The Official 2011-12 Regular Season Talk Thread

[Kobalt]

Jay Boumeester finally scored, too bad it was on his own net. He'll taste the playoffs some day.....

Sent from my SGH-T989 using Tapatalk

[Psyblast]

Re: The Official 2011-12 Regular Season Talk Thread

Red Wings made fools of themselves...again.

I'll be keeping track once the Playoffs thread starts to see who's silly enough to pick Detroit in the first round.

[TheMatrix31]

Re: The Official 2011-12 Regular Season Talk Thread

Tough game to lose to Pittsburgh tonight. Had so many chances, couldn't finish. Ugh. Loss of Ehrhoff looms big. Wasn't quite the fan of the officiating either.

HAVE to beat the Leafs for 4 pts tomorrow and Monday.

[DrJones]

Re: The Official 2011-12 Regular Season Talk Thread

Well DrJones, I think your dream of the North Stars jerseys ever being worn in St. Paul is dead. It's "North Stars night" and they're wearing the home reds.

They've been showing old highlights all night and there's been plenty of Lou Nanne.

Bummer. My oldest clear hockey memory is watching Willie Plett drop the gloves with Jim Peplinski in the '81 MIN/CGY semifinal. Bobby Smith, Dino Ciccarelli, and Gilles Meloche FTW!

[ImTellinTim]

Re: The Official 2011-12 Regular Season Talk Thread

Bummer. My oldest clear hockey memory is watching Willie Plett drop the gloves with Jim Peplinski in the '81 MIN/CGY semifinal. Bobby Smith, Dino Ciccarelli, and Gilles Meloche FTW!

The '81 semifinal took place about 5 months before I was born. My earliest clear NHL memory is watching and re-watching a game many times from a Red Wings/Blues playoff series that my dad taped on VHS. Either 1988 or 1991.

I was already playing at the time and I've been hopelessly hooked on the sport since.

[DJ]

Re: The Official 2011-12 Regular Season Talk Thread

Avs stay alive in the playoff chase. Looks like the best bet is for SJ or Dallas to overtake LA for the division lead and have the Kings lose at least 3 of their last 4 games, while Colorado wins its final two games. CO has the tiebreaker over LA thanks to the head-to-head.

[l3ulvl]

Re: The Official 2011-12 Regular Season Talk Thread

Red Wings made fools of themselves...again.

I'll be keeping track once the Playoffs thread starts to see who's silly enough to pick Detroit in the first round.

Slumping/injured at the worst time.

[DrJones]

Re: The Official 2011-12 Regular Season Talk Thread

Avs stay alive in the playoff chase. Looks like the best bet is for SJ or Dallas to overtake LA for the division lead and have the Kings lose at least 3 of their last 4 games, while Colorado wins its final two games. CO has the tiebreaker over LA thanks to the head-to-head.

H2H isn't the first tiebreaker any more, it's regulation+OT wins.

Remaining schedules:

LA (90 PTS, 33 ROW): @MIN, EDM, SJ, @SJ
DAL (89 PTS, 35 ROW): @SJ, SJ, @NSH, STL
PHX (89 PTS, 32 ROW): ANA, CBJ, @STL, @MIN
SJ (88 PTS, 31 ROW) : DAL, @DAL, @LA, LA
COL (88 PTS, 32 ROW): CBJ, NSH
CGY (85 PTS, 32 ROW): LOL

[l3ulvl]

Re: The Official 2011-12 Regular Season Talk Thread

H2H isn't the first tiebreaker any more, it's regulation+OT wins.

Remaining schedules:

LA (90 PTS, 33 ROW): @MIN, EDM, SJ, @SJ
DAL (89 PTS, 35 ROW): @SJ, SJ, @NSH, STL
PHX (89 PTS, 32 ROW): ANA, CBJ, @STL, @MIN
SJ (88 PTS, 31 ROW) : DAL, @DAL, @LA, LA
COL (88 PTS, 32 ROW): CBJ, NSH
CGY (85 PTS, 32 ROW): LOL

So none of those teams have Detroit on their remaining schedule. Sucks for them

[BunnyHardaway]

Re: The Official 2011-12 Regular Season Talk Thread

Looks like the BOS goalie bit on it, then tried to reposition but got his skates tangled up or caught an edge or something. Still, made him look foolish.

