Around The League 40: As we barrel towards 40 teams

[cptjeff]

why institute the policy in the first place?

Because they're abject morons who didn't think through the implications of what happens the second they try to enforce said policy.

 

[CanesUltimate11]

Because they're abject morons who didn't think through the implications of what happens the second they try to enforce said policy.

Or they're abject morons who somehow didn't think any players cared enough about the issue to push back on the ban.

 

[cptjeff]

Or they're abject morons who somehow didn't think any players cared enough about the issue to push back on the ban.

Even if you think that, you have to think through what happens if even one player does. Enforce the rule and all of a sudden you're punishing a player for supporting gay rights, which will be a global headline well outside of the sports pages. Even if you're 99% confident it won't happen, that's a huge downside PR risk.

 

[Bub]

An hour into the FROZEN FRENZY and my early review is mixed.

Games -- It's a schizo viewing affair, as I knew it would be, but interesting nonetheless as a rarity. Still, so far I like just seeing a rolling set of games like this. Would like to see more live action rather than so much replay. I get that they want to show goal highlights, but let the games speak for themselves more frequently.

Announcers -- Bad. I like Bucci and Weekes as studio guys on the NHL Network. But they are not not not play-by-play guys, and should be doing none of that. Banal, trite (who made Weekes into Chris Berman Jr? "Kuemper with a save! The Mattress! Kuemper-Pedic!"), and shallow commentary. Set up a game and go quickly to the local announcers. Let B & W do their hype thing for a few seconds, and then cut away from them.

Or maybe I'm just cranky b/c when the cut to the Canes game they've just looked so drab. Hard to believe this is the same defensive team we've seen in years past. Is chaotic too strong a word?

 

[Negan4Coach]

no disagreement from me there, the official decision should have been along the lines of "the league will no longer be doing sponsored nights, individual players are still allowed to support the cause of their own volition during warmups". Taking the step of banning it outright was just as much nonsense as the idiots who were attacking players who chose not to participate. It's creating controversy out of nothing.

At this point I hope TDA breaks out the Rhodesian Army camo pattern tape on military appreciation night and somebody notices and flips the f*** out

 

[Blueline Bomber]

Jack Hughes has 14 points in 5 games.

Remember the preseason bitching about rankings occasionally having the Devils over us? Yeah…about that…

 

[Nikishin Go Boom]

Jack Hughes has 14 points in 5 games.

Remember the preseason bitching about rankings occasionally having the Devils over us? Yeah…about that…

That schedule is very favorable

 

[Blueline Bomber]

That schedule is very favorable

I mean, we’ve played the last place Sharks and the second to last place Ducks, so…

 

[tarheelhockey]

I look forward to every dipshit on here telling me how good XYZ players is because of these new metrics.

At least it’ll be grounded in real measurable events, instead of stat soup.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

Jack Hughes has 14 points in 5 games.

Remember the preseason bitching about rankings occasionally having the Devils over us? Yeah…about that…

I don’t remember it being more than a few posters. Was it more pervasive than that?

 

[Anton Dubinchuk]

An hour into the FROZEN FRENZY and my early review is mixed.

Games -- It's a schizo viewing affair, as I knew it would be, but interesting nonetheless as a rarity. Still, so far I like just seeing a rolling set of games like this. Would like to see more live action rather than so much replay. I get that they want to show goal highlights, but let the games speak for themselves more frequently.

Announcers -- Bad. I like Bucci and Weekes as studio guys on the NHL Network. But they are not not not play-by-play guys, and should be doing none of that. Banal, trite (who made Weekes into Chris Berman Jr? "Kuemper with a save! The Mattress! Kuemper-Pedic!"), and shallow commentary. Set up a game and go quickly to the local announcers. Let B & W do their hype thing for a few seconds, and then cut away from them.

Or maybe I'm just cranky b/c when the cut to the Canes game they've just looked so drab. Hard to believe this is the same defensive team we've seen in years past. Is chaotic too strong a word?

It’s good background viewing

 

[Bub]

It’s good background viewing

Yep. I went away and watched much of the BOS/CHI game, and would switch back to THE FRENZY during intermissions, sound off.

 

[Joe McGrath]

At least it’ll be grounded in real measurable events, instead of stat soup.

If by real measurable events you mean the event where Jack Johnson accidentally wore his jersey on the drive home to have the top speed among defenseman

Jack Hughes has 14 points in 5 games.

Remember the preseason bitching about rankings occasionally having the Devils over us? Yeah…about that…

The Devils only have 20 goals so……that’s wild

 

[Borsig]

At this point I hope TDA breaks out the Rhodesian Army camo pattern tape on military appreciation night and somebody notices and flips the f*** out

You know.... I have a Rhodie FAL with baby shit on it. And I do have a surplus Rhodie brush stroke jacket.......

ZERO chance anyone who would be offended by it would even recognize the pattern and understand it though.

That schedule is very favorable

We played Anahiem, San Jose, an 0-3 Kraken, and TBL who has a shooting target goalie. Please.

 

[AhosDatsyukian]

Jack Hughes has 14 points in 5 games.

Remember the preseason bitching about rankings occasionally having the Devils over us? Yeah…about that…

We are still better than them and will prove it come playoff time if we meet again

 

[Blueline Bomber]

Also, while the Frozen Frenzy was a good idea in theory, the timing couldn’t have been worse. Having the final game of a tight MLB series and the opening day of the NBA on the same night gave a lot of options to watch something else.

