2023-24 NHL Season Thread.

[Rennadrel]

Lol IIHF women's championships, Canada 13, Russia 1 with 7 mins left.

[conscript]

Lol IIHF women's championships, Canada 13, Russia 1 with 7 mins left.

So what you're saying is Canada is probably going to win? I feel kind of sorry for those Russian women when they get back to Russia after embarrassing the mother country in such a fashion.

[BicycleMafioso]

I would enjoy women's hockey more, if the playing field was more even. Yea, it's not "the same sport" as male hockey, but that doesn't mean it can't be entertaining to watch a game here and there.

Speaking of Non-NHL hockey, my team qualified to the Swedish Elite League, after being predicted as worst qualification league performance in a long time.
And we sent the most frequent Swedish Champions down to the second tier. Like if the Habs would've been shoved to the AHL two seasons after the Stanley Cup finals appearance (while not comparable, as close as I can get it )

And we have a few kids who'll likely go high in the draft this year. Our player, Hampus Lindholm is ranked 4th of Europeans last I checked, and he's playing on a very mature level for his age. I'd say he's better than Kenny Jönsson (who he's had as a coach, former Isles captain) was at that age, and his playstyle at both ends of the ice compares a bit to Orr's (ie, many only see the offensive zone plays, but he's good in the back as well), especially given the surroundings he had the latter half of the season (he was at times as dominant in the second Swe league as Orr was in the NHL, although not as consistently at his A-game, nor as high overall skill - just approaching it comparatively)


(I need to write more sidenotes in parenthesis)

[conscript]

The draft lottery is tonight at 8EST on TSN/NBCS.
Chances of winning: Edit I should mention winning only means moving up 4 spots unlike the NBA lottery where you move to the top. Columbus technically has around a 50% chance to win and no team below Toronto can move to #1.
Columbus 25%
Edmonton 18.8%
Montreal 14.4%
Islanders 10.7%
Toronto 8.1%
Anaheim Ducks - 6.2
Minnesota Wild - 4.7
Carolina Hurricanes - 3.6
Winnipeg Jets - 2.7
Tampa Bay Lightning - 2.1
Washington Capitals (from Colorado) - 1.5
Buffalo Sabres - 1.1
Dallas Stars - 0.8
Calgary Flames - 0.5

1 in 12 chance to Fail for Nail for the Leafs. Can they do it?




(Hint: No)

---------- Post added 2012-04-10 at 08:18 PM ----------

Toronto didn't win the draft. 5th overall pick is theirs.

Edmonton won the lottery lol. Third straight year as the first overall pick. Second time ever to pick #1 three times in a row.

---------- Post added 2012-04-10 at 08:21 PM ----------

Washington ended up with the 11th overall pick from that hilarious trade with Colorado. Congratulations Colorado's GM. You gave Washington the 11th overall pick in this draft for FREE because you were too stupid to offer sheet Varlamov and only give Washington a second rather than give them a first and second in a trade for a goalie they didn't want.

[Rennadrel]

If Edmonton drafts Yakupov, they are fucked financially if they expect to keep Hall, Eberle, Hopkins and all their other young talent if they draft him and he turns out to be anywhere near as good as he has been in the OHL. They can't build a defence drafting forwards.

[Zeoni]

Was anyone else extremely annoyed by TSN? I know they did something similar last year but fuck man why can't you just do the lottery at the beginning of the show instead of making us listen to that runt voice for 15 minutes. Why not give that tiny idiot and his fat friend some face time AFTER we've learned who has the #1 pick. At this point in time, I could care less about his list of top 10 players when its not even at the draft yet. Fuck TSN, why you so annoying!

[Irony]

Honestly Edmonton should trade this pick and draft a d-man later. They can't just continue drafting forwards....

[Masqerader]

Honestly Edmonton should trade this pick and draft a d-man later. They can't just continue drafting forwards....

always take the best player, they can make moves in other ways, Omark and that Prajaavi kid could bring in a d man for sure

[Greeney]

Honestly Edmonton should trade this pick and draft a d-man later. They can't just continue drafting forwards....

I'd like to see them trade for a dman and later pick a dman too.

[Xevan]

Robert Tychkowski

I'm not going to pretend I like the Canucks.

Nobody likes the Canucks. Nobody outside the sushi dens and granola taverns of Vancouver, anyway.
They whine. They dive. They turtle. They want referees to fight their battles. They are arrogant, they bite people and their fans set fire to police cars.

And that's why we watch them. Say what you will about the Canucks, they are never boring.
Would you throw up a little in your mouth if you saw Ryan Kesler handing the Stanley Cup to Maxim Lapierre? Of course you would.

