Around the NHL 2024-25 regular season Part II - The holidays are upon us

Hockey Sports Fan

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apparently the winter classic is today?
I had the same thought yesterday when i saw that Joel Hofer was confirmed backing up on my fantasy team, and i thought “that’s weird, figured they’d play Hofer against the worst team in the league.”

A few seconds later i thought “wait… isn’t CHI/STL the winter classic? It can’t be a back to back, right?” And lo and behold…
 

Better Call Sal

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Aight fine Helle's is well on his way to winning it, but Blackwood is on his way to being on the podium.

Not if this guy has anything to say about it.

1735839774164.png
 

Bleedred

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So it looks like Blackwood is on a path towards the Vezina.
I wonder when the last time a goalie won the Vezina in a season where they played for more than one team? Has it ever happened?

Joe Thornton winning the Hart in a season where he played for two different teams comes to mind.

The last goalie I remember to be a Vezina finalist while playing on two teams in that season was Dubnyk that year he started out in Arizona and was flipped to Minnesota pretty early in the year. I think that was 10 years ago now? I think that was 2014-2015.

He’s still Blackwood. He will be fine until he gets injured or has an emotional disturbance. After that who knows. Can he hold it together all season?
Yeah, I think he may be able to hold it together all season this year. How about going forward after this year though? Very skeptical on that.
 

KovalchukFistPump

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I wonder when the last time a goalie won the Vezina in a season where they played for more than one team? Has it ever happened?

Joe Thornton winning the Hart in a season where he played for two different teams comes to mind.

The last goalie I remember to be a Vezina finalist while playing on two teams in that season was Dubnyk that year he started out in Arizona and was flipped to Minnesota pretty early in the year. I think that was 10 years ago now? I think that was 2014-2015.


Yeah, I think he may be able to hold it together all season this year. How about going forward after this year though? Very skeptical on that.
Goes to show how goalies are voodoo and can be great and then awful one year to another. Kuemper is having a great year while Shesterkin and Sorokin are bad to mid.

I know criticizing goalies is your schtick but I think you should lay off on shitting on Markstrom and Allen during cold streaks so they don't get in their head. Though they're both vets so I think they're better equipped in ignoring any fan criticism (it usually starts here or Facebook and then trickles into the arena). I didn't like you calling Vanecek mentally weak, but I guess you were completely right about him.
 
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My3Sons

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Goes to show how goalies are voodoo and can be great and then awful one year to another. Kuemper is having a great year while Shesterkin and Sorokin are bad to mid.

I know criticizing goalies is your schtick but I think you should lay off on shitting on Markstrom and Allen during cold streaks so they don't get in their head. Though they're both vets so I think they're better equipped in ignoring any fan criticism (it usually starts here or Facebook and then trickles into the arena). I didn't like you calling Vanecek mentally weak, but I guess you were completely right about him.
Vanacek was a rock of emotional stability until @Bleedred starting calling him out for being a coward. Then it went from hibachi to hiding in the dressing room curled up in the fetal position sucking his thumb (Vanacek did that not Bleed). I agree he needs to be nicer to Markstrom and Allen. The last thing we need is them being afraid to take the ice because of Bleed's withering gaze.
 

Brodeur

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Starship Troopers was a period piece dressed up as a Sci Fi adventure



The first time I watched Starship Troopers, I cheered when the Brain Bug killed Patrick Muldoon. Pretty sure I yelled out "That's what you get for breaking up Zack and Kelly."



I heard this story secondhand, but a friend of a friend was at an Obama fundraiser event and was seated at a table with Muldoon. At some point, Muldoon asked if he was crazy but it seemed like Secret Service was staring daggers at him. The other people at the table agreed and eventually the agents approached him. In his head, Muldoon was worried that they were going to kick him out or something. Then they had a quick conversation:

"Hey, were you in Saved by the Bell?"
"Yeah, three episodes like 20 years ago."
 

KovalchukFistPump

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Vanacek was a rock of emotional stability until @Bleedred starting calling him out for being a coward. Then it went from hibachi to hiding in the dressing room curled up in the fetal position sucking his thumb (Vanacek did that not Bleed). I agree he needs to be nicer to Markstrom and Allen. The last thing we need is them being afraid to take the ice because of Bleed's withering gaze.
I'm just saying it as a Yankee fan who is tired of watching players play well for the A's and Rays who come in and have a bad stretch of games and then go into an emotional black hole and have to be traded for pennies away from New York.

We had this ridiculous run of bad luck with goalies where the only thing fun to watch about the team was to blame them for everything. Can't have helped. I just hope we're done with that era.

I remember a post on here saying Wedgewood was the worst goalie they've ever seen (not sure if it was Bleed or someone else), and he seems to have done alright post-Devils. But then of course you have people like Jon Gillies, who it seems the Devils tenure absolutely destroyed his desire to play hockey.
 
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Bleedred

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Goes to show how goalies are voodoo and can be great and then awful one year to another. Kuemper is having a great year while Shesterkin and Sorokin are bad to mid.

