Around the NHL 2023-2024

[TheOrganist]

It's becoming clear that the only reason Bettman gave this clown a path to a guaranteed return is because he knew that he'd never be able to pull this arena project off.

Coyotes say state canceling land auction 'seriously jeopardizes' pro hockey in Arizona

The Arizona State Land Department said the auction for land in north Phoenix that had been seen as a home for the Arizona Coyotes is canceled.

www.azcentral.com

Right. Friedman reported there is a sunset clause in the NHL’s deal with Murelo that if an arena is not 50% constructed by December, 2027 the league gets to essentially take the rights back to the Coyotes intellectual property that was bequeathed to Murelo to get him to sell. That was definitely Bettman’s calculation since the NHL wants to be back in PHX down the road.

 

[joe galiba]

Everything sounds worse in German.

not beer (bier)

Can the Germans help Florida in game 7?

well, it wasn’t over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor

 

[PocketNines]

It’s amazing how a team can dominate thru three rounds, and damn near four, and then suddenly look so inept. Definitely one for the ages.

they literally did it last year too. I mean the Final was not even competitive in any way last year

 

[BlueOil]

Anyone else see a teensy bit of Pietranglo in Broberg?

i've referred to bouchard as pietro-lite for the past couple of seasons

get more of a gunnarsson vibe from broberg

 

[PJJJP]

Seems like McGroarty is not gonna sign with the Jets. That's a shame

 

[ChicagoBlues]

Seems like McGroarty is not gonna sign with the Jets. That's a shame

Apparently he wants guaranteed NHL games. Duhwhaaa?

 

[ChicagoBlues]

i've referred to bouchard as pietro-lite for the past couple of seasons

get more of a gunnarsson vibe from broberg

Bouchard’s skating is much more fluid than Pietro’s, but he can, at times, get too east-west sweepy instead of moving forward. He seems a little absentminded at times.

Broberg is more reserved than Pietro, but he makes little, heads up calming plays deep in his own zone to take control. That reminds me Pietro. Gunny too.

 

[Stupendous Yappi]

I didn't see Edmonton's resurgence coming. But its a lot more fun to watch a competitive series going to a Game 7. If you forced me to place a bet for Game 7, I'd be baffled who I should pick. I think the pressure is on Florida.

The amazing thing is that Edmonton is winning by shot-suppression and counter-attacks. They're finally playing playoff style hockey. There are some familiar tones here: a preseason favorite starting off terribly, looking too far back to make the playoffs. Fire the coach. Profit.

 

[Stupendous Yappi]

nm

 

[stl76]

Lmao no he won’t. I am not surprised that you made this comment though.

I think there’s an interesting discussion to be had about Broberg’s impact since being elevated to a pairing w/ Nurse. Dismiss it if you want, but sometimes it's fun to make a bold claim in an attempt to generate discussion.

Since game 3, the Nurse - Broberg pairing has stabilized the oilers' entire defense. Game 1, Nurse and Ceci got eaten alive. Game 2, Nurse played limited minutes with Desharnais due to injury and again got eaten alive. Game 3, Nurse was paired w/ Broberg and the tide began to turn. Nurse was a positive player for the first time in the series and they played well together despite the loss. Games 4-6, that pairing has looked really good IMO.

I view Bouchard as a product of the oilers offense as much as a catalyst for it. He scores a lot of points in relatively sheltered offensive usage and yes he is very good on the PP, but I think he is getting overrated. He doesn't play on the PK and let's be honest, Ekholm is doing a LOT of heavy lifting defensively on that pairing.
Bouchard's 5 most common linemates at 5v5 this series: Ekholm, McDavid, Hyman, RNH, Draisaitl.

Broberg on the other hand is averaging 1:30 PK TOI in the playoffs. He is taking tough defensive assignments w/ Nurse and starting in the d-zone 54.9%. His 5 most common linemates at 5v5: Nurse, Henrique, Janmark, Brown, Kulak.

The Nurse - Broberg pairing taking hard matchups and not being completely overwhelmed the way Nurse and other partners were earlier in the series has been a huge part of the oilers turn around IMO.

