Around the League - 2022-23 Season Edition

[Stephen]

A man whose career at this point is based around being a nice guy and having a recognizable name.

It's quite remarkable at how quickly the Panthers have managed to turn a promising team on the upswing into a tire fire

It's also weird how they won the Matthew Tkachuk trade but wrecked their program.

 

[Cleetus]

big Pete is putting on a clinic for the hawks lol, he is slipping and sliding and keeping the puck out!

 

[1specter]

Im guilty of cheering on Boston when they played in the final vs Vancouver. It would sicken me but id cheer for them again if they played Edmonton in the final. The only Canadian team I’d be okay with winning is Calgary as their fans are okay, every other Canadian franchise fan base can pound sand

To be fair 2011 was before the Leafs had their playoff run ins with Boston so it was easier to want them to win over the Canucks. Against Edmonton though I think I'd prefer the Bruins as well as disgusting as that is to admit. The city of Boston has already won everything multiple times in the last two decades so what's one more at this point anyways?

 

[Stephen]

To be fair 2011 was before the Leafs had their playoff run ins with Boston so it was easier to want them to win over the Canucks. Against Edmonton though I think I'd prefer the Bruins as well as disgusting as that is to admit. The city of Boston has already won everything multiple times in the last two decades so what's one more at this point anyways?

I think Toronto Boston bad blood started with Rask for Raycroft and really kicked into high gear with Burke stealing Kessel away, but paying a franchise crippling price. The 2013 playoffs only played out how much the Bruins benefitted from Toronto’s own mismanagement over the years.

Didn’t like Vancouver either but I think it would have been a better story if they had won that year. Boston probably deserved it more than St. Louis in 2019 though.

 

[PromisedLand]

Chychrun is already losing his shit and its not even a month with ottawa

 

[PromisedLand]

Im guilty of cheering on Boston when they played in the final vs Vancouver. It would sicken me but id cheer for them again if they played Edmonton in the final. The only Canadian team I’d be okay with winning is Calgary as their fans are okay, every other Canadian franchise fan base can pound sand

Seconded!

 

[1specter]

I think Toronto Boston bad blood started with Rask for Raycroft and really kicked into high gear with Burke stealing Kessel away, but paying a franchise crippling price. The 2013 playoffs only played out how much the Bruins benefitted from Toronto’s own mismanagement over the years.

Didn’t like Vancouver either but I think it would have been a better story if they had won that year. Boston probably deserved it more than St. Louis in 2019 though.

You're right, the Kessel trade did start bad blood. I was upset that it was a Bruins-Canucks finals but still hated Vancouver quite a bit more at the time. But I agree they were arguably robbed, the reffing in that series was brutal.

 

[Cleetus]

Seconded!

same here I was thinking along the lines of I want the next Canadian city to win a cup to be the leafs! lol

 

[1specter]

Chychrun is already losing his shit and its not even a month with ottawa

Lol liver king v2? Hopefully without the roids

 

[PromisedLand]

same here I was thinking along the lines of I want the next Canadian city to win a cup to be the leafs! lol

 

[Seath The Scaleless]

Flames with two big wins in Dallas and Minnesota, only to shit the bed at home vs the Ducks lol

I hope the Preds make it over the two Canadian teams.

 

[PROUD PAPA]

Flames with two big wins in Dallas and Minnesota, only to shit the bed at home vs the Ducks lol

I hope the Preds make it over the two Canadian teams.

It's like their offense and defense never click together.
I think they're better than their record.

 

[notDatsyuk]

Im guilty of cheering on Boston when they played in the final vs Vancouver. It would sicken me but id cheer for them again if they played Edmonton in the final. The only Canadian team I’d be okay with winning is Calgary as their fans are okay, every other Canadian franchise fan base can pound sand

I hope you're not including Toronto in that!

I don't give a flying frisbee about the fans. I want (in this order):

Leafs
Any other Canadian team (exact order varies)
Original 6 teams (except Boston).
Teams with ex-Leafs
Any other team
Any team from any other hockey league
Any team, regardless of their sport
Boston

 

[notDatsyuk]

I think Toronto Boston bad blood started with Rask for Raycroft and really kicked into high gear with Burke stealing Kessel away, but paying a franchise crippling price. The 2013 playoffs only played out how much the Bruins benefitted from Toronto’s own mismanagement over the years.

Didn’t like Vancouver either but I think it would have been a better story if they had won that year. Boston probably deserved it more than St. Louis in 2019 though.

I think the bad blood goes a lot farther back than just Boston suckering us in both those trades. There wouldn't be any bad blood on their side for either deal - just laughter.

I'm not mad at Boston for those trades, but at our GMs.

