Spengler Cup 2023

[Hinterland]

I agree it's a meaningless tournament.. but I love it! Rarely miss games.

Meaningless can also be entertaining. Players are more willing to try stuff they usually wouldn't. Intensity isn't always high but the skill level is.

Also, it's never meaningless for everybody. It's also a big stage, a showcase for players with NA ambitions or players trying to get their career back on track...or both. So there are always a few guys playing for more than just fun.

Aaron Dell would be a great example this year. This is a good opportunity for him to prove he can still make saves.

 

[PettersonHughes]

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Not bad at all.. Dell could be a real problem! Happy for Milic to get a nom. No KHLers? Is that on purpose? I felt like KHL had a lot of Canucks? Are they not allowed to leave KHL or is Canada not picking KHLers?

As an NHL fan, that's a whole lot of "who?" besides Ty Smith and Sceviour. Are these guys good??

 

[wetcoast]

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Not bad at all.. Dell could be a real problem! Happy for Milic to get a nom. No KHLers? Is that on purpose? I felt like KHL had a lot of Canucks? Are they not allowed to leave KHL or is Canada not picking KHLers?

Aaron Dell is not engaged does that mean he is a FA in the dating pool in Davos?

 

[Czechboy]

As an NHL fan, that's a whole lot of "who?" besides Ty Smith and Sceviour. Are these guys good??

My theory is that the best Canucks are in the KHL and they left them behind. So this is the B Euro squad. However, I'd prefer a Canuck poster confirm this notion and don't want to overstep.

Here are the top 20 Nucks in the KHL.

 

[Czechboy]

Nice goal by Ty Smith! Speaking of Ty's.. where is Rattie? Perlini? Some guys I'd enjoy seeing here. I often wonder why more AHLers don't go to this.

 

[deleted user]

Let's go!

 

[Hinterland]

My theory is that the best Canucks are in the KHL and they left them behind. So this is the B Euro squad. However, I'd prefer a Canuck poster confirm this notion and don't want to overstep.

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Here are the top 20 Nucks in the KHL.

Again, I don't always follow the tournament closely but I don't think they ever had many KHLers on the roster, to be honest. NL players were always the majority and the rest was a mix of players from the rest of Europe as well as a few youngsters and oldies from overseas.

Many teams from outside of Switzerland don't care at all about this tournament so they're not gonna release their players. It's also a financial question and that's what makes it tough, particularly when negociating with KHL teams. There was a time when even certain Swiss teams were against the Spengler Cup and therefore unwilling to release their players.

Davos needs to make money with this tournament so the budget is kinda limited and I don't think Hockey Canada does invest a lot of money into this.

 

[Hinterland]

Nice goal by Ty Smith! Speaking of Ty's.. where is Rattie? Perlini? Some guys I'd enjoy seeing here. I often wonder why more AHLers don't go to this.

Because the AHL does not pause between christmas and new year. Senators and Marlies are playing right now. I don't think AHL or NHL teams (for the players under NHL contract) are particularly keen on releasing players for an exhibition tournament. They lose their player for quite a while and there's a risk of injury, sickness, jetlag etc...

 

[Natey]

I've always loved this tournament. It's just fun and unpredictable.

 

[Natey]

As an NHL fan, that's a whole lot of "who?" besides Ty Smith and Sceviour. Are these guys good??

Really? It's not a strong team, though they're playing well today, but Ty Smith is one that you pick out over others?

Aren't you a Canucks fan?

Jordie Benn played 600+ games in the NHL, including the Canucks.

Nathan Beaulieu played almost 500 NHL games.

Because the AHL does not pause between christmas and new year. Senators and Marlies are playing right now. I don't think AHL or NHL teams (for the players under NHL contract) are particularly keen on releasing players for an exhibition tournament. They lose their player for quite a while and there's a risk of injury, sickness, jetlag etc...

Once in awhile they do, but definitely not important to their AHL players.

 

[Hinterland]

I've always loved this tournament. It's just fun and unpredictable.

Yeah. Completely. You know Davos and Canada are always all in but for the rest you never know what you're gonna get. Are they go hard or are they just on holidays and trying not to get hurt, would maybe even prefer to be at home with their families? Frölunda doesn't look too interested for now.

Canada and Davos may be all in but Canadians sometimes need time to develop chemistry and Davos is no longer a top team in the NL so they don't have the same quality of some of the other teams.

Therefore it's always anybody's tournament.

 

[Hinterland]

Really? It's not a strong team, though they're playing well today, but Ty Smith is one that you pick out over others?

Aren't you a Canucks fan?

Jordie Benn played 600+ games in the NHL, including the Canucks.

Nathan Beaulieu played almost 500 NHL games.


Once in awhile they do, but definitely not important to their AHL players.

Derek Grant played almost 450 as well. Many of these guys have significant NHL experience.

 

[PettersonHughes]

Really? It's not a strong team, though they're playing well today, but Ty Smith is one that you pick out over others?

Aren't you a Canucks fan?

Jordie Benn played 600+ games in the NHL, including the Canucks.

Nathan Beaulieu played almost 500 NHL games.

Good point, I forgot he played with us

 

[ORRFForever]

YAY! Canada won 2(?) games at the Spengler Cup. I'm not sure what that means but I'll assume it's a positive.

 

[Hinterland]

YAY! Canada won 2(?) games at the Spengler Cup. I'm not sure what that means but I'll assume it's a positive.

Time traveller?

 

[ORRFForever]

Time traveller?

Huh? They didn't win 2 ?

 

[swissdude]

Huh? They didn't win 2 ?

that would not be easy to achieve with just one game played

 

[ORRFForever]

that would not be easy to achieve with just one game played

Give it another day and my statement will be true.

 

[swissdude]

Give it another day and my statement will be true.

we'll see Davos looked pretty sharp today so it should be a close one

 

[Czechboy]

Zohorna with a late one! Bad goal to allow with 2 minutes left. He also had a nasty cross check to a players face and didn't get a penalty. I'd be surprised if he wasn't suspended for the next game for it.

Imagine not penalizing him, he scores a potential winner and then gets suspended after the game.lol

 

[Boss Man Hughes]

officiating in Parducbice- Kalpa game has been worse than bad. Complete incompetents.

 

[Czechboy]

Brutal cross check there. This game is chippy as hell.. dirty.

Oh wait.. the coach is Varada.

Zohorna on the ice.

Got it.

 

[Boss Man Hughes]

Zohorna with a late one! Bad goal to allow with 2 minutes left. He also had a nasty cross check to a players face and didn't get a penalty. I'd be surprised if he wasn't suspended for the next game for it.

Imagine not penalizing him, he scores a potential winner and then gets suspended after the game.lol

Should have been a penalty on Pardubice for running the goalie before that. And at the very least the play should have been stopped because the goalie was injured. He probably should have stayed down and they would have had to stop play.

 

[Czechboy]

officiating in Parducbice- Kalpa game has been worse than bad. Complete incompetents.

Big time! All time bad.lol

 

[Czechboy]

Should have been a penalty on Pardubice for running the goalie before that.

Agree.. I have no defence for this. If the refs made calls the players would be safe. This is on them. Did you see Scissons face after the cross check? How that wasn't a major is beyond me.

and I'm cheering for Pardubice.lol