I know criticizing goalies is your schtick but I think you should lay off on shitting on Markstrom and Allen during cold streaks so they don't get in their head. Though they're both vets so I think they're better equipped in ignoring any fan criticism (it usually starts here or Facebook and then trickles into the arena). I didn't like you calling Vanecek mentally weak, but I guess you were completely right about him.
Well, I don't want them to have a mental episode over anything I say, but I really can't worry about if someone reads one of my posts on here. I think it was Pat Burns telling players not to read the media. That was before the smart phone era though, so it's much easier accessible now.

I don't know that I thought Vanecek was ''Mentally weak''. Did I say that? I may have, I'm not saying I didn't, but I remember saying he was mentally fried, perhaps by what happened in the 2023 playoffs. I've seen people accuse players of being mentally weak their entire careers. I don't think that's the case with Vitek, but it seems he had some kind of episode during the 2023 playoffs and even sought out a sports therapist/psychologist.

I don't think Vitek has been mentally weak throughout his career, but something seems to have happened to him around the 2023 playoffs and he hasn't been right since.

And ever since about 10 months ago he's been mostly off the ice injured.

As far as Kuemper goes, this wouldn't be the first time he had a great year or anything rare, he was just really bad last year. But he was fine to really good for quite a while before that, with the exception of the 2022 playoffs, where he had his eye almost poked out.
 

Bleedred

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Vanacek was a rock of emotional stability until @Bleedred starting calling him out for being a coward. Then it went from hibachi to hiding in the dressing room curled up in the fetal position sucking his thumb (Vanacek did that not Bleed). I agree he needs to be nicer to Markstrom and Allen. The last thing we need is them being afraid to take the ice because of Bleed's withering gaze.
Coward is definitely a word I used a lot with Vitek. He rarely came out for post game interviews, which the goalies this year don't do it after every loss, but I'm pretty sure Markstrom did after the Anaheim game (didn't he?). Allen didn't last night, but he did after the last game he played before last night in Carolina.

Some have suggested that Vitek was being advised not to come out and talk to the media. Maybe that's true? But Jack Hughes particularly seemed irritated whenever he had to answer questions about goaltending last year, as did Lindy Ruff. And Jack did that ''We're a good team when we get saves'' post game interview on the ice last year in what I think was the first game after Vitek was injured and what would be his final game as a Devil. I think it was Daws who played that game.
 
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HBK27

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Haven't been following what's going on in Vancouver too closely, so what's the story there? Do EP and Miller just straight up hate each other? Any idea what's driving the feud? Didn't one of the guys also take some time off and is that speculated to be related?

Just an odd situation - hoping it doesn't somehow benefit the Rangers and helps drive Quinn out of town once he has a chance to become UFA.
 

KovalchukFistPump

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Haven't been following what's going on in Vancouver too closely, so what's the story there? Do EP and Miller just straight up hate each other? Any idea what's driving the feud? Didn't one of the guys also take some time off and is that speculated to be related?

Just an odd situation - hoping it doesn't somehow benefit the Rangers and helps drive Quinn out of town once he has a chance to become UFA.
Vancouver seems to be a cursed franchise that can't have nice things. I became convinced of that when Demko got hurt on the eve of the playoffs last year.

People say it's a world-class city too that should attract a lot of people, but I guess when compared to America it's just Seattle a few hours north.
 

Bleedred

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Vancouver seems to be a cursed franchise that can't have nice things. I became convinced of that when Demko got hurt on the eve of the playoffs last year.

People say it's a world-class city too that should attract a lot of people, but I guess when compared to America it's just Seattle a few hours north.
Demko left last night's game hurt yet again. There's a f***in surprise.

I don't think Demko getting injured cursed them. They won a round without him last year and he's been trash since he returned. They've done okay without him for the majority of the season and he tanked them one or two games since he came back. Silovs has been really bad also, but Lankinen has been more than fine. Pretty weird how Lankinen went unsigned most of the offseason and wasn't brought in until like a minute before training camp started.
 

billingtons ghost

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Goes to show how goalies are voodoo and can be great and then awful one year to another. Kuemper is having a great year while Shesterkin and Sorokin are bad to mid.

I know criticizing goalies is your schtick but I think you should lay off on shitting on Markstrom and Allen during cold streaks so they don't get in their head. Though they're both vets so I think they're better equipped in ignoring any fan criticism (it usually starts here or Facebook and then trickles into the arena). I didn't like you calling Vanecek mentally weak, but I guess you were completely right about him.

Goes to show what team defense does when you're going from the 2020 Devils/Sharks to Colorado.

Rags are a mess. Isles have gotten steadily worse since Trotz.

LA makes any goalie look good.

View attachment 953943

Severson’s fifth NHL coach is trying to fix the brain farts. Good luck with that Dean!

The discussed play:








Lol. Remember when he was a terrific #1 defenseman, @SteveCangialosi123 ?

I don't either.
 

KovalchukFistPump

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Ah yes, that vaunted Colorado defense that has churned out Vezina contenders in recent years.:sarcasm:
Also LA making any goalie look good might be true this year (tho Rittich has a putrid SvPct), but was certainly not true two years ago. Though I do agree that building a juggernaut skater squad and then just getting someone that won't pee their pants in the playoffs is the better way to build a Cup winner than paying for Shesterkin or Sorokin.
 

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