 

[BlueDream]

I think there’s an interesting discussion to be had about Broberg’s impact since being elevated to a pairing w/ Nurse. Dismiss it if you want, but sometimes it's fun to make a bold claim in an attempt to generate discussion.

Since game 3, the Nurse - Broberg pairing has stabilized the oilers' entire defense. Game 1, Nurse and Ceci got eaten alive. Game 2, Nurse played limited minutes with Desharnais due to injury and again got eaten alive. Game 3, Nurse was paired w/ Broberg and the tide began to turn. Nurse was a positive player for the first time in the series and they played well together despite the loss. Games 4-6, that pairing has looked really good IMO.

I view Bouchard as a product of the oilers offense as much as a catalyst for it. He scores a lot of points in relatively sheltered offensive usage and yes he is very good on the PP, but I think he is getting overrated. He doesn't play on the PK and let's be honest, Ekholm is doing a LOT of heavy lifting defensively on that pairing.
Bouchard's 5 most common linemates at 5v5 this series: Ekholm, McDavid, Hyman, RNH, Draisaitl.

Broberg on the other hand is averaging 1:30 PK TOI in the playoffs. He is taking tough defensive assignments w/ Nurse and starting in the d-zone 54.9%. His 5 most common linemates at 5v5: Nurse, Henrique, Janmark, Brown, Kulak.

The Nurse - Broberg pairing taking hard matchups and not being completely overwhelmed the way Nurse and other partners were earlier in the series has been a huge part of the oilers turn around IMO.

There is no case to be made. Bouchard is one of the catalysts for them offensively, is putting up all-time numbers, plays way bigger minutes and has had better defensive metrics too. And has played in triple the amount of games. There’s making bold claims, and then there is just nonsense - which is what that post was. Bouchard is clearly the more important piece.

That said, Broberg has been good and I am not taking that away from him. My interest in him and Holloway has increased since the trade deadline. But that ship has probably sailed.

 

[ChicagoBlues]

There is no case to be made. Bouchard is one of the catalysts for them offensively, is putting up all-time numbers, plays way bigger minutes and has had better defensive metrics too. And has played in triple the amount of games. There’s making bold claims, and then there is just nonsense - which is what that post was. Bouchard is clearly the more important piece.

That said, Broberg has been good and I am not taking that away from him. My interest in him and Holloway has increased since the trade deadline. But that ship has probably sailed.

I wouldn't mind Holly on the Blues. The kid's a gamer, but the Oilers should keep him.

 

[Xerloris]

There is no case to be made. Bouchard is one of the catalysts for them offensively, is putting up all-time numbers, plays way bigger minutes and has had better defensive metrics too. And has played in triple the amount of games. There’s making bold claims, and then there is just nonsense - which is what that post was. Bouchard is clearly the more important piece.

That said, Broberg has been good and I am not taking that away from him. My interest in him and Holloway has increased since the trade deadline. But that ship has probably sailed.

Wow so Bouchard is the catalyst and not McDavid? Talk about a hot take.

 

[PocketNines]

Florida is a machine that when it has gas, it goes well. But take the gas away and it's just a broken down hunk of junk. The end of their season last year and the end of their season tomorrow prove that it's important this team not win. It is definitely not the best hockey team. The best hockey team should win. Florida is just not worthy.

 

[stl76]

There is no case to be made. Bouchard is one of the catalysts for them offensively, is putting up all-time numbers, plays way bigger minutes and has had better defensive metrics too. And has played in triple the amount of games. There’s making bold claims, and then there is just nonsense - which is what that post was. Bouchard is clearly the more important piece.

That said, Broberg has been good and I am not taking that away from him. My interest in him and Holloway has increased since the trade deadline. But that ship has probably sailed.

Agree with you on seeing Broberg and Holloway differently after these playoffs/post TDL. Was not very high on either at the TDL and I was definitely wrong.

