GDT: Around the League 2023-2024 "Off Season??!! What off season??!!"

[oobga]

This would also happen if the NHL just actually called penalties the way they were written in the rule book.

Then all the George Perros's and Colin Campbell's of the NHL would be out of a job. Can't have that. Need parity so all the guys that play the game the old school way can still have a chance to keep up and have some impact.

 

[K1984]

Then all the George Perros's and Colin Campbell's of the NHL would be out of a job. Can't have that. Need parity so all the guys that play the game the old school way can still have a chance to keep up and have some impact.

The bizarre thing about those two fools (Parros and Campbell) is that their suspension cadence doesn't even necessarily favor and "old school" type game. There have been plenty of instances of plays that aren't really even that bad in an "old school" sense that get severely punished on 1st offenses. Semi-incidental high hits like McDavid's on Leddy a few years ago get an auto 2 games, which is ridiculous as a blanket policy IMO.

Then on the other hand you have clear cut intents to injure that get the same suspension (Pietrangelo gets in effect 2 regular season games for his Drai slash).

The worst of all of them IMO was the Hartman incident late in the year when he blatantly targeted Ehlers to injure him, then admitted it after. That one got him one regular season game (and a irrelevant one at that). Meanwhile Ehlers is down for the playoffs. Then a week later Bunting makes a dirty hit in the playoffs and gets racked up for multiple playoff games for it, despite it being not nearly as pre-meditated and not as bad.

These idiots pick favorites randomly and throw the book at others randomly. They follow no precedent. Incidents a few days apart from each other have wildly different suspensions despite being directly comparable. After last year's debacle I can't believe that Parros is still in that chair, but I shouldn't be surprised. Bettman will keep him there for no reason other than to flip the bird at people criticizing him and pretend nothing is wrong.

 

[OilerTyler]

The bizarre thing about those two fools (Parros and Campbell) is that their suspension cadence doesn't even necessarily favor and "old school" type game. There have been plenty of instances of plays that aren't really even that bad in an "old school" sense that get severely punished on 1st offenses. Semi-incidental high hits like McDavid's on Leddy a few years ago get an auto 2 games, which is ridiculous as a blanket policy IMO.

Then on the other hand you have clear cut intents to injure that get the same suspension (Pietrangelo gets in effect 2 regular season games for his Drai slash).

The worst of all of them IMO was the Hartman incident late in the year when he blatantly targeted Ehlers to injure him, then admitted it after. That one got him one regular season game (and a irrelevant one at that). Meanwhile Ehlers is down for the playoffs. Then a week later Bunting makes a dirty hit in the playoffs and gets racked up for multiple playoff games for it, despite it being not nearly as pre-meditated and not as bad.

These idiots pick favorites randomly and throw the book at others randomly. They follow no precedent. Incidents a few days apart from each other have wildly different suspensions despite being directly comparable. After last year's debacle I can't believe that Parros is still in that chair, but I shouldn't be surprised. Bettman will keep him there for no reason other than to flip the bird at people criticizing him and pretend nothing is wrong.

You’ll notice that in every example you chose it was a Canadian team that got screwed.

It’s not a coincidence.

 

[Stoneman89]

The bizarre thing about those two fools (Parros and Campbell) is that their suspension cadence doesn't even necessarily favor and "old school" type game. There have been plenty of instances of plays that aren't really even that bad in an "old school" sense that get severely punished on 1st offenses. Semi-incidental high hits like McDavid's on Leddy a few years ago get an auto 2 games, which is ridiculous as a blanket policy IMO.

Then on the other hand you have clear cut intents to injure that get the same suspension (Pietrangelo gets in effect 2 regular season games for his Drai slash).

The worst of all of them IMO was the Hartman incident late in the year when he blatantly targeted Ehlers to injure him, then admitted it after. That one got him one regular season game (and a irrelevant one at that). Meanwhile Ehlers is down for the playoffs. Then a week later Bunting makes a dirty hit in the playoffs and gets racked up for multiple playoff games for it, despite it being not nearly as pre-meditated and not as bad.

