2023-24 NHL Season Thread.

[Zeoni]

https://twitter.com/Russostrib/statu...66425250271232

[Masqerader]

https://twitter.com/Russostrib/statu...66425250271232

Too bad he was slow in net. He really is nothing more then an average goalie who benefited from having good teams in front of him..as for philly.. everyone knows goalies go to die there.

[Zeoni]

Too bad he was slow in net. He really is nothing more then an average goalie who benefited from having good teams in front of him..as for philly.. everyone knows goalies go to die there.

I thought he was pretty good in Phoenix early in his career when he had Sean Burke as a goalie coach. Dude made Mike Smith into a pretty solid goalie too.

[Rosh]

Too bad he was slow in net. He really is nothing more then an average goalie who benefited from having good teams in front of him..as for philly.. everyone knows goalies go to die there.

i beg the difference. bigtime.
Bryzgalov is one hell of a goalie. He's still in with the elites. not many goalies can sit with a .913 save % over his Career (445 games) and that is after 2 seasons in Flyers where he had by far a none excistant defense.
Not only that but also for coyotes he had shit defense, yet he managed to pull out.921 % in his first season with them, followed by a worse .906% season that was again, followed up by 2 good seasons in a row with .920% and .922%

Philadelphia destroys goalies, but the fact that he's still in NHL shows he wont give in. He had .908 save % in a even worse defensive team(Oilers) than Flyers this season. i'm actually surprised he didnt say "fuck you all" to flyers. but then again he is one of the most patient and humble people in NHL.
Bryz got so bad reputation only because of Flyers and their fans, everyone hung him out to dry, and focused on his flaws and goals while ignoring all the times he stole games singelhandedly.

So saying he benefited on having a "Good" team infront of him is wrong. A team aint good with only good offense, it requires a defense aswell.
Something Bryz has done great without.

And note this. Bryzgalov got signed by a team that has the worlds best goalie staff and goalie coaches. + he has a team with defense infront of him (finally after 10 years) thats everything Flyers doesent have. they gave FA interest in coaching their goalies.

He could perhaps end up not being their #1 goalie this season, but with him being trained in Minnesota will only increase his chances dramatically. It's not going to be easy at all since Minnesota has Kuemper and Harding (IF he ever gets back to NHL with his MS). Backstrom's injuries are plaguing him too much so would not be surprised if he gets sent down.

Worst case scenario he will still be one hell of a backup goalie, and a mentor for Kuemper as he's been around for a VERY long time and been through ALOT of shit, and survived.

- - - Updated - - -

The NHL salary cap next season will not rise to $71M, as was forecast by the league, and instead will hover around $68M ($4M increase from this season) because of the significant depreciation of the Canadian dollar. The salary cap is based on league revenues and about 33% is generated from the Canadian market! The impact of the Rogers' new $5.2 Billion Canadian NHL broadcast rights deal won't be felt, in salary cap terms, until the 2015-16 season.

[Masqerader]

Phoenix and Anahiem were strong defensively... then he goes to philly who prides itself on overpaying for D-man and he gets shelled.

Moves to edmonton.. not really much of a chance their.

[Tradewind]

Vancouver down 5-0 to Dallas.. Kassian probably getting suspended again. Lou probably laughing his ass off


It really is funny how Gillis traded away their future.. and have nothing to show for it.

Nobody at work could understand why I was so giddy at Vancouver's trade day flop...they had a choice, either resign themselves to not making the playoffs or decide to go for it and make a move to improve their absolutely abysmal scoring. Kesler was the key to it all imo...you either keep him if you're going for it or trade him if you're calling it quits. But if you keep him, you had better get something at the deadline...and they didn't do shiiiiiit. At least for them he's not going to UFA this year but grats to Vancouver fans on no prospects and likely no playoffs!

[Epuration]

well the only way to keep my sanity is to be convinced the canucks are trying to drop all the way to 30th to draft someone good -.-

[draynay]

I remember when Bryzgalov was first starting out with the ducks, at first he was just the latest ducks backup with a complicated last name, but then he came up big in the post-season. He only got better after getting his shot to be a #1 with the coyotes, he was a real deal goalie but he is on the tail end of it now, plus I'd rather have him than some schmuck like Tim Thomas, at least Bryzgalov is an entertaining guy.

