Around the League - 2023/24

[Pokecheque]

There's someone who keeps writing about how Coyote's organisation is awful to their employees almost every couple of months like the organisation personally hurt them or something. I'm pretty sure it's her.

I'm fairly certain the person you're taking the laziest take imaginable on is not Sara Civian, it's Rachel Doerrie. But even if I'm right here, I don't get what your point is.

If all you can do is try to find the bad aspects of people and hunt them down to find those bad aspects, then you are an awful journalist with a horribly bias view.

Reporting on bad people doing bad things is literally what gave birth to journalism.

 

[Bill Peckerskull]

Garrioch: Senators' defenceman Thomas Chabot expected to have wrist surgery

Looks like Thomas Chabot will have surgery on his wrist

ottawacitizen.com

 

[Bill Peckerskull]

 

[Pokecheque]

The only person who comes off looking worse than Meruelo in that article is his douchenozzle kid who knows literally nothing about hockey but told Shane Doan he wasn’t ready to be in charge of a hockey team.

 

[dahrougem2]

I forgot Michkov existed. 41 points in 47 KHL games this season as a 19 year old.

I still think he's going to be the 2nd best player from that draft after Bedard.

 

[expatriatedtexan]

On the Jack Adams award, I'd rather have it given to the coach of the Cup Champion than what they do now.

Of course, I'm still salty Bednar doesn't have one. He should have been uncontested in '22. When you think about what that team did do opponents you have to remember... he built that. From the ground up. From the sub-basement levels up really.

 

[Balthazar]

I forgot Michkov existed. 41 points in 47 KHL games this season as a 19 year old.

I still think he's going to be the 2nd best player from that draft after Bedard.

Montreal is going to regret passing on him

 

[henchman21]

I forgot Michkov existed. 41 points in 47 KHL games this season as a 19 year old.

I still think he's going to be the 2nd best player from that draft after Bedard.

My hot take, he won’t end up top 5. Will be a good player certainly, but there will be enough better that his draft slotting ends up close to appropriate.

 

[AllAboutAvs]

My hot take, he won’t end up top 5. Will be a good player certainly, but there will be enough better that his draft slotting ends up close to appropriate.

Here goes the contrarian again....

 

[henchman21]

Here goes the contrarian again....

This post is worthless without a gif.

 

[RockLobster]

Norris Finalists are Hughes, Josi, and Makar.

I am expecting Hughes to win it, but holy shit I didn't realize that even with the substandard season from Makar (relative to what we've usually seen) that he finished with 90 points in 77 games....vs 92 for Hughes in 82 games.

Since this award is all about points anyway, I'm not entirely sure Hughes will win in a landslide (though I'm sure he'll still win).

 

[GeoRox89]

Norris Finalists are Hughes, Josi, and Makar.

I am expecting Hughes to win it, but holy shit I didn't realize that even with the substandard season from Makar (relative to what we've usually seen) that he finished with 90 points in 77 games....vs 92 for Hughes in 82 games.

Since this award is all about points anyway, I'm not entirely sure Hughes will win in a landslide (though I'm sure he'll still win).

Canadian media has been loving all over Hughes all year or at least until the playoffs started. Don’t think it’ll be that close but it might not be a total landslide either

 

[Colorado Avalanche]

Norris Finalists are Hughes, Josi, and Makar.

I am expecting Hughes to win it, but holy shit I didn't realize that even with the substandard season from Makar (relative to what we've usually seen) that he finished with 90 points in 77 games....vs 92 for Hughes in 82 games.

Since this award is all about points anyway, I'm not entirely sure Hughes will win in a landslide (though I'm sure he'll still win).

Makar should win anyway, but they are probably sick of giving him awards all the time so they give it to Hughes.

 

[henchman21]

Hughes is going to win by a good margin. Makar will be second.

 

[Chiarelli]

Makar hit a career high in points and tied his best for GP - not bad for a down season.
That said Hughes is winning the Norris for sure.

 

[Freudian]

It's fine. MacKinnon will win the Hart and Makar will get the Conn Smythe as a comfort prize.

 

[LOFIN]

Based AF

 

[henchman21]

Based AF

Somebody made Putin’s list.

 

[expatriatedtexan]

Somebody made Putin’s list.

He's not wrong though.

