Around the NHL - Part XLII - (2023-24 Season edition)

[Paulie Walnutz]

Yup.

It's going to continue to be a problem for him and that team. It took the Canes all of 4 games to break him. Imagine what other teams would do.

The Devils high flying style is like the Leafs but that shit doesn’t work in the playoffs. The Hughes sisters will always be prone to injuries due to their size. The Devils d with Brendan f***ing Smith out there and goaltending will be their downfall.

 

[2014nyr]

Also think KAM one of the few defenseman in the league that can sort of keep on him

i think he's the absolute nightmare scenario for kandre to be caught one on one for. it's hard for a guy as long as he is because of the spaces a smaller guy like hughes has to put pucks through and how much easier it is for him to change direction with the lower center of gravity and quicker feet. kandre would win some because of his range, but it's far from an ideal matchup. kandre can fly and has a great stick, but other than possibly being able to angle him off from behind if needed, that speed doesn't help much. you need to have phenomenal feet to keep your gap control and not get caught flat footed. outside of makar though, almost no one is an ideal option to defend him.

lindgren is probably the rangers best bet...he's a lot quicker and great at holding his gap/closing quickly. also the fact that he's actually got some nastiness to his game helps too. regardless, in any sort of matching against him it would really be about the fwds you'd have out there against him. in that regard, troch is about as good as you could want in terms of skillset and mentality to limit him as much as possible.

That Colorado team was LOADED with 2+ zone carriers. They had at least one on every line and 2 on defense.

Even with that, they also needed pretty much every break to fall their way. Cooper figured out how to slow them down eventually but Tampa had nothing left in the tank by the time he did.


This isn't the case.

He's gotten blown up a TON. It's been an issue of his dating back to the NTDP days and he's taken some big time licks at the NHL level. I mean if you play long enough in this league someone is going to end up getting you sooner or later but he gets lit up way more often than top guys normally do and most of those guys have 20-30 lbs on him.

it has been the last couple years. idno about ntdp but yea his first couple years in the nhl he got yardsaled a few times. really not that many because he got injured every time. last couple years he really hasn't taken many hits.

 

[2014nyr]

Its okay we got that Lafrieniere kid hes the best prospect since Matthews

he still is, people will see.

 

[KirkAlbuquerque]

The Devils high flying style is like the Leafs but that shit doesn’t work in the playoffs. The Hughes sisters will always be prone to injuries due to their size. The Devils d with Brendan f***ing Smith out there and goaltending will be their downfall.

i think the youngest Hughes has decent size. Quinn and Jack are small, but Quinn at least has avoided injury pretty well so far.

 

[GoAwayPanarin]

it has been the last couple years. idno about ntdp but yea his first couple years in the nhl he got yardsaled a few times. really not that many because he got injured every time. last couple years he really hasn't taken many hits.

He missed a shit load of time due to injuries just 2 seasons ago from hits.

Few examples just from that year -







Theres one of him where he got smoked vs LA that same year that I can't find as I forgot who tagged him and then of course the Wahlstrom hit that ended his season (which wasn't really malicious or hard, but he put himself in a bad position and nearly blew out his knee for his efforts.)

The funny thing (well, unless you're a Devil fan) is that Hischer is even worse when it comes to this.

 

[17futurecap]

I get the Hughes dislike from our fan base, but Hughes is overall a fairly likable young dude with insane talent. He’s a happy medium between a Matthews and a McDavid personality wise and he’s one of the best American hockey products I’ve ever seen.

USA hockey has hit its absolute peak right when we don’t have best on best tournaments anymore.

Hughes, Matthews, Thompson, Eichel, Debrincat, Tkachuk, Tkachuk, Keller, Tuch, Zegras, Colefield, Cooley
Fox, McAvoy, Hughes, Slavin, Sanderson
Hellebuyck, Oettinger

Would love to see them back at the Winter Olympics, so much fun. Hopefully they go to Italy in 2026.

 

[KirkAlbuquerque]

I get the Hughes dislike from our fan base, but Hughes is overall a fairly likable young dude with insane talent. He’s a happy medium between a Matthews and a McDavid personality wise and he’s one of the best American hockey products I’ve ever seen.

USA hockey has hit its absolute peak right when we don’t have best on best tournaments anymore.

Hughes, Matthews, Thompson, Eichel, Debrincat, Tkachuk, Tkachuk, Keller, Tuch, Zegras, Colefield, Cooley
Fox, McAvoy, Hughes, Slavin, Sanderson
Hellebuyck, Oettinger

Yeah that whole crop of USNTDP kids ended up studs aside from Turcotte.

We need to draft heavily from the program.

 

[2014nyr]

He missed a shit load of time due to injuries just 2 seasons ago from hits.

Few examples just from that year -







Theres one of him where he got smoked vs LA that same year that I can't find as I forgot who tagged him and then of course the Wahlstrom hit that ended his season (which wasn't really malicious or hard, but he put himself in a bad position and nearly blew out his knee for his efforts.)

The funny thing (well, unless you're a Devil fan) is that Hischer is even worse when it comes to this.

yea i'm not disagreeing with you about a few years ago, i'm saying the last couple years it hasn't happened. he was reckless until he couldn't afford to be

 

[and 99 others]

I fully admit Jack Hughes is a superstar, full stop. That said, he has 7 assists in his last two games and like only two of them felt like he touched the puck within 15 seconds of the goal being scored.

