As a Capitals fan, it's great to see them back into what looks like the old Patrick Division with some Adams division teams. Going to be great (Tampa, Florida and Carolina still have not grown on me after all of these years).
NHL 2023/2024
- Thread starter WeePat
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Yeah we have some really decent off season moves and we have young talents who are only getting better. It felt like that brief playoff run was Kotkaniemi but especially Suzuki coming of age.
I'm going to really enjoy an all Canadian division.
Suck it Sweden!
Only a couple of days to go before the season starts, this year is going to be so exciting. The realigned divisions, the shortened season and revised play-off format, all add up to what could be some of the best regular season hockey we've seen for some time. I'm looking forward to the all Canadian North Division, but it's going to be a free for all in terms of who's going to qualify out of the division.
Let the fun and games commence and may the best team win (as long as that team contains McDavid)...
Let the fun and games commence and may the best team win (as long as that team contains McDavid)...
Season 2020/2021
Season starting today, I haven't followed anything regarding the rule changes and offseason moves though 
Go Hawkssssss, away to the champions to start the season.
Go Hawkssssss, away to the champions to start the season.
Predicting the North division before the games start;
1. Leafs (Best in the division, though I don't think they'll run away from Habs and Flames)
2. Habs (Head says Calgary, heart says Habs, I feel optimistic so I've gone with my heart )
3. Flames
4. Oilers
5. Jets ( They have Hellebuyck, he'll be worth a lot of points. Not sure what's going on with Laine but if he can regain some of that first two seasons form, they could have something to say)?
6. Canucks
7. Sens
1. Leafs (Best in the division, though I don't think they'll run away from Habs and Flames)
2. Habs (Head says Calgary, heart says Habs, I feel optimistic so I've gone with my heart )
3. Flames
4. Oilers
5. Jets ( They have Hellebuyck, he'll be worth a lot of points. Not sure what's going on with Laine but if he can regain some of that first two seasons form, they could have something to say)?
6. Canucks
7. Sens
I honestly think this division is going to be the toughest to predict. The Sens have added well in the off season, perhaps not quite enough to challenge, but they'll upset everyone over the course of the year. I think the rest are going to be interchangeable. People forget that the Oilers had the best record of all Canadian teams last season even if they flopped in the play in round. However the downside to that is the record against Canadian teams was fairly poor. They've got a bit more forward depth and in Barrie, they've got someone to add to what was the best PP unit in 40 years. A short season could be the best thing for them..
The Habs have the Tsar, they already won.
But seriously the hype around Romanov is incredible particularly when people raised eyebrows after his 2nd selection at the draft. I also can't wait to see what Toffoli and Anderson bring to the power play, the Habs could be really fun to watch because on paper they are really deep.
But seriously the hype around Romanov is incredible particularly when people raised eyebrows after his 2nd selection at the draft. I also can't wait to see what Toffoli and Anderson bring to the power play, the Habs could be really fun to watch because on paper they are really deep.
For what it's worth, I don't have much separating the Habs, Flames and Oilers, or the Leafs for that matter. No genuine contenders who can run away with this division.
I perused an Oilers blog to gauge the feeling there, some pessimism here and there, but generally it was pretty much similar to the feeling among Habs fans.
The Armaggedon then.
What do you think about today's rumours about Bergevin being seriously interested in bringing Dubois?
Potentially love it actually, but a bit apprehensive about what we'd have to give up in the trade. At least one of the budding youngsters will have to go. I'd hate to see Caufield go before seeing him in Habs colours but he would seem the likeliest young asset to tag onto whatever the package is (Danault, Caufield and a first?).
The good thing about Dubois is that he is young but I'm not sure if he is worth Jesperi/Suzuki, Caufield and a 1st round pick which is what I have seen suggested. Danault could be a better piece to give from Montreal point of view and yes losing Caufield would be a shame.
So I guess my sporting hopes and dreams rests with the Habs this season.
Going to be tough
Chelsea are finished this season. Rockets are in a rebuild and the Saints are trying to navigate a new Drew Brees-less world. It has to be the Habs. I'm in for a long slog of a season aren't I?
Habs have started really well though.
