I did notice that 71 (Celebrini), 72 (Elkund) and 75 (Reaves) were all out on the ice at the same point when they were playing the Stars last night. It struck me as unusual.
During the Flyers/Sabres game last night, fans were treated to the following exchange during the radio broadcast:
Flyers radio announcer Tim Saunders: “…Now they are going to take the TV timeout, we’ll take it as well. Seven gone in the third, it’s 3–2 Buffalo at the Philadelphia Flyers broadcast network.”
[brief pause]
Saunders: “While you’re down there, would you mind blowing me?”
Todd Fedoruk: “I think we’re still on the air, Tim.”
Saunders: “Hah hah hah! No, we’re not, are we?”
As a matter of fact, they were. Saunders has been suspended for 2 games.
The firings in the league in the last few days have been really eye opening.
Vegas firing their coach at this point was a surprise. Granted their desire to ‘win now’ at all costs has been known, it makes me wonder how much of a bump a new coach can give them at this point of the season.
The Leafs show their institutional disfunction by getting rid of Treliving with 7 games left. Seriously, he could have been gone at New Years and a new GM could have been in place for the trade deadline. I don’t know who would want this job at this point. All indications point at people above the GM meddling and preventing smart things from being done. There are next to no draft picks for the next few years. Poor management stuck a top heavy team in the limbo of first round losses for a decade.
Yeah, I can’t say there’s much logic in Vegas’ timing, there. The current coach got you to a playoff spot. Tortorella seems to have been brought in to whip them together for a deep playoff run, and only contracted to the end of the year. Weird way to approach the close of the regular season.
Same thing with the Leafs, but its even more doubtful the GM change will make much difference. But who knows, maybe someone else in that office will amount to them making some savvy trades.
Crazy collapses this season. The Panthers are just about mathematically eliminated from the playoffs a year after winning the cup. Things look pretty dark for Winnipeg as well after winning the President’s Trophy last year.
The Duck’s Pacific Division leading 87 points wouldn’t even get them a wild card spot in the Eastern Conference. On top of that, the difference in the east between being in the division lead and fighting for a wild card slot is only about ten points. It’s a weird season, I think.
The Leafs have suffered from poor management ever since the era of Harold Ballard. Yes, the Leafs won the Stanley Cup under Ballard’s ownership, but at a time when there was a grand total of 5 other teams five – competing against them. Now there are a total of 32 teams in the NHL and the Leafs are still mismanaged and now hopeless.
And wow, the Islanders ditch Roy and replace him with DeBoer. I liked DeBoer as the Stars’ coach and I’m glad he found another job. Still seems like a weird time to decide to switch coaches.
Well, that didn’t work. Hopefully, he’ll be able to get them together for next year, but replacing the coach with just a few games left is so weird.
I guess they didn’t want to miss out on DeBoer?
That’s basically what I’m hearing. That, and Roy’s system was supposedly leaving Sorokin vulnerable (not sure about that, myself, but that’s what I heard).
Connor Bedard is a restricted free agent as of now. The Hawks can match any offer but, if they wish, could offer him a big deal of their own. I’m wondering if he even wants to stay with a team that has become a perennial failure. His status gives him no choice but, if he threatened to sit out a season, the Hawks might be forced to trade him. I don’t see him as the type that would do that, though.
I can’t imagine he would really waste a year of a limited career.
He can join Schaefer on the Isles, a one-two punch of generational talents!
Am I the only one who is fine with the current playoff format? There’s never going to be a perfect way to do this for the Western Conference which spans 3 time zones.
Oh yeah, I am fine with the playoff format and the conferences and divisions as they are. Anything beats the looniness that had Dallas in the Pacific Division.
I don’t love the fact that the 20th best team in the league is getting into the playoffs while the 12th best team is missing, but there’s no perfect system and this year is unusually unbalanced. It’ll never happen, but I’d rather see the end of the loser point or a move to a 3 point system over a playoff change.
Another year, another Dallas Stars playoff choke.
But I’m hoping the Sabres can go all the way.
Hehehe, I really have a hard time seeing anyone who doesn’t get swept in the playoffs as a choke. It is a competition between the best teams in the NHL, after all.
But yeah, the Stars exit in the first round. I’m rooting for Carolina and Montreal at this point. I do hope Minnesota beats Colorado, though.
Habs win one of the best playoff series in years, in one of the most improbable games I’ve ever seen. 9 shots total, the second lowest in a playoff game since they started tracking the stat, and the only team to win a playoff game with less than 10. 29 shots allowed, making it the first playoff win with a 20 shot deficit since the 2010 Canadiens. Not a single shot registered in the second, another first for a winning team, and the first time ever in Canadiens playoff history. An incredible defensive play by Tampa to stop an open net goal. A Tampa six on four with 6 seconds left to end the game. Four overtime games. Seven one goal games. Madness.
In a game featuring almost no defense, the Avs beat the Wild, 9-6.
Minnesota does not stand a chance against Colorado. I don’t think anyone does. I’m really hoping that the Ducks beat Vegas. Lots of changeover for the conference finals and the Cup will be nice.
I can’t believe that the Leafs won the draft lottery… Somehow they are going to blow it.
Curious to see if Minnesota has any better luck at home and getting their first line center, ErikksonEk, back and possibly veteran defender Brodin. If they can’t pull a win on Saturday I’m afraid they’re toast.
There’s a real possibility that the Hurricanes and Avalanche go 8 and 0 and have like a full week of rest. I think either the Sabres or Canadiens would put up a fight for the Hurricanes, but I don’t see the Ducks or Knights as having much of a chance in the west.
As for Toronto…they had the number one overall pick ten years ago. If they fucked that up, I’m sure they can do it again.