Around the NHL - 2023 offseason edition

[Patrik26]

No one should mandated to do anything, but I think that’s BS if a player isn’t allowed to use rainbow tape if he so chooses.

Agreed. Unfortunately, the media feels it's their duty to stoke the flames of the haters with the constant barrage of questioning instead of simply ignoring those who refuse to participate for whatever reason. By ignore, I mean don't interact with them in ANY WAY, good or bad. For roughly 1 percent of the players who refused to participate last season for whatever reason (7 out approximately 640 players), the media would rather piss off a much larger percentage of the populace who will never be convinced to change their beliefs. Promote the positive instead of the negative which apparently is impossible to do because negativity sells.

Oh, and BTW to those who assume by my response that I'm part of the problem. My wife and I are proud owners of Ben Lovejoy's Pride Night warmup stick when he was a member of the Devils. That stick is hung on the wall in our family room.

 

[JrFischer54]

Yap. And it’s not like it is a bad thing or strange thing. There were only 9 players from 2020 draft who played 40+ games last season. There is way too early for players from this draft. It works for Holtz too. And goalies are taking way more time now. I really liked Hart last season, he was really good overall, but he is 25 yo now and he had a lot of ups and down through his career and it’s not like we can fully agree on him as a solid nhl level starter. If Askarov will be nhl solid starter in his 23, it would be pretty great for him and even quite early. But he is 21 only now. So may be we should wait Saros on the trade market on the next year trade deadline.


Where I said I want to give him long term? Where I said I don’t? I talked about his potential status for a trade only.
For me he is interesting rental option.

You didn’t but what would be your plan? People on here balked at the idea of paying for buck mid season rental. You think saro going to be any cheaper with a year left on the deal? Then what you just walk away as opposed to giving him a 7 year deal which is what he probably would seek

 

[Captain3rdLine]

They’re protecting their brand.

They’re protecting their players and you know it. Suggesting it’s right wing is stupid.

They were more than happy to have those nights until the few that didn’t participated started getting so much heat

 

[guitarguyvic]

I’ve said this before…the fundamental issue at play with the LGBT issue is that too many people view it as a behavioral choice rather than a fundamental genetic/chemical human characteristic. That’s how/why the people who characterize it as against their beliefs insist that it doesn’t mean they are bigoted towards them. It’s also how a lot of other people who wouldn’t characterize themselves as anti-LGBT nonetheless support those who are. There is no recognition from these folks that being LGBT is an inherent human condition and as such attempts to suppress it or admonish it as a behavior are wrong.

If your mentality is that someone can just choose to not be gay, then of course you’re not going to see anything wrong with all this.

@HBK27 @Patrik26 perfect examples of what I’m talking about.

 

[JrFischer54]

At that point I’m probably not interested in Saros, at least not as more than a couple of year rental. I haven’t even checked his contract status to see when he’s a UFA.

The next expansion team should be called the U30s no players over 30 they would win so many cups!

 

[PWiz30]

The Dahlin, Hellebuyck, and Scheifele contracts have reminded me of one thing: we are incredibly spoiled by the contracts our star players have signed.

 

[MadDevil]

This looks like a before and after ad for the dangers of drugs.

 

[Captain3rdLine]

I’ve said this before…the fundamental issue at play with the LGBT issue is that too many people view it as a behavioral choice rather than a fundamental genetic/chemical human characteristic. That’s how/why the people who characterize it as against their beliefs insist that it doesn’t mean they are bigoted towards them. It’s also how a lot of other people who wouldn’t characterize themselves as anti-LGBT nonetheless support those who are. There is no recognition from these folks that being LGBT is an inherent human condition and as such attempts to suppress it are wrong.

If your mentality is that someone can just choose to not be gay, then of course you’re not going to see anything wrong with all this.

No one is or was attempting to suppress it. That’s the fundamental issue some people don’t seem to understand. A player not wearing a rainbow jersey isn’t suppressing it.

 

[My3Sons]

They’re protecting their brand.