Chelsea can salvage their season but it's going to take a quick turnaround by Lampard or another manager who can figure out the pieces. Rockets need a wing player to compliment Wall and a few other pieces too, so yes they are in a complete player and identity rebuild. North Division for Habs is tough but maybe they can compete for a 4th playoff spot
As you can see, I have lost faith in Chelsea achieving anything noteworthy this season.
The Habs will be fine. It will be easier to assess the division after 15-20 games but I like what I see so far - 3-1 up on the supposed best team in the division, unlucky loss in OT and comfortably beat the Oilers in the other two games.
My hot not so hot take, is that the Habs are the best 5v5 team in the division. They were one of the best in the NHL 5v5 team in the last two season but had terrible PK and PP, both have seemingly been improved.
Yeah, and the depth is fantastic this season - the pk and pp has drastically improved. I was shockingly amused to watch the Oilers go through 7 PP's the other night and have 0 goals for, 1 goal against to show for it. Since we're doing hot takes 3 games in, I think the Habs (along with Calgary and Toronto) are a lock for top 3 in the division.
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Just have to wait and see with this trade. Pretty clear that Laine wasn't going to sign again with the Jets so a trade had to happen, not sure other teams would have offered more.
Roslo is a non factor that was never going to make it with the Jets and didn't want to be there.
Dubois dad is an assistant coach with the Moose so he has ties with the organisation already.
Laine and Torts might be a disaster waiting to happen.
Just have to wait 1,5 years and Jarmo can sign Barkov
Laine might be a healthy scratch before too long! Interesting if he buys into Torts and that Columbus way of playing...I have my doubts but they wouldn't have done the trade if they didn't think it was worth the effort.
Pretty bad takes in the thread. Columbus is clear winner in this trade. It isn't 100-0 but there isn't any need to wait to declare it either. And Jarmo and Laine obviously know each other pretty well and Kekäläinen knows exactly what he gets and how it fits.
Any tips on getting into the NHL? I'd been going to watch a team here in the UK before lockdown and watching their highlights on Youtube and now I'm starting to miss hockey. I've never watched a lot of the NHL so I don't really have any team to follow. Are there any I should look out for that could be interesting to watch?
How easy is it to watch games here in the UK?
How easy is it to watch games here in the UK?
You can get NHL.tv for $24.99 a month. I'd recommend getting a VPN alongside it, as games that are televised in the UK (on Premier Sports) are blacked out for 48 hours. A VPN will mean you can watch every game.
Or you can get Premier Sports which is £9.99 a month, which I believe you can subscribe to just online if you don't already have Sky or Virgin. They don't show every game, but they show a lot, and then all of the playoffs. I'm not sure if you can watch games on-demand like you can with NHL.tv though.
The regular season is a bit of a slog, I tend to watch highlights on www.dtmts.com for a lot of the regular season. Then I pick up NHL.tv towards the end of the season and for the playoffs. The price comes down quite dramatically by that point.
I'd definitely put Tampa and Toronto on the list of teams to watch, they both play a very offensive type of hockey and have boatloads of top players.
Tampa is my personal favorite since when they get going they not only score a lot of goals but they play a very attractive type of hockey as well with lots of speed and skill. Toronto is also very fun to watch as a neutral since you never really know what to expect from them, they are very top heavy in that they have a lot of firepower up front but maybe not the best defence, which often is a good recipe for fun games.
The Oilers are worth watching too just for McDavid alone, not the greatest team perhaps but he's the best player in the world and the most fun to watch as well.
Why can't the premier league do that? MLB has a similar thing. Shame about needing a VPN but good to know. I have Sky but I noticed you can't watch Premier Sports without an additional subscription before, something to think about, £10 a month isn't too bad.
I think highlights while I'm getting into it would probably be the best. That website looks great, think I'll be visiting this to start off with, thanks for that!
Toronto sounds tempting as we've been planning on going on holiday there anyway, so would be cool to actually catch a game. We went to watch New York Mets in the MLB and been following them ever since. Will check all of their highlights out though, thanks.
At the moment the best looking teams are Toronto, Tampa and Montreal. They all have a fast, offensive and sound brand of hockey. The Oilers aren't fun to watch, while McDavid and Draisaitl are individually mesmerizing their team is a mess and highlights of the two aforementioned players are enough to appreciate them. When they have their full team and if you like the dark sides of Hockey the Bruins are a nice team to watch, if they manage to get themselves back on track the Canucks are also a team to watch. And if you want to see what a perfect player looks like, Crosby is still the reference.