Flyers put up 7 on the Leafs.

The big story is all the rookies we've been playing, and how they're producing. And going into the playoffs, there's going to be talk of these guys not having playoff experience. Frankly, I think during the regular season, the young guys having fresh legs has been a positive. Hungry dudes looking to make an impact. I've been particularly impressed with Eric Wellwood. In limited action, 5 goals/2 assists in 19 games and a +5.. but just watching him on the ice, he seems like he knows what it takes and where to be. I think he could be one of those guys that has a big postseason, not known or counted on during the first 82 but when the going gets tough in the playoffs, he's there to take the punishment and give our team a boost.

Anyway, about the young dudes. I think our roster is a bit overpopulated with them, but we also have a plethora of experienced guys, whether that's with our team through the last few years or that we've picked up like Talbot, Kubina, and even Simmonds with the style he brings. This game is tilting towards a younger generation of players (though the oldies still get their due, like Recchi with the B's last season). I believe we've got enough of all the right elements to be able to legitimately challenge for the Cup.

More and more, PIT looks like the match-up. I'm embracing that likely scenario more and more. The Penguins are a hell of a team, and so are we. Whoever makes it out of that deathmatch, I like them to represent the East with a shoutout to NYR (#1) and BOS (defending champs).

I don't know how or why, but Matt Read has rarely been mentioned in any Calder talk. He should be near the top of the list.

[DJ]

Re: The Official 2011-12 Regular Season Talk Thread

H2H isn't the first tiebreaker any more, it's regulation+OT wins.

Remaining schedules:

LA (90 PTS, 33 ROW): @MIN, EDM, SJ, @SJ
DAL (89 PTS, 35 ROW): @SJ, SJ, @NSH, STL
PHX (89 PTS, 32 ROW): ANA, CBJ, @STL, @MIN
SJ (88 PTS, 31 ROW) : DAL, @DAL, @LA, LA
COL (88 PTS, 32 ROW): CBJ, NSH
CGY (85 PTS, 32 ROW): LOL

Thanks for correcting me, forgot they changed it.

Very unlikely Colorado makes it in.

[jyoung]

Re: The Official 2011-12 Regular Season Talk Thread

I really hate that regulation wins is the first tiebreaker now. What was the NHL's justification for not using head to head records?

There are so many things wrong with the current league setup (unbalanced schedule, loser points, division winners get top 3 seeds, etc.).

[DJ]

Re: The Official 2011-12 Regular Season Talk Thread

I really hate that regulation wins is the first tiebreaker now. What was the NHL's justification for not using head to head records?

There are so many things wrong with the current league setup (unbalanced schedule, loser points, division winners get top 3 seeds, etc.).

I really hope the 3-point games go bye-bye. Keep the shootout in if you want, but only give points to the actual winner of the game.

Too many times we see teams down the stretch playing ultra-conservative in the 3rd period to preserve a tie and earn a point. I can't stand that.

[DrJones]

Re: The Official 2011-12 Regular Season Talk Thread

I really hate that regulation wins is the first tiebreaker now. What was the NHL's justification for not using head to head records?

GMs realize that the shootout is a coin flip and would like SO wins to be worth less in the standings than a reg/OT win, but they lack the courage to actually do so.

Why, you may ask? Because that would mean either:

a.) adopting a 3-2-1 points system, which would reduce the standings logjam and (theoretically) also reduce revenues for teams that would now be eliminated earlier from playoff contention, or:

b.) adopting a 2-1-0 points system (2 pts for reg/OT win, 1 pt for SO win, 0 pts for losses), which would get rid of the points bloat that GMs use as a buffer to disguise crappy teams. All of a sudden, Florida's 90-point season (37W-25L-16OTL) becomes a 68-point season (31W-41L-6SOW), and the media's not singing Dale Tallon's praises anymore.

Random aside: Notice the tiebreaker is actually regulation and OT wins. The thing that always bugs me about the 3-2-1 points proposal (other than the cardinal sin of keeping the loser point) is regulation wins being worth 3 points and OT wins only 2. Who doesn't like OT?

[Kobalt]

Re: The Official 2011-12 Regular Season Talk Thread

Ottawa is a such a fun team to watch with their run n gun system and not the boring trap crap. Karlsson got his 77th point on the year.