 

[-DeMo-]

The idea that teams and players don't care about who they play in the playoffs is pretty silly. But it's not even really about that.
The NHL is selling an idea that the regular season means something. The system is built on the idea that you do better in the regular season, you get a better matchup, and better chances to win, but the arbitrary divisional restrictions completely dismantle that system, which is horrible not just for competitive equality, but just in terms of how to effectively run an entertainment business. Knowing what April will look like in December sucks excitement and suspense out of an entertainment product. A system that allows this is broken.

the regular season does mean something you need to win enough games to get enough points to qualify for it. and no winning certain games so they can not play Team A is not a motivating factor for the players. pretty much in any system the top teams in the league are pretty much guaranteed a playoff position by December so not sure how this one is any different the idea our position is basically sealed is because the best team in the league is on an unreal pace not seen in 30+ years. otherwise we would still have the opportunity to move up in the standings. it's not the NHL's fault that the Bruins are so far ahead. look at the west for example there is no position that's set you could currently be in the division lead and still not make the playoffs, Winnipeg was leading there division not long ago now there the 2nd wildcard. the fact that there's 3 dominate teams in our division and 1 of those teams is outclassing everyone by a big margin doesn't make the system broken. Schedules are weighted towards your division and therefore you should have to win it first.

at the end of the day I don't get entertained by the standings, my entertainment comes from watching games, the standings themselves are pretty boring they don't move that fast. the fact that were likely to play Tampa has no changed the way I watch or excitement levels while watching the games, and seems weird to me that it would actually be important. other then of course making or missing the playoffs. that's really the only important part of the standings imo.

also the NHL needs entertaining series all 4 rounds the divisional play downs certainly accomplish that much more then the conference system. first round used to suck no good matchups all series were pretty predictable, now your going to have two terrific series in the first round between us and Tampa and whoever doesn't win the Metro.

 

[Jimmy Firecracker]

the regular season does mean something you need to win enough games to get enough points to qualify for it. and no winning certain games so they can not play Team A is not a motivating factor for the players. pretty much in any system the top teams in the league are pretty much guaranteed a playoff position by December so not sure how this one is any different the idea our position is basically sealed is because the best team in the league is on an unreal pace not seen in 30+ years. otherwise we would still have the opportunity to move up in the standings. it's not the NHL's fault that the Bruins are so far ahead. look at the west for example there is no position that's set you could currently be in the division lead and still not make the playoffs, Winnipeg was leading there division not long ago now there the 2nd wildcard. the fact that there's 3 dominate teams in our division and 1 of those teams is outclassing everyone by a big margin doesn't make the system broken. Schedules are weighted towards your division and therefore you should have to win it first.

at the end of the day I don't get entertained by the standings, my entertainment comes from watching games, the standings themselves are pretty boring they don't move that fast. the fact that were likely to play Tampa has no changed the way I watch or excitement levels while watching the games, and seems weird to me that it would actually be important. other then of course making or missing the playoffs. that's really the only important part of the standings imo.

also the NHL needs entertaining series all 4 rounds the divisional play downs certainly accomplish that much more then the conference system. first round used to suck no good matchups all series were pretty predictable, now your going to have two terrific series in the first round between us and Tampa and whoever doesn't win the Metro.

This is blatantly untrue. The first round of the NHL, either under the conference system or the shitty divisional system has always been an exciting affair. No series is ever truly predictable in the NHL and upsets happened plenty of times.

 

[aingefan]

I wonder how many cups the Leafs won in alternate universes?
We just got a bad beat ending up in this one.

 

[Dekes For Days]

the regular season does mean something you need to win enough games to get enough points to qualify for it.

Do teams stop playing when they've clinched? Are the standings just two different piles of teams; one for "in" and one for "out"? No, because the regular season is obviously about more than just whether or not you qualify for the playoffs, and it's sold to consumers to be more than just whether or not you qualify for the playoffs.

and no winning certain games so they can not play Team A is not a motivating factor for the players.

Of course matchups matter to players and teams, just as they do to fans. It's a motivating factor for the team, and part of the excitement for fans. The more you win, the easier your opponent. That's the concept that these tournaments are inherently supposed to be following, and what they claim to be following.

pretty much in any system the top teams in the league are pretty much guaranteed a playoff position by December so not sure how this one is any different

In every other suggested format, matchups aren't determined until the very end of the season. There is something to play for and follow until the very last games.

it's not the NHL's fault that the Bruins are so far ahead

No, it's the NHL's fault for having a broken, stupid system that allows situations like this.

look at the west for example there is no position that's set

Central's 2/3 matchup was established pretty early last year too.

at the end of the day I don't get entertained by the standings

Most fans do get a sense of entertainment, excitement, suspense, etc. from following the standings and potential matchups. It's bad business to have a system that eliminates that and removes pretty much all impact of winning./losing less than halfway through a season.

also the NHL needs entertaining series all 4 rounds the divisional play downs certainly accomplish that much more then the conference system. first round used to suck no good matchups all series were pretty predictable, now your going to have two terrific series in the first round between us and Tampa and whoever doesn't win the Metro.

