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joe galiba said:
If you want to blame the Hawks management and coaches, sure, I am with you
assigning blame to a 22 year old kid, not a chance

humans are imperfect and expecting out of a 22 year old "he should have stood up and said something (if he knew)"
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Spot on.
 
Memento said:
He owed it to his younger teammates in Beach and Black Ace 2 as the undisputed captain of the team. It wasn’t just upper management and coaching; the players harassed and bullied them as well, and they were fine with it staying silent if it won them Cups.

What’s most telling is his lack of comments after it all went down and was brought to the light. It was basically a no-comment, no sympathy for Beach, nothing. For someone who has - since his entire draft year - been lauded for the intangibles that nobody else has, it was an extremely disappointing response.

I’m not saying he can’t come back. I just want to see what his response will be for the scandal that happened under his captaincy. I think that’s fair, no?
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he was captain for hockey, which is a game and not real life, I guarantee if a player needed advice on real life stuff they would be looking to an older player, not a 22 year old Toews

as the parent of 3 kids in their 20’s, I can say with absolute certainty that they don’t have perspective that comes with getting older
I know personally that if I see something not right, I would hesitate to say things when I was a young adult, that I now will absolutely call out (sometimes to the embarrassment of said children)

just my perspective
 
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joe galiba said:
he was captain for hockey, which is a game and not real life, I guarantee if a player needed advice on real life stuff they would be looking to an older player, not a 22 year old Toews

as the parent of 3 kids in their 20’s, I can say with absolute certainty that they don’t have perspective that comes with getting older
I know personally that if I see something not right, I would hesitate to say things when I was a young adult, that I now will absolutely call out (sometimes to the embarrassment of said children)

just my perspective
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I’m sorry, but if you’re captain of any sports team (and yes, I’ve played basketball at the high school level) or if you’re a veteran with a younger player, I expect much more than letting a younger player get taunted about being raped or, worse still, joining in.

Toews was the captain. He was regarded as the captain with supposed impeccable intangibles, maturity, leadership, etc. from the very day he was drafted, from juniors on up. He was lauded throughout his career as the modern Yzerman as far as captaincy.

Don’t tell me he couldn’t have done anything to stop his teammates from acting like assholes. He had respect in that locker room from a young age. He just won a Cup as the captain. Don’t tell me his best option is to let his teammates have laughs at the expense of younger players who are likely already feeling like utter shit get piled on further.

There’s hazing - which, yes, I underwent, but it was light, like, carrying the equipment my freshman year, and the seniors and juniors were genuinely cool dudes, one of whom once went so far as to drive me home when I didn’t have a ride back - and then there’s flat-out malicious bullying like what happened in the 2011-2012 preseason. Yes, the coaching was f***ing awful, yes, the management was f***ing awful, but when it came to the players, Toews should’ve shut that shit down from the start, point blank, no excuses - which he said himself, that there were no excuses. He damn well knew it was wrong - or was the scouting report on him, Mr. Intangibles and Captain and shit, a complete f***ing lie?

But I’m not even concerned about that. My main concern is when he had the opportunity to speak up for Beach and Black Ace 2, a decade after it comes out of the shadows, his best response is nothing. He basically said, “I wish we could’ve done something different, but we were focused on playing hockey.” Not a mention about hearing his own teammates taunt and torment Beach and Black Ace 2 the very same preseason after because that certainly wouldn’t look bad on him, right?

It speaks volumes about his supposed “intangibles”, “leadership”, and “maturity” when it all vanishes under actual scrutiny.
 
Both of you are making good points. For Beach and the other guy, I think this is a metaphysical, human experience issue.
 
