2023-24 NHL Season Thread.

[Armourboy]

Man, Mike Commodore really went off on him. Of which a lot of players who have played for Babcock are supporting him. Which begs the question, why is a Coach so toxic to his players still in the game?

Cause he managed to win a Cup with a stacked Detroit team. Seems that once you get that, you can find a job for a good 20-30 years as a " former cup winning coach ".

[Nazrark]

Cause he managed to win a Cup with a stacked Detroit team. Seems that once you get that, you can find a job for a good 20-30 years as a " former cup winning coach ".

Ah the Mike McCarthy exception. He has a ring in spite of himself. Therefore he should be given all the time in the world to not be able to be fired. Despite not knowing how to coach.

[eschatological]

@Rennadrel I thought you might like this tweet:

https://twitter.com/Account4hockey/s...67995432120320

I'll quote it for all you who don't like to go to Twitter or read the Toronto Sun:

"One tale was related to us in the past few days that is said to have occurred in the 2016-17 season, during the annual fathers trip.

Babcock was alleged to have asked one of the Leafs’ rookies to list the players on the team from hardest-working to those who, in the eyes of the rookie, didn’t have a strong work ethic. The rookie did so, not wanting to upset his coach, but was taken aback when Babcock told the players who had been listed at the bottom."

Later reporters on Twitter said they heard the same story back when it happened, and identified the rookie as Mitch Marner. LOL

[Rennadrel]

I dunno, I think a lot of players can be lazy when they are young, it happens. I can't remember how many times Toronto media accused Phil Kessel or being lazy during his time in Toronto. Nowadays I wouldn't call Marner lazy, he's probably one of our better skaters on the PK due to his ability to get the puck and move it out of the zone.

- - - Updated - - -

Man, Mike Commodore really went off on him. Of which a lot of players who have played for Babcock are supporting him. Which begs the question, why is a Coach so toxic to his players still in the game?

I don't think it's that he's a bad coach, he just coaches a system that doesn't work in today's game and he's stubbornly refused to adapt and coach to his players strengths. They made this comparison to former Raptors head coach Dwayne Casey last night on the radio. Both Babcock and Casey were too stuck in their ways and got fired because they were unable to coach to the strengths of their roster. The Raptors ultimately fired Casey and replaced him with a guy coaching their development team and won the championship because Nick Nurse was able to adapt and coach the roster to it's best. The Leafs are hoping the same happens with Keefe, since he's coached a lot of the roster.

[Nazrark]

We’re going to end up with a lot of “players coaches” in the league now. Since that happens to be code for treats his players like people.

This is going to get ugly.

[eschatological]

Look, I don't think it's okay for the Flames coach to be racist. But a hardass? IDK, sports are hard. You come across asshole bosses everywhere in the world, why would it be different in sports? Should the bosses not be assholes? Sure, maybe. But sometimes riding someone holds them accountable better....it depends on the personality.

I guess what I'm saying is - you should be a good person, as a baseline. But, depending on the player, you can't be afraid to be a hardass with someone. Some people only respond to be held accountable like that.

The Sabres are on their second "players' coach" in a row, and none of these teams for the past 3 years have been any better than the hardass Dan Bylsma's teams which got him fired for coming to loggerheads with the talent.

[Rennadrel]

I just happened to look at NFL standings because I wanted to add a few games to watch on my calendar and KEKW Bengals are 0-11 LOLS.

- - - Updated - - -

Hmmmm I can't figure out any objectively good games that I should watch for the sake of seeing a good match in the sport of football. If anyone has any recommendations let me know so I can add it to my calendar. Otherwise I guess I'm chilling until the last week of the regular season or until playoffs start in January.

Wrong thread mate

[Blueobelisk]

Wrong thread mate

Oops you're right LOL.

I was looking into Hockey too since the Islanders are doing relatively well, and the people in my office are huge hockey fans. But I didn't find any upcoming games for the Islanders that looked exciting to watch. Hmmmm.

[Logwyn]

What is the closest NHL team to Atlanta? Since Atlanta can't seem to keep a team and I miss the NHL....

[eschatological]

What is the closest NHL team to Atlanta? Since Atlanta can't seem to keep a team and I miss the NHL....

There's a team in Nashville (the Predators), and a team in Raleigh (the Hurricanes). The Florida teams might be closer, though, idk. I think Tampa Bay is northern Florida, right? So that'd be the Lightning. The Panthers play near Miami I believe.

[Rennadrel]

There's a team in Nashville (the Predators), and a team in Raleigh (the Hurricanes). The Florida teams might be closer, though, idk. I think Tampa Bay is northern Florida, right? So that'd be the Lightning. The Panthers play near Miami I believe.

Tampa Bay is only like 3 hours from Sunrise FL by car. It is a bit further north than Sunrise, which is part of the Fort Lauderdale area, but it's also on the west coast of the state while Sunrise is on the east coast.

Also, holy shit did CBC and Sportsnet go full woke during HNCI last night. Nothing but cringe during the intermission in the wake of Bill Peters resigning.

[Rennadrel]

Well, the Atlantic is turning out to be a crazy arms race of a division. Boston has 11 OT losses, if they didn't have the sympathy point, they would be out of the playoffs right now. Tampa Bay is coming on strong and the Leafs have seen a resurgence under Sheldon Keefe. Those three are going to be interesting to watch come playoff time.

[draynay]

Barring disaster he's going to tie the record with his 9th 50 goal season.

[eschatological]

Well the Leafs are a disaster so Renn isn't posting, and the Sabres are an even bigger disaster so I've given up. This thread only has like a handful of posters anyways.

[Rennadrel]

Well the Leafs are a disaster so Renn isn't posting, and the Sabres are an even bigger disaster so I've given up. This thread only has like a handful of posters anyways.

No, I'm just busy IRL. Between work, school and 4 nights a week of karate, I don't have a ton of time to post until the weekends. Also, no sense continually bitching because no one listens anyway

There's a lot still wrong with this team, they aren't really a disaster but they certainly have holes in their lineup that need to be filled. Ceci in particular is a problem, Marincin is also a garbage NHL D man. Both of them would be top pairing guys in the AHL and that's it. They suck at playing D and Marincin in particular is god awful at offense. Injuries plus Babcock have screwed us over a lot this year.

On the upside, Sandin has looked really good for us since getting called up. He's made some mistakes, can't really fault a 19 year old D man playing his first extended stint in the NHL. I'm hoping that Liljgren can make some strides for us with half of our blue line decimated with injury. The Campbell and Clifford trade was interesting, and needed I think because if we do make the playoffs, having a guy like Clifford would be useful were we to run into Boston again.

On the bigger upside, Matthews is on pace to break Rick Vaive's 50 goal record for the Leafs. And he's a contender for the Rocket should be a testament to how good he is.

[Jotaux]

LOL at the leafs loss to the zamboni driver.

[Nazrark]

That's so fun! So now for the rest of his life he gets to call himself an ex-NHL goalie with a winning record

He is in the Hall of Fame, gets his own Rookie card and gets to be an Honorary Citizen of North Carolina. I'm all for it too.

[Armourboy]

NHL season suspended.

[Rennadrel]

Kinda mad, but I'll just go on blaming all the unhygienic asshats who have been spreading the god damn virus around.

[Nazrark]

Kinda mad, but I'll just go on blaming all the unhygienic asshats who have been spreading the god damn virus around.

I cannot not get mad at the people who knowingly get it and decide that they need to go everywhere they can.