane prospect but he looked to play a simple, effective game. Derek Pouliot was pretty good too but he didn't play a very good game today. Both the top 2014 draft hopeful #1 overalls made me pretty happy. Reinhart took a bunch of defensive draws too and Ekblad is a monster already. I think he's going to be the next really good well rounded defenseman.

[Masqerader]

Can we fire Caryle now.. seriously his system just doesn't fit the mold..


The reffing as been that bad, it really is sad.. considering up to like 2010 it was good, they got away from calling every little hit a penalty.. now it has regressed.

I can see why most europen/russian players stay in the KHL.. it is a hitting free environment

[Zeoni]

holy fuck what did Don jsut call JVR

[Masqerader]

holy fuck what did Don jsut call JVR

what I miss?