2023-24 NHL Season Thread.

[Reg]

I hope to god the NHL has the balls to suspend a Ref crew. Things got so out of hand with non calls. I swear it was the playoffs.

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Also, he didn't throw any crates or sticks onto the ice.

The coach just yelled a bunch of expletives, soft skinned ref if you ask me. And the ref basically incited the response from the coach by going over and hanging out near their bench. Just skate away dude.

[Gumboy]

Some really dirty play lately in hockey. Blah blah it has its place blah blah...intentionally trying to inflict head injuries is never excuasable

[Armourboy]

Rinne gets sat for two games and comes in with a shutout. We need him to keep going desperately.

[Deleted]

Hutton has been pretty great this season in his limited time playing and I feel Lavi did the right thing by giving Pekka a break. He desperately needed one.

[Zeoni]

I'm ready for another deplorable effort by Jonas Hiller. Embrace the tank. (kill me)

3 games for Komarov for a blatant elbow to the head. Hopefully McDonagh isn't out long term. Toronto lose their top point producer in a season when they are trying to finish as low as possible for 3 games and New York loses arguably their best player for potentially playoffs. Fair trade off right?

[VanillaO]

Ya, I saw that as it happened, and even before the replay I was like 'oh that's 5 games'. Not sure why only 3 when the elbow caught him and he had to extend his entire arm just to do it.

But I'll gladly be down Komarov for a week, if it means maybe even less winning.

[Armourboy]

Hutton has been pretty great this season in his limited time playing and I feel Lavi did the right thing by giving Pekka a break. He desperately needed one.

We've all speculated about Pekka's head, but the last two times he has gotten extended breaks he has come out and played really well. Kind of starting to wonder if there isn't something physical going on there too we don't know about.

[eschatological]

Are the Leafs tanking now? You might have some competition from our Sabres, although in theory we're not trying to this year.

[Zeoni]

Half tank half injuries. They're still pretty competitive on a game to game basis despite fielding such a shit roster. Most of that can be attributed to Mr Babcock. Nobody will out tank the Oilers who will win the lottery pick again though. We played Vancouver last night and they weren't even trying it felt like, going to be a big battle for who ends up with good odds in the lotto. My prediction? Oilers win 1st OA, Columbus 2nd OA and Buffalo 3rd. Flames play their way out of a good pick and we get fucked again by picking around 10th. Vancouver and the Leafs end up picking 4th and 5th getting decent players. That's what I think is gonna happen : D

If Edmonton wins again I guarantee they will change the lottery even further. I feel like all the draft picks should be randomized for all the teams outside the playoffs. There shoulden't be an award for purposely tanking (Buffalo, Arizona last year) imo. Either that or make it so whoever has the most points when they are mathematically eliminated gets the first pick and so on. Gives incentive for teams to not just fucking tank after 3 first shitty months.

[VanillaO]

Robin Lehner will carry you to a the 12th worst record, and you'll still wind up with the # 2 or 3 overall, don't worry Buffalo!

But for real, I don't think you'll ever see the Leafs formally acknowledge they are tanking - they are a mediocre team when they had everyone healthy and still had Phaneuf. Right now, they are icing a forward group of AHLers and 3rd/4th line NHLers (and Kadri). Their highest point scoring person is Komarov with 35, then an injured Bozak with 31. Their highest p/g regular is probably JVR at like 0.7, which honestly isn't bad, but obviously not great. Their top-D pairing is Rielly and Hunwick.

All of that being said, there are a few things making this team probably look like they're in full tank mode:

1. They have 26 games left, 18 are at home - most teams don't play as well on the road, so having played 10 more road games at this point of the year may reflect in their overall record.
2. They are the league worst in PP% at 14.4% (a full % lower than 29th), and 22nd in PK%. They are also 28th overall in special teams if you add PK and PP.
3. They lose a loooooot to the East, which is obviously where you would rather have less points. 8-16-8 vs the East, against a 12-11-1 record vs the West. They only have 4 games against the West left, so I assume they will start to win against East teams eventually.

I'm sure there's more I'm forgetting, but the phone and my lady are distracting me repeatedly.

TLDR - the Leafs are bad for reasons.

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This is tonight's lineup against the Flyers - for anyone who likes to laugh.

Michael Grabner - Nazem Kadri - Peter Holland
Colin Greening - Mark Arcobello - PA Parenteau
Shawn Matthias - Nick Spaling - Daniel Winnik
Rich Clune - Byron Froese - Brad Boyes

Morgan Rielly - Roman Polak
Jake Gardiner - Frank Corrado
Martin Marincin - Viktor Loov

Roman Polak on the top pairing. Flyers are missing Giroux after that hit last night (and also, they played last night), so who knows how good each team will come out, even if the Flyers are only 5 points out of a WC spot right now.

[Deleted]

We've all speculated about Pekka's head, but the last two times he has gotten extended breaks he has come out and played really well. Kind of starting to wonder if there isn't something physical going on there too we don't know about.

I was asking myself the same today. The last time Pekka was that bad was in the lockout season, when he was playing through his hip injury. I'm also starting to suspect that he might have an injury that the team is not disclosing.