[Deleted]

I think it was a pretty smart move by the Wild. Bryzgalov is still a decent NHL goaltender and they really needed a mentor for Kuemper. Kuemper has been fine so far but it is his very first season, Backstrom is out 'til next season and lord knows when (or if) Harding will be back. Something had to happen there, and you can hardly get one who has been through so many ups and downs than Bryz.

[Stommped]

Vancouver down 5-0 to Dallas.. Kassian probably getting suspended again. Lou probably laughing his ass off


It really is funny how Gillis traded away their future.. and have nothing to show for it.

At least they didn't trade Kesler? Though at this point I'm not really sure what the point of keeping him was. Supposedly the Hawks offered a combination of Leddy (Another Redditor said Saad instead, but this would be too much imo) + picks/prospects. Not sure why you wouldn't take that when your team is spiraling into rebuilding mode.

[Zeoni]

At least they didn't trade Kesler? Though at this point I'm not really sure what the point of keeping him was. Supposedly the Hawks offered a combination of Leddy (Another Redditor said Saad instead, but this would be too much imo) + picks/prospects. Not sure why you wouldn't take that when your team is spiraling into rebuilding mode.

Judging by what everyone went else for, that seems like a bit much. Also Gillis said he won't trade him to a Western conference team so there's that as well. No need to have the guy burn your team 3 times a year + possibly in the playoffs. They're likely going to trade him when free agency opens July 1. He has term left on his contract, makes reasonable money and is a pretty ideal 2nd line center. If they shop him at the draft I'm sure they'll get a juicy deal like that but that depends if Gillis gets fired / how the new GM does.

[VanillaO]

Kesler is gone by July 1st. I absolutely guarantee it - he looks miserable these days. My best bet is Pittsburgh, Boston, Philly or New Jersey if he's really limited to non-Canadian Eastern teams... I think he would be great on Montreal personally... so I'm glad he doesn't want to play for any Canadian teams.

As for Philly being where goalies go to die, I kind of disagree - they had a string of pretty mediocre goaltending that was made by better by good systems and quality 2-way players for a long time. Bryz is NOT in the NHL elite anymore. It's easy to say he has a .913 career SV%... but if you look at everything after Phoenix, it's a gong show. His career % is being propped up by a few very good seasons in Phoenix, and he's 33 - definitely on the back end of his career. He's a decent goalie, and a good pickup by Minnesota for a playoff run, but he's not the kind of goalie capable of elevating his play with his team down 2-0 in a series to steal it like the elites in this game can today.

Back to Philly, though, Steve Mason hasn't had numbers this good since his rookie year (aka the only year Columbus ever made the playoffs). Philly isn't a better team in front of him defensively, and not much better offensively than Columbus the last couple years. Again, the Flyers just had shit goalie after shit goalie for like 5-6 years. Career backups who elevated their play for 5-10 games at a time and then fell apart after 30-40. Bobrosvky was legitimately bad with them - you can argue he won a Vezina after leaving there all you want, but he was no better than league average while there. Emery on his last go round there was not good. Leighton not good. Niitymakki atrocious. Esche average. Cechmanek was the last time they had a bonafide goalie stealing games on the regular and that was 12 years ago. Having watched the circus that was the Leafs' goalie depth since Joseph left (minus 2 seasons of Belfour being... ok), I am quite familiar with how this goes.

As for who the elite goalies in the NHL are today (and I don't mean this season, I mean career wise), I would say it would be Lundqvist, Schneider, Quick, Rask, Hiller.. Rinne.. maybe Price. Brodeur obviously one of the best 3 to play the game, but he hasn't really been very good for 4-5 years now, save for one beautiful crack at a 4th Cup.

[Zeoni]

As for who the elite goalies in the NHL are today (and I don't mean this season, I mean career wise), I would say it would be Lundqvist, Schneider, Quick, Rask, Hiller.. Rinne.. maybe Price. Brodeur obviously one of the best 3 to play the game, but he hasn't really been very good for 4-5 years now, save for one beautiful crack at a 4th Cup.

