2023-24 NHL Season Thread

[Cusefan95]

We're far enough into the season for some early impressions:
Pittsburgh and Buffalo are off to terrible starts, they need to turn things around fast.
Montreal and Vancouver are off to surprisingly good starts, will be interesting to see if they outperform expectations.
Calgary is a tire fire. Didn't expect that.
My Devils have a lot of issues on defense, but I think they'll get things figured out. In spite of not playing very well, they still have a good record - when they get the defense sorted out they should be a monster team.

 

[STEVEHOLT]

Annoying bruins 8-0-1 for no reason.

 

[kirbivore]

Rangers first undefeated/untied road trip of at least 5 games in team history.

 

[sutomcat]

Rangers first undefeated/untied road trip of at least 5 games in team history.

They are looking good. Great power play so far.

 

[Cusefan95]

I take my 7 year old son and 9 year old daughter to Hershey Bears and New Jersey Devils games. Hunter Shepard was their favorite Bears player last year, and he got his first NHL start with the Capitals a couple weeks ago against the Devils and won - then got sent back down to the Bears.

I was explaining that to my daughter at the next Bears game we were at, which Shepard started as the goaltender. She wasn't sure how to feel about the fact he beat the Devils, so I said "we can be unhappy he beat the Devils, but happy for Shepard because he got his first NHL win". Watching her process that, I could almost see the gears turning in her brain and realized I'd taught her a life lesson.

I'm not entirely sure what life lesson I taught her...I hope it was a valuable one.

 

[jncuse]

Some coaches and announcers are dumb.

Anaheim resting Gibson tonight in Goal (the starter) and the backup gives up his sixth goal midway in the game making it 6-2.

Coach takes him out and announcer agrees with it. Really? Your down by 4 goals you idiots -- what is the point of bringing in the starter at this point.

If you really wanted to make that move you do it after the 3rd or 4th goal. After #6, the game is over.
Just suck it up and accept the L and don't make it worse by not being able to rest your starting goalie.

 

[STEVEHOLT]

Some coaches and announcers are dumb.

Anaheim resting Gibson tonight in Goal (the starter) and the backup gives up his sixth goal midway in the game making it 6-2.

Coach takes him out and announcer agrees with it. Really? Your down by 4 goals you idiots -- what is the point of bringing in the starter at this point.

If you really wanted to make that move you do it after the 3rd or 4th goal. After #6, the game is over.
Just suck it up and accept the L and don't make it worse by not being able to rest your starting goalie.

My life is complete... we got DUCKS posts!! lets go hockey board!!

 

[Cusefan95]

The NHL really needs to get past the mentality they don't suspend players if no injury occurs. The high stick to the head by Trouba against Frederic resulting in only a $5K fine could set a bad precedent. I like the direction the NHL has gone over the last two decades with skill being emphasized and fights occurring less and less frequently - I can't remember the last game I went to where there was a legitimate fight - but that depends on the NHL levelling out significant enough penalties for fouls that players feel the league is enough of a deterrent.

The risk the league is taking by not taking things like Trouba's high stick seriously enough is that some team is going to feel the penalty didn't fit the crime and will take matters into their own hands. The last time that happened in a significant way was the 2/11/11 game between the Islanders and Penguins, when the Isles had numerous goons on the ice that day taking cheap shots at the Penguins. I'm not sure what that would look like in a league where goons have largely been phased out -but if the Department of Player Safety doesn't get its act together, we're likely to find out.

 

[STEVEHOLT]

The NHL really needs to get past the mentality they don't suspend players if no injury occurs. The high stick to the head by Trouba against Frederic resulting in only a $5K fine could set a bad precedent. I like the direction the NHL has gone over the last two decades with skill being emphasized and fights occurring less and less frequently - I can't remember the last game I went to where there was a legitimate fight - but that depends on the NHL levelling out significant enough penalties for fouls that players feel the league is enough of a deterrent.

The risk the league is taking by not taking things like Trouba's high stick seriously enough is that some team is going to feel the penalty didn't fit the crime and will take matters into their own hands. The last time that happened in a significant way was the 2/11/11 game between the Islanders and Penguins, when the Isles had numerous goons on the ice that day taking cheap shots at the Penguins. I'm not sure what that would look like in a league where goons have largely been phased out -but if the Department of Player Safety doesn't get its act together, we're likely to find out.

I have always had an issue with tailoring punishment to the degree of injury. The act is the act.

 

[jncuse]

The NHL really needs to get past the mentality they don't suspend players if no injury occurs. The high stick to the head by Trouba against Frederic resulting in only a $5K fine could set a bad precedent. I like the direction the NHL has gone over the last two decades with skill being emphasized and fights occurring less and less frequently - I can't remember the last game I went to where there was a legitimate fight - but that depends on the NHL levelling out significant enough penalties for fouls that players feel the league is enough of a deterrent.