These idiots pick favorites randomly and throw the book at others randomly. They follow no precedent. Incidents a few days apart from each other have wildly different suspensions despite being directly comparable. After last year's debacle I can't believe that Parros is still in that chair, but I shouldn't be surprised. Bettman will keep him there for no reason other than to flip the bird at people criticizing him and pretend nothing is wrong.

The chair Parros should be in, should have wires and a switch attached to it.

 

[Behind Enemy Lines]

Meanwhile in Canuckle land:

Head Coach: Q&A: Tocchet on Canucks’ off-season moves, leadership and Pettersson’s future

Sportsnet: You said at the end of last season that you wanted players to return to Vancouver by mid-August and start skating together. That didn’t really happen. Obviously, it works against you that the Canucks do not have a practice facility, but are you disappointed there weren’t more guys in town?

Tocchet: It's a great question because it's give and take, right? We don't have a practice facility (and) Rogers Arena was under construction. There's a lot of things that we just don't have, so I can't really blame the players. But saying that, I think there's, like, seven guys in skating now. And next week, I think we're going to have 25 guys. I want to give kudos to the players because I know the leadership really banded together to get guys to come back. And next week, after Labour Day, I think we're going to have at least 20 to 25 guys skating. And that's a big win for me.

I can't be disappointed players were not here in mid-August because they probably had a facility or something where they were. We're working on that as an organization. We want players to stay and train under our umbrella, under our roof. The best teams do that.

Second Year Kuzmenko: I'm going to Baliworld!!!!!

The Vancouver Canucks weren't thrilled when they heard that Andrei Kuzmenko planned to spend the bulk of his offseason in Bali.

"Oh my god! They weren't having it!" said Kuzmenko's agent, Dan Milstein, on the Sekeres & Price podcast. "We heard from the head coach, we heard from everybody and maybe even the janitor too. Obviously, everyone was concerned but I told everybody to take a chill pill. We've got it under control."

Kuzmenko's training exploits in Bali have captured the attention of Canucks fans as he's employed some unusual tactics to get ready for the upcoming season. That includes substituting a bundle of wood for free weights or sprinting up an outdoor staircase in lieu of an elliptical.

But Kuzmenko's regimen has included a lot more traditional off-ice training than his social media exploits would suggest. Milstein said he got Pavel Datsyuk's former trainer to work one-on-one with Kuzmenko for the month of June, then another trainer who has worked with multiple NHL players for the month of July. As much as he enjoyed the sun in Bali, he spent long hours in the gym.

He even did on-ice training in Bali — yes, there's a real ice rink in Bali.

Kuzmenko returned to North America in August and has been using the Florida Panthers' facilities as he ramps up his training ahead of Canucks training camp in three weeks.

"His task was to stay further from the table and closer to the gym," quipped Milstein, hinting that Kuzmenko's fitness wasn't where it needed to be last season. Later in the interview, he stopped hinting.

"He had to change quite a few things to prepare for last season and, of course, it wasn't good enough," said Milstein. "So, he's changed up some things and we expect a new-and-improved Andrei Kuzmenko rolling into Vancouver."

As Milstein explained it, the NHL has a different cycle than the KHL, which starts its training camp much earlier in the summer with more lead-up to the start of the season — "You basically get three weeks off per season," said Milstein. As a result, Russian players who come to the NHL frequently get a rude awakening in their first season, as their conditioning typically isn't up to snuff when they come into training camp.

Kuzmenko left last season, then, knowing that he needed to take a big step in his fitness and conditioning.

"Andrei knew exactly what he needed to do in order to come back in the best shape," said Milstein. "Look at his half-naked pictures on Instagram — he looks great."

There's a difference, of course, between looking great and being in good shape for an NHL season and it remains to be seen if Kuzmenko's unconventional offseason will pay off. Maybe it would have been better for Kuzmenko to stay in Vancouver to train with teammates staying in the area rather than going to Bali, for example. Or maybe the extraordinary efforts to find ice time on a tropical island will be worth it.

