Around The League Thread | Let the Games Begin

[Canuckle1970]

Good OOT tonight. Calgary loses to Carolina in regulation, and Winnipeg is leading the Krak 2-1 after 2 periods.

The Kings are doing better than expected so far, and leading the Sharks 3-0 in the 2nd. This is their 8th game and it's their first at home ?!!!

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

Players turn into 50 goal scorers all the time in their 30s.

Plz don't besmirch the best free agent signing in Oilers history (no, not Pronger, the guy who got them to the Finals), he absolutely will turn it around and have a totally repeatable production this season.

tbf pronger was a trade

 

[Ernie]

That's some 4D chess level hating.

Hard to describe how much I hate this team.

They are a terrible organization that failed its way to 4 #1 picks in 6 years. Their fans spend equal time shit talking other teams and crying in their beer. Their generational talent captain is a massive douche with zero personality. Their rotating cast of management makes crappy after crappy move but the team still stays in the mix because they have the best player in the world. And their owner is an absolute twat who gives Aquilini a run for his money for worst owner in the league. They are the ultimate example of failing upwards and deserve nothing but pain.

 

[SeawaterOnIce]

Someone actually named their kid Ivan Ivan???

https://x.com/i/web/status/1849642893314609200

 

[Wisp]

i don't know why my brain tied itself into knot the first time i watched that Rasmussen/Jack Hughes clip.

Like, I thought I saw Jack try to skate the puck out and Rasmussen came up and hit him and caused Jack to throw the puck in his own net. "Oh, that's super humiliating."

Now I'm watching now and it wasn't that at all. I feel better for Jack Hughes now that it was him trying to make the hit to stop the empty netter but it was too late.

 

[MS]

Someone actually named their kid Ivan Ivan???

https://x.com/i/web/status/1849642893314609200

Colorado has Ivan Ivan and Chicago has Marcel Marcel.

 

[Jyrki]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1849629713758630166

Is Jack like delusional? like he tried and mark Scheifele a 6’6 220lbs guy trying to score an empty net lmao

i really don’t think ive seen a more embarrassing sequence. maybe the Stefan empty net miss. something about empty nets bringing out the stupidity in players

Love the instant karma. At last, one of the empty net debacles had a happy ending.

 

[sandwichbird2023]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1849629713758630166

Is Jack like delusional? like he tried and mark Scheifele a 6’6 220lbs guy trying to score an empty net lmao

i really don’t think ive seen a more embarrassing sequence. maybe the Stefan empty net miss. something about empty nets bringing out the stupidity in players

Jack is probably frustrated his team is getting lit up lately, 19 goals against in 3 games. This is supposed to be the year they take a big step but it seems like more of the same. Of course his attempt of hitting a much bigger guy only to fall on his ass is hilarious.

Not sure why Markstrom has struggled so much on a stacked team. He was good on a crappy Flames team last year, but can't get it done with a better roster? Hmm...

 

[F A N]

I assume Draistal signed that extension only because McDavid promised he would too, otherwise, I don't see why Leon would commit 8 more years there. I think its pretty safe to think McDavid will stay, unless something catastrophic happens to their season.

Probably although I don't think that's necessarily the case. That's a huge contract that Drai got and I'm sure he likes/doesn't mind Edmonton. Plus with an NMC if he demands a trade he can always force himself to a team that he's willing to go to.

The justification was that they were trying to find complementary players for McDavid and Draisatl so that they could play them on separate lines and dominate.

But now they are still playing together half the time at 5v5, but both are underwater when they aren't playing together.

To be fair, if your two best forwards are elite-level Cs, having them play together usually does lead to better results or it's difficult to find wingers to play with both. Just look at Crosby and Malkin over the years. How often were they almost as good apart? We're certainly not having much luck finding wingers for both Miller and Petey (although it's hard to evaluate with Petey's current performance).

 

[HelloCookie]

Colorado has Ivan Ivan and Chicago has Marcel Marcel.

Not impressed really, the Canucks have Elias Elias Pettersson Pettersson

 

[AlainVigneaultsGum]

Rempe sent down lmao.

 

[kylek023]

Rempe sent down lmao.

Rangers fans told me he was glue

 

[thecupismine]

Seeing Broberg break out, while the Oilers tried to haggle him over less then 500k, then letting them leave, is all kinds of hilarious.

Failure on management for pinching pennies, and then on your scouting for not realizing a guy in your system is ready to break out and be at least your third best defensemen.

The Oilers will be fine because they have the best player in the world, but when these guys start hitting their late 20s you need to provide them with the right supporting cast as they can't go all out in the regular season anymore & still have it for the playoffs, especially when they've been carrying such a heavy load for almost 10 years now.

You look at when Crosby/Malkin won back to back, and their offensive primes were about 2-3 years before that, but they had better supporting casts to help them get through the regular season (the season's Crosby looked truly absurd offensively, 2010-2013, were cut short due to injury, which was super unfortunate).

 

[Vector]

 

[valkynax]

Holy shit

 

[Vector]

 

[F A N]

I wanted Boldy

Broberg was not worth a top 10 pick in that draft. 15-20th maybe. Going through a purple patch is all.

