NHL 2023/2024

massi83

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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.
It is, but it would be around 20 points less in any other division. Edmonton wouldn't make the playoffs from East.
 

Zlaatan

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It is, but it would be around 20 points less in any other division. Edmonton wouldn't make the playoffs from East.
I agree that Edmonton wouldn't qualify from the East but that's simply because they're not very good and the East is packed with quality teams. So while McDavid does play in a poor division he also plays in a pretty shit team, albeit not as shit as Canucks&co.

When it comes to scoring points it's hard to say though (and since I'm very bored I've looked at the numbers :)), Draisaitl won the Art Ross pretty convincingly last season and his PPG is pretty much equal this season (down 0.06). Actually most players in both the Oilers and the Leafs have about the same PPG this season compared to last with the biggest improvements apart from McDavid (1.52 to 1.89) are Matthews (1.14 to 1.3) and Marner (1.14 to 1.24) while guys like Nugent-Hopkins, Tavares and Nylander have gone down, so it's not like everyone is getting easy points due to playing poor teams.

Another comparison would be MacKinnon who is up 0.03 PPG playing for a much better team in a division that's not that much better than the North.

Anyway, he might not have gotten to 100 playing for the Oilers in the East but I doubt any other player would be anywhere near 100 points if they took his place on the Oilers in the North either. Offensively he's a level above the rest imo.
 

massi83

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I agree that Edmonton wouldn't qualify from the East but that's simply because they're not very good and the East is packed with quality teams. So while McDavid does play in a poor division he also plays in a pretty shit team, albeit not as shit as Canucks&co.

When it comes to scoring points it's hard to say though (and since I'm very bored I've looked at the numbers :)), Draisaitl won the Art Ross pretty convincingly last season and his PPG is pretty much equal this season (down 0.06). Actually most players in both the Oilers and the Leafs have about the same PPG this season compared to last with the biggest improvements apart from McDavid (1.52 to 1.89) are Matthews (1.14 to 1.3) and Marner (1.14 to 1.24) while guys like Nugent-Hopkins, Tavares and Nylander have gone down, so it's not like everyone is getting easy points due to playing poor teams.

Another comparison would be MacKinnon who is up 0.03 PPG playing for a much better team in a division that's not that much better than the North.

Anyway, he might not have gotten to 100 playing for the Oilers in the East but I doubt any other player would be anywhere near 100 points if they took his place on the Oilers in the North either. Offensively he's a level above the rest imo.
Yeah, no arguments. I would probably put Panarin at second place, as he doesn't have good linemates, like the others. My favourite stat for the season is that Marchand has played over 80 mins shorthanded, and Boston has scored 7 and allowed 7 goals during that time.
 

Zlaatan

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Yeah, no arguments. I would probably put Panarin at second place, as he doesn't have good linemates, like the others. My favourite stat for the season is that Marchand has played over 80 mins shorthanded, and Boston has scored 7 and allowed 7 goals during that time.
Panarin is a good shout, he's been on fire for the Rangers.

Marchand is an incredible player as well, unfortunately for him he's the most unlikable athlete on the planet. And it's not a case of "everyone would love to have someone like him on their team" either, he's just a massive cnut.
 

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I thought between BT and Premier Sports we could watch all live play off games. Neither of today’s games are on UK Tv.
 

Zlaatan

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Hell of a game 1 between Florida and Tampa, it was on fire from the word go right up til the end.

The Panthers commentators were some of the most biased I've ever heard though, it was like they mic'd up two fans in the stands.
 

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Have to love the play offs, games have been so good.
The Avs look strong favourites this year, they have such a stacked team.
 

Sir Matt

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Renewed my partial season tickets for the Canes on Saturday just before playoff tickets went on sale so I could get the whole strip.

The first game against the Preds was my first "normal" event since the Canes-Avs played last February. It was so good to be back at a hockey game. It helps that the Canes are really good this year. Hoping for a Canes-Avs final.
 

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Damn that Tavares Perry collision looked really nasty. Hope the man is alright. You never want to see accidents like that on the ice. It gave me horrible.flashbacks to the Pacioretty incident.

It seemed a bit bush league to force Perry into a fight right after. I know he can be a dirty player but this one time actually was completely accidental. He obliged, but I don't think he attempted to fight back even a little bit.
 

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Damn that Tavares Perry collision looked really nasty. Hope the man is alright. You never want to see accidents like that on the ice. It gave me horrible.flashbacks to the Pacioretty incident.

It seemed a bit bush league to force Perry into a fight right after. I know he can be a dirty player but this one time actually was completely accidental. He obliged, but I don't think he attempted to fight back even a little bit.
Yeah, that's silly. It's not like Perry could've gone anywhere to avoid that collision, or acted cocky about it afterwards.