And, of course, ESPN focused on the other two sports before the NHL.

 

[WreckingCrew]

We played Anahiem, San Jose, an 0-3 Kraken, and TBL who has a shooting target goalie. Please.

His 2nd career shutout, the last was during the 20-21 season with Colorado...for reference...

 

[Big Daddy Cane]

Looking forward to those. The topics aren't obvious, like that Detroit/Colorado one ESPN did last year.

The Primeau saga would make for an interesting mini doc, considering how relevant Rod is now. Karmanos was such a character back then. The last days of Hartford is a really compelling topic, but Adam Gold already did it well in audio form.

 

[Blueline Bomber]

His 2nd career shutout, the last was during the 20-21 season with Colorado...for reference...

To be fair, their goalie looked good against us in the preseason, and had like 48 saves against the Leafs in the game before ours.

But the real problem wasn't their goaltender. I don't think we had many high-danger scoring chances. Tampa did an excellent job of blocking our shots and boxed out any rebound attempts with ease.

 

[WreckingCrew]

To be fair, their goalie looked good against us in the preseason, and had like 48 saves against the Leafs in the game before ours.

But the real problem wasn't their goaltender. I don't think we had many high-danger scoring chances. Tampa did an excellent job of blocking our shots and boxed out any rebound attempts with ease.

Yea, it was definitely more about us having shit shot selection and fumbling every actual scoring opportunity/high-danger shot than it was him "goalie-ing" us. It was the same in the preseason game, Tampa knows EXACTLY how to play us, and we make 0 adjustments to overcome. "Stick to the game plan" and "we just have to play our game" doesn't always work. They could have played their EBUG and the results probably would have been exactly the same

 

[bleedgreen]

Looking forward to those. The topics aren't obvious, like that Detroit/Colorado one ESPN did last year.

The Primeau saga would make for an interesting mini doc, considering how relevant Rod is now. Karmanos was such a character back then. The last days of Hartford is a really compelling topic, but Adam Gold already did it well in audio form.

Thanks for putting the Whaler bit there, I’ve never heard it and will give it a listen.

As for the Daigle story I always thought it was crap to call him a bust. He had 50ish pts as a 18 y/o playing on one of the historically bad teams out there. It was actually quite impressive and he was considered a bust at that point. He had a career. It wasn’t equal to his ego (media created) and he was definitely a disappointment in terms of his production/career but to me a bust means something else.

An equally fun story is Brian Burke’s maneuvering to get us up to number two and taking Pronger - then the internal team struggle to get him signed that the owner forced and signed himself. Burke wouldn’t sign the contract despite making all the moves, as it was influenced by Daigle’s huge contract which is the real Daigle story. His contract changed the NHL salary structure forever and directly led to that first lockout in the mid 90’s - which led to the rookie contract limits so it would never happen again. Daigle’s draft in general and the long term effects are pretty fascinating. You can tie it into teams (Hartford, Quebec, Winnipeg ) moving as salary costs immediately skyrocketed and teams needed extra revenue streams to keep up which led to arena upgrade issues. All you cap/contract/business of hockey dorks would’ve loved to have soaked all that up back then.

Sakic’s offer sheet to the Rangers and the tie ins to a movie is a great story too.

 

[Lempo]

You know.... I have a Rhodie FAL with baby shit on it. And I do have a surplus Rhodie brush stroke jacket.......

ZERO chance anyone who would be offended by it would even recognize the pattern and understand it though.

Do not underestimate the effort people are willing to put into getting offended. Besides, there are progressive people who seem to be questionably well-versed into stuff you'd expect you'd need to be a stormfront regular to know.

 

[Borsig]

Do not underestimate the effort people are willing to put into getting offended. Besides, there are progressive people who seem to be questionably well-versed into stuff you'd expect you'd need to be a stormfront regular to know.

Yeah you're not wrong. I mean we have some members here that already think I'm some sort of national socialist before they find out I had family in the german mil in ww2. There are days I'm tempted to let people in on what I really do with regards to ww2 history. Boy would some heads explode LMAO. My username is a sort of hint (Rheinmetall Borsig AG was a major arms supplier in ww2) and it's been my handle for years since ww2 online.

It's funny because I added the FAL to my collection well before I learned the history of Rhodesia. And the fact that many blacks fought for the Rhodie army actually complicates things a lot, and I still kind of see it as a fight against communism despite the racial ephitats. The history of Rhodesia is very interesting to me, right up there with the spanish CW, Yugoslavian CW and the Winter War.

I can probably name about 75% of the camo patterns used in the last 100 years. Some of them are downright ridiculous. (Like Soviet Amoeba or Leibermuster). Not to mention Rhodie can easily be confused for British DPM.

Even funnier, we were in the Ralph Lauren outlet in Hilton Head this summer, and they had a jacket that was CLEARLY a rhodie brush stroke copy with like orange trim. It was hideous. I took a pic of it and sent it to a guy who's on my crew. We both had a good laugh over it.

 

[WreckingCrew]

Capitals currently f***ing up the Devils physically and on the scoreboard right now

 

[Joe McGrath]

the Devils have 15 players who are a -1 so far tonight. That’s just impressive.