[draynay]

Those Kings jerseys last night....holy fuck they are U.G.L.Y

I was reminded of this post as I look at the Predators horrible yellow jerseys. I always kind of liked the old school Kings colors, but yea, that might be bias, cuz Nashville looks gruesome in their yellow.

[Rennadrel]

I was reminded of this post as I look at the Predators horrible yellow jerseys. I always kind of liked the old school Kings colors, but yea, that might be bias, cuz Nashville looks gruesome in their yellow.

Really, the only good Western Conference jersey is still Chicago's, but I might be biased because Original Six jerseys are still the most iconic one's around.

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Robin Lehner will carry you to a the 12th worst record, and you'll still wind up with the # 2 or 3 overall, don't worry Buffalo!

But for real, I don't think you'll ever see the Leafs formally acknowledge they are tanking - they are a mediocre team when they had everyone healthy and still had Phaneuf. Right now, they are icing a forward group of AHLers and 3rd/4th line NHLers (and Kadri). Their highest point scoring person is Komarov with 35, then an injured Bozak with 31. Their highest p/g regular is probably JVR at like 0.7, which honestly isn't bad, but obviously not great. Their top-D pairing is Rielly and Hunwick.

All of that being said, there are a few things making this team probably look like they're in full tank mode:

1. They have 26 games left, 18 are at home - most teams don't play as well on the road, so having played 10 more road games at this point of the year may reflect in their overall record.
2. They are the league worst in PP% at 14.4% (a full % lower than 29th), and 22nd in PK%. They are also 28th overall in special teams if you add PK and PP.
3. They lose a loooooot to the East, which is obviously where you would rather have less points. 8-16-8 vs the East, against a 12-11-1 record vs the West. They only have 4 games against the West left, so I assume they will start to win against East teams eventually.

I'm sure there's more I'm forgetting, but the phone and my lady are distracting me repeatedly.

TLDR - the Leafs are bad for reasons.

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This is tonight's lineup against the Flyers - for anyone who likes to laugh.

Michael Grabner - Nazem Kadri - Peter Holland
Colin Greening - Mark Arcobello - PA Parenteau
Shawn Matthias - Nick Spaling - Daniel Winnik
Rich Clune - Byron Froese - Brad Boyes

Morgan Rielly - Roman Polak
Jake Gardiner - Frank Corrado
Martin Marincin - Viktor Loov

Roman Polak on the top pairing. Flyers are missing Giroux after that hit last night (and also, they played last night), so who knows how good each team will come out, even if the Flyers are only 5 points out of a WC spot right now.

Tank Leafs Tank! Tank Leafs Tank!

I am gonna be really fucking salty if we don't get the first overall pick. Somehow I have a feeling that Bettman and Daly would face a Leafs Nation Lynch Mob if that happens.

[Zeoni]

Best case scenario for Leaf fans imo, you get a competitive game where they didn't give up but you don't get the full 2 points. Get ready to be salty Renn, last place hasn't been lucky with winning the lottery the last little bit. Good news is there is White Death and another Finnish playmaker that might fit your guys' needs more than Auston Matthews.

[Armourboy]

I was reminded of this post as I look at the Predators horrible yellow jerseys. I always kind of liked the old school Kings colors, but yea, that might be bias, cuz Nashville looks gruesome in their yellow.

The yellow isn't bad with the blue helmets, but when they toss the yellow ones on its horrible.

There we go another OT loss 1-10. 5 games worth of points just shit away.

[Zeoni]

http://gfycat.com/FailingEmbellishedDowitcher

absolute crime if this guy doesn't win a norris in his career, unreal player

[draynay]

http://gfycat.com/FailingEmbellishedDowitcher

absolute crime if this guy doesn't win a norris in his career, unreal player

It was ridiculous!

I watch him play all the time and I still can't believe some of the things he does.

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The yellow isn't bad with the blue helmets, but when they toss the yellow ones on its horrible.

yea, that sounds ghastly

[Armourboy]

Oh and going to need someone to give us a solid 3 rd pairing D man, looks like Jackman broke his arm.

[draynay]

Oh and going to need someone to give us a solid 3 rd pairing D man, looks like Jackman broke his arm.

I was pretty steamed at him for a ridiculous head-snap embellishment on a non-elbow, but then he got for-reals injured later.

[Rennadrel]

Oh and going to need someone to give us a solid 3 rd pairing D man, looks like Jackman broke his arm.

You can have Polak for a 1st rounder

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Best case scenario for Leaf fans imo, you get a competitive game where they didn't give up but you don't get the full 2 points. Get ready to be salty Renn, last place hasn't been lucky with winning the lottery the last little bit. Good news is there is White Death and another Finnish playmaker that might fit your guys' needs more than Auston Matthews.

See, that is why I have a problem with them changing the lottery format, they should have just done redraws and changed the lottery rules so that a team can't have back to back 1st overall picks, that would have stopped Edmonton from getting McDavid this past draft, though I think all of their first round picks the last 5 years were bad picks because they are all small players.