Do you think Niemi is elite? Cup winner, Vezina finalist last season, solid #s. I think goalies are broken down into tiers of elite.

Quick, Rask, Lundqvist are top tier best 3 goalies in the world currently. Below them is a sub-tier with Rinne, Miller, Niemi, Hiller. The rest are varying potential. Marc-Andre Fleury can be elite but recent playoff performance has been god awful. He's having a pretty good season so far and is a god in the shootout which should count for something considering it's a part of the game that determines standings. Guys like Schneider, Price, Bobrovski, even Mike Smith have shown they can be top flight goalies at times but can also be flops. I also think Kari Lehtonen is fairly underrated. Dallas' defense core is pretty shotty and he's still posting -alright- numbers. Nothing special but what can you do on a not so strong defensive team. Bernier will become elite in the following years, he really has been amazing for you guys. Ben Bishop has been an absolute beast too, I wonder if he's done good enough for Vezina votes.

Personally I think the top 5 goalies currently in the league from 1-5 would be Tukka Rask, Jonathon Quick, Henrik Lundqvist, Pekka Rinne, Ryan Miller in that order. Lundqvist numbers are very mediocre by his standards, I think he's suffering from not having the shot blocking defensive system of Torterella.

http://prohockeytalk.nbcsports.com/2...okies-tonight/ the boys

[Tradewind]

niiiiiiice Wotherspoon getting a chance.

[Rosh]

As for Philly being where goalies go to die, I kind of disagree - they had a string of pretty mediocre goaltending that was made by better by good systems and quality 2-way players for a long time. Bryz is NOT in the NHL elite anymore. It's easy to say he has a .913 career SV%... but if you look at everything after Phoenix, it's a gong show. His career % is being propped up by a few very good seasons in Phoenix, and he's 33 - definitely on the back end of his career. He's a decent goalie, and a good pickup by Minnesota for a playoff run, but he's not the kind of goalie capable of elevating his play with his team down 2-0 in a series to steal it like the elites in this game can today.

Back to Philly, though, Steve Mason hasn't had numbers this good since his rookie year (aka the only year Columbus ever made the playoffs). Philly isn't a better team in front of him defensively, and not much better offensively than Columbus the last couple years. Again, the Flyers just had shit goalie after shit goalie for like 5-6 years. Career backups who elevated their play for 5-10 games at a time and then fell apart after 30-40. Bobrosvky was legitimately bad with them - you can argue he won a Vezina after leaving there all you want, but he was no better than league average while there. Emery on his last go round there was not good. Leighton not good. Niitymakki atrocious. Esche average. Cechmanek was the last time they had a bonafide goalie stealing games on the regular and that was 12 years ago. Having watched the circus that was the Leafs' goalie depth since Joseph left (minus 2 seasons of Belfour being... ok), I am quite familiar with how this goes.

As for who the elite goalies in the NHL are today (and I don't mean this season, I mean career wise), I would say it would be Lundqvist, Schneider, Quick, Rask, Hiller.. Rinne.. maybe Price. Brodeur obviously one of the best 3 to play the game, but he hasn't really been very good for 4-5 years now, save for one beautiful crack at a 4th Cup.

Its absolutely NOT easy to say he had a .913 career. You have to actually see the teams he's been in, not alot of goalies could've put up those numbers in teams without any defense. For example have a look at Marc andre fleury. His career stats is at .910. Kari Lehtonen @ .915% - Niemi @ .916 - Even Ryan Miller has had .916 over his career. And miller is by far one of the best elite goalies in NHL still.
i'd list alot more goalies but the defense around for example Lundqvist has just been #1 and he is a good goalie aswell.

and 33 is by far not the "back end" of his career. its actually where most goalies are in their prime. Between 28-36.
Lundqviust is 32 and not even close to slowing down. Niemi is 30, Hiller is 32, Lehtonen 30, Miller 33 etc.

i can say this. The goaltending 5 years from now will be insane. Because we have the incredible talents in younger players like Price, Rask, Scrivens(He will be one of the elite goalies no doubt), Bobrovsky, Varlamov, Quick, Harding, Kuemper, Lack, list goes on and on.