That's just flat out not true. First round matchups were always exciting; arguably a lot more-so when it wasn't the same teams facing each other every time. There are never guarantees in hockey and upsets happened all the time. That's why a freaking monkey was better at predicting outcomes than hockey analysts.

You don't need powerhouses eliminating each other early to have a good series, and while you may have some exciting first round series, the point of these tournaments is to have better and better matchups as it progresses and the field decreases, but we often get the opposite. Nobody wants to start with a bang and end with a whimper. When you can find more entertaining and more closely matched battles in each of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd rounds than the SCF, you have a problem.

 

[Arzak]

Chychrun is already losing his shit and its not even a month with ottawa

At this point, I take it as admission for steroid abuse. I mean The liver king admitted he is the juice king first...

 

[PromisedLand]

Flames with two big wins in Dallas and Minnesota, only to shit the bed at home vs the Ducks lol

I hope the Preds make it over the two Canadian teams.

Its pretty interesting how things are shaping up in the west.

Wild help on retention of ROR to the Leafs and Orlov to the Bruins and are still in the race to make playoffs
Preds trade Ekholm with retention (250K for about 4 yrs) and are still in the race to make the playoffs

Never seen this stuff in NHL before

It's like their offense and defense never click together.
I think they're better than their record.

Their goaltending has been utter garbage this season and thats why they are struggling IMO

 

[ULF_55]

Their goaltending has been utter garbage this season and thats why they are struggling IMO

Flames goaltending has improved greatly the last few weeks, but they dug their hole before that.

They don't have any near PPG, and their big acquisitions are not top line players this year. Huberdeau and Kadri are 2nd. liners.

Kadri: .7 PPG career
Huberdeau: .91 PPG career

I think part of their problem is coaching.
Huberdeau is unlikely a Sutter guy.
Kadri when good, would be.

 

[Seath The Scaleless]

It's like their offense and defense never click together.
I think they're better than their record.

Probably, given how many they've lost beyond regulation.

For the offense part, I think a lot of blame should be placed on the head coach who keeps rolling lines with no chemistry. I'm not sure why he is forcing Kadri-Huberdeau when they've clearly not worked well together. And then he puts out guys like Lucic and Lewis when the Flames are down in the 3rd. A guy like Lucic shouldn't be averaging 11+ minutes a game. He needs to be in the press box most nights.

 

[PromisedLand]

Flames goaltending has improved greatly the last few weeks, but they dug their hole before that.

They don't have any near PPG, and their big acquisitions are not top line players this year. Huberdeau and Kadri are 2nd. liners.

Kadri: .7 PPG career
Huberdeau: .91 PPG career

I think part of their problem is coaching.
Huberdeau is unlikely a Sutter guy.
Kadri when good, would be.

Huberdeau would never be a Sutter player. Sutter expeccts his players to grind, play 200 ft hockey, no cheating. Huberdeau coming from that putrid Flordia offense first system defense be dammned and playing with Barkov to boot was always going to see a decline in production

I think Flames played their hands wrong. Kadri signing was fine. They should not have offered contracts to Huberdeau and Weeger. They should have seen how its going and if it wasn't good they should have traded Huberdeau this season to the highest bidder and then rethink their strategy in the offseason.

They already walked Gaudreau to UFA without getting anything back for him so this was a panic signing IMO to justify to their fans.

 

[ULF_55]

Huberdeau would never be a Sutter player. Sutter expeccts his players to grind, play 200 ft hockey, no cheating. Huberdeau coming from that putrid Flordia offense first system defense be dammned and playing with Barkov to boot was always going to see a decline in production

I think Flames played their hands wrong. Kadri signing was fine. They should not have offered contracts to Huberdeau and Weeger. They should have seen how its going and if it wasn't good they should have traded Huberdeau this season to the highest bidder and then rethink their strategy in the offseason.

They already walked Gaudreau to UFA without getting anything back for him so this was a panic signing IMO to justify to their fans.

Huberdeau is only 29, but has a 6 year NMC kicking in with the new deal.
He has an 8 team tradeable contract today.

Sutter probably should be fired if he cannot adjust his game plan for the players he has.

 

[PromisedLand]

Huberdeau is only 29, but has a 6 year NMC kicking in with the new deal.
He has an 8 team tradeable contract today.

Sutter probably should be fired if he cannot adjust his game plan for the players he has.

I think calgary is not a well built team, i guess with other coach they would be bottom feeders given the goal tending they have recieved this season overall