The Official 13-14 NHL Regular season thread
 

Cause it's no longer the offseason

Flyers have too many defenseman already and just signed Hal Gill (facepalm) to a 1 year deal .. trade coming?

Leafs extend Phil the Thrill, 8 years/$8m per

you should have reposted that GIF in that comment

I imagine the Leafs were hovering around $7m, until he pulled this up on his phone

You know, I had frankly forgotten that Patrick Roy was the Avs coach now.

So I have a new reason to hate Colorado again.

I am very excited to have the Wings in the East. It will be great to see so many more games against Boston, Toronto and Montreal. It will also be good to have fewer 10:00/10:30 pm EST starts. Those were brutal.

Things I am interested in seeing:

1. How the Wings handle being in the East

2. How Alfredsson and Weiss perform on the second line.

3. Will the younger players - DeKeyser, Nyquist, Tatar and Andersson - take the next step? (Assuming they're given the opportunity to do so. The Wings have a massive glut of forwards.)

Glad to have hockey back!

Things I am not looking forward to. Alfredsson on the Wings.
Playing Pavel D. more.
The Wings.

That is all from Boston ;)

I'm just glad we got Columbus in the Metropolitan (facepalm) instead of Detroit.

Something on NHL net last night, regarding Columbus (which would hold true for Detroit too).

Last season they played 2% of their road games in the Eastern (ie, their own) time zone. This year that number will be 66%.

I realize I am speaking from a biased perspective, but it is my impression that the "experts" are sleeping on the Ducks, calling last year fluky or just generally not rating them very highly. I beleive that is a mistake.

Hiller and Fasth form one of the best one-two GK combos in the league. Even without Ryan, the Perry-Getzlaf-whoever (probably Penner) line is still one of hockey's best. Cogliano (or a natural RW kiddie forward)-Koivu-Selanne is a strong second line. Tons of developing offensive talent abound on the roster (Etem, Palmieri, Bonino, Holland, Silfverberg). A blueline which will miss Souray's hard shot, but is otherwise very effective with Beauchemin, an improving Fowler, Allen, Lovejoy, well-regarded rookie offensive blueliner Sami Vatanen, and so forth.

There is depth and talent throughout this organization and finishing #2 in the West was no fluke. I'm hoping they prove the experts wrong this season.

I think the Ducks have a good shot at finishing in the top 5 out West, a good shot indeed. Probably rate them behind Chicago and St. Louis but after that they're right there with the other solid bunch. Looking at that conference I could definitely see them finishing 3rd.

I think the experts are too focused on the playoffs. I think that they look at Anaheim's first round loss to Detroit and assume there no 2 overall record in the West was a fluke, a product of just being "hot" in a shortened season or something along those lines.

On the other side, I think that a lot of experts think the Wings are better than they are because of what happened in the playoffs. (Though getting knocked out in the second round isn't that impressive.) The Wings were very much a bubble team all year last year. They had to win their last 4 games just to squeak into the playoffs.

Going into the season the top teams in the West seem to be: Chicago, Los Angeles, St. Louis and San Jose. I think Anaheim is right up there with most of those teams.

I disagree. Because I see plenty of experts picking the Pens as the winner of the Metro, but barely anyone having them come out of the East in the playoffs. And that's a 100% legit stance.

thats... obscene.

buck says in 3 years his contract goes for ovechkins contract and both teams hope these guys retire early!

What is a "protective equipment" penalty? I can't see the game, i can only look at espns box score.

when you are wearing a helmet and you fight its an extra 2 min...

no i don't think that's in effect, just something being discussed. protective equipment penalty is what they are calling the untucked jersey, i think

I think it's the visor, since you're not allowed to remove your helmet before a fight.

Unless the call is for removing?

i was watching that fight and they both took their helmets off, but i didn't have volume on so i didn't hear about the penalty

haha, so maybe they both got called for removing their helmets?

in sad news, did anyone see what just happened to parros? got pulled down by the jersey as orr was going to the ice after a fight and slammed his face into the ice hard - bloody chin, tried to stand up with the help of three people and couldn't - stretchered off. scary sight.

DOLA

Watching Pirates game, but apparently Parros fell at end of fight with Orr, and head hit the ice. Taken off on stretcher.

Removal of your helmet during a fight is an automatic 2 minutes penalty

I sure am glad the Caps gave away their top rated prospect for a guy that's now on the fourth line.

I fully anticipate doing at least 3 double takes in the next month when people tell me they're going to a Bruins game, then start to pay attention in January when the Patriots lose... only to realize the Bruins either have a playoff spot pretty much locked up, or are one of 7 teams within 3 points of the #5 seed due to the shootout/OTL system, and check out again until the trade deadline.

I think that you get 2 minutes for removing your helmet in a fight.

They removed the 2 minutes for fighting with a visor when they made visors mandatory.

Visors aren't mandatory....yet.

Visors are mandatory for new players, aren't they? Just not grandfathered?

Yeah, bad wording on my part. It will be probably 10 years before they are required for all players at this point.

It's only 1 game, but Trouba looked great last night. I think Chevy found a real gem there. Scheifele also looks like he truly belongs in the NHL this year. I'm sure they will both have their struggles at times this year, but I'm pretty stoked about their futures.

Vokoun out 3 to 6 months....







:popcorn:

You forget this picture, regularly seen in late April and into May



;)

DOLA

I have zero expectations. Fleury won't be the problem from October-April. He'll be fine. They'll be a playoff team.

After that...again, zero expectations.

Yeah that's the faulty club from a Pittsburgh Manufacturer. But on the bright side, he had as many points as Sid and Malkin did in the ECF last year!

Holmgren knows Hal Gill isn't a goalie, right?

Yes but he thinks that since he plays like a big orange cone, he can just park him in front of the net. It's part of his new age thinking.

Orange cones will come in handy for rehab skates for Lecavalier and Streit

I have no rebuttal, I've been making Hal Gill jokes for years...

It just doesn't make sense. He can be slow and get away with holding in the playoffs.

So why sign in Philly?

:p

Or to play the 3rd and 4th line for you guys since you paid your stars so much money. :p

Those orange cones will have little trouble getting in Hartnell's way and causing him to fall.

What? He can't hear you...

Well done, Dr. Sak

I'm on at work, so can't see....by guessing it him with Cy Clark (Malkamania guy).

Too lazy to look on my phone

Correct

They are mandatory for anyone with less than 25 games experience.

Hybrid icing tops list of NHL rule changes for 2013-14 season - NHL.com - News

Good to see Patrick Roy bringing his unique brand of lunacy back to the NHL...it's game 1 Patty! Calm down!

And in a 6-1 win for his team, on top of that. Jeez, Roy.

I love it! Go Patty Roy! His presence and some of the talent upfront makes a once very, very dull Colorado team brimming with possible excitement.