I see Tavares was 'conscious and communicating well' in the hospital last evening, but I'm not seeing an update from this morning yet.
 

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What would Gretzky and Mario get today?
Hard to say since there's so many variables when you compare the different eras, not least the goaltending, but it wouldn't exactly be controversial to say that they would both be north of 100 points considering they are the two best ever when it comes to scoring points.

I read that the last time someone did something similar to McDavid was back in 95-96 when Jagr got 100 points in 52 games. That same season Lemieux got to 100 points in 38 games, and that was after missing the entire previous season due to health problems. Gretzky has reached 100 even faster than that (twice I believe).

Even if you era-adjust McDavid's numbers this season he still doesn't get that close to those two, although there's obviously problems with that comparison as well.
 

Zlaatan

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Damn that Tavares Perry collision looked really nasty. Hope the man is alright. You never want to see accidents like that on the ice. It gave me horrible.flashbacks to the Pacioretty incident.

It seemed a bit bush league to force Perry into a fight right after. I know he can be a dirty player but this one time actually was completely accidental. He obliged, but I don't think he attempted to fight back even a little bit.
I watched a replay of it but stopped it right after I saw he was completely out of it.. hopefully he'll be ok asap.
Apparently Foligno went up to Perry afterwards and basically said "we have to this so we might as well get it over with right away", which makes the fight even more stupid imo. They knew it was an accident but that unwritten rule is apparently so important that they had to put on a show and pretend to be angry at him.
 

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Yeah, that's silly. It's not like Perry could've gone anywhere to avoid that collision, or acted cocky about it afterwards.

I see Tavares was 'conscious and communicating well' in the hospital last evening, but I'm not seeing an update from this morning yet.
Yeah thankfully reports today say that he's back at home resting under medical supervision. He's also out of the game indefinitely, which comes as no surprise when you see the scary condition he was in on the ice.

I watched a replay of it but stopped it right after I saw he was completely out of it.. hopefully he'll be ok asap.
Apparently Foligno went up to Perry afterwards and basically said "we have to this so we might as well get it over with right away", which makes the fight even more stupid imo. They knew it was an accident but that unwritten rule is apparently so important that they had to put on a show and pretend to be angry at him.
Yeah it was pretty dumb. Perry said afterwards that Foligno told him he knew it was an accident but that the fight had to be done. You could tell he was barely even defending himself, let alone fighting back.

I'm a newcomer to hockey in a way. I've only been watching it for about 8-9 years, so I haven't wanted to be too vocal about this aspect of hockey [I've had some push back on this on twitter, and told I don't understand hockey culture], I enjoy a heated grudge match as much as the next person, but I have always found the fighting a bit stupid and pointless, especially when they drop gloves and the whole game stops.
 

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Yeah it was pretty dumb. Perry said afterwards that Foligno told him he knew it was an accident but that the fight had to be done. You could tell he was barely even defending himself, let alone fighting back.

I'm a newcomer to hockey in a way. I've only been watching it for about 8-9 years, so I haven't wanted to be too vocal about this aspect of hockey [I've had some push back on this on twitter, and told I don't understand hockey culture], I enjoy a heated grudge match as much as the next person, but I have always found the fighting a bit stupid and pointless, especially when they drop gloves and the whole game stops.
Same for me. I've been following hockey (and just a little) since coming to Canada 9 years ago, but the fighting doesn't do anything to me. I know some traditionalists like it, but it's ridiculous. It's got nothing to do with the rest of the sport, and those unwritten rules (including how the referees basically coming boxing referees during fights) generally make no sense, and definitely indicate that 'reacting in the heat of the moment' (as is the case with soccer fights) often has nothing to do with it. It's macho crap that just distracts from what's otherwise a very quick and technical sport.

I mean, as you say, just look at this fight: after a 10 minutes pause due to Tavares's injury, they're finally going to play again - and from out of nowhere in a rather subdued atmosphere where everyone knows that no-one was at fault for what happened, suddenly a Truly Manly FIght breaks out. I can't imagine anyone was actually waiting for that.
 

JPRouve

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Same for me. I've been following hockey (and just a little) since coming to Canada 9 years ago, but the fighting doesn't do anything to me. I know some traditionalists like it, but it's ridiculous. It's got nothing to do with the rest of the sport, and those unwritten rules (including how the referees basically coming boxing referees during fights) generally make no sense, and definitely indicate that 'reacting in the heat of the moment' (as is the case with soccer fights) often has nothing to do with it. It's macho crap that just distracts from what's otherwise a very quick and technical sport.