Xerloris said:
Well don't you remember when he basically said he didn't feel like playing? So the multi millionaire got sad and took his ball and went home. f*** him and his loser ass mentality.
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I find it pretty hard to believe a pro athlete would rather sit at home and not play if he had a choice, so I'm gonna take him at his word regarding the health issues. I may not like Toews or the Hawks but I doubt he has a "loser mentality"
 
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Reality Czech said:
I find it pretty hard to believe a pro athlete would rather sit at home and not play if he had a choice, so I'm gonna take him at his word regarding the health issues. I may not like Toews or the Hawks but I doubt he has a "loser mentality"
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Are you forgetting the hawks guy, I think it was Hossa that he mysteriously became allergic to hockey equipment the very same season he went from like 6-7 mill a year to only 1 mill a year because of his stupid contract? The Hawks sure do have a lot of players that come down with mysterious illnesses when the team starts to suck or they dont make as much money as they use to.
 
Xerloris said:
Are you forgetting the hawks guy, I think it was Hossa that he mysteriously became allergic to hockey equipment the very same season he went from like 6-7 mill a year to only 1 mill a year because of his stupid contract? The Hawks sure do have a lot of players that come down with mysterious illnesses when the team starts to suck or they dont make as much money as they use to.
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Yeah and I also heard an interview with Hossa where he explained it in detail, and it made sense to me. I was skeptical of his story till I heard that, but I doubt he just made up an lie just to cover for the fact that he didn't want to play anymore.

Calling it an allergy was a bit misleading, but basically the mold and moisture caused an irritation on his skin similar to eczema that wouldn't heal properly if he was putting on the equipment regularly. I'll spare you the details but it involved open sores, pus and other nasty things.



I know it's fun to take shots at the Hawks, but I wouldn't question the competitiveness of two guys like that.
 
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Memento said:
I’m sorry, but if you’re captain of any sports team (and yes, I’ve played basketball at the high school level) or if you’re a veteran with a younger player, I expect much more than letting a younger player get taunted about being raped or, worse still, joining in.

Toews was the captain. He was regarded as the captain with supposed impeccable intangibles, maturity, leadership, etc. from the very day he was drafted, from juniors on up. He was lauded throughout his career as the modern Yzerman as far as captaincy.

Don’t tell me he couldn’t have done anything to stop his teammates from acting like assholes. He had respect in that locker room from a young age. He just won a Cup as the captain. Don’t tell me his best option is to let his teammates have laughs at the expense of younger players who are likely already feeling like utter shit get piled on further.

There’s hazing - which, yes, I underwent, but it was light, like, carrying the equipment my freshman year, and the seniors and juniors were genuinely cool dudes, one of whom once went so far as to drive me home when I didn’t have a ride back - and then there’s flat-out malicious bullying like what happened in the 2011-2012 preseason. Yes, the coaching was f***ing awful, yes, the management was f***ing awful, but when it came to the players, Toews should’ve shut that shit down from the start, point blank, no excuses - which he said himself, that there were no excuses. He damn well knew it was wrong - or was the scouting report on him, Mr. Intangibles and Captain and shit, a complete f***ing lie?

But I’m not even concerned about that. My main concern is when he had the opportunity to speak up for Beach and Black Ace 2, a decade after it comes out of the shadows, his best response is nothing. He basically said, “I wish we could’ve done something different, but we were focused on playing hockey.” Not a mention about hearing his own teammates taunt and torment Beach and Black Ace 2 the very same preseason after because that certainly wouldn’t look bad on him, right?

It speaks volumes about his supposed “intangibles”, “leadership”, and “maturity” when it all vanishes under actual scrutiny.
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We already knew this about Toews’ character. Do you not remember Steen telling him, “Show some class Johnny” when the Blackhawks were taunting Backes with Wakey Wakey? The cameras didn’t pick up what Toews said, but he was taunting an unconscious Backes enough for Steen to protest.
 
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Maybe I’ll move this to the game thread later.

Thought it would be fun to look at opponents prior to the game; see what outliers I can find on Moneypuck: then see if the game delivers results that are similar to what the numbers say or not. I guessed it would be a post that was like 1 or two sentences.

The Ducks can not be 1 or 2 sentences. They’re the worst or best in a number of interesting ways.