But if Ottawa is playing on one channel and the Canucks are on another, who are you watching?
Ottawa? Nobody wants to watch vanilla ice cream melt Ñ you're going to watch the hated Canucks because you know you're going to see something good.

Or stupid.

Or good and stupid.

It's usually all of the above with these guys.

Remember Dale Weise, agreeing to fight Shawn Thornton, then hiding behind a linesman when Thornton dropped his gloves? Who on Ottawa can get your blood boiling like that?

Remember Alex Burrows pulling Duncan Keith's hair? Or diving and flailing every time he's touched, then crying about the non calls?

What's more compelling than Roberto Luongo walking a psychological tightrope above GM Place, with his own fans ready to heckle at the first sign of trouble?

Does Lapierre, with his yapping and hacking and never manning up to fight his own battles, represent Canadians, or the way we want hockey played? God, no. But you watch just to see what's going to happen next.

All to the backdrop of former Vancouver play-by-play guy Jim Hughson calling it like he sees it for CBC.

They aren't all bad — Kevin Bieska and the Sedins are among several good honest Canucks Ñ but they are bad enough to make it fun.

And they're good enough to drive you insane.

You watch the Canucks for the same reason people watch villains in wrestling — to see them beaten — but it never seems to happen, which makes them even more infuriating.

You can have your Senators. I'm watching Vancouver. I'm not going to like everything I see, but I can't turn away.

Follow me on TWITTER.com/SUN_TYCHKOWSKI
ROBERT.TYCHKOWSKI@Sunmedia.ca


Bruce Garrioch

When is the last time Henrik and Daniel Sedin took a snowmobile to the Rogers Centre for Vancouver Canucks practice?

I know, it's ridiculous, it never snows on the West Coast of Canada. But just wondering.

Ottawa Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson has done it. He might hail from Sweden, but the 39-year-old owns a couple of sleds. If there's snow on the ground, the odd time he'll put on his helmet and head to practice in style.

Is there a better snapshot of true Canadiana than that particular moment? No way.

Seriously, that could never happen in Vancouver. The twins probably have to climb into their SUV, stop at one of the six Starbucks on the way to the rink for a latte, then show up fashionably late to make sure they're part of the culture.

There is no question, with only two teams from North of the border in the playoffs, Ottawa is Canada's team. The way the Senators have played this year represents everything that Canadians should like in a team.

The Senators have been the underdogs, selected to finish No. 15 overall in the East by The Hockey News. Ottawa has battled the odds to make the post-season. There were no expectations coming into this year. None at all.

Sure, the Toronto Maple Leafs are widely regarded as Canada's team, but they haven't made the playoffs since the lockout ended in 2004, even with genius Brian Burke in charge. The Senators have only missed twice in that stretch.

The Senators' best player is centre Jason Spezza. A pure Canadian in every sense of the word, he has it all: The ability to make plays that lift people out of their seats, good looks and an ÔAw Shucks' personality.

Coach Paul MacLean is beloved on the East Coast and GM Bryan Murray is from the Ottawa Valley. Yes, Vancouver coach Alain Vigneault is one of the best, but the Canucks organization is led by sourpuss former agent Mike Gillis.

It's hard to hate the Senators. The same can't be said for the Canucks. They are Canada's most-disliked team and it's going to be difficult for any fan to get over that hurdle, which is as high as the Rocky Mountains.

bruce.garrioch@sunmedia.ca
Twitter: @sungarrioch

The koolaid, the butthurt. It's glorious.

---------- Post added 2012-04-11 at 05:26 AM ----------

Did an experiment and it seems like there's still some OTA CBCHD being broadcasted. It's better than the 1080i/720p compressed broadcast you'll be seeing, so grab a pair of rabbit ears for it.

[Rennadrel]

Honestly Edmonton should trade this pick and draft a d-man later. They can't just continue drafting forwards....

I don't think for a second that Burke wouldn't trade Schenn plus their 5th overall pick for Edmonton's 1st overall pick this year, however we need to draft a centreman since there clearly isn't a #1 guy in the league available right now.

[Armourboy]

Woot tonight gets it all started, can't wait!

[Rivenda]

Oh yea, Frans Nielsen, Phillip Larsen and Lars Ellers are going to play for Denmark at the IIHF championship. To bad Hansen most likely wont play for Denmark, which is one of the reasons I always hope Nucks wont make the playoff.
While I typed that a question popped in my mind, how big are the IIHF champion ship in US/Canada?
Flyvers vs Penguins, really look forward to see that game tomorrow morning, and it's on TV guess I'll have to record it, and watch it in the big screen insted of 22" sweet.. But you don't care I don't even know why I type that lol. Surprice, I acutally hoped I would be able to watch Hawks' game on the big screen insted of my pc now that they face a team with a dane on it, but I was wrong, they choose to broadcast Bruins... BRUIN? Really? I would have choosen Blues vs Sharks, I should stfu..
Edit: After I read an articel from the TV station that broadcast NHL games, they're saying that Nucks are most likely to find in the Stanly Cup finale, and they put their money on they'll win their first Cup, however in the same articel they're saying that the only serious threat to the Nucks are the Hawks. I lol'd. I personally have Blues over Nucks. But I hope theyr'e right and the Hawks will bring the cup back home to Chicgo.