They couldn’t protect their brand by letting players use rainbow tape if they wanted to? Skip PRIDE night as a team activity I can understand the argument intellectually but random players using tape in a pregame is somehow divisive? I know folks have opposed school prayer as divisive but I’m skeptical the pride tape players will all pick a game to expose the non tape players. Players don’t seem to do that sort of stuff. Maybe do what the NFL does with cleats and gloves and such with the pick a cause thing. Some players will pick LGBT and some might pick breast cancer or other diseases that everyone agrees need to be researched further. Every player probably has a consensus cause to support. Every player can look good and the league can stop filling its depends over this.

 

[JrFischer54]

The Dahlin, Hellebuyck, and Scheifele contracts have reminded me of one thing: we are incredibly spoiled by the contracts our star players have signed.

*the devils are fortunate the core players didn’t have career years before they inked their contract extensions.

 

[guitarguyvic]

No one is or was attempting to suppress it. That’s the fundamental issue some people don’t seem to understand. A player not wearing a rainbow jersey isn’t suppressing it.

This is obfuscation because you know darned well the issue is not the player not wearing it, it’s the reasons the player gives for not wearing it. Which is that the behavior is against their religion or beliefs or whatever. Which is exactly what I’m talking about.

If black pride jerseys existed and a player didn’t wear them and then when asked about why stated that they don’t support “black behavior” for whatever reason…I’m gonna go out on a limb and guess that you’d say that’s extremely wrong and bigoted.

There’s no difference between the two…because people don’t choose to be gay any more than a black person chooses to be black.

 

[Guttersniped]

You didn’t but what would be your plan? People on here balked at the idea of paying for buck mid season rental. You think saro going to be any cheaper with a year left on the deal? Then what you just walk away as opposed to giving him a 7 year deal which is what he probably would seek

You love turning the entire board into one unified straw man.

Saros has two years left on his deal. (Not every poster wants Saros either.)

Some posters were interested in Hellebuyck as rental, you’re just ignoring that.

Who knows if the Jets would deal him at TDL as a “mid season rental”, if they were in the playoff race, they likely don’t.

One of the reasons a Hellebuyck trade never even got close to happening was the asking price was reportedly very high. Chevy was trying to convince to stay all summer and he succeeded.

 

[MadDevil]

They’re protecting their players and you know it. Suggesting it’s right wing is stupid.

They were more than happy to have those nights until the few that didn’t participated started getting so much heat

A few players chose not to participate so the league p***yed out and canceled it for everybody because they couldn't handle the backlash they faced because of those few players, and now they're going to hide behind the protecting their players card because they're a bunch of f***ing cowards.

 

[Guttersniped]

They couldn’t protect their brand by letting players use rainbow tape if they wanted to? Skip PRIDE night as a team activity I can understand the argument intellectually but random players using tape in a pregame is somehow divisive? I know folks have opposed school prayer as divisive but I’m skeptical the pride tape players will all pick a game to expose the non tape players. Players don’t seem to do that sort of stuff. Maybe do what the NFL does with cleats and gloves and such with the pick a cause thing. Some players will pick LGBT and some might pick breast cancer or other diseases that everyone agrees need to be researched further. Every player probably has a consensus cause to support. Every player can look good and the league can stop filling its depends over this.

Look, it’s not my f***ing problem if a nice little gesture in support of gay people is too a big of f***ing burden for NHL teams to manage.

I’m not actually interested in playing debate club on this subject and finding out how about a bunch of straight dudes feel about this.

 

[Captain3rdLine]

A few players chose not to participate so the league p***yed out and canceled it for everybody because they couldn't handle the backlash they faced because of those few players, and now they're going to hide behind the protecting their players card because they're a bunch of f***ing cowards.

If only this made an ounce of sense. They couldn’t handle the backlash yet they are no doubt gonna face more backlash with this decision. The only people benefiting from this are the players who were taking that heat. The leagues gonna get that heat now. Not sure how you can keep saying they’re p***ying out.

 

[JrFischer54]

You love turning the entire board into one unified straw man.

Saros has two years left on his deal. (Not every poster wants Saros either.)