The Anahiem Ducks Preview based on Moneypuck stuff:

The Ducks 5v5 expected goal ratio is really bad - only Chicago is worse.

The Ducks 5v5 expected goals against is the worst in the league. Their goals for is in the bottom third. Their overall goal diff is -27 with their 5v5 diff at only -7 but their expected 5v5 diff is league worst at -36.8.

They’ve been able to overcome their really bad 5v5 results by having the most saves above expected among any team. Their goals against below expected is best in the league - sneaking by Hellebyuck’s Jets for the crown. Many of the metrics that appear to measure goaltending result with the ducks and jets nearby each other in the lists. This could be the result of goaltending and it could be a product of taking/giving/forcing lots of shots from abnormal areas, disrupting how the stat works. I bet their shot charts stand out among the other teams but also, Dostal has enjoyed a great year owning 22 goals saved above expected, making him 3rd in the league for that stat.

The ducks have given up the third most high danger chances against, the most medium danger chances against, and the most low danger chances against. The ducks have the third most shots against of any team.

Looking through defense pairings: seems anybody paired with Dumolin or Trouba has a really rough time. Not a ton of stability here. A lot of ducks show up when you sort all line pairings with 200 or more minutes by lowest expected goals ratio.

Looking through forward lines: seems anybody who takes the top or second line adds to the defensive problems with the worst offenders being: Killorn - Carlsson - Zegras line who’s expected goals ratio is in the 30s and has a statistical case to be the worst line in the league - they’re purely outclassed in their current usage, followed by Gautier - McTavish - Fabbri in the low 40s. The ducks 3rd line is close to 50% on the ratio. The knight is a really great chess piece but if it’s going 1v1 against a queen it looks kinda trash - that’s the ducks: good pieces but bad matchups. Really - seems the big majority of the problems for their team come from the very young top 6. Young players won’t be young forever and I predict their fate will turn quickly over a year or two. I didn’t mean this post to be a trash on the ducks; I’m just looking for extremes and found them

The Ducks have been body checked the least of all teams and by a whole lot. The gap between them and the second least is the largest of any gap between any team on the list. Truly a big anomaly. Hard to get hit when you don’t have the puck I think.

The ducks are dead last in face off win rate too. This probably doesn’t help the possession numbers.

Based on the numbers - it would be pretty reasonable to argue that the Ducks are the worst 5v5 team in the NHL. It’s difficult to make a stronger case for any other team.

Be back next game!
 
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Stelmacki said:
Of course van and Calgary are going to OT. Worst possible outcome.
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Actually not really the worse outcome (at the time of the game). People think 3 pt game is bad in that case, but it benefit the Blues quite a bit.

#1 Game went to shootout so neither team got ROW which is huge help. Game would have been way worst outcome possible had it ended in OT.

At that point, Blues had 22. Flames had 24, and Canucks had 23. Regulation Wins

ROW Blues 27 Flames 27 and Canucks 28.

So as of now

Canucks have 73 pts with 24 RW & 29 ROW
Flames have 71 pts with 24 RW & 27 ROW
Blues have 71 pts with 23 RW & 28 ROW
 
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On Reddit there’s a post with the most likely playoff matchups given the standings today.

The most likely matchup for either divisions is a first round series with the Avs against the Stars.

It’s kind of nuts to think that this far out: one of those two is most likely guaranteed to be a first round loser.

The Wild are in an interesting position: they finish the season with a swing through Calgary, Vancouver, and Anahiem. If the Wild let the situation degrade further and allow those teams to be within striking distance - giving all those teams one more shot at 4 point games as the season wraps up would be so nerve wracking.
 
Amazing that Ottawa is most likely going to the playoffs. Great turnaround. +8 goal differential. I love monitoring goal differential.

EDIT: Adam Gaudette has 16 goals for the Sens. Not surprised. That dude is a goal scorer. That’s what he is. Sens have some nice offensive depth and could win a round.
 
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