But if the Canucks can get a new-and-improved Kuzmenko, that would be a massive boon to their playoff chances. After all, Kuzmenko scored 39 goals lasts season, albeit aided by an absurdly high shooting percentage. How many goals will a new-and-improved Kuzmenko score?


Man, Tocchet's got his work cut out.

 

[K1984]

Meanwhile in Canuckle land:

Head Coach: Q&A: Tocchet on Canucks’ off-season moves, leadership and Pettersson’s future

Sportsnet: You said at the end of last season that you wanted players to return to Vancouver by mid-August and start skating together. That didn’t really happen. Obviously, it works against you that the Canucks do not have a practice facility, but are you disappointed there weren’t more guys in town?

Tocchet: It's a great question because it's give and take, right? We don't have a practice facility (and) Rogers Arena was under construction. There's a lot of things that we just don't have, so I can't really blame the players. But saying that, I think there's, like, seven guys in skating now. And next week, I think we're going to have 25 guys. I want to give kudos to the players because I know the leadership really banded together to get guys to come back. And next week, after Labour Day, I think we're going to have at least 20 to 25 guys skating. And that's a big win for me.

I can't be disappointed players were not here in mid-August because they probably had a facility or something where they were. We're working on that as an organization. We want players to stay and train under our umbrella, under our roof. The best teams do that.

Second Year Kuzmenko: I'm going to Baliworld!!!!!

The Vancouver Canucks weren't thrilled when they heard that Andrei Kuzmenko planned to spend the bulk of his offseason in Bali.

"Oh my god! They weren't having it!" said Kuzmenko's agent, Dan Milstein, on the Sekeres & Price podcast. "We heard from the head coach, we heard from everybody and maybe even the janitor too. Obviously, everyone was concerned but I told everybody to take a chill pill. We've got it under control."

Kuzmenko's training exploits in Bali have captured the attention of Canucks fans as he's employed some unusual tactics to get ready for the upcoming season. That includes substituting a bundle of wood for free weights or sprinting up an outdoor staircase in lieu of an elliptical.

But Kuzmenko's regimen has included a lot more traditional off-ice training than his social media exploits would suggest. Milstein said he got Pavel Datsyuk's former trainer to work one-on-one with Kuzmenko for the month of June, then another trainer who has worked with multiple NHL players for the month of July. As much as he enjoyed the sun in Bali, he spent long hours in the gym.

He even did on-ice training in Bali — yes, there's a real ice rink in Bali.

Kuzmenko returned to North America in August and has been using the Florida Panthers' facilities as he ramps up his training ahead of Canucks training camp in three weeks.

"His task was to stay further from the table and closer to the gym," quipped Milstein, hinting that Kuzmenko's fitness wasn't where it needed to be last season. Later in the interview, he stopped hinting.

"He had to change quite a few things to prepare for last season and, of course, it wasn't good enough," said Milstein. "So, he's changed up some things and we expect a new-and-improved Andrei Kuzmenko rolling into Vancouver."

As Milstein explained it, the NHL has a different cycle than the KHL, which starts its training camp much earlier in the summer with more lead-up to the start of the season — "You basically get three weeks off per season," said Milstein. As a result, Russian players who come to the NHL frequently get a rude awakening in their first season, as their conditioning typically isn't up to snuff when they come into training camp.

Kuzmenko left last season, then, knowing that he needed to take a big step in his fitness and conditioning.

"Andrei knew exactly what he needed to do in order to come back in the best shape," said Milstein. "Look at his half-naked pictures on Instagram — he looks great."

There's a difference, of course, between looking great and being in good shape for an NHL season and it remains to be seen if Kuzmenko's unconventional offseason will pay off. Maybe it would have been better for Kuzmenko to stay in Vancouver to train with teammates staying in the area rather than going to Bali, for example. Or maybe the extraordinary efforts to find ice time on a tropical island will be worth it.