I mean, as you say, just look at this fight: after a 10 minutes pause due to Tavares's injury, they're finally going to play again - and from out of nowhere in a rather subdued atmosphere where everyone knows that no-one was at fault for what happened, suddenly a Truly Manly FIght breaks out. I can't imagine anyone was actually waiting for that.
The context of fight is also linked to the fact that Hockey is a physical sport where some boundaries can be legitimately crossed if you are reckless. Fights are or used to be a deterrent against these type of skaters, it kept them in check but today the game is different, it's not as violent as it used to be and lean on the technical/finesse side of things. Now Tom Wilson being sparked out from time to time isn't a bad thing, the lad is a grade A cnut.
 

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The context of fight is also linked to the fact that Hockey is a physical sport where some boundaries can be legitimately crossed if you are reckless. Fights are or used to be a deterrent against these type of skaters, it kept them in check but today the game is different, it's not as violent as it used to be and lean on the technical/finesse side of things. Now Tom Wilson being sparked out from time to time isn't a bad thing, the lad is a grade A cnut.
Oh, yeah, I'm not denying it has a reasonable background. I mean, go back a little while and were receiving those crazy body checks and everything without even wearing helmets, and some older players still aren't wearing visors (they were grandfathered in when visor became obligatory in 2013). But as you say, the sport and society have moved on since then.
 

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Same for me. I've been following hockey (and just a little) since coming to Canada 9 years ago, but the fighting doesn't do anything to me. I know some traditionalists like it, but it's ridiculous. It's got nothing to do with the rest of the sport, and those unwritten rules (including how the referees basically coming boxing referees during fights) generally make no sense, and definitely indicate that 'reacting in the heat of the moment' (as is the case with soccer fights) often has nothing to do with it. It's macho crap that just distracts from what's otherwise a very quick and technical sport.

I mean, as you say, just look at this fight: after a 10 minutes pause due to Tavares's injury, they're finally going to play again - and from out of nowhere in a rather subdued atmosphere where everyone knows that no-one was at fault for what happened, suddenly a Truly Manly FIght breaks out. I can't imagine anyone was actually waiting for that.
Yeah it's been explained to me many times before, and I understand that sometimes shit just has to happen to 'address' a situation rather than letting it fester and have multiple players take shots at someone throughout the game. So rather than having Perry be targeted for the rest of the game for example, it's addressed there and then and the game moves on. OK, I can somewhat accept that thinking, and it's almost gentlemanly in a perverse kind of way, but it will still not seem anything more than bush league to me when I see it happen, and it's quite bizarre that teams in 2021 still have to employ at least one of these bruisers/goons just to counter these specific scenarios..
 
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JPRouve

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Yeah it's been explained to me many times before, and I understand that sometimes shit just has to happen to 'address' a situation rather than letting it fester and have multiple players take shots at someone throughout the game. So rather than having Perry be targeted for the rest of the game for example, it's addressed there and then and the game moves on. OK, I can somewhat accept that thinking, and it's almost gentlemanly in a perverse kind of way, but it will still seem anything more than bush league to me when I see it happen, and it's quite bizarre that teams in 2021 still have to employ at least one of these bruisers/goons just to counter these specific scenarios..
The thing about this particular incident is that Perry shouldn't even have been targetted, he didn't KOed on purpose Chiarot pushed Tavares who fell on Perry's path. The reason behind the fight is one of the dumbest possible, it's basically because Tavares is their captain and they felt the need to act tough.
 
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WeePat

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The thing about this particular incident is that Perry shouldn't even have been targetted, he didn't KOed on puporse Chiarot pushed Tavares who fell on Perry's path. The reason behind the fight is one of the dumbest possible, it's basically because Tavares is their captain and they felt the need to act tough.
I agree with you, that's why it was especially nonsensical last night and it sounds dumber and dumber the more Foligno and the Leafs try to explain it to us.
 

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Yeah it's been explained to me many times before, and I understand that sometimes shit just has to happen to 'address' a situation rather than letting it fester and have multiple players take shots at someone throughout the game. So rather than having Perry be targeted for the rest of the game for example, it's addressed there and then and the game moves on. OK, I can somewhat accept that thinking, and it's almost gentlemanly in a perverse kind of way, but it will still seem anything more than bush league to me when I see it happen, and it's quite bizarre that teams in 2021 still have to employ at least one of these bruisers/goons just to counter these specific scenarios..
I've never liked it either but there is some weird logic to fighting when it comes to getting even after a bad hit and I guess it's so ingrained into the fabric of the league that it's always going to be a part of the game there. The problems are that hockey works just fine without it as proven by pretty much every other league around the world, and that retaliation isn't the only reason why players fight. Sometimes the coach just wants to "send a message" or the captain wants to "wake his team up" or whatever lame reason they have for it and that's the part I'll never understand.

