2023-24 NHL Season Thread.

[Tindril]

Good job LA they deserved the trophey!!!

[Rennadrel]

I am really happy the Kings won the Cup, the most worthy under dog in all of sports had to be them and they did everything right to win it. Sure, they dropped two games again NJ but they came out hungry for a victory last night. All I know is that Steve Bernier really fucked the Devils over with that boarding on Scuderi and I hope that the league investigates it and deals with him accordingly. There is nothing more disgraceful then boarding someone so blatantly like that, regardless of the time of the season. That was such a stupid ass play and he deserves a suspension to start next season.

[flam]

Nice to see them win their 1st cup. Nice to know 1 of the 3 LA teams knows how to get the job done. Enjoy the off-season!

[Garbles]

Good job LA they deserved the trophey!!!

Its called the cup.

[Greeney]

Anyone able to find a picture of Hextall holding the cup yet? Still cant find one =/ And I've only seen a little glimpse of Gagne holding it as well.

For Hextall (need Facebook) > https://t.co/ZgNiUsZv
For Gagne > http://kings.nhl.com/ > Celebration > Click Gagne

Next time I charge!

Nice to see them win their 1st cup. Nice to know 1 of the 3 LA teams knows how to get the job done. Enjoy the off-season!

Unlike Anaheim? O_o
Kind of embarrassing 2 Florida teams won and a Canadian team hasn't since the last time LA went to the finals. <_<

[conscript]

For Hextall (need Facebook) > https://t.co/ZgNiUsZv
For Gagne > http://kings.nhl.com/ > Celebration > Click Gagne

Next time I charge!



Unlike Anaheim? O_o
Kind of embarrassing 2 Florida teams won and a Canadian team hasn't since the last time LA went to the finals. <_<

If the NHL relocates all the teams back to Canada they can finally get the Cup back! Are any of the Canadian teams even close? Vancouver could be or they could lose in the first round. Edmonton and Montreal are fucking horrible. The Leafs are super mediocre. The Sens could either make the playoffs or be the worst team in the NHL next year, who knows. Get your shit together Canada.

[Zoma]

You forgot Calgary and Winnipeg.

[Greeney]

If the NHL relocates all the teams back to Canada they can finally get the Cup back! Are any of the Canadian teams even close? Vancouver could be or they could lose in the first round. Edmonton and Montreal are fucking horrible. The Leafs are super mediocre. The Sens could either make the playoffs or be the worst team in the NHL next year, who knows. Get your shit together Canada.

Calgary just needs to rebuild, ASAP.
Montreal is shit.
Jets were in a rebuilding stage at the start of the year.
Leafs will have their fail for a month yet again, hopefully they can at least make the playoffs though.
Ottawa made good moves with Karlsson and Anderson, but realistically, they're hardly any closer to the cup than the Leafs or Jets. If they get some offensive talent they might be able to lose in the SC finals again.
Vancouver is the only one which seems like they have a shot at the cup next year, but rest assured that it won't happen.
Edmonton is going to be great in a couple years with a couple d-men and a capable goalie (as Khabibulin is getting too old).

[PickleballAce]

Good work getting handed the Cup. I fucking knew the NHL wanted LA to win, but I didn't think they'd be so blatantly obvious about it. If you're gonna toss one guy for hitting from behind when someone turns into the hit, you need to call it when the Kings do the same thing. There's a reason other sports fans don't take hockey seriously, and the terrible officiating is a huge part.

Except it wasn't the same thing.

The hit on Scuderi gets called every time, especially when you have a player driving through the hit. The hit on Gionta is maybe a minor and is one of those infractions that is so benign that there's no chance it'd even be called if it happened in overtime. If the whole Scuderi deal happens in the second period and the Kings pour it on then instead, nobody would even remember the "non-call" on Stoll.

The Devils played a spirited series and were only clearly worse in two games. Could have very easily gone the other direction.

If there was ever a team that would tie into NHL conspiracy theories, it'd be their pet franchise in Phoenix...but we all know how that worked out.

[Irony]

Unlike Anaheim? O_o
Kind of embarrassing 2 Florida teams won and a Canadian team hasn't since the last time LA went to the finals. <_<

2 teams? Tampa Bay and...? I'll assume you mean Carolina, who are located in North Carolina...

---------- Post added 2012-06-13 at 07:28 AM ----------

If the NHL relocates all the teams back to Canada they can finally get the Cup back! Are any of the Canadian teams even close? Vancouver could be or they could lose in the first round. Edmonton and Montreal are fucking horrible. The Leafs are super mediocre. The Sens could either make the playoffs or be the worst team in the NHL next year, who knows. Get your shit together Canada.