On Bouchard, you're right he's playing bigger minutes BUT a big chunk of that is the nearly 4:12 mins per game he's playing on PP so far in the playoffs (6 mins per game in the SCF). The past 4 games since Broberg was elevated to top 4 minutes, he has averaged 15:19 per game even strength compared to 18:26 for Bouchard. When we take into account their roles (defensive w/ Nurse vs offensive w/ McJesus & Ekholm to help out) it becomes a much more interesting comparison IMO. It's a lot easier to put up big scoring numbers and team based shooting metrics in Bouchard's role than Broberg's.

The original claim ("Broberg may end up being more important to the oilers than Bouchard on this playoff run.") really rests on 2 assumptions:
1) When all is said and done, the oilers' turn around since going down 0-3 in the SCF will be more important to their playoff run than the previous series
2) Broberg has been a bigger part of that turn around than Bouchard

The first assumption is probably the most dubious. But IF the oil can come all the way back and take game 7, then when people look back on this run I think they will talk more about the come back in the SCF than anything else.

It was 1000% bold claim, and probably wrong...but I don't think it's quite as nonsensical as you're saying here.

 

[Xerloris]

Agree with you on seeing Broberg and Holloway differently after these playoffs/post TDL. Was not very high on either at the TDL and I was definitely wrong.

On Bouchard, you're right he's playing bigger minutes BUT a big chunk of that is the nearly 4:12 mins per game he's playing on PP so far in the playoffs (6 mins per game in the SCF). The past 4 games since Broberg was elevated to top 4 minutes, he has averaged 15:19 per game even strength compared to 18:26 for Bouchard. When we take into account their roles (defensive w/ Nurse vs offensive w/ McJesus & Ekholm to help out) it becomes a much more interesting comparison IMO. It's a lot easier to put up big scoring numbers and team based shooting metrics in Bouchard's role than Broberg's.

The original claim ("Broberg may end up being more important to the oilers than Bouchard on this playoff run.") really rests on 2 assumptions:
1) When all is said and done, the oilers' turn around since going down 0-3 in the SCF will be more important to their playoff run than the previous series
2) Broberg has been a bigger part of that turn around than Bouchard

The first assumption is probably the most dubious. But IF the oil can come all the way back and take game 7, then when people look back on this run I think they will talk more about the come back in the SCF than anything else.

It was 1000% bold claim, and probably wrong...but I don't think it's quite as nonsensical as you're saying here.

It's not nonsensical at all. He clearly values point production over someone that can fix their nurse problems and maybe save their entire season and chance at a cup.

 

[542365]

Can’t wait for this game tonight. Most excited I’ve been for a non-Blues game in a long time.

 

[Brian39]

It’s amazing how a team can dominate thru three rounds, and damn near four, and then suddenly look so inept. Definitely one for the ages.

I wouldn't at all say that they dominated the first 3 games of the Final on the way to a 3-0 series leads.

Game 1 was a pure goalie steal. Edmonton was 60% or better in shots, shot attempts, scoring chances, high danger chances, and expected goals. And that wasn't just score effects where they piled on chances after being in a deep hole. Shots were 12-4 and high danger chances were 7-1 in favor of Edmonton in the 1st period. They dominated from start to finish, but Bob was incredible.

Florida dominated game 2. They thoroughly outshot/chanced Edmonton wire to wire.

Game 3 was pretty even. Edmonton finished with the better of the underlying numbers, although most of the advantage they had came from low-danger stuff. High danger chances were 12-11 Edmonton in all situations and 9-8 Florida at 5 on 5.

All in all, through 3 games, Edmonton outshot Florida 86-68 but got outscored 9-4 with goalies in the net. It definitely wasn't a situation where Florida was dominating (the way they absolutely did against the Rangers).

When you get up 3-0, you absolutely need to find a way to close it out. And maybe they do tonight. If they don't, then it will forever be considered a historic choke. That's probably fair (although I'm not much of a proponent in 'choking' being an accurate concept in sports). But describing their performance as dominating in the first 3 games is definitely going to be a revisionist history to support the choking narrative. Swap goalies in games 1-3 and I think that Edmonton would have been up 2-1 or even 3-0 instead of down 0-3.