Like @Cheimoon said, it has nothing to do with the actual sport they're playing whatsoever. It's a bit like if Ole sent on Matic to play rock-paper-scissor with Kante in an effort to get a reaction from our players and the ref blew the play dead so that everyone could gather round to watch them. Then afterwards the crowd would go crazy despite no one really knowing the outcome of the rock-paper-scissor and play would just go on as usual like nothing ever happened.
 

204Red

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How about the Winnipeg Jets? Epic 3rd period comeback vs the Oiler to put Connor McDavid on the brink of elimination (the look on his face post game was heartbreaking)

Hats off to Nicolaj Ehlers who returned after missing 11 games to score twice including roofing the winner in OT.

Would have been a great game to have been at

F*cking COVID
 

Cheimoon

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Yeah, didn't Edmonton go into those games as the favorite?
 

Sir Matt

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How about the Winnipeg Jets? Epic 3rd period comeback vs the Oiler to put Connor McDavid on the brink of elimination (the look on his face post game was heartbreaking)

Hats off to Nicolaj Ehlers who returned after missing 11 games to score twice including roofing the winner in OT.

Would have been a great game to have been at

F*cking COVID
In the last two playoff series he's played in, McDavid has drawn 0 penalties. That is outrageous. NHL officiating is a dumpster fire. As, I think, four coaches have pointed out so far?

There's a good article in the Athletic about that series and the refusal of referees to call a thing when it came to McDavid.
 

204Red

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In the last two playoff series he's played in, McDavid has drawn 0 penalties. That is outrageous. NHL officiating is a dumpster fire. As, I think, four coaches have pointed out so far?

There's a good article in the Athletic about that series and the refusal of referees to call a thing when it came to McDavid.
In fairness there were not that many plays on McDavid where calls should have been made. The Jets allowed him the room to dance around the outside, and rarely game him the space to get inside. As good as mcdavid is (and he's probably the best player since Gretzky / Lemieux) he has no supporting cast in Edmonton and was asked to do it all by himself time and time again (and yes, I know he has Draisaitl along side him - but that its it). For the record McDavid gave the puck away on the tying goal in Game 3 (they then lost in OT) and gave it away again on the winning goal in 3xOT costing them the series. Check out the ice times for McDavid, Draisaitl and Nurse in Game 4... they were on the ice for 65 -75% of the overtime... and they were playing on fumes. Clearly asked to do too much against a team with a balanced and dangerous attack. You can't win at hockey with 3 players.
 

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Bruh the Habs won back to back games to force a game 7 and are now less than 10 minutes away from knocking out the fecking Leafs.

I'm on the edge of my seat.
 

Cheimoon

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Ah ben câlice! How about that! :)
 
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Cheimoon

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1-0:

2-0:
 

WeePat

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Ha! Nice pun there. :)

Been looking for the 3-0 and 3-1 but can't find them...
Yeah neither Habs or the NHL account have posted them. They're weren't important to the story of the game anyway, empty netter and a garbage time Leafs goal.

What a comeback.

The Leafs are basically a team with quality of a mixture between Chelsea and United but with the bottle of Tottenham.
 
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Cheimoon

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Leafs are the most over-rated team in American sports.
Who rates them apart from their fans and historians though? For that matter, I read this little anecdote the other day (source):
Au début des années 2000, alors que j’étais affecté à la couverture de la F1, je rentrais d’Europe à bord d’un vol qui s’arrêtait à Toronto. Immédiatement après l’atterrissage, le pilote, dont l’accent était résolument québécois, avait ainsi salué les passagers : Mesdames et messieurs, bienvenue dans la ville des champions de la Coupe Stanley de 1967!

Spontanément, la plupart des gens avaient éclaté de rire. Et pour cause! Cette blague était empreinte d’une cruelle vérité : depuis de nombreuses décennies, l’histoire des Leafs n’a été qu’une interminable suite de déceptions que les partisans et les joueurs, nouveaux et anciens, se font inévitablement rappeler chaque nouvelle saison.
In short: in the early 2000s, the journalist was on a plane heading for Toronto. After the landing, the pilot (from the accent probably a Quebecer) said 'Welcome in the city of the 1967 Stanley Cup champions!' Immediately, lots of people started laughing, understanding the joke that the Leafs had been disappointing its fans for decades.
 

massi83

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Who rates them apart from their fans and historians though? For that matter, I read this little anecdote the other day (source):

In short: in the early 2000s, the journalist was on a plane heading for Toronto. After the landing, the pilot (from the accent probably a Quebecer) said 'Welcome in the city of the 1967 Stanley Cup champions!' Immediately, lots of people started laughing, understanding the joke that the Leafs had been disappointing its fans for decades.
Mainly those, and they are quite noisy. Also other parts of media. Even the bookies had them as 3rd favourites going into playoffs, albeit mainly for playing in by far the weakest division.