But if the Canucks can get a new-and-improved Kuzmenko, that would be a massive boon to their playoff chances. After all, Kuzmenko scored 39 goals lasts season, albeit aided by an absurdly high shooting percentage. How many goals will a new-and-improved Kuzmenko score?


Man, Tocchet's got his work cut out.

Don't know if you heard Petterson on 32 thoughts or not, but he sounded about as non-committal as someone could possibly be about re-singing there without outright saying "it would take a miracle for me to want to sign here long term."

The Nucks are a weird group because they have some talent and should conceivably be competitive, but there's just "something" missing. I think a lot of their problem is they don't really have an alpha in the room that can pull all the personalities together. Miller is a crybaby malcontent, Petterson has the personality of a mop and doesn't want to be there apparently, Hughes seems to also be a quieter personality while being maybe the most overrated player in memory (IMO), etc. They kind of just have a smattering of talented players that all have their own reason to be upset with their situation in Vancouver.

 

[joestevens29]

Wait, he "wanted" guys in town mid-August? Didn't he literally just get fined at end of season for running practices?

I know it's a bit different, but given you were fined for running illegal practices why even be suggesting when you want players to show up on their own? Seems like someone could file a grievance that they are feeling pressured by the coach to show up early and that given what happened earlier they'd probably win

 

[oobga]

The bizarre thing about those two fools (Parros and Campbell) is that their suspension cadence doesn't even necessarily favor and "old school" type game. There have been plenty of instances of plays that aren't really even that bad in an "old school" sense that get severely punished on 1st offenses. Semi-incidental high hits like McDavid's on Leddy a few years ago get an auto 2 games, which is ridiculous as a blanket policy IMO.

Then on the other hand you have clear cut intents to injure that get the same suspension (Pietrangelo gets in effect 2 regular season games for his Drai slash).

The worst of all of them IMO was the Hartman incident late in the year when he blatantly targeted Ehlers to injure him, then admitted it after. That one got him one regular season game (and a irrelevant one at that). Meanwhile Ehlers is down for the playoffs. Then a week later Bunting makes a dirty hit in the playoffs and gets racked up for multiple playoff games for it, despite it being not nearly as pre-meditated and not as bad.

These idiots pick favorites randomly and throw the book at others randomly. They follow no precedent. Incidents a few days apart from each other have wildly different suspensions despite being directly comparable. After last year's debacle I can't believe that Parros is still in that chair, but I shouldn't be surprised. Bettman will keep him there for no reason other than to flip the bird at people criticizing him and pretend nothing is wrong.

I would take your examples as signs that these "old school" guys seem to not mind the highest skill and most popular/flashy players getting messed up, but also they are quick to punish those kinds of players. I think there has been a pattern of this for quite a while. This is like the cliché of the bullies in school becoming cops and using their authority to mess with all the popular and successful kids that they saw growing up.

It's just not a well run league at all. Fans are taken for granted except in areas they are fixated on to try to promote (not Canada at all), and we've let the resentful grinders be in charge of officiating and player safety. League has no idea how to properly promote their stars and the skill that can be on display.

 

[Behind Enemy Lines]

Don't know if you heard Petterson on 32 thoughts or not, but he sounded about as non-committal as someone could possibly be about re-singing there without outright saying "it would take a miracle for me to want to sign here long term."

The Nucks are a weird group because they have some talent and should conceivably be competitive, but there's just "something" missing. I think a lot of their problem is they don't really have an alpha in the room that can pull all the personalities together. Miller is a crybaby malcontent, Petterson has the personality of a mop and doesn't want to be there apparently, Hughes seems to also be a quieter personality while being maybe the most overrated player in memory (IMO), etc. They kind of just have a smattering of talented players that all have their own reason to be upset with their situation in Vancouver.

Thanks for sharing. Didn't hear the interview. It seems the new strategy of pedigree restricted free agent to threaten to leave their organizations if they aren't satisfied with efforts to improve the team. It's effective as we've seen with Turtle and Dubois.

