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

[CantHaveTkachev]

Must be a slow news day. I have no idea why anybody would listen to anything on spittin chiclets.

This is nothing.

Blue Jackets' Johnny Gaudreau describes photo sharing with Mike Babcock

Columbus Blue Jackets star Johnny Gaudreau found himself doing damage control Tuesday as his new coach Mike Babcock's get-to-know-you methods dominated hockey's headlines.

www.sportsnet.ca

All of the CBJ player leaders have stated this was innocent, just team bonding, and nobody heard any complaints about it. Complete and utter fabrication by Bissonette.

This is the trouble I have with sports podcasts. Theres no line of fire or responsibility. Had Bissonette worked for an actual media outlet he would be fired today for gross misrepresentation or at best being a f***ing liar. But tied to some nebulous spittin chicklets podcast theres nobody to answer to except other equally disposed morons.

When people listen to this crap they support it. Why do that?

Frat Boy "Biz Nasty" looking like the clown he is but this is no surprise to anyone who listens to that podcast...they bring on Mike Commodore just so he can shit on Babcock for an hour

I'm not saying Babcock isn't an asshole, but this is a nothing burger and good for Gaudreau for explaining it nicely

 

[Drivesaitl]

Trying to say that we live in a pretty transparent world of social media in which people including hockey players freely share (often overshare) their lives or market their 'brand' through Instagram, Twitter, Facebook et all. It's not that far fetch to try to engage younger generation of hockey players by requesting to share photos as a means to ice break and learn about them as individuals. Initial step to form a personal relationship to first understand, build affinity, and ultimately motivate within the team context. A lot of players already choose to make their lives public through their socials.

Babcock somewhere mentioned getting coaching from an Ohio State professor or something about how to better coach diverse individual personality types in ways that best motivate and drive them. Wouldn't be surprised if this idea stems from academia hence my sarcasm about adding sharing apple pie recipes.

Think this is well intended but clunky. Good fodder though for a chicken shit anonymous malcontent spooning up to two morons with an axe to grind and a bro platform to stir up shit to try to sink Babcock before his first C-Bus training camp begins.

Hope this deciphers my rant.

Thanks. I was pre coffee when reading that. I probably could have figured it out eventually heh

Frat Boy "Biz Nasty" looking like the clown he is but this is no surprise to anyone who listens to that podcast...they bring on Mike Commodore just so he can shit on Babcock for an hour

I'm not saying Babcock isn't an asshole, but this is a nothing burger and good for Gaudreau for explaining it nicely

I was gonna roast that Gaudreau could've complained because he didn't want his Gremlin Family tree outed. But then I found out he had babcocks back on this. Still sliding the joke in anyhoo. heh

 

[joestevens29]

At minimum, an anonymous complaint to team HR. There is a way to express discomfort directly to coach and GM although I appreciate your point about difficult conversations with superiors. Though that takes courage and character and with full system support available including player agent and union. The cowardly approach is to do what was done. Now the team's captain and its best player are thrown into the situation to counter a cowardly anonymous sniping. Don't like it, step up and be a man about it.

Per Gaudreau: "It was his way of kinda getting to know me, and I got to get to know him," Gaudreau said. "I wasn't uncomfortable at all. I was showing him pictures of my family. If I had (a) problem with it, I would've been like, 'I don't think I'm comfortable with that.' But I had no problem with it."

Kekalainen stepped up to make a controversial hire while quite likely having his own job at risk if C-Bus continues to flounder. This is just a cowardly way when there are significant support and legal vehicles available to you.

Respect your posts on this. I'm not trying to be argumentative.

Oh I get it. Like I said I don't really think what Babcock did was that messed up.

But we live in a day and age where there are athletes that do stupid shit all the time. This is just something new that we haven't really seen before.

For their sake I hope it's not a Fantili or Johnson or some other young up and comer. Just the talks with Gregor, Brown and Sturds it does seem it was probably a younger player as generally the older guys that are married or someone who just had a kid is quite open about sharing photos on their phone. Now a young single guy not so much lol.

