2021-22 NHL Season Thread | Page 3 | Syracusefan.com

2021-22 NHL Season Thread

David Samson - that names triggers me!

David Samson talking about qualifications. LOL. David Samson whose only professional jobs in sports have been working under his step dad who was a horrible owner himself (i.e Jeffrey Loria)

His largest professional accomplishments have been his ability to grift on a large scale (spinning off Montreal Expos, getting a new stadium in Miami). Oddly nobody has hired him after his stepdad sold the team in 2017. Apparently grifting is not the key requirement that teams are looking for. They are concerned about a career filled with incompetence, lawsuits, and one lucky season.

(You can go on in my rant, but basically the above summarizes David Samson and taking anything he says seriously)

I have heard him on the radio recently talk about Montreal as well. On Toronto radio mind you - he would never be allowed on Montreal sports radio French or English. He is engaging and entertaining to an outsider so I can see why he is seen as he is believable while he tries to rationalize or cover up the incompetence and questionable behavior he has been involved in, in both Montreal and Florida.

The "French" issue was never a problem in baseball like it is in hockey, for coaches GM or players. There was no expectation for such people because they really did not exist. Nobody whined about that like the French media does for hockey. It's simply an excuse by Samson to cover up the incompetent moves that he pushed for in Montreal.

Regarding the Expos - the Expos situation was a near dumpster fire before he arrived (and dying), but there was some slim hope with the Stadium Project which the Loria regime dumped not right away, but quite early in their time here.

There is some debate as to whether Loria/Samson thought they could turn things around. They did spend some money early on and may have tried -- a horrible Hideki Irabu trade, a terribly overpaid signing of a situational lefty (Graeme Lloyd), poor player development decisions, and I believe they slashed the development system (but my memory is not 100% on this one aspect). Hideki won 2 games -- the prospects they traded for him won 235 games!

But they quickly turned on the media and talked down the market, turned on the Stadium project, killed media deals when things did not work. It was clear fairly early on, but not initially, it was all about finding a way they could spin out of the Montreal franchise, and they almost certainly tried to accelerate the death of the franchise in order to spin themselves into another market which they ultimately did in conjunction with MLB. I'm not saying the Expos would have survived without them. but they did everything they could to **** up the franchise earlier and make fans experience worst. There was basically no English TV or radio deals for a few years.

They went to Miami where early on they won a World Series. After that it was a series of fire sales, grifting for a new stadium, mediocre play and lawsuits until his stepdad (Loria sold the team).
Yeah a lot of what Samson says I roll my eyes at. He is incredibly self-serving, and if he were even half as good and astute as he claims he was while president of the Marlins, he would still have a job somewhere in baseball.

Ariel Helwani echoed a lot of what you wrote when he was on a segment of the Le Batard Show. A Montreal guy (and former ESPN writer that should still be covering UFC but Dana White is a child), I thought I was listening to a bit. Turned out it wasn’t a work. Helwani raked Samson for what he did while with the Expos, and sounds as though most if not all of Montreal can’t stand the guy. Can’t blame them, tbh.
 
This time they found a logical work-around. They hired a "Senior VP of Hockey Operations" that does not spreak French (in Jeff Gorton) that per Jeff Molson will work as a pair with the new GM. It is pretty obvious that he will be the senior member of the pair, and whether expressed by Molson or not will be in the power position. The GM (and assistant GM) they find will be less experienced. Yes some of the french media questioned what the new powers the GM will have but Molson addressed those fairly well.

I don't fully agree with the GM and coach needing to be bilingual , but after listening to Molson I understand. The Canadiens are a business -- any team, especially in any hockey craved market -- needs to have a Coach and GM that talks to the media frequently -- it is what it is. The ability to speak to those fans is inherently one of the abilities of the new coach/GM that has to be considered per Molson. Personally I would view at as a strong positive rather than a requirement.

Many people thought Marc Bergevin was a great hire -- he was hotly pursued by many organizations 10 years ago. Too bad he stank (and should have been fired 3 years ago), but whether Montreal hired him or not, he was getting hired very shortly. The problem they ran into that time was he may not have accepted to come in under a person like Jeff Gorton if it existed at the time. But that is really what he needed -- a second voice.

I will say the requirement for a French GM have caused much more issues than that for coaches. Retreads and more misses have happened there then coaching -- Serge Savard was a great GM, but after guys like Houle, Page, Gainey (who could speak French passably), Bergevin have all been very bad -- and all were probably allowed to last on longer then they should have. That being said Gainey + Bergeving seemed like good hires at the time.

Regarding the requirements for a French Coach, consider the coaches that Montreal has added since they have went all french, and compare them to the more questionable list the Leafs had over that time.

THis is the coaches they had between 1984-2006. I'm not sure if any team in the NHL had as much quality as this, although some like Vigneault and Julien were young at the time. Although it was not all with Montreal, 6 of the 8 coaches were Stanley Cup winning coaches, and the other Vigneault is considered one of the best in hockey (and then there is Mario Tremblay who is in a "class" of his own
Jacques Lemaire
Jean Perron
Pat Burns
Jacques Demers
Mario Tremblay (100% Disaster)
Alain Vigneault
Claude Julien
Michel Therrien

It's feel a little off track since then, with Carbonneau, Martin, Therrien, Julien, Ducharme.
- Carbonneau and Julien were deemed very good hires regardless of language.
- Martin was very questionable as the expiry date had past.
- Therrien was strange, but he did turn around the franchise for a few years, but imploded as usual.
= Ducharme was an interim hire. Not sure if the intention was to keep him from the beginning, but the Cup run saved him.

The GM's of the team have been a bigger limitation during the time.
Gorton is a great hire around the French gm thing. Imo.
 
