2023-24 NHL Season Thread.

[AceofHarts]

wow Detroit just wow...that looked bad.

---------- Post added 2013-01-22 at 08:03 PM ----------

Tootoo said hi to Larson (Spelling?) in a BIG way...

[Xevan]

Holtby WTF. I thought this guy would be good

[Garbles]

hahahahahaha

http://www.theheckler.com/2013/01/22...part-of-rehab/

[Spectral]

So far, so good, right?
Yeah, no. They've been reported to the police who've started an investigation in the case.
From whom? Probably someone who has nothing better to do than sit around finding reasons for others not to enjoy the sport they don't like to begin with.

Good fight, good bit of sportsmanship at the end. What possible charges would the police even file? That's two consenting men fighting each other in the context of a violent game.

[Irony]

Brunner with his first NHL goal in garbage time.

Now... DETROIT REALLY NEEDS A PUCK MOVING D-MAN.

[Garbles]

And the Hawks stay perfect. Crawford looked solid.
If you've never seen a 3 on 0, say no more.



I would like to see a Hawks vs Blues Winter Classic at Soldier Field in a couple years.

[VanillaO]

Not sure if this was posted a month ago, but this is a pretty ridiculous shootout goal for someone in the ECHL

[Armourboy]

1st Period was horrible, but the last two weren't bad. Best is Suter being on the ice for all 3 goals.

[conscript]

wow Detroit just wow...that looked bad.

---------- Post added 2013-01-22 at 08:03 PM ----------

Tootoo said hi to Larson (Spelling?) in a BIG way...

Ya he hit him just a little bit... Kinda disgusted that he is like one of four Red Wings I am impressed with so far. I don't know if I can handle a world where the Wings aren't good. They've been good since I was like 3 or 4 lol.

---------- Post added 2013-01-23 at 06:51 AM ----------

Looks at the Edmonton/San Jose box score. Sees that Dub gave up 6 goals. Realizes ALL 6 were in the first period. Died laughing. Poor Edmonton. You get the feeling that they are like a goalie and a couple D-men from being a pretty good team. They have so much young talent.

[Armourboy]

Yeah if Tootoo is what is impressive, you're probably in pretty bad shape lol.

[Stommped]

And the Hawks stay perfect. Crawford looked solid.
If you've never seen a 3 on 0, say no more.



I would like to see a Hawks vs Blues Winter Classic at Soldier Field in a couple years.

Did anybody else have flaskbacks to the 5 on 0 Goldberg had to deal with in D2 when Iceland took out the Flying V?

[conscript]

Did anybody else have flaskbacks to the 5 on 0 Goldberg had to deal with in D2 when Iceland took out the Flying V?

I love you.

So I'm starting to think that this is the end of the line for the current era of Red Wings hockey. They have an enormous issue, lack of young excellent talent. Sure they got some decent looking guys like Brunner or Nyquist, but those guys don't hold a candle to other young NHL stars like those in Edmonton. The Red Wings have, simply put, been too good for to long. It left the cupboard bare. Year after year of picking in the 20s-30s or flat out not picking in the first round has left the franchise with a complete dearth of young upper tier players. Who was the last early round Red Wing draft pick that made any sort of significant impact on the team? The answer is Justin Abdelkader. He was drafted in 2005 and he is a third line guy at best! It has been 7 years since the Wings drafted a player who is even now a regular addition to the line up prior to this season. Let that sink in. The Red Wings have not drafted a regular line up piece in SEVEN years.
Draft position in parenthesis. NHL players in bold.
2005- Abdelkader (42), Lofberg (80), Ritola (103), Helm (132), Ryno (137), May (151), Mielonen (175), Stamler (214)
2006- Emmerton (41), Matthias (47), Axelsson (62), Larsson (92), Mursak (182), Oslund (191), Pyett (212)
2007- Smith (27), Andersson (88), Cameron (148), Torquato (178), Rufenach (208)
2008- McCollum (30), Nicastro (91), Nyquist (121), Cayer (151), Johnston (181), Samuelsson (211)
2009- Ferraro (32), Tatar (60), Nestrasil (75), Fournier (90), Jensen (150), Callahan (180), Almqvist (210)
2010- Sheahan (21), Jarnkrok (51), Aubry (81), Pulkkinen (111), Mrazek (141), Macek (171), Marshall (201)
2011- Jurco (35), Ouellet (48), Sproul (55), Quine (85), Tvrdon (115), Hudon (145), Backman (146), Nedomlel (175), Marchenko (205)
2012- Frk (49), Paterson (80), Athanasiou (110), McKee(140), de Haas (170), Bodin (200)

In the past eight drafts, the Detroit Red Wings have drafted FOUR NHL contributors, two of which just started contributing last freaking year. There is some decent young talent floating around (Nyquist, Tatar, etc.) but it is making exactly zero impact on the big club which hasn't won a Cup in several years let alone looked like a legitimate Cup threat. In 8 years, the Wings drafted in the first round 4 times, never higher than 21. Only a single one of those four is a legit NHL talent, Brendan Smith. Sheahan is barely just now starting to make an impact in Grand Rapids. McCollum is awful. Ferraro doesn't look NHL ready. So what am I saying?