 

[Behind Enemy Lines]

Oh I get it. Like I said I don't really think what Babcock did was that messed up.

But we live in a day and age where there are athletes that do stupid shit all the time. This is just something new that we haven't really seen before.

For their sake I hope it's not a Fantili or Johnson or some other young up and comer. Just the talks with Gregor, Brown and Sturds it does seem it was probably a younger player as generally the older guys that are married or someone who just had a kid is quite open about sharing photos on their phone. Now a young single guy not so much lol.

Personally I highly, highly doubt this would be a high pedigree young guy with little or no experience in the NHL. This smells like a disgruntled, jaded NHL veteran in a support role. Someone afraid of their place as country club living is about to change and evolve with greater accountability as this team attempts to improve. Willing to take a passive aggressive snipe through two ex-malcontents with mics.

 

[joestevens29]

Personally I highly, highly doubt this would be a high pedigree young guy with little or no experience in the NHL. This smells like a disgruntled, jaded NHL veteran in a support role. Someone afraid of their place as country club living is about to change and evolve with greater accountability as this team attempts to improve. Willing to take a passive aggressive snipe through two ex-malcontents with mics.

Lol probably Roslovic. Wasn't there rumblings about him last year?

 

[TopShelfGloveSide]

Must be a slow news day. I have no idea why anybody would listen to anything on spittin chiclets.

This is nothing.

Blue Jackets' Johnny Gaudreau describes photo sharing with Mike Babcock

Columbus Blue Jackets star Johnny Gaudreau found himself doing damage control Tuesday as his new coach Mike Babcock's get-to-know-you methods dominated hockey's headlines.

www.sportsnet.ca

All of the CBJ player leaders have stated this was innocent, just team bonding, and nobody heard any complaints about it. Complete and utter fabrication by Bissonette.

This is the trouble I have with sports podcasts. Theres no line of fire or responsibility. Had Bissonette worked for an actual media outlet he would be fired today for gross misrepresentation or at best being a f***ing liar. But tied to some nebulous spittin chicklets podcast theres nobody to answer to except other equally disposed morons.

When people listen to this crap they support it. Why do that?

I like Spitten Chiclets but this isn’t a good look. Sounds like they didn't completely understand the situation yet decided to blow it up anyways. I’m assuming the NHL players involved don’t appreciate this either.

 

[Behind Enemy Lines]

Lol probably Roslovic. Wasn't there rumblings about him last year?

Your guess is as good as mine. I don't want to speculate. Just have no time for this garbage behaviour. Selfish distraction for all involved by an anonymous troll trying to poison the well.

 

[Drivesaitl]

I like Spitten Chiclets but this isn’t a good look. Sounds like they didn't completely understand the situation yet decided to blow it up anyways. I’m assuming the NHL players involved don’t appreciate this either.

Its far from isolated though. Whitney and Biz Nasty basically exist to stir shit. Its the air they breathe.

I wouldn't support either one by listening to any of it. They exist for the hits.

What I never get about people like this is they spend all day mocking others. But what about them. They'd be the biggest goofs in any room.

 

[Ritchie Valens]

They can't really do all that much loading up at the deadline as they have already spent $5M of his $7M LTIR. So they pretty much have already done the loading. If he does come back they better hope that they can make a run of it because next year they will be in big cap hell. They would have $10M with the cap at $87.5M with 14 players. Toews will eat up at least $8M of that meaning they will have to start shedding a lot of money just to ice a 20 man roster.

It's Sakic, he'll find a way to dump salary to a floor team as an intermediary for one last go.

Be nice to see them have to pedal away talent for once though.

 

[Fourier]

It's Sakic, he'll find a way to dump salary to a floor team as an intermediary for one last go.

Be nice to see them have to pedal away talent for once though.

There is really only one contract I could see him moving that would not impact the team that much and that is Girard. But he is Tyson Barrie very-lite with three more years left after this one on a $5M per year deal. Thier bottom pair then becomes an aging Jack Johnson and Brad Hunt. Given the fragility of some of his top 4 defensemen that is a pretty big risk.