Impression is of a country club culture. Man, if the 'team' is already disregarding the coach's request as the Sportsnet article suggested, it's gonna take a lot of heavy lifting to herd all the cats to play for one another. Agree there doesn't seem to be a cohesive bond that drives with team but rather a disparate collection of individuals. That said, I think they will be better this year. But Coach T has his work cut out.

 

[K1984]

Thanks for sharing. Didn't hear the interview. It seems the new strategy of pedigree restricted free agent to threaten to leave their organizations if they aren't satisfied with efforts to improve the team. It's effective as we've seen with Turtle and Dubois.

Impression is of a country club culture. Man, if the 'team' is already disregarding the coach's request as the Sportsnet article suggested, it's gonna take a lot of heavy lifting to herd all the cats to play for one another. Agree there doesn't seem to be a cohesive bond that drives with team but rather a disparate collection of individuals. That said, I think they will be better this year. But Coach T has his work cut out.

The "get back by mid-august" demand is stupid to begin with, especially considering that pretty much any player of relevance on that team is either east-coast American or European. Talk about not being able to read the room. Pretty much everyone hates their life there, they need to have fun playing hockey again with a clean slate, not have their off season disrupted by a demand to cut the summer short and start team mandated training early.

What better way to start a season than piss all the key players off for no reason other than the media friendly optics of "look everyone is in town early!"

 

[Behind Enemy Lines]

The "get back by mid-august" demand is stupid to begin with, especially considering that pretty much any player of relevance on that team is either east-coast American or European. Talk about not being able to read the room. Pretty much everyone hates their life there, they need to have fun playing hockey again with a clean slate, not have their off season disrupted by a demand to cut the summer short and start team mandated training early.

What better way to start a season than piss all the key players off for no reason other than the media friendly optics of "look everyone is in town early!"

Definitely a power trip move which played out as expected. Soft culture with Bruce There It Goes and new guy trying to wrestle a greased pig attempting to assert some structure and accountability. Just gonna wait for Kuzmenko to text from Florida Panther facilities that he'll just stay there until the team roadie can pick him up mid-season.

 

[K1984]

Definitely a power trip move which played out as expected. Soft culture with Bruce There It Goes and new guy trying to wrestle a greased pig attempting to assert some structure and accountability. Just gonna wait for Kuzmenko to text from Florida Panther facilities that he'll just stay there until the team roadie can pick him up mid-season.

These things only work when they're driven by the players.

Look at the Oilers for example. They aren't all in Edmonton early, but McDavid has basically set up an Oiler training base in the GTA where a good part of the team has been training together for the last month or so which included Draisaitl cutting his summer short to get there. Pretty much example A of what the Nucks are missing - a strong internal leadership group that leads the team into the next season from the ground up. "Come to Ontario early to train with us to get ready and have some fun" is a lot more attractive of a proposition than "get to Edmonton by August 15 for early training camp or else."

 

[Ritchie Valens]

Kuzmenko taking the Rocky IV approach to off-season training. Bold move, Cotton.

 

[Oilhawks]

Don't know if you heard Petterson on 32 thoughts or not, but he sounded about as non-committal as someone could possibly be about re-singing there without outright saying "it would take a miracle for me to want to sign here long term."

The Nucks are a weird group because they have some talent and should conceivably be competitive, but there's just "something" missing. I think a lot of their problem is they don't really have an alpha in the room that can pull all the personalities together. Miller is a crybaby malcontent, Petterson has the personality of a mop and doesn't want to be there apparently, Hughes seems to also be a quieter personality while being maybe the most overrated player in memory (IMO), etc. They kind of just have a smattering of talented players that all have their own reason to be upset with their situation in Vancouver.

During the lows of recent Oilers seasons I’ve ranted about a “country club” atmosphere among the team, but that’s just a rant. The Canucks literally are a country club

 

[bellagiobob]

 

[harpoon]

Thank you TNT. That’s 18 times I won’t have to listen to the awful duo of Louie and Singh.

