NHL Hockey thread

[Barrister]

The Caps have been just painful to watch this year. They suck and look really bad when they lose...well at least when it comes to scoring. But they have been able to consistently win the close games so somehow have a winning record at the halfway mark. It is smoke and mirrors though, they are going to fall apart soon and I am not looking forward to it.

The Caps have a -26 goal differential, which is very not good and perhaps indicates the Caps have just been lucky.

(Jets are +44, Canucks are +54, but Jets are lower in both Goals For and Goals Against)

[Valmy]

The Caps have a -26 goal differential, which is very not good and perhaps indicates the Caps have just been lucky.

Oh yeah. It seems like they either lose 6-0 and look like total garbage, or squeak out a defensive slogfest 3-2.

Once they start losing those one goal games it is all over.

[Barrister]

Two hugs news stories dropped in NHL world today.

First - owners of the NBA's Utah Jazz announce they are requesting the NHL open an expansion process.  NHL responds with favourable interest.

Second - police in London, Ontario announce they have requested 5 players from the 2018 World Junior Team Canada to turn themselves in on charges of sexual assault.  A handful of NHL players have been announced to be given "leaves of absence" from their teams (and who were also on the 2018 Team Canada) so people are connecting the dots.  Most prominent is probably Carter Hart of the Philadelphia Flyers.

Also some speculation that it's not an accident that both stories came out on the same day.

[Grey Fox]

Hopefully, they won't expand again into Atlanta.

[Barrister]

Hopefully, they won't expand again into Atlanta.

Don't look now, but there's been talk of it...

[Grey Fox]

Hopefully, they won't expand again into Atlanta.

Don't look now, but there's been talk of it...

In the NHL everything that seems stupid to happen will 100% happen. I expect that the Thrashers will live again.

[Barrister]

Hopefully, they won't expand again into Atlanta.

Don't look now, but there's been talk of it...

In the NHL everything that seems stupid to happen will 100% happen. I expect that the Thrashers will live again.

Atlanta is still a major US marketplace, and an NHL Atlanta franchise is no stupider then one in Tampa Bay or Nashville - both of which are pretty successful franchises.

[HVC]

There's still some desert states they haven't expanded into. New Mexico Vaqueros?

[Grey Fox]

Hopefully, they won't expand again into Atlanta.

Don't look now, but there's been talk of it...

In the NHL everything that seems stupid to happen will 100% happen. I expect that the Thrashers will live again.

Atlanta is still a major US marketplace, and an NHL Atlanta franchise is no stupider then one in Tampa Bay or Nashville - both of which are pretty successful franchises.

Yes it is. They failed there twice already!

[viper37]

41% of active NHL players say Winnipeg is their least-favorite road city to play in according to The Athletic's annual anonymous player poll

https://imgur.com/58b54d0b-1258-449f-a626-60163c2260d7


It's a freakin' paywall, but here's the full link:
https://theathletic.com/5239046/2024/01/31/nhl-player-poll-2024/

I don't suppose CC is subscribed the this one?


Edit:
This might work for y'all:
NHL player poll

Unsurprisingly, Vegas is their favorite city to play in.


Edit #2:
About the top choice of worst place to play:

"It's always so cold," one player said of Winnipeg. "I don't have anything against the people or the city."

"Cold. Grey. Not much to do," another said.

"Nothing to do," echoed a third.

The complaints about Ottawa were similar, though many players said it's the rink location, not the city.

"I've heard the downtown is actually good," one player said. "But where the rink is ... nothing there."

"We always stay by the rink, and it's kind of out in the middle of nowhere," another said.

Buffalo? Same deal.

"It just seems gloomy when you get there," one player said.

"There's not much in Buffalo," another added.


I don't know anything about Edmonton.  But I know a lot about Ottawa.   And I know they picked a stupid location for the ice rink, totally in the middle of nowhere.  It's a cool arena, well built, but there's nothing around and a lack of transportation, save for you car, jammed in traffic, far away from the city, to get there.

[HVC]

The don't like the two season Winnipeg has? Mosquito and winter seems like two seasons that would be a blast

[Barrister]

They do this survey every year.  It's always Winnipeg.  #1 is it's just cold of course.  Arena is fine but nothing special, downtown kind of sucks, not a lot to do around there.

Edmonton is often another top choice, but not so much this year.

[viper37]

My image was shortly deleted, sorry.  Does unpaywalled link work for you guys?

The whole survey can be interesting for the gossip.

[Grey Fox]

The Canadian tire centre is surrounded by car dealerships. I get that players don't find that interesting.

[PRC]

For BB, poll of current NHL Players least favourite city to play in: