Around the NHL 2022-2023 *Mod warning in effect pg145

[Stupendous Yappi]

No they are in for some further extensive doom. Karlsson's hand pass postgame smirking was world class karmic provocation

Do Shark fans recognize the Curse of the Hand Pass yet? If not yet, they will some day.

 

[PJJJP]

Why can I just see Dubas overpaying for Chychrun and then still losing in the first round

 

[BlueOil]

Why can I just see Dubas overpaying for Chychrun and then still losing in the first round

he'd look good on their LTIR

 

[PocketNines]

Quality goaltending is spread so thin.

Colorado:
3 starts, .893, Georgiev
1 start, .815, Francouz

Minnesota:
2 starts, .860, Gustavsson
2 starts, .776, Fleury

Saros in Nashville is .897 through 4 starts
Oettinger in Dallas is .966 through 3 starts

Binnington is .917 in 2 starts

 

[rumrokh]

Its annoying that Hextall complains about being discriminated against when its just her actual performance. If a woman wants an even playing field, that means she is subject to the same criticism as her male counterparts. I have no problem at all with women calling games, and I agree Mlezsko is great. Hextall seems to not be able to comprehend that she can be eligible for criticism for just being bad regardless of her sex. (In some ways, receiving criticism like that shows that she is truly equal to male peers. Its a little subtle.)

I seem to be one of the few who has little to no problem with Hextall. Not because she's notably good, but because I have that low of an opinion of so many other play-by-play performances. So many are somewhere between forgettable and bad and that's where she resides. So the fact that she gets so heavily focused on while others escape dedicated mention definitely trips my misogyny alarms. And what do you know, when you look through comments, there are a lot that focus on her voice being shrill, which...it's not? More so than the vast majority of male broadcasters, but her voice is in a pretty normal range to me.

 

[Stupendous Yappi]

I seem to be one of the few who has little to no problem with Hextall. Not because she's notably good, but because I have that low of an opinion of so many other play-by-play performances. So many are somewhere between forgettable and bad and that's where she resides. So the fact that she gets so heavily focused on while others escape dedicated mention definitely trips my misogyny alarms. And what do you know, when you look through comments, there are a lot that focus on her voice being shrill, which...it's not? More so than the vast majority of male broadcasters, but her voice is in a pretty normal range to me.

There's bad that I can tune out and ignore, and then there's bad that is a grating quality that keeps intruding into my awareness literally requiring turning the sound down. I call 'em like I see 'em. (or hear 'em)

More power to you if you enjoy her voice. It really does bug the hell out of me.

 

[Stupendous Yappi]

With Landeskog out, could Colorado's goaltending be bad enough for them to struggle a bit? At least enough to drop out of being the top team in the division? Its worth monitoring.

 

[rumrokh]

There's bad that I can tune out and ignore, and then there's bad that is a grating quality that keeps intruding into my awareness literally requiring turning the sound down. I call 'em like I see 'em. (or hear 'em)

More power to you if you enjoy her voice. It really does bug the hell out of me.

I don't specifically enjoy her voice, I just have no issue with it and there are a lot of bad broadcasters out there that don't get piled on in the same way.

 

[Brockon]

Mlezsko was a little shaky as she first started, but showed steady improvement and is quite good now as you said. I listened to Kaplan’s initial ESPN podcasts with Wyshinski and it was pretty clear at the start that she was a good reporter that was new to the sport. She got so good so fast as she dove in, and I see it like Stupendous Yappi….she might be the best at her job already and she hasn’t been at it too long.

There is a very real argument for providing women opportunities, even where they might not as easily build up the most experience of all candidates at the start. Switching sports, I think viewers are generally more pleased than upset when Doris Burke is doing an NBA game.

There are many examples of the value of providing women opportunities even if their previous resume is lighter, due to fewer opportunities granted in the past. Those are 3 examples of women that ran with it and excelled.

Leah Hextall is probably the worst to take on that fight. I had to stop listening to Hockey Central at Noon years ago when she stepped in there briefly. I had to mute college games. I mute NHL games now.

Can't lie, I'm definitely grateful my streaming service lets me pick the home/away commentary... There are certain play by play colour commentators that make me want to bash my head against the wall. Mute works, but definitely cheapens the experience of a hockey game in my books.

Muting tends to be a resort I lean towards in the playoffs for certain callers (cough cough Jack Edwards) or when the national panel scoops the broadcast rights up here in Canada vs the Blues or the select few other games I chose to watch.

 

[Celtic Note]

I don't specifically enjoy her voice, I just have no issue with it and there are a lot of bad broadcasters out there that don't get piled on in the same way.

I am wondering which ones you think are worse.

Normally I just tune them out unless they are good.

I do think AJ is one of the best. Very smart and can provide nice detail on the fly. A joy to listen to.

 

[The Note]

Quality goaltending is spread so thin.