He’s a great player but he’s also absolutely benefitting from some serious puck luck lately

 

[MysticLeviathan]

the Devils are an absolute juggernaut offensively, but holy shit has their defense been a liability. Of their 6 games, all but one of them they’ve given up 3 or more goals. And 3 of the 6 they’ve given up 4 or more goals. Only one game so far they’ve given up fewer than 3 goals, and that was when they gave up 2 to Montreal. That’s not a good sign. They can score very quickly and their pp is lethal, but it’s hard to keep that kind of pace, especially once you start getting into playoff hockey mode where every team is good and the game played much tighter.

that doesn’t mean I don’t think they’ll improve defensively, but few of these wins are pretty. it’s definitely something to ponder. if they can improve their defense and keep the puck out of their net, they’re a very scary team.

 

[egelband]

I truly believe fitz really screwed the pooch here. He thought he was the smartest guy in the room not trying to solve his teams enormous hole at goalie and banking on getting helly at the tdl. He’s left the devs in a really precarious spot. They miss graves and severson too.

Like the guy in Toronto. Every year. ‘You guys need to beef up the defense and get a better goalie’. Then he goes for some bargain bin irregulars and looks bewildered when Jake muzzin and Jack Campbell fail to bring home the Cup.

 

[Kupo]

@Kupo smokes crack.

 

[McRanger92]

No victory laps yet but I told people all summer that the Devils were overrated with this defense and goaltending. Living off an unearned reputation because we played so poorly in that series. I would love another shot at them in the spring

 

[LokiDog]

I fully admit Jack Hughes is a superstar, full stop. That said, he has 7 assists in his last two games and like only two of them felt like he touched the puck within 15 seconds of the goal being scored.

He’s a great player but he’s also absolutely benefitting from some serious puck luck lately

Well all but one of his assists have been primary so far. So 6 of those 7 assists were primaries. He’s pretty much performing at the absolute highest level possible right now. 17 points in 6 games, only 1 secondary assist of the bunch.

 

[duhmetreE]

I get the Hughes dislike from our fan base, but Hughes is overall a fairly likable young dude with insane talent. He’s a happy medium between a Matthews and a McDavid personality wise and he’s one of the best American hockey products I’ve ever seen.

USA hockey has hit its absolute peak right when we don’t have best on best tournaments anymore.

Hughes, Matthews, Thompson, Eichel, Debrincat, Tkachuk, Tkachuk, Keller, Tuch, Zegras, Colefield, Cooley
Fox, McAvoy, Hughes, Slavin, Sanderson
Hellebuyck, Oettinger

Robertson, Larkin and Gaudreau

Pretty stacked.

 

[I Eat Crow]

I may be totally off here, but for sports in general, if you're going to have eye watering endorsement deals in the 9 figures for sports betting platforms and market it to fans during said sporting events, you have to cut a little slack for athletes as long as they're not wagering on their sport.

I fully endorse Pinto getting banned for half a season if he bet on NHL games. That's just stupid. A random AHL'er getting the same punishment for degenning on ostrich racing should not.

 

[Cmox]

I may be totally off here, but for sports in general, if you're going to have eye watering endorsement deals in the 9 figures for sports betting platforms and market it to fans during said sporting events, you have to cut a little slack for athletes as long as they're not wagering on their sport.

I fully endorse Pinto getting banned for half a season if he bet on NHL games. That's just stupid. A random AHL'er getting the same punishment for degenning on ostrich racing should not.

This is what @I Eat Crow is referring to;

Shane Pinto suspended 41 games by NHL

It's the league's first gambling-related suspension in the era of online gambling.

theathletic.com

edit; 41 games, as I eat crow said

 

[turcotte8]

I may be totally off here, but for sports in general, if you're going to have eye watering endorsement deals in the 9 figures for sports betting platforms and market it to fans during said sporting events, you have to cut a little slack for athletes as long as they're not wagering on their sport.

I fully endorse Pinto getting banned for half a season if he bet on NHL games. That's just stupid. A random AHL'er getting the same punishment for degenning on ostrich racing should not.

I think Gretzky said "You lose 100% of the bets you don't make."

 

[Cmox]

Do you think Pinto thought he was okay because he didn't have a contract and was back home skating on his own?

 

[LokiDog]

I don’t understand why it’s an issue unless he was betting on his own games. How does Shane Pinto influence a Stars/Kings game? Maybe I’m missing something?

 

[Megustaelhockey]

Do you think Pinto thought he was okay because he didn't have a contract and was back home skating on his own?

I think Pinto acted like a 22 year old who's been hit in the head a lot.

His career in this league is probably over.

Dumb f***.

 

[effen]

I don’t understand why it’s an issue unless he was betting on his own games. How does Shane Pinto influence a Stars/Kings game? Maybe I’m missing something?

His friends might.

 

[duhmetreE]

what did they expect when all leagues have whored out to casinos and sportsbooks.

 

[Megustaelhockey]

what did they expect when all leagues have whored out to casinos and sportsbooks.

This. The Rangers actually sent me an email survey today asking me what I thought of those brands. I didn't hesitate to tell them how negative I find them to be. It's not even because I personally don't gamble. If someone wants to gamble, fine. It just doesn't need to pop up three times every TV timeout.

It's enough already. And it's bad for kids to see how pervasive it is, too.

 

[Cmox]

what did they expect when all leagues have whored out to casinos and sportsbooks.

I just saw sens have it advertised on their helmets.