2023-24 NHL Season Thread.

[Stommped]

I'm surprised how many people are picking NY over Boston. I don't think Boston's going to run away with it by any means, but I think it'll be a tight series. You have two goalies capable of standing on their heads, two great defenses, two horrible PP units, and two somewhat struggling offenses. If anything, Boston's offense has probably been slightly better than NY's. My guess is it will go to 7, but I'm hoping the Bruins can keep their momentum going and that late game comeback sparked something in them. They're actually two very even teams if you look at it. Bruins are 1-0-2 against them in the regular season, one of those games was in a SO so you can't really learn much from that since there is no SO in the playoffs. So, they essentially split the season series if you just call that one a tie.

When arguably the best goalie in the world is coming off back-to-back shutouts, yeah it's kind of hard to pick against that in the playoffs.

[Juno86]

I picked New York because Boston had at times a lot of difficulty scoring on Toronto in games 5 and 6, New York plays a much more solid defensive game then we do. Add in Lundquist and how exhausted Boston looked at some point's in the Leafs/Bruins series and I gotta give my hat tip to the Rangers on this one. They even block more shots then we do.

[Xevan]

And I'm sorry Xevan, but your logic doesn't fly with me for one fucking second. I live in BC, I have to deal with Canuck fan's ALL the damn time. The fan base is BEYOND shit, the amount of times I hear "LEAFS FUCKING SUCK, WATCH REAL HOCKEY FAGGOT" when I wear my Leaf's jersey and clothing is beyond stupid. Not mentioning when I get into a real Hockey conversation with ANY of them they have NO CLUE what the hell is going on in the NHL outside of the Nucks. Quite frankly the "lol comments" are freaking deserved when I have to deal with that kind of abuse for NO reason at all. And I genuinely don't like the Canuck's on principle as a Hockey team. LaPierre is one of the biggest PoS's in the game today, Burrow's is the definition of a whiny little bitch and I can not stand that Canuck fan's will defend the Sedin's year in and out after they NEVER EVER perform under pressure or in the Playoff's. They are as fair weather of players as you can get and not ONE of you fan's are willing to admit too it! And then there is the Luongo hate! They would blame him for anything and EVERYTHING that goes wrong even though the ENTIRE damn team doesn't show up to play.

I have a few colleagues who graduated with me that work in TO and are Canuck fans, it's the same everywhere. You just gotta grow thicker skin, honestly.

And about ref complaining, it's all conformation bias. One thing I like to do is tune into the losing teams local sport radio station. The Fan590 in particular, literally the whole 40-60 mins after the game was people calling in and talking about the bottle being thrown onto the ice. Over here it seems fine. So really, you can't say either way

---------- Post added 2013-05-14 at 05:33 PM ----------

I am honestly stunned by the amount of people picking the Kings in 4 or 5 games. Draynay can laugh at me if I'm wrong, but I love the way the Sharks are playing right now - too much shit talking of Vancouver last series and not enough credit to San Jose, therefore:

San Jose over Los Angeles in 6
Chicago over Detroit in 5

Ottawa over Pittsburgh in 7
New York over Boston in 6

LA is pretty much a mirror copy of Chicago. If all their lines wake up (which I think have) then they can roll their way through.

[Zeoni]

The way New York plays defensively is why I have them over the Bruins. They just bog everything down so well it's impossible to get quality scoring chances. The only knock on the Rangers is how their best players are constantly sleeping. If Brad Richards EVER wakes up and plays anywhere close to where he did in 04' the Rangers will win the cup. If Girardi and co can hold Ovechkin to 2 points in 7 games, I'm sure they'll shut down that Lucic line. It'll be a closely played series but I think Lundqvist will outplay Rask and New York will win a lot of 1 goal / overtime games.

[Rennadrel]

I have a few colleagues who graduated with me that work in TO and are Canuck fans, it's the same everywhere. You just gotta grow thicker skin, honestly.

And about ref complaining, it's all conformation bias. One thing I like to do is tune into the losing teams local sport radio station. The Fan590 in particular, literally the whole 40-60 mins after the game was people calling in and talking about the bottle being thrown onto the ice. Over here it seems fine. So really, you can't say either way

---------- Post added 2013-05-14 at 05:33 PM ----------



LA is pretty much a mirror copy of Chicago. If all their lines wake up (which I think have) then they can roll their way through.

Dude, SportsNet has some terrible homers on it, and the people who call into the post game shows are all wimps. I take half of what is said on that network with a grain of salt. Guys like John Garret and Ian Mendes on SportsNet are terrible, they have no impartiality towards other teams and just go on air to bash them. Last time the Leafs visited Vancouver, all John Garret did was bash on the Leafs for his segment.

[Tradewind]

Dude, SportsNet has some terrible homers on it, and the people who call into the post game shows are all wimps. I take half of what is said on that network with a grain of salt. Guys like John Garret and Ian Mendes on SportsNet are terrible, they have no impartiality towards other teams and just go on air to bash them. Last time the Leafs visited Vancouver, all John Garret did was bash on the Leafs for his segment.

I think the difference (maybe not Xevan's point but someone made it earlier) SportsNet is specifically regional. Pacific/West/Central/East etc. As opposed to say CBC/TSN which are entirely national.

I dislike homers in general, but it's a bit more annoying when it's being blasted from coast to coast every broadcast.

[Raleik]

Haha, apparently my round 1 picks was the best set from all the commentors on pro hockey talk. Got a shout out from them in their article on round two picks... http://prohockeytalk.nbcsports.com/2...round-2-picks/

[Rennadrel]

I think the difference (maybe not Xevan's point but someone made it earlier) SportsNet is specifically regional. Pacific/West/Central/East etc. As opposed to say CBC/TSN which are entirely national.