Colorado:
3 starts, .893, Georgiev
1 start, .815, Francouz

Minnesota:
2 starts, .860, Gustavsson
2 starts, .776, Fleury

Saros in Nashville is .897 through 4 starts
Oettinger in Dallas is .966 through 3 starts

Binnington is .917 in 2 starts

My personal favorite right now is the Devils who are rocking an xGF% of of nearly 72% at 5-on-5 but also sitting at a team save percentage of .845 (!). Teams, by and large, just aren't getting saves right now. I think it'll even out a bit over the year and am not burying teams or goaltenders based off 4-5 games. But, goaltending is probably going to be shaky again for most teams.

 

[bleedblue1223]

I'll be honest for announcers, and it's probably because I don't have time like I used to, but I think I was the same way back then too. I couldn't tell you off hand, the ones that I like and the ones that I don't, or even the ones that do each network, etc. The stuff that bothers me more than just bad announcers are the ones that actually know what they are talking about, but let the bias take over. When Seabrook hit Backes, and Eddie O was talking his nonsense, and I can't remember which one corrected him, but basically said it's obviously a very bad hit that will be suspension worthy.

 

[Vladys Gumption]

There's bad that I can tune out and ignore, and then there's bad that is a grating quality that keeps intruding into my awareness literally requiring turning the sound down. I call 'em like I see 'em. (or hear 'em)

More power to you if you enjoy her voice. It really does bug the hell out of me.

While I do also find her voice to be somewhat shrill, it’s her inability to keep of with the play that really annoys me. I can’t even understand what she’s saying half the time. And the other half it seems like she’s screaming at the top of her lungs.

 

[PocketNines]

AJ Mleczko is great. Just excellent.

Leah Hextall is a female Boom Goes the Dynamite Guy who is overwhelmed by hockey.

 

[rumrokh]

I am wondering which ones you think are worse.

Normally I just tune them out unless they are good.

I do think AJ is one of the best. Very smart and can provide nice detail on the fly. A joy to listen to.

I don't know the specific ones. I tend to swap the home/away broadcast as soon as I hear one that sucks.

And it's not that I have a fine-grain scale. Bad ones are bad, for whatever reason, and I kinda disengage from there unless something extremely noteworthy stands out. I don't think much noteworthy stands out for me with Hextall. She's just generically weak and I move on.

 

[STL fan in MN]

I don’t watch a ton of non-Blues games these days but will say that I’ve come to appreciate Brendan Burke’s delivery on nationally broadcast games. He calls it well. And has come up quick. It wasn’t all too long ago he was the PBP guy for the Peoria Rivermen.

John Forslund is also excellent.

Ferraro and Micheletti are probably the 2 best color guys/analysts out there IMO.

 

[PocketNines]

I love Micheletti. Will never forget being a college student at a Blues Whalers game in Hartford and running into him about an hour+ before the game. Super regular guy, very intelligent and friendly. He has been so good for such a long time. And of course I loved him on the 80-81 Blues.

 

[Celtic Note]

I don’t watch a ton of non-Blues games these days but will say that I’ve come to appreciate Brendan Burke’s delivery on nationally broadcast games. He calls it well. And has come up quick. It wasn’t all too long ago he was the PBP guy for the Peoria Rivermen.

John Forslund is also excellent.

Ferraro and Micheletti are probably the 2 best color guys/analysts out there IMO.

Not sure I could recall Burke, but I agree with the other three.

 

[STL fan in MN]

Not sure I could recall Burke, but I agree with the other three.

He’s who did the PBP for the Blues/Kraken game a couple nights ago, paired with Pang.

 

[BlueOil]

2 pts (1g, 1a), +2 in 5 games with the struggling canucks, but a nice goal from joshua on fleury last night

 

[PocketNines]

I have to say John Kelly has become excellent over time. Those who remember listening to his dad know what the creme de la creme sounds like and neither of the sons were on his level and still aren't. But Kelly is dialed into the action, owns all the right inflections for relative significance of action, and calls upon the right verbs ("feathers it up," etc) smoothly enough that his voice has become integrated with the game. Pang brings the best out of Kelly. It's been a good era with those two.

 

[Ranksu]

Just wow

 

[TK 421]

Just wow

It looked like Kassian broke his right hand the way he was holding it at the end.

Edit: I used to love the fighting when I was younger and now I'm like, "Do we really still need this in the game?". Time and awareness of CTE has really changed my perspective.

 

[STL fan in MN]

Just wow

I can see why that call that kid WiFi. I have absolutely no idea how to pronounce “Xhekaj”.

Undrafted, played an overage year in the OHL last season…now in the NHL.

 

[Brian39]

It looked like Kassian broke his right hand the way he was holding it at the end.

Edit: I used to love the fighting when I was younger and now I'm like, "Do we really still need this in the game?". Time and awareness of CTE has really changed my perspective.

I don't want fighting to ever leave the game completely, but I'm pretty satisfied with the direction the league has gone with it. I don't want staged fights and I don't want guys who are only in the lineup to fight. But I absolutely believe that fights between two guys who can actually play at the NHL level have a place in the game.

I think we've reached (or maybe already have reached) a point in the sport where the existence of hitting is a far bigger driver of head trauma than fighting.