Postseason begins tonight. Who do you have advancing?

Atlantic Division
Florida Panthers vs. Washington Capitals
Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Tampa Bay Lightning

Metropolitan Division
Carolina Hurricanes vs. Boston Bruins
New York Rangers vs. Pittsburgh Penguins

Central Division
Colorado Avalanche vs. Nashville Predators
Minnesota Wild vs. St. Louis Blues

Pacific Division
Calgary Flames vs. Dallas Stars
Edmonton Oilers vs. Los Angeles Kings

Interesting stories to watch. Panthers won the presidents trophy but haven’t won a playoff series since 1996. Wouldn’t surprise me if they win the whole thing or get bounced in the first round. The Lightning-Leafs series should be the best of round 1. Lightning going for their third straight cup and Leafs on a six year first round losing streak. East is definitely more stacked than the west but Avalanche look good and looking forward to a potential Flames-Oilers second round series. Expecting my Rangers to bounce the aging Penguins in round 1 but not sure they are good enough yet to make it past round 2.
 
Once basketball starts I very rarely watch regular season hockey but I have the Pens vs TB on and I was a little surprised to see Zach Bogosian back with TB. Good for him and hopefully he can stay healthy and contribute. Hard to believe he's been in the league like ten or so years now (EDIT-actually it's his 14th season and he is still only 31).
I think Ike is happy too. Cuse football is everywhere.

 
Time for the Rangers to kill off this version of the Penguins.
What a game to start the series. Hopefully the Rangers can shake off this loss and take game 2. Losing a game like that in triple ot has to sting mentally.
 
Everytime they show Koharski how can you think of anything but this from 34 years ago yesterday.

 
Everytime they show Koharski how can you think of anything but this from 34 years ago yesterday.

The stupid crap where they go to the former official after a penalty call just doesn’t work in this sport .. action is waaay to fast for these guys to get anything intelligent out of their fat mouths before 3 scoring chances or a goal occur
 
Postseason begins tonight. Who do you have advancing?

Atlantic Division
Florida Panthers vs. Washington Capitals
Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Tampa Bay Lightning

Metropolitan Division
Carolina Hurricanes vs. Boston Bruins
New York Rangers vs. Pittsburgh Penguins

Central Division
Colorado Avalanche vs. Nashville Predators
Minnesota Wild vs. St. Louis Blues

Pacific Division
Calgary Flames vs. Dallas Stars
Edmonton Oilers vs. Los Angeles Kings

Interesting stories to watch. Panthers won the presidents trophy but haven’t won a playoff series since 1996. Wouldn’t surprise me if they win the whole thing or get bounced in the first round. The Lightning-Leafs series should be the best of round 1. Lightning going for their third straight cup and Leafs on a six year first round losing streak. East is definitely more stacked than the west but Avalanche look good and looking forward to a potential Flames-Oilers second round series. Expecting my Rangers to bounce the aging Penguins in round 1 but not sure they are good enough yet to make it past round 2.
Just sit back , relax , and enjoy the stupidest playoff format in all the sporting world
 
Just sit back , relax , and enjoy the stupidest playoff format in all the sporting world
Yup. As a Blues fan I couldn't understand why they had to face the Wild in the first round while two teams with worse records were squaring off. No reward for regular season success.
 
Rangers getting embarrassed. Thought they would win this series but looking like an early exit. Disappointing for sure.
 
Rangers getting embarrassed. Thought they would win this series but looking like an early exit. Disappointing for sure.
Penguins have kinda always had our number in the playoffs, smh.
 
We're seeing one team that knows the difference between playoffs and regular season and the other one that's learning.
 
Toronto down early 2-0 to Tampa.

Leafs doing Leafs things, and Jack Campbell doing his best Patrick Lalime impression. (For those non-Sens / non Leaf fans from about 20 years ago, Lalime was an OK regular season goalie surrounded by great Sens talent, but he would also give up a bad goal or outplayed in crucial playoff games)
 
Toronto down early 2-0 to Tampa.

Leafs doing Leafs things, and Jack Campbell doing his best Patrick Lalime impression. (For those non-Sens / non Leaf fans from about 20 years ago, Lalime was an OK regular season goalie surrounded by great Sens talent, but he would also give up a bad goal or outplayed in crucial playoff games)
1652272643768.jpeg
 

In anticipation of a possible Toronto win in this series, I have to give credit where credit is due.

#1. Congratulations to the Leafs and Leafs nation potentially getting their first playoff series win since 2004. Something that the average team and fan has witnessed 9 times.

#2. Congratulations to the Leafs getting to 1-8 in its last 9 games where it had a chance to eliminate somebody. That's one hell of a win.

#3. Congratulations to the Leafs catching up to the mighty St. Peter's Peacocks in terms of elite 8 appearances since 2004.
 
Rangers still alive!
For about 35 minutes of game time they were lifeless. Glad they showed some heart not going out like that. Even if no Crosby still expect them to lose in Pittsburgh Friday night.
 
For about 35 minutes of game time they were lifeless. Glad they showed some heart not going out like that. Even if no Crosby still expect them to lose in Pittsburgh Friday night.
They could definitely lose tomorrow in Pittsburgh but at least they showed some toughness at home. Don’t ever let your opponent celebrate on your home ice.
 
Played this last night around 11:00 after Tampa scored in OT against the Leaves.
(this is the stupid and annoying Leafs goal song for about 5 years now)

Go Lightning!

 
If Florida wins tonight, Toronto will be the team in the NHL that has went the longest without winning a playoff series... that streak may then end in one night.
 
The ranger goalie who I'm not even going to attempt to spell is having a rough series. Not ready for primetime.
 

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