Some posters were interested in Hellebuyck as rental, you’re just ignoring that.

Who knows if the Jets would deal him at TDL as a “mid season rental”, if they were in the playoff race, they likely don’t.

One of the reasons a Hellebuyck trade never even got close to happening was the asking price was reportedly very high. Chevy was trying to convince to stay all summer and he succeeded.

Guy I’m just replying to a post that was to me I’m not trying to turn the board into anything. He mentioned saros I pointed out his age and his probably want of a similar contract. Not everything is a big production you try to make it out to be

 

[njdevils1982]

This looks like a before and after ad for the dangers of drugs.

even better you can click on photos on hockeydb to see any players time lapse

Brent Burns Hockey Stats and Profile at hockeydb.com

Statistics of Brent Burns, a hockey player from Barrie, ONT born Mar 9 1985 who was active from 2001 to 2025.

www.hockeydb.com

 

[Guadana]

You didn’t but what would be your plan? People on here balked at the idea of paying for buck mid season rental. You think saro going to be any cheaper with a year left on the deal? Then what you just walk away as opposed to giving him a 7 year deal which is what he probably would seek

I would rental him only. For two playoffs or for one. And after rental some other goalie if I need too. For me its important to save our core and space for our core. Core is very solid. If devils will have legit opportunity to trade or sign young(22-26/27yo) starter, im all in, but this opportunities mostly never exists. Devils have good scouting department and good prospect pool for making trades or/and fill the holes. Devils traded top 10 defensive prospect and fans even not feeling it.
So I prefer to making trades or sign free goalies actively, then giving 6/7/8y deals for 29/30+ yo goalies. Because in modern nhl goalies sucks mostly after 32 years. And with 19 yo Nemec, 20 yo Luke, 21 yo Mercer and 22yo Jack Devils easily have more than 10 years of contending window. May be even 14 years if Jack will be good and healthy in his 35-36. Devils should not risk it by gambling on older goalie with 2-3 years of good goaling.

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

Then you shouldn’t care if individual players voluntarily use it before one game, which is what happened for years and years before the NHL decided to shit it pants over the issue and ban it.

At no point were players forced to use this tape.

Many players were in fact very enthusiastic about showing support to people they know and care about by this little gesture and now they can’t because the NHL will not let them do it.

Players themselves planned what their teams did on Pride nights and now the NHL is preventing them from doing anything.

So, yes, this is the NHL completely shitting its pants, it’s f***ing cowardly and pathetic, and people have every right to criticize them for it.

It’s not like these criticisms will do any good, this is just adding to awful original pre-game auction jerseys decision, so they’re dead set on leaning in on being spineless cowards/ right wing assholes.

So if you like this move, congrats you and the NHL’s decision makers are simpatico. (The “you” here is rhetorical and not you specifically @SteveCangialosi123 . I just happened to respond to your post. I’m not yelling at/referring to you in particular here at all.)

I get all that. I’m really just so tired of the entire thing. The NHL obviously didn’t want to hear from the ravenous band of annoying hockey writers that seemed to get immense gratification from shaming every last player that didn’t want to participate. The moralizing gets tiresome. It’s really not that hard to accept that some people don’t support the causes you do.

I have no common cause with those religious nuts either — I think they’re being a bunch of babies. I also don’t think any of these rainbow-washing corporations give one shit about LGBTQ people.

 

[JrFischer54]

I would rental him only. For two playoffs or for one. And after rental some other goalie if I need too. For me its important to save our core and space for our core. Core is very solid. If devils will have legit opportunity to trade or sign young(22-26/27yo) starter, im all in, but this opportunities mostly never exists. Devils have good scouting department and good prospect pool for making trades or/and fill the holes. Devils traded top 10 defensive prospect and fans even not feeling it.
So I prefer to making trades or sign free goalies actively, then giving 6/7/8y deals for 29/30+ yo goalies. Because in modern nhl goalies sucks mostly after 32 years. And with 19 yo Nemec, 20 yo Luke, 21 yo Mercer and 22yo Jack Devils easily have more than 10 years of contending window. May be even 14 years if Jack will be good and healthy in his 35-36. Devils should not risk it by gambling on older goalie with 2-3 years of good goaling.