Montreal is the worst team in the league come next season.
Calgary will continue to bandage their shit team into 10th place.
Toronto will miss the playoffs again, unless they pick one goalie to start and hire a new goalie coach.
Ottawa were a fluke and I doubt make the playoffs.
Winnipeg could be a threat with another top 6 forward.
Edmonton will improve once again by being the 3rd worst team in the league. Behind the Canadiens and Isles.
Vancouver will either go to the cup finals or collapsed and finish third in the West. All depends on Schneider.

[Zeoni]

Vancouver has the biggest window I'd say right now. The Eastern Canadian teams really have a better chance than the West considering pretty much anyone in the East can make it to the finals, then all you gotta do is play a solid series. The West just has much stronger matchups when it comes to the playoffs. If Edmonton or Calgary make the playoffs next year they will be a 7 or 8 seed at least and will promptly get rolled by the Canucks or whoever finishes first/second in the West. The window is wide open in the East imo mainly because there is only 1 exceptional goalie. Winnipeg has a decent team there + playing in that division could be huge. If they could take the division and claim home ice for some of the playoffs, I can see the Jet's making a run at the cup in the near future.

Canuck's > Jets > Sens > Oilers =/= Leafs > Flames > Canadiens as far as Canadian teams I can possibly see winning a cup in the next 5-6 years. It's all about getting to the playoffs in the first place. From there, really anything can happen. As cliche as that sounds, it's true. You never know who is going to randomly have a monster playoff year (Cammalari for MTL). One other huge thing is of all the Canadian teams, only Vancouver, Montreal, and Calgary really have that great goalie who can take their team to the playoffs. Kiprusoff is at the end of his prime and close to career but I still consider him a great goalie. Good goal tending is a HUGE difference as seen by the Cup Champion and so many other teams that failed (Philly, as one example).

I think if Vancouver got rid of Burrows and brought in a proven performer they could take it home but really, no one else is realistically close. Edmonton is still rebuilding and don't even look ready to contend for top 8. Calgary Flames management are too attached to Inginla and Kiprusoff for the team to start a small rebuild towards the future. Winnipeg just seems like they need a couple more pieces to the puzzle. A solid D-man and a 20 goal scorer and they might make some noise. Toronto feels like a train wreck waiting to happen for some reason. Until they have the confidence in 1 goalie, they're in the same position they've been in. Players continue to age. Sens are interesting, they're not exactly a dominant looking team on paper but they all show up. Alfredson has to be at the end of his career, if they can pull off what they did this year and not draw a healthy Ranger team, they could go far. I'm not sure how confident I am in Craig Anderson to bring them to the Finals though.

While it would be awesome to see a Cup won on Canadian soil, does it really matter? The guys we're watching out there are almost all Canadian anyways.

[conscript]

Calgary just needs to rebuild, ASAP.

Lol I forgot Calgary existed when I typed that post. And Winnipeg technically.

[Asera]

If the NHL relocates all the teams back to Canada they can finally get the Cup back! Are any of the Canadian teams even close? Vancouver could be or they could lose in the first round. Edmonton and Montreal are fucking horrible. The Leafs are super mediocre. The Sens could either make the playoffs or be the worst team in the NHL next year, who knows. Get your shit together Canada.

Just adding my 2cents as well,

Ottawa could make the playoffs and lose in round 1 or maybe 2 again next year, assuming they get a clutch trade. I'm not sure who they have in development. If Alfredsson suddenly retires, they're beyond fucked.
Montréal is in dire need of restructuring at more levels than just the team. I'd be surprised if they make the post season at all in the next 2 years. If they do they'll only do it because of "Carry" Price.
Toronto is Toronto.
Calgary is probably in the same boat as Montréal.
Edmonton will be dangerous soon. How soon? That remains to be seen.
Winnipeg needs a couple clutch trades/acquisitions and they could contend, easily in the shitty SE division at least.
Vancouver, probably in the best position of all of them, but since they resigned their coach... all I see is imminent collapse yet again.

[conscript]

The Devils let the deadline pass for surrendering their first round pick this year as a punishment for the Kovy deal. So apparently they are going to hold it and hope to get an even lower one at some point to forfeit for less value.

---------- Post added 2012-06-13 at 11:06 AM ----------

Edmonton will be dangerous soon. How soon? That remains to be seen.

Seeing as that is a team with 3-4 players that are absolutely locked into their roster spots and the rest are incredibly meh, I wouldn't hold my breath.

[Irony]

The Devils let the deadline pass for surrendering their first round pick this year as a punishment for the Kovy deal. So apparently they are going to hold it and hope to get an even lower one at some point to forfeit for less value.

---------- Post added 2012-06-13 at 11:06 AM ----------



Seeing as that is a team with 3-4 players that are absolutely locked into their roster spots and the rest are incredibly meh, I wouldn't hold my breath.

