2023-24 NHL Season Thread.

[Greeney]

Lol at all your varying suggestions. Kay thanks.

It's safe to say watching any hockey game is pretty much fun right? Not like watching an NBA game sucks if you don't see a superstar player/super team, right?

The exciting thing to me about watching NHL games is that NHL teams have a lot more parity between teams than any of the other major sports. Sometimes a Blue Jackets/Panthers game will be just as competitive as a Penguins/Capitals game.

- - - Updated - - -

Still I can't think of any reason why you would prefer to go to a game against the Canes or Jackets over the Bruins. I was shocked when a couple of you guys put them last on that list.

Probably because they're easier teams to beat and if I were to pay I'd rather see the Leafs play a team I always expect to beat (Sens come to mind) than the Bruins.

[conscript]

Dear San Jose, this is how you do a jersey redesign:



That jersey is absolutely phenomenal.

[AceofHarts]

you mean minnesota actually did something right?

think detroit pretty much did it right too.
weve only had virtually the same uni for how long now?

[Skandulous]

I don't think fighting majors is a good way to look at how physical a team is, hits is a better indicator (which Boston was 10th last year, lower than I expected, Toronto was 1st by A LOT). Still I can't think of any reason why you would prefer to go to a game against the Canes or Jackets over the Bruins. I was shocked when a couple of you guys put them last on that list.

So happy that the NHL finally joined the 21st century and every team will play the other conference's teams home and away. The majority of the games I go to this year will be against eastern teams because I have so rarely seen them, and quite frankly they have more star power than the West.

yea thats not what i was really saying i am talking more about great defensive teams who constantly forecheck and backcheck hard and skate aggresive. The reason Boston doesn't get into alot of fights is because they mostly push the other team around and teams do not want to fight with the Bruins because your mostly gonna lose.

[Rennadrel]

In favor of keeping fighting there's a lot of 'goons' that are likeable guys too. I'm thinking dudes like Stu Grimson or George Parros in particular. I still fondly remember Grimson scoring a goal that deflected off his head while he just meandered near the net. There's plenty of scumbags too, I know we had Matt Johnson and that guy was nothing but a thug, his cheap shot on Beukeboom is still one of the worst* things I've seen in this game, sorry which way was I arguing?

*Gary Suter on Paul Kariya was worse, pardon my west coast bias

I see goons more as the guys who are there to annoy other players and can't contribute at all offensively like Sean Avery, who was a jackass both on and off the ice and had zero respect for other players. Enforcers actually have the testicular fortitude to fight, they chip in goals from time to time and generally are the types of players you can respect because they don't act like complete jackasses. I am surprised Sean Avery wasn't kicked out of the league for some of the shit he pulled, and typical of New York fashion to let that circus go on for as long as it did. I recall numerous times when Avery would intentionally slash someone in the leg, hell I think it was Phaneuf who he intentionally slashed across the knee what 4 years ago that put him out for a couple of months? I can respect the tough guys like Orr and Parros, even if Parros can be a knob at times and sometimes lacks class, at least he isn't Avery. I don't respect players like Avery who hit to injure other players, and I am glad that cancer is out of the league now.

[Elgefar]

Wtf Bowman?! How do you manage to give Crawford 6million a year for 6 years? He's had one good season...

I foresee a firesale in Chicago's imminent future...

[draynay]

goons are a proud people, don't insult them by mentioning that cocksucker Avery

[Reg]

I only liked Avery for one reason, and that was because he messed with Brodeur so much. 95% of of his career he was a waste, but those games against the Devils were always amazing just to watch the interactions between those two.

[VanillaO]

Wtf Bowman?! How do you manage to give Crawford 6million a year for 6 years? He's had one good season...

I foresee a firesale in Chicago's imminent future...

It could be worse... they could've lost the Cup and had to pay him 7M a season

In unrelated news I'm back to the school grind today and the only thing keeping me from going postal is knowing football starts Thursday and hockey starts in less than a month.

[Stommped]

Dear San Jose, this is how you do a jersey redesign:


That jersey is absolutely phenomenal.

That better be the last time Parise wears the A instead of the C. Koivu was fucking abysmal last year, especially down the stretch.

[conscript]

That better be the last time Parise wears the A instead of the C. Koivu was fucking abysmal last year, especially down the stretch.

The only flaw on that jersey is that Parise doesn't wear a C lol.

[VanillaO]

Don't really understand the Burke hiring in Calgary.. Hope it works out for them, though.

[Sylore]

Don't really understand the Burke hiring in Calgary.. Hope it works out for them, though.

They're trying to rebuild, and he builds good teams.

[VanillaO]

That's the thing, though.. he has built one decent team and one good team in his past... he's also flopped with a team and inherited a team that someone else built (his most successful team wasn't his building). He was also hired in the President role, which means he has last say, but it's still technically Feaster's team to build at the moment. I guess I'm more confused why they hired him as President instead of firing Feaster and having Burke do both.

[Sylore]

That's the thing, though.. he has built one decent team and one good team in his past... he's also flopped with a team and inherited a team that someone else built (his most successful team wasn't his building). He was also hired in the President role, which means he has last say, but it's still technically Feaster's team to build at the moment. I guess I'm more confused why they hired him as President instead of firing Feaster and having Burke do both.

I guess they really only want his guidance, and ability to ensure everything runs smoothly. Who knows, maybe they offered him both and he said he could help Feaster? You never know.

[conscript]

I guess I'm more confused why they hired him as President instead of firing Feaster and having Burke do both.

I'm guessing it is going to come to that after the season. You don't hire a guy like Burke and not hand him the reins. I look at it as hedging their bets. There isn't much of a point to firing Leaster right now. There is no draft, free agency is done, trades won't start to matter for months. See what the team Leaster built can do, have Burke there to advise, and if it fails, Burke is now familiar with the organizations strengths and weaknesses in the NHL, AHL, and other prospects and can go from there. Basically he will get to learn the ins and outs of Calgary's franchise for a year before he will probably take over the GM job.

[Rennadrel]

They're trying to rebuild, and he builds good teams.

Outside the Ducks Cup win, Burke has only had his team win a single playoff round as GM. Building good teams is subjective to be honest, sure, he put Toronto and Vancouver into playoff contenders, but his methods have yet to prove that he is a good GM.

[Zeoni]

Gives the team an identity, it's really hard to hate this signing. He can't be worse than Daryl, I refuse to believe that. Also the team he built in Toronto is looking pretty fuckin' snazzy right now if you ask me. Plus I hate Ken King and anything to get him further from actually making decisions is a great thing. He's coming into a team that already had a pretty good foundation of prospects especially after this past draft and I don't forsee them trading any low draft picks. Also they're not just going to fire Feaster. He has done fairly well all things considered. If they were going to fire him, they would have done that before the draft. Instead, he got us 3 solid prospects in the first round.

[VanillaO]

The team in Toronto is looking like a fringe playoff team to me due to how the new playoff format works... Burke did good to set us up for the cap reduction in some ways, but gave out some pretty dumb contracts as well.

[Zeoni]

The team in Toronto is looking like a fringe playoff team to me due to how the new playoff format works... Burke did good to set us up for the cap reduction in some ways, but gave out some pretty dumb contracts as well.

Depends how long this whole Kadri situation lasts but I really like the way the Leafs are setup. They might not be the conference driving force but I can see them finishing comfortably inside the playoffs, especially if Clarkson performs anywhere close to what he did for the Devils. Any other matchup in the playoffs other than the Bruins and I could have seen the Leafs making a serious run.