The Goalie coaching seriously began with those people, the training Niemi, smith etc had was less because when they first got introduced the goalie coaching werent a huge factor anywhere. Most of them practiced on their own with shooters they asked to stay behind after practice, like Lundqvist did.

Picture for example Price with his broad experience already at age 33. cant wait and i hope him and the other kids avoid injuries that comes with the Butterfly style (very, very hard on your knees.)

I agree fully on the elite goalies are who you mention. Brodeur should've retired several years ago. his playstyle is outdated and game is evolving while he's slowing down.

everyone knew Flyers gave fuck all interest in their goalies, they even had a go at the goalies blaming them so for Bobrovsky to underperform and not do that well in that clubs shows how bad they are with goalies. And by showing the fans that they disrespected the goalies made fans do exactly the same.

You simply dont go from having a bad season to winning Vezina Trophy after a trade if its not your team causing it.
None will get that good in a short amount of time, its all about the mental aspect (which is such a huge factor for goalies).

As for mr "Razor" (Emery) Should never have joined Philly. it was a huge fail on their part to aquire him. everyone with a pair of eyes could see that he was a shit goalie that cared more for alcohol than the game itself. He got simply and honestly Carried by Chicago Blackhawks and their defense.
But then again i'll keep to the thing that makes sense to me why they got him. they wanted a new Hextall. Silly reason but it's the only logical and stupid thing i can come up with

- - - Updated - - -

Do you think Niemi is elite? Cup winner, Vezina finalist last season, solid #s. I think goalies are broken down into tiers of elite.

Quick, Rask, Lundqvist are top tier best 3 goalies in the world currently. Below them is a sub-tier with Rinne, Miller, Niemi, Hiller. The rest are varying potential. Marc-Andre Fleury can be elite but recent playoff performance has been god awful. He's having a pretty good season so far and is a god in the shootout which should count for something considering it's a part of the game that determines standings. Guys like Schneider, Price, Bobrovski, even Mike Smith have shown they can be top flight goalies at times but can also be flops. I also think Kari Lehtonen is fairly underrated. Dallas' defense core is pretty shotty and he's still posting -alright- numbers. Nothing special but what can you do on a not so strong defensive team. Bernier will become elite in the following years, he really has been amazing for you guys. Ben Bishop has been an absolute beast too, I wonder if he's done good enough for Vezina votes.

Personally I think the top 5 goalies currently in the league from 1-5 would be Tukka Rask, Jonathon Quick, Henrik Lundqvist, Pekka Rinne, Ryan Miller in that order. Lundqvist numbers are very mediocre by his standards, I think he's suffering from not having the shot blocking defensive system of Torterella.

http://prohockeytalk.nbcsports.com/2...okies-tonight/ the boys

Niemi is a good goalie but he's been shaky this season sadly. And he does not work that good anymore under pressure, especially having Stalock stealing gametime from him.

I wouldnt put Quick in the top tier just yet. he still has alot to work on, especially his agressiveness in the net. if he gets that under controll he will be by far one of the best elite goalies in NHL history. If he sticks to the gameplan like Miller's style which is staying somewhat on the crease line (circle around) instead of far outwards, then he would be 99% perfect.

I'd most definately as of now put Lundqvist, Miller, Hiller, Lehtonen and Rask in the highest bracket with Rinne, Niemi, Scrivens, Harding, Fleury, Smith and Bishop following. Scrivs, harding, and bishop is probably the closest to the biggest elite level in NHL. IF scrivens keeps up his insane goaltending.
Just hope Oilers wont destroy him because he is by far the one in my eyes that might be the new Roy/hasek/brodeur in NHL.


Lundqvist has without a doubt had issues adjusting. Rangers was a completely new team with Vigneault in charge. They changed their defense 100% which is why it took so long for him and the team to get used to it.
Atm he's still in Olympic mode which is showing quite clearly. he should bounce back soon, perhaps tonight vs Carolina is a perfect timing.