The risk the league is taking by not taking things like Trouba's high stick seriously enough is that some team is going to feel the penalty didn't fit the crime and will take matters into their own hands. The last time that happened in a significant way was the 2/11/11 game between the Islanders and Penguins, when the Isles had numerous goons on the ice that day taking cheap shots at the Penguins. I'm not sure what that would look like in a league where goons have largely been phased out -but if the Department of Player Safety doesn't get its act together, we're likely to find out.

Trouba is a hard one though.

One angle looks like he tried to kill the guy and deserved 25+ games and its ridiculous that he didn't get penalized.

The other angle where you see them battling, you see Frederic holding his stick in a battle, Trouba yanking it away off balance, and the aftermath is arguably the basic physics of the post tangle up.

It's a tough call - I would not want to be the NHL on this one. Because there is a decent possibility of both scenarios.

That being said if you are going to argue that it was just the physics, come out and say it and don't penalize him at all. Or if you are going to penalize him, make it more than $5,000. The $5,000 fine is the worst penalty optically.

 

[Cusefan95]

Trouba is a hard one though.

One angle looks like he tried to kill the guy and deserved 25+ games and its ridiculous that he didn't get penalized.

The other angle where you see them battling, you see Frederic holding his stick in a battle, Trouba yanking it away off balance, and the aftermath is arguably the basic physics of the post tangle up.

It's a tough call - I would not want to be the NHL on this one. Because there is a decent possibility of both scenarios.

That being said if you are going to argue that it was just the physics, come out and say it and don't penalize him at all. Or if you are going to penalize him, make it more than $5,000. The $5,000 fine is the worst penalty optically.

Being a cynical Gen X'er, I've wondered if there's a political element here. The $5K fine is the max allowed in the agreement with the NHLPA - I've wondered if the league is using that fine to bring bad publicity and potentially force the hand of the NHLPA to allow larger fines. I think the NHLPA position is the league can suspend players, and if they think a bigger fine is warranted then a suspension is ALSO warranted. If I'm right, this is a game of chicken which ultimately nobody is going to win.

And as a Devils fan, my extremely biased opinion of Trouba is he's a cheap shot artist who takes runs at players all the time. And I refuse to let anything like "facts" get in the way of maintaining that opinion.

 

[Cusefan95]

The Corey Perry/Blackhawks situation is …interesting. There’s very few things which aren’t criminal which could lead to termination of a contract as fast as this happened. No idea what happened, but the team really hasn’t done anything to quiet the rumors.

 

[samspann1]

The Corey Perry/Blackhawks situation is …interesting. There’s very few things which aren’t criminal which could lead to termination of a contract as fast as this happened. No idea what happened, but the team really hasn’t done anything to quiet the rumors.

The GM did specifically comment that the conduct in question did not involve either other players or their families

 

[kirbivore]

The GM did specifically comment that the conduct in question did not involve either other players or their families

• Alan Garner: [looks at his manual] It says here we should work in teams. Who wants to be my spotter?
• Doug Billings: I don't think you should be doing too much gambling tonight, Alan.
• Alan Garner: Gambling? Who said anything about gambling? It's not gambling when you know you're gonna win. Counting cards is a foolproof system.
• Stu Price: It's also illegal.
• Alan Garner: It's not illegal. It's frowned upon, like masturbating on an airplane.
• Phil Wenneck: I'm pretty sure that's illegal too.
• Alan Garner: Yeah, maybe after 9/11, where everybody got so sensitive. Thanks a lot, bin Laden.

 

[Cusefan95]

The Devils, Sabres, Wild, and Oilers have to be the most disappointing teams in the NHL so far. Oilers are probable the biggest disappointment of those four. Vancouver is the biggest surprise.

I'd expected the Rangers would drop off a bit from last season, but that didn't happen - they are scary good.

I am worried about how the Devils are going to do from here - a team which struggles with defense and goaltending losing Hamilton (likely for the year) is not ideal. This might end up being a year where everything goes wrong after everything went right last year...at this point I'm feeling like finding a way to limp into the playoffs as WC2, it would be a huge success.

 

[jncuse]

The Devils, Sabres, Wild, and Oilers have to be the most disappointing teams in the NHL so far. Oilers are probable the biggest disappointment of those four. Vancouver is the biggest surprise.

I'd expected the Rangers would drop off a bit from last season, but that didn't happen - they are scary good.

I am worried about how the Devils are going to do from here - a team which struggles with defense and goaltending losing Hamilton (likely for the year) is not ideal. This might end up being a year where everything goes wrong after everything went right last year...at this point I'm feeling like finding a way to limp into the playoffs as WC2, it would be a huge success.

Perhaps the Devils take the path of the Florida Panthers. Another team that took a huge leap forward a few years back.

The Panthers had a great year during 2021/2022, had to fight like hell during March just to get into the 22/23 playoffs, then made the SC finals once they made it.

