Around the NHL — Episode XLXVI

[topshelf15]

Great deal for Florida, getting Tkachuk can only help their playoff aspirations. They got pushed around by Tampa & now will fight back.

That top 9 was lethal last season...This season they are counting on guys like Colin White and Rudy Balcers to play prominte roles next season....Add in the loss on defense and they arent nearly as good....The Atlantic wont be so cut and dry this season,I can see two maybe three teams falling badly this year

I don't know, we're almost 10 years removed from his prime, NHL has continued to evolve so a similar player today is often going to be seen as "better"

Marc Methot was pretty good defensively and brought a very nice physical dimension but he was a black hole on offense outside of his shot. Zub is better offensively, sure but that's not with this part that he'll earn most of his money.

Top 10 Defensive Defenseman

I'm sure I missed someone that's very obvious and I'm sure I put some names on here that people don't think should be. I tried to stay away from high end top pair dmen with offensive ability but I put a few puck movers I felt were more defensive than offensive. Choose your top 10 Defensive...

forums.hfboards.com

Look at contracts for most of the guys named in that thread. For example, Erik Cernak who got a 5.2 AAV extension. Do you think Zub is better or even as good?

Zub is probably just as good ,he just isnt playing on stacked blueline...5 mil is fair for him

 

[Icelevel]

That top 9 was lethal last season...This season they are counting on guys like Colin White and Rudy Balcers to play prominte roles next season....Add in the loss on defense and they arent nearly as good....The Atlantic wont be so cut and dry this season,I can see two maybe three teams falling badly this year

Really looking forward to seeing how Colin white does. I’m hoping he has a great season. 40-50pts range. I’m not sure how much they’re counting on him to provide a lot of offense though. Probably just hoping to get a solid two way bottom sixer.

 

[topshelf15]

Really looking forward to seeing how Colin white does. I’m hoping he has a great season. 50pts range. I’m not sure how much they’re counting on him to provide a lot of offense. Probably just hoping to get a solid two way bottom sixer.

I see FLD taking a big step backwards,that top 9 is ugly ....And the defense after Forsling and Ekblad is suspect,Gudas is now fulltime penciled in on their 2nd pair...EEsh

 

[cudi]

Weird... Dustin Brown retires, and they retire his number and built him a statue. I guess retiring his number is ok (I'm not sure I'm fully sold but not being an LA fan I don't have the same attachment to their players) but a statue???

Heck, even the number retirement... does that mean they're going to retire Doughty, Quick and Kopitar's numbers too?

 

[Icelevel]

I see FLD taking a big step backwards,that top 9 is ugly ....And the defense after Forsling and Ekblad is suspect,Gudas is now fulltime penciled in on their 2nd pair...EEsh

Possible for sure. The d could be a problem. They can still make changes to it. This doesn’t look too bad though (I don’t think balcers stays in that spot if at all),

 

[topshelf15]

Possible for sure. The d could be a problem. They can still make changes to it. This doesn’t look too bad though ,
View attachment 573129

When I look at our roster ,its better even on defense....Yet FLD fans tell me its not close lol...Our Top 9 crushes theirs

 

[Micklebot]

Really looking forward to seeing how Colin white does. I’m hoping he has a great season. 40-50pts range. I’m not sure how much they’re counting on him to provide a lot of offense though. Probably just hoping to get a solid two way bottom sixer.

It will be interesting to see how White (and to a lesser extent Balcers) does on a better team, sink or swim time for him,

 

[HSF]

Building Brown a statue makes sense from an LA perspective which is all that really matters. He was the captain of the team that won their first two cups and if a lifer.


Someone related it to Lowry and how is he is held with raptors fans. Outside of toronto people would question it but inside he brought us our first championship

 

[BankStreetParade]

Building Brown a statue makes sense from an LA perspective which is all that really matters. He was the captain of the team that won their first two cups and if a lifer.


Someone related it to Lowry and how is he is held with raptors fans. Outside of toronto people would question it but inside he brought us our first championship

I totally disagree. Kawhi Leonard brought a championship to Toronto. Lowry being a complementary player - even if he was the leader - doesn't earn you a statue and number retirement. The only reason they even talk about it is because he "grew up" with the team through the tough times of playoff disappointment and emerged as a top tier 2-way PG, a guy who played hard, hit the floor for loose balls and logged tough, physical mileage on his body. It's also a team lacking any sort of barometer for greatness throughout its history. Sure they had Carter and McGrady and Bosh but those guys never stuck around long enough and never had enough success through their years to create a baseline for what to expect from all-time great Raptors. Lowry is just the de facto greatest Raptor of all time. Think of it this way, you wouldn't have him in the same breath as some of the other greats of his time.

 

[HSF]

I totally disagree. Kawhi Leonard brought a championship to Toronto. Lowry being a complementary player - even if he was the leader - doesn't earn you a statue and number retirement. The only reason they even talk about it is because he "grew up" with the team through the tough times of playoff disappointment and emerged as a top tier 2-way PG, a guy who played hard, hit the floor for loose balls and logged tough, physical mileage on his body. It's also a team lacking any sort of barometer for greatness throughout its history. Sure they had Carter and McGrady and Bosh but those guys never stuck around long enough and never had enough success through their years to create a baseline for what to expect from all-time great Raptors. Lowry is just the de facto greatest Raptor of all time. Think of it this way, you wouldn't have him in the same breath as some of the other greats of his time.

I disagree, if they made a statue for Lowry I wouldn't bat an eye for what he did for the raptors. Kawhi was the single biggest reason a championship came to Toronto absolutely but he wasn't there long enough. Lowry was also the heartbeat of the team and many many people in Toronto consider Lowry the greatest raptor for his whole body of work not cause of individual skill.

First championships for a team are special and Brown had two.

 

[playasRus]

I disagree, if they made a statue for Lowry I wouldn't bat an eye for what he did for the raptors. Kawhi was the single biggest reason a championship came to Toronto absolutely but he wasn't there long enough. Lowry was also the heartbeat of the team and many many people in Toronto consider Lowry the greatest raptor for his whole body of work not cause of individual skill.

First championships for a team are special and Brown had two.

Senators have probably mentioned a statue for Alfie at one point or another and he's definitely not in the same breadth as the "greats"

 

[AchtzehnBaby]

 

[Agent Zuuuub]

Senators have probably mentioned a statue for Alfie at one point or another and he's definitely not in the same breadth as the "greats"

Alfie is a senators and hockey legend.

Dustin Brown had a career high of 61 points and was stripped of his captaincy.

 

[Boud]

Possible for sure. The d could be a problem. They can still make changes to it. This doesn’t look too bad though (I don’t think balcers stays in that spot if at all),
View attachment 573129

I think Lundell slides up the 2nd line C and White/Cousins goes to 3C.

Verhaeghe - Barkov - Tkachuk
Bennett - Lundell - Reinhart
Balcers - Cousins - White
Lomberg - Luost - Hornqvist

Top 6 is still very good. Bottom 6 has some good pieces but definitely some question marks. Until Duclair comes back they should be able to win some games with that group.

As you say the D is questionable but I don't think it's as bad as people think. Ekblad, Montour, Forsling are good dmen. Kinda like us they could use a RD.

 

[Yak]

This video caught me off guard.

 

[BonHoonLayneCornell]

This video caught me off guard.

Lol, so motivational.

 

[playasRus]

This video caught me off guard.

PK so calm lol. What season was this?

 

[Big Muddy]

Possible for sure. The d could be a problem. They can still make changes to it. This doesn’t look too bad though (I don’t think balcers stays in that spot if at all),
View attachment 573129

Luostarinen could probably play a little higher in the lineup. I noticed Mamin isn't listed, so when I checked I found out he is a UFA. He's actually decent and kind of an under the radar player. Maybe he wouldn't sign for what they are paying White, Balcers, etc.?

 

[playasRus]

Made me chuckle

 

[Deku]

This video caught me off guard.

Damn PK was polite and he didn't even let him finish asking the question, brutal

 

[aragorn]

This video caught me off guard.

Old school coaching that most fans never see or hear about, might explain why Therien isn't coaching in the NHL any more, times have changed quite a bit. Oh yea, Montreal is a class org remember.

 

[OD99]

Another classic.

 

[AchtzehnBaby]

 

[YouGotAStuGoing]

A shame... he always looked good until the injuries started hitting. What a boat anchor of a contract for the Stars to have to deal with.

 

[OD99]

A shame... he always looked good until the injuries started hitting. What a boat anchor of a contract for the Stars to have to deal with.

Nurse, Karlsson, Bob...that is a lot of money for guys that aren't top of the league.

Bob is hit or miss but man that contract...