OT: Around the NHL: Cup or bust for the Leafs and Oilers? Bust it is!

[Sidney the Kidney]

How tf did Tavares just miss a game due to injury?

Maybe his magic pendant and his tin foil hat cancel each other out?

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

Maybe his magic pendant and his tin foil hat cancel each other out?

Do you think he tries to cast spells with it back in the locker room between periods?

Like a way lamer version of Cerrano from Major League except instead of praying to Joboo he prays to Russel Brand?

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

Do you think he tries to cast spells with it back in the locker room between periods?

Like a way lamer version of Cerrano from Major League except instead of praying to Joboo he prays to Russel Brand?

It would explain his painfully slow skating. He hasn't unlocked the ability yet that allows him to cast spells and move at the same time.

 

[Turin]

Nashville looks old and overrated like I thought they would

 

[AuroraBorealis]

Buffalo 1-4-1
Ruff start.

 

[Coffee]

Predators, Red wings and Senators all slumping, yikes

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

Avalanche and Red Wings looking like prime destinations for Jarry. We'll see if Dubas can make it happen, or if he even wants to. I still expect Jarry to be back the second Blomqvist falters a bit.

 

[OtherThingsILike]

ZAR scored his first goal as a Blue Jacket tonight.
It ended up being the game-winner.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

So how many more games before Lindy Ruff is fired? Lol, I knew this would bite them in the ass. Kevyn Adams should be fired right along with Lindy Ruff before the end of November I'd say, maybe sooner. This can't just be Ruff being fired (again) by Buffalo, it's time Adams is gone right with him. It's funny the Sabres can't figure out how to hire the right blokes in Management. Botterill got a far shorter leash, deserved more time (Funny that Botts has reunited with Bylsma twice since their Penguins years).

Adams has been a GM since summer of 2020, in 4 seasons he's had 3 different coaches - Krueger (wasn't his hire), Granato (his hire) and Ruff. 3 coaches in 4 years, that should get a GM canned.

I still wish the Pens could have gotten Greenway off them, ah well and that sucks for Zucker, still a fan of his like his Wild days, I bet he wishes he chose a different team right now rather than what he's seeing in Buffalo guided by Lindy Ruff. This league really needs to look outside of the usual rehash of veteran coaches, some make sense sure, but when you're a 64yr old that has lost the plot as a coach, hire him for a different job. Ruff should have gone the way of Hitchcock and Martin and just retired from coaching. Boudreau is likely being forced into that with zero jobs at 69yrs old, he turns 70 in January. This isn't the days of legendary Al Arbour coaching at 75.

Anyways regarding the Sabres - Pens dunked on them 6-5 and then Columbus 6-4. Ruff was losing his shit last year in NJ questioning random things a coach shouldn't question in public or outside of closed doors, this year he's already saying dumb shit about Samuelsson and what not and the Sabres look worse under Ruff than previous coaches. Meanwhile Keefe is killing it in NJ and Jake still hasn't scored in his Tampa tenure 3 games in but has 4 assists in 3 games, I am still expecting an insane 70 goal season out of him with Kucherov.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

Avalanche and Red Wings looking like prime destinations for Jarry. We'll see if Dubas can make it happen, or if he even wants to. I still expect Jarry to be back the second Blomqvist falters a bit.

Do you? I don't. I think Ned being healthy and getting his conditioning assignment to be back up will seal that fate unless Ned continues his play from last season like Jarry, then we need to hope Larsson can show a better outing in WBS to earn a call up, otherwise it's a rookie tandem (which I think would be f***ing awesome and hilarious but mostly awesome) of Blomqvist and Murashov. Dubas couldn't rely on Mrazek with his injury issues and Mrazek was ass that year but still better than Jarry at the time of his trade and rebounded in Chicago, yet and he still gave up a 1st with Mrazek (a 3.8m cap hit) for the Hawks higher 2nd round pick. To move Jarry and his 5.375m cap hit that has 3 more years left on it, Dubas would have to part with a 1st unconditional and a B level prospect or higher. Then you're hoping teams have so few options while being desperate enough to entertain the idea of taking on Jarry. This is a compliance buyout move imo to get away from the contract, otherwise he should be in the AHL - If Jarry goes beast mode in WBS and plays well back up in the NHL by some miracle, I move his ass asap with maybe a lower pick and lower level prospect dump or a change of scenery type (Poulin). Then you can use the compliance buyout on Graves, haha.

Avs have to be frustrated though - They're not bad defensively, they've had the worst goaltending this season. If we joke that Jarry is allergic to stopping the pucks, I don't even know what to joke about the Avs goalies really, but Detroit - Lyon and Talbot haven't been bad for the most part, they just suck defensively like usual under Lalonde and their offense is struggling (Between Raymond, Larkin, DeBrincat, Tarasenko, and Kane - that's a collective 5 goals total out of that group in 4 games).

Avs will need to do something, they'll probably pray Kaapo Kahkonen could build off of what he did in NJ last year and is their new hope before they trade anyone, at this point waiving Annunen or Georgiev shouldn't even be a worry, they probably don't even care if either of them is claimed and will look at the cap relief as the only benefit, if Kaapo sucks, he likely won't suck as much as either of those two sieves. I'd probably waive Georgiev for the cap savings vs Annunen's ~800k salary.

Btw, remember that name? There was a Wild fan bloke that absolutely lost it on me and others here that Kaapo would be an elite #1 goalie in Minnesota. Since then, Kaapo has bounced from the Wild, Sharks, Devils and now Avs. I wonder what happened to that bloke.