 

[Cusefan95]

I took my kids to a Florida Panthers game over the weekend. I've long felt that was one of the most underrated and best places to go to a game in the NHL - as recently as last February I got game tickets for like $12. It is not that great a deal on tickets anymore.

But still love parking for free at Sawgrass Mall, getting dinner there and walking over to the game. Panthers played great against Montreal, felt like they had the puck 75% of the time and took a ton of high quality shots. Florida really came together at the end of last season and they are a solid Cup contender again. My son was 100% invested in the game - I'd gotten my kids Panthers jerseys as part of this trip - so with his jersey on and him living and dying with every play on the ice, the fans around us assumed we were huge Panthers fans. Which may be true, since after the game my son told me he thinks the Panthers are his new favorite team since "they're better than the Devils". My daughter was just excited to tell kids at school she went to a Panthers game because "all the boys will be jealous".

After watching both in person now, Panthers are definitely better that Boston - I expect them to meet in the playoffs again and Boston will need out of this world goaltending to win that series. Anything less than that, Panthers will be in the Eastern Conference finals again. And as much as I hate the Rangers, a Rangers-Panthers conference finals would get a huge amount of media coverage and would be entertaining, exciting hockey (if it happens).

 

[upperdeck]

it's always weird to me going to hockey in shorts and 80 out.

Sat thru enough games in cold rinks up here, it is nice to be comfortable, but still feels wrong.

having gone to hundreds of hockey games college is still the most fun. Pros have the great stadiums now. The old Gardens were great in how quirky they were.

Been to a few Panthers games. Its better now that many people actually know the sport down there.

 

[Cusefan95]

it's always weird to me going to hockey in shorts and 80 out.

Sat thru enough games in cold rinks up here, it is nice to be comfortable, but still feels wrong.

having gone to hundreds of hockey games college is still the most fun. Pros have the great stadiums now. The old Gardens were great in how quirky they were.

Been to a few Panthers games. Its better now that many people actually know the sport down there.

I took my kids to the RPI-Union Mayor’s Cup games when we lived near Albany. I agree that college hockey is fantastic. Always wanted to hit Boston for the Beanpot, but haven’t made it yet.

What was kinda hilarious to me Saturday was getting approached by Montreal fans asking for directions/suggestions/general advice. While I’m not a Panthers fan and don’t live in Florida, I have dozens of hockey jerseys and wore an old Florida one with the panther breaking a hockey stick. A guy with two little kids all wearing Panthers jerseys was apparently safe to approach. I even tried to answer in French if they asked if I spoke it - since they all immediately switched to English I assume my French is much rustier than I thought.

I’m thrilled Florida made a run to the finals last year, and south Florida finally seems to have gotten invested in hockey. The arena is not in an ideal location, which led to poor crowds and lots of cries from Canadians that hockey in south Florida doesn’t work - the attendance this year should put that sentiment to rest.

 

[Cusefan95]

I watched Flyers-Flames Saturday. I’ve been waiting for the Flyers to go on an extended drought and fall out of playoff position, but I’m doubting that’s going to happen. They played against the Flames with near playoff intensity - going hard after every puck in the corner, diving to block shots…just aggressive, hard play. Flyers are looking like what I expected the Sabres to be this year - I don’t think they have the talent for a deep playoff run, but they look like a legit playoff team right now.

 

[Cowtown]

I watched the Vancouver Canucks take care of the Rangers last night. They have been steadily improving over the past couple years. Demko has certainly arrived. They're loaded with talent and Tocchet has them playing well together, all 4 lines. If they stay injury free, watch out Jets and Oilers.

 

[kirbivore]

I watched the Vancouver Canucks take care of the Rangers last night. They have been steadily improving over the past couple years. Demko has certainly arrived. They're loaded with talent and Tocchet has them playing well together, all 4 lines. If they stay injury free, watch out Jets and Oilers.

I took the Jets to win the cup last week for $50 at 30-1. If they can win a couple rounds I’ll have some juicy hedge opportunities.

 

[Cowtown]

I took the Jets to win the cup last week for $50 at 30-1. If they can win a couple rounds I’ll have some juicy hedge opportunities.

The Jets are tough, especially when Hellebuyck is on. Sure will be good to get Connor back, too. Bowness said he's on schedule, in week 4 of 6-8. Apparently Scheiffele went down tonight with a shot to the helmet and immediately left the ice, but he was back on the ice after the end and looked fine. Phew!

 

[Cusefan95]

Well…I’m kinda expecting the Devils season to fully go off the rails now. I wasn’t super thrilled when they gave McLeod a year contract last offseason, although I’d hoped that meant they had reason to feel things were going to work out.

Hopefully justice is ultimately served.

 

[STEVEHOLT]

Well…I’m kinda expecting the Devils season to fully go off the rails now. I wasn’t super thrilled when they gave McLeod a year contract last offseason, although I’d hoped that meant they had reason to feel things were going to work out.

Hopefully justice is ultimately served.

wonder how frank the tank is holding up.