Surprised NJ didn't give up their first rounder this year. I doubt over the next two years they're really gonna be as good. I guess they're praying one of the 9 good puck moving d-men in the first round drop to them, I really doubt that though.

As for Edmonton I'm honestly done with thinking they're gonna be dominant, most teams in a rebuilding phase actually improve after 5 years.

[Zeoni]

Depends if they get a good goalie / develop Devin Dubnyk in the upcoming years imo. High level goalie's make bad/mediocre teams so much better. I think another huge problem was they really didn't have any veteran presence the first year of Hall/Eberle's careers. They're also throwing these guys right into the NHL. If most teams took notes from Detroit and actually let their players develop in the minors for a few years, they'd be much better. Sure Eberle and RNH had great years last year, but they could be that much better with 1-2 years down.

[conscript]

Depends if they get a good goalie / develop Devin Dubnyk in the upcoming years imo. High level goalie's make bad/mediocre teams so much better. I think another huge problem was they really didn't have any veteran presence the first year of Hall/Eberle's careers. They're also throwing these guys right into the NHL. If most teams took notes from Detroit and actually let their players develop in the minors for a few years, they'd be much better. Sure Eberle and RNH had great years last year, but they could be that much better with 1-2 years down.

I read in like six places today the Devils kept that pick because they are either drafting PK Subban's brother there or using that pick in a trade to move up and draft him if necessary. The dude is supposed to be a damn good goalie.

I mentioned this in the other thread, but the Wings should in theory start to get a deal done next year to build a new stadium since the Joe is a dying relic. bit of a problem with that though, and by bit I mean enormous. If Mr Illitch isn't sole funding the stadium, he didn't with the Tigers, the Red Wings are moving out of Detroit, maybe significantly more than out of the suburbs. The City of Detroit doesn't have the tax money to subsidize a stadium for an owner like so many cities are doing or have done in the past. They just don't. Shit Mayor Bing is actively trying to destroy the outer portions of the city in order to consolidate the population*. There is no money in Detroit or the suburbs to build a new stadium, especially not after the whole Illitch buying the Pistons and Palace Entertainment didn't come to fruition. The Pistons are also technically looking for a new place to play soonish, but their attendance is so abysmal in Auburn Hills at this point the team is going completely broke.

So I am going to throw this theory out there. You know how the Winter Classic is in Ann Arbor next year? Not Ford Field right by the Joe, which is indoors but I assume it can be cooled. Not Comerica which Illitch owns and is right by the Joe. The WC is in Ann Arbor in part because Illitch is going to test the waters of relocating the Detroit Red Wings to Ann Arbor, Michigan. Mind blown. Think about it man. Ann Arbor is a rich, affluent college city. There is room in the area for a stadium. Its population is still significant plus it is still close to Detroit. Ann Arbor is by far more friendly to get to for the massive amount of people who commute to Wings games since no one lives in Detroit. They could still call them the Detroit Red Wings since it isn't any more far fetched than a number of other teams in the league. I just think this sounds like an absolutely amazing theory although it could in part be because I live way closer to Ann Arbor, it is way easier to get to, and it is just so, so, so much nicer than Detroit lol.

*In case you aren't from Michigan or haven't kept up, Mayor Bing is trying to kill off the outer parts of Detroit to consolidate people. The population of Detroit has dropped tremendously to the point where the city can't afford to keep the street lights on, pump water or electricity to the one house that is inhabited on a block. That just isn't one or two blocks like that. It is literally thousands. Detroit is going to be cutting off services to the area and helping people move to houses that are going to still be in supported areas, essentially letting people trade houses lol. They've also let it be known that they aren't going to be policing those areas. Detroit wants to tear down the thousands and thousands of abandoned homes, but the EPA won't let them since they are almost all from the asbestos era. So Detroit let it slip that police aren't canvasing that area so that when Fire Night rolls around this October, they aren't going to do jack shit about people burning down hundreds of homes and abandoned buildings lol.

[Rennadrel]

If the Leafs draft Galenchyuk, they have another quality center to work with and possibly dangle for a team looking to rebuild. Kadri finally showed with the Marlies this year that he has the drive and skill, however his injury in the playoffs set him back, though I think going into the Calder Cup finals they had no chances due to missing some of their most productive players offensively. Either way, if your top two centermen happen to be Kadri and Galenchyuk, they could put Bozak and Grabs out of jobs come training camp if they really want to and both in my honest opinion are going to be better then Bozak and Grabs.

[Greeney]

2 teams? Tampa Bay and...? I'll assume you mean Carolina, who are located in North Carolina...

No, I meant California.

[draynay]

Ian Laperriere announced his retirement, back when the Kings were lousy and they'd just gotten rid of Gretzky, there wasn't much to like, except for Ian who was just about everybody's favorite player on that team. It's a bummer he couldn't make it back from that nasty concussion but he had a nice career.