And Flames will beat Islanders with their 8 rookies, no doubt. They've come a long way since the first games in NHL, so has Buffalo that somehow plays better lately even with all the trades lol

[Zeoni]

You're kidding right? Quick is incredible. Have you seen how many goals L.A. scores a game? If he's not amazing like that, Kings don't win the cup the year before last. They don't even make the playoffs if he isn't as amazing as he is. Even in the Olympics he was a god damn wall. Canada beat him on a ridiculous tip play. Plus that GAA is just stupid low.

[Rosh]

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nhl-pu...180131158.html

This is incredible entertaining to read haha

- - - Updated - - -

You're kidding right? Quick is incredible. Have you seen how many goals L.A. scores a game? If he's not amazing like that, Kings don't win the cup the year before last. They don't even make the playoffs if he isn't as amazing as he is. Even in the Olympics he was a god damn wall. Canada beat him on a ridiculous tip play. Plus that GAA is just stupid low.

I have not said he is bad. But he has room to improve. His reckless plays at times is the times he lets in goals, also challenging players way out when there is no need for it and so easy to get a cross over pass (which has happend several times) is something he needs to work on.
Los angeles kings i'd say is top 3 defensive teams in the league, they've done ALOT of the work around quick. Have you seen any goalie lately doing a "poor" job under the defense?

Quick is one hell of a goalie and with time we will see him go back deep i the crease rather than the way he plays now. Even Bill Ranford has told him this noumerus times, that he wants him deeper in the crease for more safety, not only for him but also to reduce stress on the defense.

[Tradewind]

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nhl-pu...180131158.html

This is incredible entertaining to read haha

lol so much win

lol 3 games for Kassian...the meltdown in Vancouver continues.

[Drikkink]

Kesler is gone by July 1st. I absolutely guarantee it - he looks miserable these days. My best bet is Pittsburgh, Boston, Philly or New Jersey if he's really limited to non-Canadian Eastern teams... I think he would be great on Montreal personally... so I'm glad he doesn't want to play for any Canadian teams.

As for Philly being where goalies go to die, I kind of disagree - they had a string of pretty mediocre goaltending that was made by better by good systems and quality 2-way players for a long time. Bryz is NOT in the NHL elite anymore. It's easy to say he has a .913 career SV%... but if you look at everything after Phoenix, it's a gong show. His career % is being propped up by a few very good seasons in Phoenix, and he's 33 - definitely on the back end of his career. He's a decent goalie, and a good pickup by Minnesota for a playoff run, but he's not the kind of goalie capable of elevating his play with his team down 2-0 in a series to steal it like the elites in this game can today.

Back to Philly, though, Steve Mason hasn't had numbers this good since his rookie year (aka the only year Columbus ever made the playoffs). Philly isn't a better team in front of him defensively, and not much better offensively than Columbus the last couple years. Again, the Flyers just had shit goalie after shit goalie for like 5-6 years. Career backups who elevated their play for 5-10 games at a time and then fell apart after 30-40. Bobrosvky was legitimately bad with them - you can argue he won a Vezina after leaving there all you want, but he was no better than league average while there. Emery on his last go round there was not good. Leighton not good. Niitymakki atrocious. Esche average. Cechmanek was the last time they had a bonafide goalie stealing games on the regular and that was 12 years ago. Having watched the circus that was the Leafs' goalie depth since Joseph left (minus 2 seasons of Belfour being... ok), I am quite familiar with how this goes.

As for who the elite goalies in the NHL are today (and I don't mean this season, I mean career wise), I would say it would be Lundqvist, Schneider, Quick, Rask, Hiller.. Rinne.. maybe Price. Brodeur obviously one of the best 3 to play the game, but he hasn't really been very good for 4-5 years now, save for one beautiful crack at a 4th Cup.

You forget Biron, who had a painfully average time in Philly and Boucher, who had a painfully average season, amazing playoffs (along with Leighton) carrying them to the finals.

[Tradewind]

Only Philly goaltender who matters is Ron "Fuck You With a Stick" Hextall.