Around the NHL 2024-2025

[TheDizee]

kings tried turtling ever since they went up 3-1. it NEVER works

 

[WeWantTacos]

Armstrong is already preparing the Bouchard offer sheet.

 

[Snubbed4Vezina]

Quinton Byfield might've just made one of the dumbest hockey plays I've ever seen.

He cost the Kings this game.

 

[Davimir Tarablad]

Quinton Byfield might've just made one of the dumbest hockey plays I've ever seen.

He cost the Kings this game.

Dude was just looking to stat pad with an empty netter, and it cost them.

Insane to see a late penalty after everything that's been let go in OT.

 

[TheDizee]

that OT was like 18mins of PP for the Oilers

but that actual PP call they got to win the game for them basically was such a kitten soft call.

 

[Snubbed4Vezina]

Very generous of L.A. to gift the Kings this series.

Brutal two games for Hiller and his players.

 

[AjaxManifesto]

I worked all day today (12 hours) from my hotel room. What made it okay is that I watched all 4 NHL games back to back while working on my laptop.

 

[AjaxManifesto]

No 1st round sweeps

 

[ScratchCatFever]

Okay, yeah, agreed. Again

Ok then I’ll disagree on the Perunovich being a massive whiff part then. Yeah, he was a whiff but not remotely a massive one.

Most 2nd round picks are whiffs so the fact Perunovich was one really shouldn’t be all that shocking or an indictment of our scouting staff. They aimed for a home run and missed. It happens.

Perunovich has 32 pts in 108 games played so far. Here’s the historical success rates of the draft:
Success Rates of NHL Draft Picks - The Hockey Writers NHL Entry Draft Latest News, Analysis & More

Peru was picked 45th overall. Smack dab in the middle of the 2nd round. The average 2nd round pick has a 39.9% chance of playing in 100 games. He’s already surpassed that. Only 21.4% of 2nd rounders ever score 100 points. Scotty isn’t there yet but keep in mind, he’s a d-man and this data includes forwards. He’s pretty much a bust yet he’s also surpassed the average performance of his draft spot. Not remotely a massive whiff.

Ok then I’ll disagree on the Perunovich being a massive whiff part then. Yeah, he was a whiff but not remotely a massive one.

Most 2nd round picks are whiffs so the fact Perunovich was one really shouldn’t be all that shocking or an indictment of our scouting staff. They aimed for a home run and missed. It happens.

Perunovich has 32 pts in 108 games played so far. Here’s the historical success rates of the draft:
Success Rates of NHL Draft Picks - The Hockey Writers NHL Entry Draft Latest News, Analysis & More

Peru was picked 45th overall. Smack dab in the middle of the 2nd round. The average 2nd round pick has a 39.9% chance of playing in 100 games. He’s already surpassed that. Only 21.4% of 2nd rounders ever score 100 points. Scotty isn’t there yet but keep in mind, he’s a d-man and this data includes forwards. He’s pretty much a bust yet he’s also surpassed the average performance of his draft spot. Not remotely a massive whiff.

Okay, yes, agreed. And again, I never trashed our scouts or made an indictment on them.. Just simply noted we missed on Perunovich relative to the expectations they had for him.

 

[Stealth JD]

No 1st round sweeps

View attachment 1024743

Interesting that all series in the West are 2-2, and all in the East are (or likely will be) 3-1.

Hopefully we can get a few game 7s. (Just not in Winnipeg; would rather the Blues complete the reverse sweep and rest up).

 

[Stelmacki]

McDavid elevated his flop game. LA could be in trouble.

 

[TruBlueFan1970]

Oilers tie it with 28 seconds left. Byfield had the chance for the easiest clear and doens't. He was like 5 feet away from the blue line and no one around him

Dumbest play I’ve seen in a long time. If he chips that out with his speed it’s game over. Or at worst, kills another 15-20 seconds. Tried to be a hero with a move and became a zero.

 

[TruBlueFan1970]

McDavid elevated his flop game. LA could be in trouble.

He’s why I hope the Oilers NEVER win a cup. When the best player in the world flops around like a soccer player and whines more to the refs than any player in the league, he can go f**k himself. Kings will implode like always, but god I hope they take them out in the 1st round.

 

[STL fan in MN]

Armstrong is already preparing the Bouchard offer sheet.

Hope not. We could use some young d-men as most of ours are on the wrong side of 30 but I’m just not a believer in Bouchard. Not at the $9M he’s likely to command anyway.

And that’s why EDM won’t win with this group IMO. Same reason as Toronto. Tons of insane offensive weapons but severely lacking on the backend and in net.

 

[STL fan in MN]

Slavin's steal and goal just now was absolutely ridonkulous.

It really was. Here it is for anyone that hasn’t seen it:


Knocking the opposing pass out of the air, tipping it to himself and then firing it perfectly in the corner from that angle? Damn.

And he’s supposed to be a defensive d-man with little to no offensive game??

 

[Brian39]

I think it's odd that the Wild decided to debut 19 y/o Buium in the NHL playoffs.

I don't think it is odd at all. It's not like they had him signed and in the press box for 2 weeks and then decided to debut him. He played 50+ minutes in DU's Frozen Four game Thursday 4/10 before losing in double OT. Even if he had signed with Minnesota that night and, it would have been asking way too much to have him join the team on a Canadian road trip to make his NHL debut Friday or Saturday without ever practicing with the team. And then their final regular season game was a do-or-die with more pressure than any of the playoff games they've played so far.