I dislike homers in general, but it's a bit more annoying when it's being blasted from coast to coast every broadcast.

The Leafs broadcasters for SportsNet are pretty decent, Joe Bowen is one of those guys who loves stats and always goes out of his way to give you some historical stats during games as well for both sides, even though he is the Leafs broadcaster. He doesn't feel the need to slander the opposition during segments when he is talking with the Hockey Central panel, which is what John Garret does. I remember when John Garret used to write for the Toronto Star, all he did was cry and bash the Leafs even when they were playing good hockey (this was about 5 years ago maybe), he was more of a troll then Steve Simmons, who still is the biggest douche in Toronto sports media.

[Tradewind]

on a lighter note...

I helped add some decorative touches to my coworker's office today

[AceofHarts]

Chicago fans should be happy Darren Helm aint playing...remember this?

[Greeney]

The way New York plays defensively is why I have them over the Bruins. They just bog everything down so well it's impossible to get quality scoring chances. The only knock on the Rangers is how their best players are constantly sleeping. If Brad Richards EVER wakes up and plays anywhere close to where he did in 04' the Rangers will win the cup. If Girardi and co can hold Ovechkin to 2 points in 7 games, I'm sure they'll shut down that Lucic line. It'll be a closely played series but I think Lundqvist will outplay Rask and New York will win a lot of 1 goal / overtime games.

Pretty much the same feeling here.
*Rangers have the better scorers, but Boston has more depth.
*If Nash gets going it will be a lot harder to contain him than Seguin if Seguin starts scoring.
*Rangers have the best goalie in the league IMO.
*Boston has the best defensive defensemen, but Rangers will sacrifice their lives to block a shot.
*Two great PK's and underperforming PP's, but Rangers have somehow gotten hot on the PP lately.
*IMO Boston got outplayed by Leafs in 5/7 of the games, outside of some bad turnovers, and the only team Boston has manhandled as frequently as the Leafs in the last couple seasons are the Senators.
*Boston has the most physical team.
*Boston's won the cup recently, but Rangers probably want it more IMO.

I'm not exactly expecting the Rangers to walk all over the Bruins, but I would be highly surprised if Rangers make a quarter as many turnovers in the defensive zone as the Leafs did. If Boston plays like they did at the start of the year, Boston could win 4-0; If Boston plays like they did the last 2 months they won't win it.

[AceofHarts]

i can't believe crosby is in the awards race for the masterton trophy. sportsmanship? crosby?
he has none.

[Rylon]

i can't believe crosby is in the awards race for the masterton trophy. sportsmanship? crosby?
he has none.

First, the Masterton is more or less the best come-back story that year, usually due to injury, so while sportsmanship is mentioned in the description, I can't remember that last time that really factored into the winner. So in that regard, Crosby is a good choice, given his ridiculous scoring this year and the injuries he's dealt with the last two seasons
Second, Harding is a no brainer and is going to win, so even discussing the Masterton this year is pointless.
Third, the comment that Crosby lacking sportsmanship is just ridiculous. It's time to get over the 2009 Stanley Cup

[Zeoni]

Here we go again

[Reg]

Pretty much the same feeling here.
*Rangers have the better scorers, but Boston has more depth.
*If Nash gets going it will be a lot harder to contain him than Seguin if Seguin starts scoring.
*Rangers have the best goalie in the league IMO.
*Boston has the best defensive defensemen, but Rangers will sacrifice their lives to block a shot.
*Two great PK's and underperforming PP's, but Rangers have somehow gotten hot on the PP lately.
*IMO Boston got outplayed by Leafs in 5/7 of the games, outside of some bad turnovers, and the only team Boston has manhandled as frequently as the Leafs in the last couple seasons are the Senators.
*Boston has the most physical team.
*Boston's won the cup recently, but Rangers probably want it more IMO.

I'm not exactly expecting the Rangers to walk all over the Bruins, but I would be highly surprised if Rangers make a quarter as many turnovers in the defensive zone as the Leafs did. If Boston plays like they did at the start of the year, Boston could win 4-0; If Boston plays like they did the last 2 months they won't win it.

They went something like 2 for 25ish in the series vs. the Caps. Their PP is as bad as ever lol They had a little luck in a couple of the games at the end of the season, but those were in the games they won with like 8 goals. The Rangers look better short handed than they do on a PP lol The rest I mostly agree with except for the depth. The Rangers 3rd and 4th lines have been producing more than their top two lines, so if the primary scorers light a fire under their asses, the Rangers depth will be sitting pretty in my opinion.

[re1gn1te]

My predictions :

Los Angeles over San Jose in 6
Chicago over Detroit in 6

Pittsburgh over Ottawa in 5
Boston over New York in 7

[Greeney]

They went something like 2 for 25ish in the series vs. the Caps. Their PP is as bad as ever lol They had a little luck in a couple of the games at the end of the season, but those were in the games they won with like 8 goals. The Rangers look better short handed than they do on a PP lol The rest I mostly agree with except for the depth. The Rangers 3rd and 4th lines have been producing more than their top two lines, so if the primary scorers light a fire under their asses, the Rangers depth will be sitting pretty in my opinion.

Thought they scored a few times on the PP, guess I was wrong there.
Rangers have plenty of depth compared to just about every other team, but not in comparison to Boston (or Pittsburgh).

And Ottawa down 1-0. Hopefully 4-0 soon.
And 1-1.

[Zeoni]

This is what makes me nervous about Iginla's bid for a cup. Their fucking goaltenders are so bad.

[Greeney]

And 2-1 Pens.

[Zeoni]

After seeing that first period, I really think Anderson could steal this series. They can't be taking penalties vs that team though.