Boldy was a popular pick. I recall that Broberg was typically ranked outside of the top 10 but generally he was between 7 (Button) and 15 (McKenzie). I wouldn't say Broberg was not worth a top 10 pick in that draft. He was a bit raw at the time but he was 6'3"+ and 200lbs with rangy skating and a physical game. You don't have to like the player vs other available players to see the appeal. This is the type of defenseman who if he manages to develop into a top 4 defenseman is a + asset who isn't easy to replace.

Edit: So apparently the mods here won't allow me to ask another poster about his thoughts on Broberg or I can't mention that poster previously really disliked the player? Not sure why discussing whether thoughts have changed is against board rules. Broberg has been a controversial player around here over the years.

Wow. What a turnaround for him. I wonder if he was available to acquire. I liked him as a target if Castonguay approved.

 

[Vector]

Wow. What a turnaround for him. I wonder if he was available to acquire. I liked him as a target if Castonguay approved.

Rumour from a couple of years ago was the Canucks inquired but were rebuffed. That's where the "Lafreniere at centre" joke comes from.

 

[supercanuck]

Good for those employees!

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/nhl-owner-50k-bonus-300-employees-lightning

 

[Hansen]

That Lafreniere deal is great news for us with Boeser.

I think Friedman said not to look at Verhaege (7M) as a comparable but instead Lafreniere who just signed for less than half a million more. Boeser should come in under 8M aav which isnt a bad deal

 

[VanJack]

I'll always have trouble understanding why sometimes things just don't work for a kid in one organization, and he goes somewhere else and breaks through.

I suppose we might have had a clue with Broberg when he really came on in last year's Cup playoffs. Clearly that's what the Blues saw as well when they made their offer sheet. So far in St. Louis, he's a legit top-four d-man and looks set to fulfill most of the promise he had as a top-10 pick.

But in Edmonton, he was labeled a 'borderline bust' and bounced back and forth between the Oilers and Bakersfield. And it seemed every time he got into the lineup, he struggled.

I suppose it offers some hope for a guy like Brannstrom with. the Canucks, although he's a couple of years older than Broberg.

Sometimes 'where' you land in the NHL as a highly drafted young kid, is more important than your talent level. And Brannstrom was probably doomed in Ottawa from the get-go.

 

[WetcoastOrca]

I'll always have trouble understanding why sometimes things just don't work for a kid in one organization, and he goes somewhere else and breaks through.

I suppose we might have had a clue with Broberg when he really came on in last year's Cup playoffs. Clearly that's what the Blues saw as well when they made their offer sheet. So far in St. Louis, he's a legit top-four d-man and looks set to fulfill most of the promise he had as a top-10 pick.

But in Edmonton, he was labeled a 'borderline bust' and bounced back and forth between the Oilers and Bakersfield. And it seemed every time he got into the lineup, he struggled.

I suppose it offers some hope for a guy like Brannstrom with. the Canucks, although he's a couple of years older than Broberg.

Sometimes 'where' you land in the NHL as a highly drafted young kid, is more important than your talent level. And Brannstrom was probably doomed in Ottawa from the get-go.

I don’t see a lot of similarities between Broberg and Brannstrom. Ottawa has generally given young players opportunities while Edmonton has no home grown impact players, other than Bouchard, since McDavid was drafted.
Broberg was never given an opportunity with a team that seems to value older FA vets. Now they’re stuck with running Stecher, Dermott, Embstron and Kulak on D because they wouldn’t sign Broberg for a fairly reasonable $1.8 million contract a while ago which was reportedly his ask. For a team lacking on defense and lacking cheap young RFA contracts it’s just a total bungle by the management group.

 

[StreetHawk]

I don’t see a lot of similarities between Broberg and Brannstrom. Ottawa has generally given young players opportunities while Edmonton has no home grown impact players, other than Bouchard, since McDavid was drafted.
Broberg was never given an opportunity with a team that seems to value older FA vets. Now they’re stuck with running Stecher, Dermott, Embstron and Kulak on D because they wouldn’t sign Broberg for a fairly reasonable $1.8 million contract a while ago which was reportedly his ask. For a team lacking on defense and lacking cheap young RFA contracts it’s just a total bungle by the management group.

With Broberg, he was tasked to move to the right side. Not ideal for him, which doesn't surprise when he was more than fine having his agent seek out an OS to a club where he could play on the left and hopefully perform better to warrant the contract and continue to make the OS amount or better moving forward.

In EDM, he'd be paired with Nurse playing his offside, unless they did pair him with the more responsible Ekholm or the RHD Bouchard. But, that was unlikely as Bouchard needed a defensive conscience himself.

 

[VanillaCoke]

Podkolzin on the 2nd line. Hilarious.

 

[Orca Smash]

Ah Travis green. Team plays good then final seconds of Vegas pp they back in, Vegas walks in allowed to do whatever they want and tie it up. Then goal 20 seconds later to take the lead then an empty net.

Really don't get that hire and sens have so much talent, that has to sting. 3 goals in 85 seconds.