Been curious for a while but haven't bothered asking because we aren't supposed to do politics but...
Does the continued war in Ukraine have an effect on Russian prospects? Will we see more of them wanting to come over just to get away and have a more "normal" life, whatever that means or is good for?

 

[Pokecheque]

He's not wrong though.

Been curious for a while but haven't bothered asking because we aren't supposed to do politics but...
Does the continued war in Ukraine have an effect on Russian prospects? Will we see more of them wanting to come over just to get away and have a more "normal" life, whatever that means or is good for?

It could, certainly if the war continues to have an adverse effect on Russian businesses and interests abroad, which will take a toll on the local economy. The KHL's primary source of revenue is sponsorships, and if those companies are unable or unwilling to pony up, that will definitely affect the league's overall ability to retain top-level talent.

 

[S E P H]

Norris Finalists are Hughes, Josi, and Makar.

I am expecting Hughes to win it, but holy shit I didn't realize that even with the substandard season from Makar (relative to what we've usually seen) that he finished with 90 points in 77 games....vs 92 for Hughes in 82 games.

Since this award is all about points anyway, I'm not entirely sure Hughes will win in a landslide (though I'm sure he'll still win).

Hughes was the most consistent and probably deserves the award due to that fact.

Makar fell off a cliff after the all-star game and probably lost it due to that fact.

Josi will probably finish second because of recency bias due to how amazing he was in the second half of the season.

 

[Foppa2118]

Quinn had a bigger drop post ASG than Cale did. Quinn dropped 0.22 pts/gm in the games post ASG compared to pre ASG, while Cale dropped 0.18 pt/gm.

Cale also finished the season with more goals in less games, and a higher pts/gm on the season. 21 vs 17 goals and 1.17 pts/gm vs 1.12.

I thought Hughes would probably win earlier in the season when Cale was behind in the pts/gm battle, but he had a strong finish and took the lead there.

Cale has the edge offensively, so it should come down to defense. Cale didn't have a great season defensively, but I haven't watched Hughes enough to know if his was better.

Reporters will probably base it on analytics, but I'm not sure that's the way to do it. Can be very team dependent, and ignores the dominance factor that Cale should have a big edge in.

 

[the_fan]

delete

 

[SirLoinOfCloth]

Quinn had a bigger drop post ASG than Cale did. Quinn dropped 0.22 pts/gm in the games post ASG compared to pre ASG, while Cale dropped 0.18 pt/gm.

Cale also finished the season with more goals in less games, and a higher pts/gm on the season. 21 vs 17 goals and 1.17 pts/gm vs 1.12.

I thought Hughes would probably win earlier in the season when Cale was behind in the pts/gm battle, but he had a strong finish and took the lead there.

Cale has the edge offensively, so it should come down to defense. Cale didn't have a great season defensively, but I haven't watched Hughes enough to know if his was better.

Reporters will probably base it on analytics, but I'm not sure that's the way to do it. Can be very team dependent, and ignores the dominance factor that Cale should have a big edge in.

Just looking at some cherry-picked stats, but comparing Cale to Quinn in all situations.

Stat	Makar	Hughes
xG	16.4	11.2
Goals	21	17
Assists	69	75
Points	90	92
% of O Zone Starts	24.9	18
% of D Zone starts	14.9	9.3
Hits	37	29
PIM	16	38
PIM Drawn	50	32
PIM Diff	-34	6
Blocked Shots	148	55
Takeaways	70	43
Points Per 60	2.83	2.73

So it's pretty close in a lot of these. Makar seems to be used more in ozone and dzone starts (Quinn more in neutral zone or on-the-fly shifts), and Cale plays a more physical game, but manages to draw more penalties and gets penalized less. He blocks nearly 3x the number of shots and has nearly double the takeaways, all while slightly exceeding Hughes in offensive production per 60.

I don't think either of these guys will 'run away' with the Norris this year, I wouldn't be surprised if either of them won, but as a biased Avs fan I'm obviously leaning Makar.

 

[Nihiliste]

Yup that's basically it. Rodgers has seemingly been trying to find ways out of their commitment for a couple years now. This will probably just pay back Rogers for the escalation over the next two years so the losses are kept to a minimum

Maybe they shouldn’t have bid so hard against TSN and ruined the product!