 

[K1984]

I'm cautiously optimistic that the Avalanche basically repeat their experience last year or have it go worse.

Quite a bit of their depth is predicated on "hope it works out." Johansen, Drouin, Tatar, Wood (in the sense of injury), Nichushkin (in the sense of whatever the hell is going on in his personal life). Coulton is a bit of a wild card as well. They'll have a rocketship top line, but a lot of question marks after that up front and not really any clear play driver on the second line and below that could drag other players along.

Their defense is solid, but only as far as their health will go as already mentioned. Even their goalies are far from locks in terms of being counted on to perform reliably.

 

[Paralyzer]

I'm cautiously optimistic that the Avalanche basically repeat their experience last year or have it go worse.

Quite a bit of their depth is predicated on "hope it works out." Johansen, Drouin, Tatar, Wood (in the sense of injury), Nichushkin (in the sense of whatever the hell is going on in his personal life). Coulton is a bit of a wild card as well. They'll have a rocketship top line, but a lot of question marks after that up front and not really any clear play driver on the second line and below that could drag other players along.

Their defense is solid, but only as far as their health will go as already mentioned. Even their goalies are far from locks in terms of being counted on to perform reliably.

It's almost as if they should have kept Kadri. Would have been a better fit for them than what they got now.

 

[Drivesaitl]

I'm cautiously optimistic that the Avalanche basically repeat their experience last year or have it go worse.

Quite a bit of their depth is predicated on "hope it works out." Johansen, Drouin, Tatar, Wood (in the sense of injury), Nichushkin (in the sense of whatever the hell is going on in his personal life). Coulton is a bit of a wild card as well. They'll have a rocketship top line, but a lot of question marks after that up front and not really any clear play driver on the second line and below that could drag other players along.

Their defense is solid, but only as far as their health will go as already mentioned. Even their goalies are far from locks in terms of being counted on to perform reliably.

I see it differently. Cup winners often have a fallback season the year after. That often ends up being a reload year. For instance Kings winning in 2012, 2014 and gasping for air in 2013.

AV's also had a ton of injury problems. They'll be a more rested team this season.

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

speaking of the Avs

 

[K1984]

I see it differently. Cup winners often have a fallback season the year after. That often ends up being a reload year. For instance Kings winning in 2012, 2014 and gasping for air in 2013.

AV's also had a ton of injury problems. They'll be a more rested team this season.

That’s exactly it though, a lot of their players are band aids and/or unreliable. I don’t perceive those issues as a one off.

 

[Fourier]

I see it differently. Cup winners often have a fallback season the year after. That often ends up being a reload year. For instance Kings winning in 2012, 2014 and gasping for air in 2013.

AV's also had a ton of injury problems. They'll be a more rested team this season.

The differences between these situations is that the 2012 Kings were not expected to win even though they were a strong team coming into the season. They barely made the playoffs but got hot at the right time while being led by some terrific kids. Almost all of the key players were back in 2014 with guys like Kopitar and Doughty gaining even more experience. The Avs on the other hand have lost a significant amount of their depth and are now up against it wrt the cap. If Landeskog is done that is another huge blow. He only played 10 games in the 2022 playoffs but he still had an impact. They have lost Kadri, Burakovsky, Compher, very possibly Landeskog and who knows about Nichushkin. They even lost Newhook who put up 33 points from the Cup winning team. That is a huge change on the front end.

 

[K1984]

The differences between these situations is that the 2012 Kings were not expected to win even though they were a strong team coming into the season. They barely made the playoffs but got hot at the right time while being led by some terrific kids. Almost all of the key players were back in 2014 with guys like Kopitar and Doughty gaining even more experience. The Avs on the other hand have lost a significant amount of their depth and are now up against it wrt the cap. If Landeskog is done that is another huge blow. He only played 10 games in the 2022 playoffs but he still had an impact. They have lost Kadri, Burakovsky, Compher, very possibly Landeskog and who knows about Nichushkin. They even lost Newhook who put up 33 points from the Cup winning team. That is a huge change on the front end.