[conscript]

Oh yea, Frans Nielsen, Phillip Larsen and Lars Ellers are going to play for Denmark at the IIHF championship. To bad Hansen most likely wont play for Denmark, which is one of the reasons I always hope Nucks wont make the playoff.
While I typed that a question popped in my mind, how big are the IIHF champion ship in US/Canada?
Flyvers vs Penguins, really look forward to see that game tomorrow morning, and it's on TV guess I'll have to record it, and watch it in the big screen insted of 22" sweet.. But you don't care I don't even know why I type that lol. Surprice, I acutally hoped I would be able to watch Hawks' game on the big screen insted of my pc now that they face a team with a dane on it, but I was wrong, they choose to broadcast Bruins... BRUIN? Really? I would have choosen Blues vs Sharks, I should stfu..
Edit: After I read an articel from the TV station that broadcast NHL games, they're saying that Nucks are most likely to find in the Stanly Cup finale, and they put their money on they'll win their first Cup, however in the same articel they're saying that the only serious threat to the Nucks are the Hawks. I lol'd. I personally have Blues over Nucks. But I hope theyr'e right and the Hawks will bring the cup back home to Chicgo.

IIHF is big in Canada afaik, practically non-existent in the US. Prior to last year I don't remember there being any games on at all. Now the games that are on, which is very very few, are usually tape delayed several hours which makes them completely fucking pointless.

[Ostrichsized]

The IIHF doesn't exist in the States in any reasonable form on television. I usually have to find a stream somewhere on the tubes.

[Irony]

I don't think for a second that Burke wouldn't trade Schenn plus their 5th overall pick for Edmonton's 1st overall pick this year, however we need to draft a centreman since there clearly isn't a #1 guy in the league available right now.

This is what I'm expecting to happen, Nail in between Lupul and Kessel, could easily become the second best line in the NHL.

[Xevan]

Just remembered this commercial

[Atrea]

Here is a bright lining for Toronto fans! You guys had your first 80 point scorer since 2001-2002 this year in Phil Kessel. See, that trade for Seguin is totally working out! Kessel was also your first 35 goal scorer since 2001-02. How the hell is either one of those things possible? Prior to this season, each post-lockout year has seen a Leaf lead the team with 32 or fewer goals. The leading scorer on the Leafs nets literally half as many goals as Stamkos did by himself this year.

Why the hell didn't Burke offer sheet him? Oh darn they would have lost out on some picks. How many of those first round picks have currently worked out for the Leafs in recent years? I mean seriously how many?
2011-Biggs and Percy, who knows on either of them
2010-Kessel for Seguin deal so kind of working out
2009-Nazim Kadri- Sucks
2008-Schenn- meh, not awful, not a superstar by any means
2007- Traded for Toskala. That worked out well

2008 draft: They took Luke Schenn at 5. Tyler Myers a legit big time NHL D-man went 12th, likely Norris winner Karlsson went 15th, Jordan Eberle went 22nd. Hindsight is 20/20, but they missed big time.

Why not offer sheet Stamkos and give up three first and some other crap for a once in a generation player that would so massively upgrade their offense it wouldn't be funny. The Leafs haven't had a legitimate first line goal scorer since, fuck, ever? Sundin was a 40 goal scorer a couple of times, Andreychuck scored 53 once.

Nazem Kadri is actually a pretty decent player. The problem is, that if you shuffle him back and forth between the Leafs and the Marlies, he won't fit in with either club. He's proven he has the moves, if they'll just give him the ice time to find his groove, I think we'll see a player on par with Joffrey Lupul in a year or two in him.

They put mouthbreathers like Joey Crabb on the ice, but ignore promising prospects like Kadri, because - well, I don't know why.
Probably because Burke is huffing gas.

In other news, Edmonton is given the chance to give a place for another first overall draft pick to languish.
Alberta teams kill promising careers.

[Garbles]

Knock Knock! Who's there? The guy who finished second. The guy who finished second who? Exactly.

[Atrea]

Knock Knock! Who's there? The guy who finished second. The guy who finished second who? Exactly.

Sorry, I live in Vancouver, so I'm allowed to cheer for the Canucks now that the Leafs are out of it.
And WE didn't finish second.