NHL Hockey thread

[Syt]

I had a whole bunch of pictures of the Leafs' 100th Anniversary Gala made by Canadian colleagues show up in my Facebook feed.

[Grey Fox]

Therrien fired, Julien hired to replace him.

They're still gonna lose big time in the playoffs

That's a pretty aggressive move.  Especially for a team that's in first place in it's division.  They must really have wanted Julien (and to be fair, it's not often high-quality francophone head coaches come on the market).

they're in a downward slope since december.  They're barely playing for .500, if not below.  If they keep this rythm, they risk not making the playoffs, just like last year.

I don't think the coach is the problem.  Well, maybe he is part of the problem, maybe he lost the respect of the players.  Imho, there were two questionable decisions he made regarding the goalies.  Well, rather one.  He let Montoya in the net to lose something like 10-1 or 10-0 early this fall because he wanted to give Price a day off.  That was a mistake.  And when Price had a bad moment, he pulled him out after 4-5 goals (Grey Fox will remember the exact stats, he's a fan ).

In itself, pulling your goalie after 4-5 goals is not a bad thing, but when earlier in the season you let the other goalie 'til the end, it sends a bad message to the team, imho.  And Price was really, really pissed off at the coach for pulling him out this night.

So, yeah, maybe there are tensions between Price and Therrien.  I don't know.

What I do know is, over the years, they've made pretty questionnable moves in the recruitment department.  And right now, they don't really have great prospects in the minors really to re-lauch the team.  If they don't win the cup in the next 3-4 years, they don't stand a chance for the next 15-20.  So that plays heavily in the mind of their GM.

But they have a shitty team.  Even though the fans like to think their team is worth the millions they get, they're closer to a 4 3rd line team than anything ressembling the Penguins, or the Caps or many other good teams or not so good teams that are climbing back the ladder.

Recruiting Andrew Shaw to "bring character to the team" was a stupid move.  This guy keeps getting silly penalties and putting the team in trouble.  That's not the coach's fault.  Most of the top scorers wouldn't make it to a 3rd line in the better teams.  They have had a lot of injuries, and they don't have the deepness teams like Pittsburgh can have to supplement their losses.  This team needs to rebuild itself and emphasize speed&attack, not rely on the goalie and a strong defensive as they did int he 90s.  It ain't the 90s anymore.  No matter the coach they get, they always keep to that stupid philosophy and they always lose.  They aim for the average and not for the top. And they miss the mark.

10-0.
4.

Fuck Andrew Shaw.

Depth is not the issue. Habs don't have 6 top 6 players. They have 4.

[viper37]

Winnipeg 3, Canadiens 1.

I love your team BB! 

[Barrister]

Winnipeg 3, Canadiens 1.

I love your team BB!

That was a spiffy game.

Last Thursday in Pittsburgh was another awesome game as well (even though they did not come away with the win).

Unfortunately though they do not play all games like that.

[Grey Fox]

Winnipeg 3, Canadiens 1.

I love your team BB!

The Nordiques are never coming back.

[Barrister]

Winnipeg 3, Canadiens 1.

I love your team BB!

The Nordiques are never coming back.

They are so coming back.

The Hurricanes are for sale and lose money.
The Islanders are getting kicked out of the Barclays Centre and have no arena to play in.
The Coyotes are trying to get Arizona to build them a new arena, when their "old" arena is only 15 years old or so.

[Delirium]

Odds of the Wings making it to the playoffs for the 122 year in a row?

[Grey Fox]

Odds of the Wings making it to the playoffs for the 122 year in a row?

According to sportsclubstats.com, they have a 0.8% chance of making it.

[Valmy]

I sure hope the Islanders can hold on. They were once a great franchise. The Hurricanes and Coyotes can, of course, GTFO.

[viper37]

They are so coming back.

I doubt it.  Bettman was very clear:
- currency "instability".  Canadian dollar has been lower than US dollar for most of the time since the 60s.  Even if there was a decade of high canadian dollar, he'd still want to wait a little longer.
- league imbalance.  He did it on purpose, trying to attract Seattle and Kansas city.  Didn't work out as expected, but they're still semi-interested.

These aren't changing anytime soon.

The Hurricanes are for sale and lose money.

I've seen that scenario before...

The Islanders are getting kicked out of the Barclays Centre and have no arena to play in.

I've seen that scenario before...

The Coyotes are trying to get Arizona to build them a new arena, when their "old" arena is only 15 years old or so.

I've seen that scenario before...


The first two would be solve by moving the team to Seattle.  Bettman has been in Seattle a few times lately.  He hasn't been in Quebec city or Montreal.

I want a team.  but I'm not holding my breath.  The NHL doesn't like small markets, they want big markets where hockey isn't really popular because they believe they have space for growth.  Imho, it's a mistake, but I'm heavily biased

[viper37]

I sure hope the Islanders can hold on. They were once a great franchise. The Hurricanes and Coyotes can, of course, GTFO.

The Hurricanes, I don't really care, but the Coyotes are quite popular with Canadian expats, apparently.  Arizona is the new spot for Snow Birds, apparently.

[viper37]

Winnipeg 3, Canadiens 1.

I love your team BB!

The Nordiques are never coming back.

Look, I don't like their defensive playstyle.  Since 1993, I don't think I've ever seen a very exciting Habs game.  A game similar to a Pittsburgh - Washington game, say.  I like that kind of speed skating and energetic gameplay.

Montreal invests everything in the goalie and pray for the best.  It's a flawed strategy.  It's the same thing they're trying since 1993.  All other teams have evolved, the Habs have not.

[Grey Fox]

No, your lenses are just blue tinted.

Montreal plays the same style than Pittsburgh with lots of speed.

[viper37]

No, your lenses are just blue tinted.

Montreal plays the same style than Pittsburgh with lots of speed.

look who's talking about lenses

[Grey Fox]

It's a copycat league, all 30 teams(31) play the same style.