It's crazy that the Premier League doesn't have the sort of streaming platform which all the major North American sports do. Even various wrestling feds have their own streaming services now. I guess the Premier League is at the mercy of the multi billion pound TV deals, and I think the law is that it can't be monopolised by one broadcaster. I suspect the law would have to change before the PL could stream all of the games themselves.
I just looked into Premier Sports, and you can watch their NHL games on-demand through their app too, so it's a good deal. They show quite a bit of Swedish and Russian hockey too. By the time it gets to the playoffs, Premier Sports shows pretty much every game. I usually pick up NHL.tv towards the end of the season, but I might give Premier Sports a go this time instead.
That Connor McDavid goal
Sometimes it's good to say it's worth getting up at stupid o'clock to watch the Oilers play hockey. After a slow start they are starting to pick up and are on a roll at the moment. We are also winning games without McDavid or Leon's help... We've not been able to say that very often recently. Interesting quote from Koskinen during his post match press conference, about how little practice he was getting before Smith returned. Neither he or Smith are going to be number 1's in the league, but as a pair they will serve the Oilers well, they did so last year when normally we'd have been in the play-off's had we had a normal season ending.
McDavid with 5 points tonight against the Flames, and only had around 3 shifts in the final period to boot, which is amazing when you consider we'd lost Yamamoto towards the end of the second, and were down to 5 d-men after 14 seconds. We'll continue to blow hot and cold for sure over the rest of the season, but I feel confident that we'll be in the top 4 in the North when it matters. Should I also say that McDavid also gave us a beautiful no look goal on Markstrom as well, which goes straight into his top 5 goals collection...
McDavid with 5 points tonight against the Flames, and only had around 3 shifts in the final period to boot, which is amazing when you consider we'd lost Yamamoto towards the end of the second, and were down to 5 d-men after 14 seconds. We'll continue to blow hot and cold for sure over the rest of the season, but I feel confident that we'll be in the top 4 in the North when it matters. Should I also say that McDavid also gave us a beautiful no look goal on Markstrom as well, which goes straight into his top 5 goals collection...
Leafs looking good
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Can't believe that the form team in the league right now are LA, wouldn't have thought that with the roster and coaching staff.
Looking forward to the Laffs/Oilers 3 game series coming up. It's going to be built up as the Matthews v McDavid battle, but it's more than that. I'll be happy to see the Oilers come out with 2 wins, it narrows the gap between the two teams, but also makes a bit of a statement. People are suggesting that Matthews might get 50 goals this season, but let it be said it wouldn't shock me if McDavid goes over 100 points either, and out of the two I'm more inclined to go with McDavid hitting the respective achievement than Austin.
Looking forward to the Laffs/Oilers 3 game series coming up. It's going to be built up as the Matthews v McDavid battle, but it's more than that. I'll be happy to see the Oilers come out with 2 wins, it narrows the gap between the two teams, but also makes a bit of a statement. People are suggesting that Matthews might get 50 goals this season, but let it be said it wouldn't shock me if McDavid goes over 100 points either, and out of the two I'm more inclined to go with McDavid hitting the respective achievement than Austin.
Haven't really kept up with the hockey this season. Bit surprised to find the Habs in 4th, albeit with several games in hand, considering how well they started the season.
Oilers seem to be doing much better than what the early season form suggested. No surprise to find the Leafs top of the division.
Oilers seem to be doing much better than what the early season form suggested. No surprise to find the Leafs top of the division.
To be fair to the Habs, they had to shut down to a covid outbreak and hence the reason they are down in games. I don't think they'll catch either Winnipeg or the Oilers, and the Oilers one of the current form teams in the whole league. After the Nucks covid outbreak I can't see them catching up to the Habs, I think the North is all but sorted out. 64 points is the current mark to reach the play-offs, but that will fall as the Flames are not going to win all the games they have left.
Leafs have gone all in at the trade deadline and it will be so funny if they fail once more.
Caps/Rangers had six fights in the first five minutes tonight, all because of that bitch boy Wilson.
100 points in 53 games for McDavid is just silly, especially when you consider that all the other big guns except Draisaitl haven't even crossed the 70 point mark.