They lost a lot of speed up front too. When they beat us they had 4 lines that can burn. Replacing Kadri and Compher down the middle with Johansen and…. I’m not really sure who takes that devastating 4 line speed attack away.

They still have guys in the bottom 6 like Wood and Cogliano that can skate, but it’s sprinkled around their lineup now, not all over it.

 

[Stoneman89]

I see it differently. Cup winners often have a fallback season the year after. That often ends up being a reload year. For instance Kings winning in 2012, 2014 and gasping for air in 2013.

AV's also had a ton of injury problems. They'll be a more rested team this season.

I think their goaltending is going to be an issue. Johannsen is slower than mollasses in January, and Drouin isn't going to suddenly turn into a competent NHL player, let alone a top sixer. Landeskog is a huge question mark, and even if he does come back, how effective would he be.

 

[bellagiobob]

Figured this story had legs. Biz may be a blowhard, but he wasn’t going to put his TV career on the line over nothing.

 

[harpoon]

Calling it an ‘investigation’ is kind of laughable.
Guys like Babcock can’t survive in snowflake world.

 

[Behind Enemy Lines]

Figured this story had legs. Biz may be a blowhard, but he wasn’t going to put his TV career on the line over nothing.

It's due process as it would be whether leaked as it was or if an anonymous complainant followed any of the many team and labour options available through the collective bargaining agreement. New NHLPA head is and should be all over this. This was leaked to known Babcock haters to undermine Babcock, create a lot of noise, and it has succeeded in creating a resulting rush to judgement through its portrayal.

Unless something really substantive is revealed, I don't think Babcock will be fired. It's apparently been a standard practice he's used for years (even though awkward and likely unusual). It may have both NHL and NHLPA start to define with a bit of specificity some of the interaction parameters between coach and players. Babcock certainly has earned a short leash in all of this and this situation is fully exploiting it. There's a significant mistrust which he might never be able to bridge. Some locker room.

 

[syz]

Lol Flames players holding them hostage with more "depends how this season goes." Are they gonna be dumb enough to hold onto these guys and hope they can squeak into a wild card spot and then still lose them for nothing next summer?

 

[K1984]

Lol Flames players holding them hostage with more "depends how this season goes." Are they gonna be dumb enough to hold onto these guys and hope they can squeak into a wild card spot and then still lose them for nothing next summer?

Yes, they absolutely are.

Best part is they’re holding out hope that these guys will stay with massive raises only so that the team can stay moderately competitive. They’re acting as if this is a “last dance” scenario where they are trying to hold a loaded team together. This group missed the playoffs for Christ sakes and are all in the range of 30 years old haha.

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

Lol Flames players holding them hostage with more "depends how this season goes." Are they gonna be dumb enough to hold onto these guys and hope they can squeak into a wild card spot and then still lose them for nothing next summer?

the fact they signed Huberdeau and Kadri to retirement contracts pretty much negates them from ever blowing it up for a re-build...just screwed themselves so now they have to be content with mediocrity forever

 

[K1984]

the fact they signed Huberdeau and Kadri to retirement contracts pretty much negates them from ever blowing it up for a re-build...just screwed themselves so now they have to be content with mediocrity forever

On one hand this is true, but on the other if they really blew it up they would still have the opportunity to build around those contracts with good players on their first or second deals. Had they not wasted the opportunity, they really could have received strong returns for Lindholm, Hanafin and Backlund at least. Instead their trade value diminishes every day as we approach the deadline, especially when it will likely be a buyers market this year.

After all the crowing about “we’re not doing that again!” (losing impending UFAs for nothing) that goof Conroy is walking right down that path.

There is hope in stripping it down around Huberdeau and Kadri, just signing more of these contracts to 30 year olds is a guarantee to send them down the path of permanent mediocrity or worse.