 

[Brian39]

I think there’s an interesting discussion to be had about Broberg’s impact since being elevated to a pairing w/ Nurse. Dismiss it if you want, but sometimes it's fun to make a bold claim in an attempt to generate discussion.

Since game 3, the Nurse - Broberg pairing has stabilized the oilers' entire defense. Game 1, Nurse and Ceci got eaten alive. Game 2, Nurse played limited minutes with Desharnais due to injury and again got eaten alive. Game 3, Nurse was paired w/ Broberg and the tide began to turn. Nurse was a positive player for the first time in the series and they played well together despite the loss. Games 4-6, that pairing has looked really good IMO.

I view Bouchard as a product of the oilers offense as much as a catalyst for it. He scores a lot of points in relatively sheltered offensive usage and yes he is very good on the PP, but I think he is getting overrated. He doesn't play on the PK and let's be honest, Ekholm is doing a LOT of heavy lifting defensively on that pairing.
Bouchard's 5 most common linemates at 5v5 this series: Ekholm, McDavid, Hyman, RNH, Draisaitl.

Broberg on the other hand is averaging 1:30 PK TOI in the playoffs. He is taking tough defensive assignments w/ Nurse and starting in the d-zone 54.9%. His 5 most common linemates at 5v5: Nurse, Henrique, Janmark, Brown, Kulak.

The Nurse - Broberg pairing taking hard matchups and not being completely overwhelmed the way Nurse and other partners were earlier in the series has been a huge part of the oilers turn around IMO.

I don't agree with your conclusion, because Bouchard has been extremely good in his role and that role is very important to the Oilers success.

It is the same/similar role to the one Makar played in the Avs Cup run and he is a massive key to Edmonton's unreal PP. He's leading all Edmonton players in even strength TOI per game and his 20:30 a night is 1:42 more than 2nd (McDavid). His production obviously wouldn't be as high without the superstars up front, but he has been fantastic and you don't get 32 points in 24 games just by riding coattails. He has been every bit of the 'elite offensive 1D' in these playoffs and that is incredibly valuable.

I agree with everything you said about Broberg stabilizing the bottom 2 pairs for Edmonton, but at the end of the day he has plugged in as their #4 D man and that just isn't as valuable as an elite offensive #1.

I think the discussion about Broberg's role in this comeback is really interesting, especially since he had a really disappointing regular season and is an RFA this summer. He's a clear bridge candidate, but I have to think that his agent will be selling him as a much bigger piece of their future than it appeared a couple months ago.

But Bouchard has absolutely been more valuable.

 

[ChicagoBlues]

@Brian39 What is more important? Your definition of value or winning a Cup?

If more value means scoring lots of points, but still being down 0-3 in the Cup Final, then I don't know what to tell you.

 

[Brian39]

@Brian39 What is more important? Your definition of value or winning a Cup?

If more value means scoring lots of points, but still being down 0-3 in the Cup Final, then I don't know what to tell you.

What a nonsense take.

To be clear, your argument is that nothing any Oilers player did for the first 21 games of the playoffs matters at all and Broberg is the sole reason that they won games 22, 23, and 24? If you believe that, then I don't know what to tell you.

 

[BlueDream]

It's not nonsensical at all. He clearly values point production over someone that can fix their nurse problems and maybe save their entire season and chance at a cup.

You struggle understanding hockey. This is also why you think Carl Gunnarsson was more important than Pietrangelo.

Bouchard literally set an all-time record with his production but yeah, that doesn’t matter. This checks out.

 

[ChicagoBlues]

What a nonsense take.

To be clear, your argument is that nothing any Oilers player did for the first 21 games of the playoffs matters at all and Broberg is the sole reason that they won games 22, 23, and 24? If you believe that, then I don't know what to tell you.

C'mon, dude. Don't strawman. Not you.

 

[BrokenFace]

Historic night tonight. Hopefully the game itself can live up to the hype

 

[ScratchCatFever]

The first goal scored tonight might be the most imperative in SCF game 7 history.