The Red Wings begin good at talent evaluation is a fucking myth. It is. We've gotten so wrapped up in the myth that the Wings are good at this because of Datsyuk and Zetterberg, both late round picks that have become top tier NHL players. The Wings haven't pulled off anything like that since. Anything even close to it. The Wings third best player, Franzen, was taken with the 94th pick. The Wings have become drunk on this idea of mortgaging the future in order to add a piece here or there. Its led to one Cup and one Cup loss in the last decade. That isn't bad all things considered, but this philosophy has bankrupted the talent pool of the NHL club. Oh joy the Wings have a ton of low NHL level, but mid-high AHL talent thanks to their savvy drafting. Baby, the Griffins ain't the team paying the bills here, the Red Wings are and they have been bankrupt on young home grown talent that makes a significant impact for going on 9 years now.

But you say there is more to this equation than simply drafting. The Red Wings have history. They have legacy. They are a free agent destination! To this, I say Bull Fucking Shit. Who was the last big name free agent the Wings attracted? Hossa. For a fucking year. This season, the Wings attracted what the 4th best Defenseman on the market. They did this while having TONS or cap space. Outside of Bertuzzi , Stuart, and White, the Wings haven't made a significant free agent acquisition in fucking years. So not only are they not adding young talent that can actually produce in the NHL to the pool, they aren't adding proven NHL talent that will make a significant impact through free agency either. What we end up with is a team of guys all drafted 2004 or prior, built on the bones of greats and as those greats have left, the cupboard has grown barer and barer.

The Wings haven't drafted worth shit in almost a decade since plucking Franzen and Filp in the 90s in 03 and 04, they haven't made smart trades that are anything more than band-aids to try and win now which haven't at all paid off (Hi Quincey!), and they aren't a free agent destination seeing as they never sign any free agents even with their enormous cap space that is going to go to free agents Ken Holland swears it. So what are the Red Wings? Are they a team skating by on the dream of continuing their playoff streak, nothing more and nothing less? Is Illitch too cheap to actually pony up money for free agents which is why the Red Wings never seem to add anyone of significance? Is Ken Holland just not very good at his job in the salary cap world? There is only one thing I know for sure. The Wings are a mediocre team that struggles to produce offensively because they only have four-five real offensive threats, that struggles to control teams because their defensive core is a lackluster bunch of guys that has been held together by the greatest to ever touch the ice for the last 20 years, and that is going nowhere but down from here. There is no magical pipeline of young players coming. If they were we wouldn't see Holland wearing the years off of guys like Tatar and Nyquist by keeping them in Grand Rapids to age while stocking the big club with random crap signings. There are too many role players and not enough stars on the team thanks to the horrible track record of drafting and signing over the last decade or so. The Wings are facing a bleak, bleak future.

[Stommped]

I didn't realize that Holmstrom hadn't officialy retired yet until I just saw that press release. Was he seriously considering playing this year?

[Zippster]

Ian white is out for a couple of weeks now too. It's not looking good for the wings

[Greeney]

I didn't realize that Holmstrom hadn't officialy retired yet until I just saw that press release. Was he seriously considering playing this year?

I think he was only going to play if the Wings re-signed him.

---------- Post added 2013-01-23 at 02:51 PM ----------

Ian white is out for a couple of weeks now too. It's not looking good for the wings

They'll be fine when they draft some guy from Europe with a strange surname in the seventh round who turns out to be an All Star... again.

[conscript]

They'll be fine when they draft some guy from Europe with a strange surname in the seventh round who turns out to be an All Star... again.

Hi. You should look at that giant post like three up. The Wings haven't done that or even something similar in over a decade. In fact, you could say they are pretty damn bad at drafting over the last decade.

That White injury really makes me depressed. The Wings are in serious, serious trouble here. They seriously need to consider a trade like now. Stop toying with guys like Tatar forcing them to stay in Grand Rapids when they could produce in the NHL and just freaking move them already for a piece we desperately need who will help long term, not just this season.

[Greeney]

Hi. You should look at that giant post like three up. The Wings haven't done that or even something similar in over a decade. In fact, you could say they are pretty damn bad at drafting over the last decade.

Meh, maybe they'll end up just barely missing the playoffs, getting the new anyone outside the playoffs can win the new draft lottery, and drafting Seth Jones then. Something ridiculously unexpected always seems to happen in Detroit's favour.

[Zeoni]

Arms wide open for you here!

[conscript]

Meh, maybe they'll end up just barely missing the playoffs, getting the new anyone outside the playoffs can win the new draft lottery, and drafting Seth Jones then. Something ridiculously unexpected always seems to happen in Detroit's favour.

Hard Penis bro. That is what that would be. 1) It gets Detroit a black player, something that should have happened years and years ago in an effort to build community in a heavily black area. 2) Seth Jones is good.

Note: I feel like I rally on this point constantly, but the NHL does such a disservice to the black community. The NHL constantly whines about growing the sport and just completely ignores that segment of the population which has frankly produced some damn good players from both Canada and the US. Instead local media vilifies the guys (Winnipeg), you have racist incidents with fans (Simmonds), and just other stupid nonsense. Want to build a bigger tv audience, youth system, etc.? Open the freaking marketing up don't base everything in the damn campaign around 1-2 players (ala Ovie vs Crosby for the last half decade).

[VanillaO]

If you need any help understanding what having a shit team feels like, there are a number of fans here for teams who haven't made the playoffs in a couple years... and then there's the Leafs fans like me. In time you will grow to just stop caring whether they win or lose. In time, you will probably feel very little if they ever do win it all.

You've just had the (mis?)fortune of having usch a good, competitive team for so many freaking years, that you've become spoiled with expectation. WELCOME TO HELL, DETROIT! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAA!!!

I'm not taunting you, either.. It's just nice to see such a perennial powerhouse feel one tiny bit of what Leafs fans have felt like for a decade. I know the comparison is weak, because even in the 90s, they weren't a powerhouse for any extended periods, but throw me a bone here.