I got yelled at for replying to your post before so not sure I can comment anymore on this. I will say that is certainly a take I didn’t expect to trade for a rental twice. Wonder what the draft pick crowd would think. lol.

 

[njdevils1982]

This is obfuscation because you know darned well the issue is not the player not wearing it, it’s the reasons the player gives for not wearing it. Which is that the behavior is against their religion or beliefs or whatever. Which is exactly what I’m talking about.

If black pride jerseys existed and a player didn’t wear them and then when asked about why stated that they don’t support “black behavior” for whatever reason…I’m gonna go out on a limb and guess that you’d say that’s extremely wrong and bigoted.

There’s no difference between the two…because people don’t choose to be gay any more than a black person chooses to be black.

remember this? a real life j-roc from the the trailer park boys....

Rachel Dolezal: ‘I wasn't identifying as black to upset people. I was being me'

She became a global hate figure this year when she was outed as a ‘race faker’. Here, she talks about her puritanical Christian upbringing, the backlash that left her surviving on food stamps – and why she would still do the same again

www.theguardian.com

 

[guitarguyvic]

remember this? a real life j-roc from the the trailer park boys....

Rachel Dolezal: ‘I wasn't identifying as black to upset people. I was being me'

She became a global hate figure this year when she was outed as a ‘race faker’. Here, she talks about her puritanical Christian upbringing, the backlash that left her surviving on food stamps – and why she would still do the same again

www.theguardian.com

I do remember this, but what does it have to do with what I said?

 

[Captain3rdLine]

This is obfuscation because you know darned well the issue is not the player not wearing it, it’s the reasons the player gives for not wearing it. Which is that the behavior is against their religion or beliefs or whatever. Which is exactly what I’m talking about.

If black pride jerseys existed and a player didn’t wear them and then when asked about why stated that they don’t support “black behavior” for whatever reason…I’m gonna go out on a limb and guess that you’d say that’s extremely wrong and bigoted.

There’s no difference between the two…because people don’t choose to be gay any more than a black person chooses to be black.

Yes and no matter how stupid those beliefs are they have a right to them and they shouldn’t be shamed and abused for them.

Making up a completely random situation that would never happen and isn’t remotely comparable does absolutely nothing for your argument.

You’re right, people don’t choose who they’re attracted to. They do choose what they act on and unfortunately some religions out there believe it’s wrong for people of the same sex to be involved.
It’s stupid and I don’t agree with it but at the end of the day pretty much every principle of religions is about resisting urges and telling you how you should and shouldn’t act.

It’s their right to believe that and I won’t have a problem with it as long as it doesn’t go further than that and infringe on others rights.

 

[MadDevil]

If only this made an ounce of sense. They couldn’t handle the backlash yet they are no doubt gonna face more backlash with this decision. The only people benefiting from this are the players who were taking that heat. The leagues gonna get that heat now. Not sure how you can keep saying they’re p***ying out.

They're p***ying out by caving to the minority of players who chose not to participate last year. Just because they're too stupid to realize they're going to face even more of a backlash doesn't make it any more brave of a choice.

For the record, I don't think it should be mandatory for players to participate in Pride nights. And I actually agree the media should focus more on those who choose to participate over those who don't. But canceling it for everybody because of a few who choose not to participate sure as hell doesn't seem like progress.

 

[Guttersniped]

Guy I’m just replying to a post that was to me I’m not trying to turn the board into anything. He mentioned saros I pointed out his age and his probably want of a similar contract. Not everything is a big production you try to make it out to be

Well Saros makes more sense as a rental this TDL because includes another year before he’s a UFA. There’s also a better chance that the Preds are a non-playoff team this year.

That said, I don’t know if he gets traded either because Saros was one of the players Trotz singled out as a “difference maker” he wasn’t going to trade. I doubt they want to throw Askarov to wolves.