I think having him get a week of practices with the team and playing game 1 made a ton of sense. Including rookie mistakes, I think that there is very much an argument that he belongs on the ice among their blue line. I'm happy we got to season Snuggy a bit, but given the talent, I'd have wanted Snuggy in the lineup right now if he had made the Frozen Four.

 

[Snubbed4Vezina]

For those that didn't see it. Byfield failed to get this puck out of the zone:

 

[Brian39]

Hope not. We could use some young d-men as most of ours are on the wrong side of 30 but I’m just not a believer in Bouchard. Not at the $9M he’s likely to command anyway.

And that’s why EDM won’t win with this group IMO. Same reason as Toronto. Tons of insane offensive weapons but severely lacking on the backend and in net.

I think Bouchard is pretty damn far down the list of reasons the Oilers won't/haven't won. He's far from a perfect player defensively. But he's also very much one of the best offensive D men in the game. Outside of McDavid, Drai, and maybe Ekholm I think he is the least responsible for their inability to win than any other player on the roster. They don't win game 3 or game 4 without him.

He currently has 4 goals and 7 points while the rest of the Oilers blue line has combined for 0 goals and 3 assists. Nurse is making $9.25M and has 0 points while not defending particularly well. That's a much bigger problem than whatever contract they will give Bouchard.

The Oilers currently have $20.25M tied up in Kane, Nugent-Hopkins, Arvidsson, Henrique and Skinner. Those 5 forwards have combined for 3 goals and 7 points. That is a much, much bigger problem than whatever contract they give Bouchard.

The goaltending has been awful for essentially the entire McDavid era, which is a much bigger problem than Bouchard.

He may very well get a 'bad' contract, but it isn't going to be nearly as problematic or a waste of cap as so many other decisions that organization has made. An otherwise well-constructed team should absolutely be able to build a winner around Bouchard at $9M+ (warts and all). He's played at a 24 goal and 93 point pace in his 57 game playoff career. A 112 point pace over the past 3 seasons since he was elevated to being a 23+ minute a night guy. You really, really, really should be able to build enough of a defensive blue line around him to be able to win with that, even if you are paying market rate for that production.

 

[BlueDream]

It really was. Here it is for anyone that hasn’t seen it:


Knocking the opposing pass out of the air, tipping it to himself and then firing it perfectly in the corner from that angle? Damn.

And he’s supposed to be a defensive d-man with little to no offensive game??

Does anyone say that? I’m not sure if they do or not but he averages 30-40 points per season. Seems like everyone recognizes he’s an all-around elite d-man.

 

[TruBlueFan1970]

For those that didn't see it. Byfield failed to get this puck out of the zone:

View attachment 1025028

Stupid decision

 

[STL fan in MN]

For those that didn't see it. Byfield failed to get this puck out of the zone:

View attachment 1025028

I’ve heard about it but would like to see video. That’s insane given that still shot though..

 

[STL fan in MN]

I think Bouchard is pretty damn far down the list of reasons the Oilers won't/haven't won. He's far from a perfect player defensively. But he's also very much one of the best offensive D men in the game. Outside of McDavid, Drai, and maybe Ekholm I think he is the least responsible for their inability to win than any other player on the roster. They don't win game 3 or game 4 without him.

He currently has 4 goals and 7 points while the rest of the Oilers blue line has combined for 0 goals and 3 assists. Nurse is making $9.25M and has 0 points while not defending particularly well. That's a much bigger problem than whatever contract they will give Bouchard.

The Oilers currently have $20.25M tied up in Kane, Nugent-Hopkins, Arvidsson, Henrique and Skinner. Those 5 forwards have combined for 3 goals and 7 points. That is a much, much bigger problem than whatever contract they give Bouchard.

The goaltending has been awful for essentially the entire McDavid era, which is a much bigger problem than Bouchard.

He may very well get a 'bad' contract, but it isn't going to be nearly as problematic or a waste of cap as so many other decisions that organization has made. An otherwise well-constructed team should absolutely be able to build a winner around Bouchard at $9M+ (warts and all). He's played at a 24 goal and 93 point pace in his 57 game playoff career. A 112 point pace over the past 3 seasons since he was elevated to being a 23+ minute a night guy. You really, really, really should be able to build enough of a defensive blue line around him to be able to win with that, even if you are paying market rate for that production.

While I don’t disagree with anything you say, I personally would not want to spend $9M on Bouchard given his overall game. Excellent offensively though.

But overall, my point was more on the Oilers approach as a whole - all offense and not enough focus on defense and goaltending. Paying Nurse $9M…the underperforming contracts you point out, backing themselves into a corner allowing Army to poach their two best young players…they’ve wasted the McDavid/Drai years and while they pretty much have to find a way to re-sign Bouchard, I don’t see that fixing what’s been their biggest weakness for going on a decade now.

 

[TruBlueFan1970]

I’ve heard about it but would like to see video. That’s insane given that still shot though..

Here you go:

 

[STL fan in MN]

Here you go:

Thank you. Yes, that’s horrible. He takes a big stride forward with his head down. You take a big stride like that when you’re trying to quickly go on offense and try to catch the D flat footed. Thats something you do when you’re down by a goal and you need to take some risks to try to gain an edge. You absolutely don’t do that in the dying seconds when you have the lead and the other team has an empty net and a 6 on 5 skater advantage. That was just…wow. Just chip it out, dude.

 

[TheOrganist]

Here you go:

I have a series bet on the Kings. I haven't come close to throwing the clicker across the room for a non-Blues game in a while but that almost did it when I was watching in real-time....one of the dumbest things I've seen.