The Official 2015-2016 NHL Thread
 

Did I miss this somewhere?

Banner raising in Chicago tonight against the Rangers. That and the Cubs Wild Card game means I'm getting the scotch ready.

Hell of a night in Chicago.

High expectations again for the Rangers this year even though the offseason was a little underwhelming due to the cap issues. I think Yandle is the key. He's healthy now and will hopefully bring a different dimension to the defense.

This team has played a lot of games over the past couple years and they'll need to keep that in mind and treat this season like the marathon that it hopefully will be. No need to gun for the top seed again.

I feel like NBCSN and the NHL have not been advertising the season starting back up at all.

The season resumed? Really?

Okay, I'm semi-joking but at the same time I don't know that I recall ever seeing much external hype about the start of an NHL season outside of the ESPN years. I literally don't even know if my Dish package has NBCSN on it, so they could be hyping to the moon & back but I wouldn't be around to see the promos anyway.

Blues tomorrow, can't wait!!!

Haha, poor wording there.

But, it's pretty bad when it seems like the number one story going into the season is Raffi Torres' 41 game suspension.

my nhl center ice is not working....grr

Sharks off to a fast start - there is some reason for cautious optimism here, but it's been a decade of Thornton and Marleau, and I'm not sure there's any reason to expect anything different. DeBoer is supposedly implementing a more free-wheeling defense, and the team is very excited about young goalie Martin Jones...but yeah.

Nice win for the Rangers last night on an emotional night for Chicago. I'll take it.

Remember not even 24 hours ago when I said the Rangers need to treat this season as a marathon? Yeah, giving Dan Girardi 25 minutes of ice time is not the way to do that. As a buddy of mine just said in our email thread, only one other player got that much ice time last night: Duncan Keith. And Dan Girardi is no Duncan Keith.

If the pattern holds, this year the Ducks will get obliterated in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals.

Note to self: don't bulldoze Parise with a 3 goal lead.

Geez what a 5 minute stretch by the Wild

3 on 3 in OT is insane. Fun to watch but it is like college overtime, suddenly a different game.

Sabres looked like they were skating in molasses last night. There wasn't the excitement there by the team last night from what I was watching. The hits were weak, the play was ok. Eichel's goal was solid, but the first home game of the season is a L to Ottowa...gonna puke.

Fabbri with his first NHL goal! This kid is fun to watch!

Here is to hoping for another playoff year for the Wings and going further than the first round this time.

Jets did pretty well last night. Caught a lot of breaks and the score flattered them but still a decent win. Hopefully they can pull one out tonight on the back-to-back, though that's never been their forte.

Sounds like the Bruins D looked as expected when you have 3 legit NHL defensemen, and the two 38 year olds are injured. Montreal and Tampa next! I'd say blow it up, trade Rask, Chara and Seidenberg and rebuild in FA/with a high pick next year, but as long as Sweeney's the GM I have no faith in him picking well. Plus they'll stick with the "Big, Bad Bruins" template while the league moves towards skill.

At least we don't have to deal with Lucic showing his true colors in game 1.

Feels like letting Claude hang around with a year left could be a mistake.

And your comment about the Big, Bad Bruins rings true for the Flyers until the brought Hexy in as GM. Trying to stay physical and getting left in the dust.

nhlgamecenter no longer supported by my blueray...that was a large part of my calculus to to cancel cable.

Jets win a back-to-back, which is very rare for them. That said, tonights game was against an AHL team wearing Devils uniforms so I'm not sure what to take from it. We'll get a better idea of this team next week when they go back-to-back with the New York teams.

But seriously New Jersey, what on earth has happened over there??

Kovalchuk + poor drafting, I guess

I'm enjoying it thoroughly

Sadly I'm going to miss the Flyers game tonight, but would really like to see them get a win over the Panthers after a surprisingly solid performance in Tampa.

McDavid/Eichel are getting all the hype, but I think Dylan Larkin would've made it a debate at #2 if he hadn't been eligible for the 2014 draft. He's the real deal too.

Day Four of the NHL season and the Ducks finally play tonight.

Don't rule out Panarin on the Blackhawks. He may not win the Calder but he's been an incredible talent to watch thus far.

Oh, and he did this during the preseason.

True, but I don't really think guys who played 7 years in the KHL should qualify as rookies ;) That does remind me of Patrick Kane's absurd stickhandling video.

After seeing the score...don't be so sad.

I looked at my phone six minutes into the period and was all :confused: :banghead: :confused:

The Sharks always seem to start out hot in October. Hopefully they can avoid the usual losing stretch in December to cancel it out.

fixed


:D

That is incorrect. In order to have a losing stretch in May, one must still be playing hockey in May.

So that Jack Eichel guy is kinda good.

Not sure if they can keep it up, but the Stars have been pretty impressive to start the season.

Their defense is a little suspect but few can match the offensive firepower. If Niemi keeps playing well they'll have a shot at making some noise.

Sure, why not - The NHL All-Star Game Is Moving To 3-On-3

poor goalies

I'm not a huge fan of 3-on-3, but I do think the little division-based mini-tournament is a cool idea, especially with cash on the line. I know they comment that it's $1m divided 11 ways which isn't a tonne for these guys, but it's still almost $100k and could buy a fancy new car for each guy or whatever. I wouldn't be shocked if it doesn't add at least a bit more insentive to try.

Anyways, I applaud the NHL for continuing to try to innovate with the all-star premise.

Oh shit, UMass is hosting the WJC team this Friday. I didn't connect the dots and thought we were "just" playing the regular USNDTP team and not a WJC one. So other than Auston Matthews (I assume he plays? And isn't staying in Switzerland and skipping training camp?) and Tkachuk, who are the players to really watch? I liked Colin White's game when I drafted him in EHM... I think Sonny Milano's supposed to be small but slick, right?

I still assume things will end in disappointment, but boy do the Caps look good right now. They're ten points up with at least a game in hand. Every facet of their game looks good right now, 5v5, PP, PK, goal tending, everything.

That's because they have my boy Oshie!

He's been a big part. I still don't know why the Blues made that trade. Oshie and Williams have been huge additions. For the first time in the Ovechkin years they aren't short a top six position.

I have no idea why they made that trade either. Can't wait to get an Oshie Capitals jersey with my fantasy football money!

If the fan vote isn't lol-worthy enough I just saw the new format for the all-star game. That's just embarrassing.

Seriously, they need to just stop having a weekend. Name some allstars to fulfill contract bonuses til those expire & give everybody a few days off.

Stop & try to imagine the NBA reducing their all-star game to a 2-2 affair. You can't, because they know it would make them look Mickey Mouse. I get why it doesn't work, I've seen the NHL all star game but just stopping entirely would be better than something this silly.

I'm a casual fan at best (the Sharks have done a pretty good job of killing my interest from normal to casual), but I actually like the new all-star format.

I haven't watched an NBA All Star game in years but a 2 on 2 tournament sounds awesome.

Some big moves yesterday!

The Caps signed Mike Richards for a prorated 1 mil. If he's past his substance problems he'll be a heck of a 3C for the best team in the NHL.

Ron Hextall is amazing.

Another big trade: John Scott to Montreal, who then immediately reassign him to the AHL, removing him from the All-Star game in the process.

What a lame situation this has been all around. Lame for fans to vote him in, lame for him to refuse to give up the spot to someone who deserved it, and now lame for the Coyotes (aka the Bettmans) to trade him away so they can try to wash their hands of it.