 

[TopShelfGloveSide]

Thank you TNT. That’s 18 times I won’t have to listen to the awful duo of Louie and Singh.

Wait is Singh the guy now?

 

[bellagiobob]

Thank you TNT. That’s 18 times I won’t have to listen to the awful duo of Louie and Singh.

I don’t think any of those 18 games are National SN games, so Singh shouldn’t be doing those games, it should be Jack and Louie. But I get where you’re coming from.

 

[joestevens29]

delte

 

[Behind Enemy Lines]

Never to early to ponder a Team Canada World Cup roster: Projecting Team Canada’s roster for expected 2025 World Cup of Hockey

Eyebrows raised with a speculative Stu Skinner starting goaltender role.

Darnell Nurse is on my team and paired with Dougie Hamilton for a plus size complementing condor defense pair. Schiefele with size and centre/wing versatility is an easy Huberdeau replacement. Maybe a prime years Pierre-Luc Dubois if he is engaged and hits in LA. Think Team Canada will opt for size, centre/wing versatility over soft skill. Jarry would have to get some consideration at this team's weakest position.

 

[bellagiobob]

Never to early to ponder a Team Canada World Cup roster: Projecting Team Canada’s roster for expected 2025 World Cup of Hockey

Eyebrows raised with a speculative Stu Skinner starting goaltender role.

Darnell Nurse is on my team and paired with Dougie Hamilton for a plus size complementing condor defense pair. Schiefele with size and centre/wing versatility is an easy Huberdeau replacement. Maybe a prime years Pierre-Luc Dubois if he is engaged and hits in LA. Think Team Canada will opt for size, centre/wing versatility over soft skill. Jarry would have to get some consideration at this team's weakest position.

Lots of great options up front, but man is the goaltending our Achilles heel. So would Stone be able to take a 10 day break from LTIR, make an appearance here, then pop back onto LTIR until the playoffs? Probably.

 

[Behind Enemy Lines]

Lots of great options up front, but man is the goaltending our Achilles heel. So would Stone be able to take a 10 day break from LTIR, make an appearance here, then pop back onto LTIR until the playoffs? Probably.

Yup, goaltending is an issue. I think more problematic as the d-corp isn't as strong as the last generation elite Team Canada grouping. Have to think Devon Toews would get a lot of consideration with his top pair efficient work with Makar. Lol about Stone.

 

[K1984]

Never to early to ponder a Team Canada World Cup roster: Projecting Team Canada’s roster for expected 2025 World Cup of Hockey

Eyebrows raised with a speculative Stu Skinner starting goaltender role.

Darnell Nurse is on my team and paired with Dougie Hamilton for a plus size complementing condor defense pair. Schiefele with size and centre/wing versatility is an easy Huberdeau replacement. Maybe a prime years Pierre-Luc Dubois if he is engaged and hits in LA. Think Team Canada will opt for size, centre/wing versatility over soft skill. Jarry would have to get some consideration at this team's weakest position.

I still see Huberdeau on pretty much every projected roster from multiple sources, which to say the least is baffling to me. Why wouldn't you want a completely one dimensional offensive player that just put up ~50 points over a whole season sucking it up on a bottom 6 line? Makes zero sense.

 

[Behind Enemy Lines]

I still see Huberdeau on pretty much every projected roster from multiple sources, which to say the least is baffling to me. Why wouldn't you want a completely one dimensional offensive player that just put up ~50 points over a whole season sucking it up on a bottom 6 line? Makes zero sense.

I think he'll rebound for more normalized though not elite production. Agree with you, I don't see a soft finesse distributor winger making their roster over big, heavy game centre/wing versatility guys like I named above.

 

[TheNumber4]

Kuzmenko taking the Rocky IV approach to off-season training. Bold move, Cotton.

Yeh it’s Rocky IV but instead of a hard, desolate, and challenging environment with no distractions to train in, he chose a tropical vacation paradise lol.