NHL Off-Topic thread

[carko32]

Re: NHL Off-Topic thread

There's speculation the Oilers were pushing hard for Jones.
I wonder if they dangled RNH at them? If not, they should have!

There were reports going around at last year's trade deadline that Edmonton offered Nuge for Jones straight up and Nashville declined because they wanted more pieces/picks in return.

Yeah, but last playoff Nashville saw that they didn't have enough scoring options, that is why I believe they changed their mind and traded him.
And Johansen is definitely more intriguing player than RNH. He has size and also production going in his favour, but he is a little bit inconsistent. And they also believe that he will be better under their system, especially with better leadership than in Columbus.

And yeah, RNH will be the odd man out in Edmonton, and has pretty OK contract for few years for his production. There will be suitors, but Edmonton might want too much for him?

[Kobalt]

Re: NHL Off-Topic thread

I'll rather have RNH than Johansen.

[Majingir]

Re: NHL Off-Topic thread

Ya, RNH better than Johansen. Johansen puts up more points, but he also had better guys around him. RNH the better defensive guy and would have more points if he had goal scorers to feed the puck to.

On another note: (most popular NHL teams by state)

Kind of surprised how many places has Colorado as #1. But northwest faves being Canucks is even more reason why I say Seattle should get a team. People in that area are more Canucks fans than any other team, so a rivalry between them would be real great for the league. West doesn't have the types of rivalries the east does, but Canucks-Seattle could be one of the best rivalries in the west.

And surprised the Panthers are the #1 team in Florida. Thought Tampa would've been 1st. And Wings are #1 in Alaska? Would've figured it'd be a west team, maybe even the Canucks or something,given the timezones and location.

Spoiler

[slickdtc]

Re: NHL Off-Topic thread

Take that Penguins!

They got DE right. Most of that seems right. The only one I see as being questionable is NJ actually being a Devils state. I know the Flyers permeate that state and I'm sure the Rangers too. Hell, the Islanders might be bigger there then the Devils.

The Avs stuff doesn't surprise me. I was up in Utah last spring and wondered what the sports breakdown was there since the only pro team they have are the Jazz. I saw a mix of sports teams apparel, mostly BYU and Utah gear. But the closest pro sports city (I was in Sandy, about 20 minutes outside of Salt Lake City) is Denver.

[Majingir]

Re: NHL Off-Topic thread

Good news for those who hated asg voting this year, sounds like nhl changing it next year. Either reducing fan power,or limiting who they vote for(im guessing there'll be a GP requirement once voting begins)

[Majingir]

Re: NHL Off-Topic thread

Bettman saying that Calgary needs a new arena immediately.

I hope this doesn't lead to him wanting to move the team out of there if they can't get a new arena fast enough. He does whatever he possibly can to keep Coyotes,Canes,Panthers and stuff, but the first chance he gets to move a Canadian team, he'll do it with no hesitation. I don't remember him ever saying that the Coyotes need to get a new arena ASAP, or saying that about any team in general.

Sure,Flames do need a new arena, but I hope it isn't a "get a new arena right now,or else the team is moving" type of situation. Cause while they need a new one,their current one isn't so bad that it's hurting the franchise and league financially(attendance wise),like certain other arenas in the league.

[Money99]

Re: NHL Off-Topic thread

Bettman saying that Calgary needs a new arena immediately.

I hope this doesn't lead to him wanting to move the team out of there if they can't get a new arena fast enough. He does whatever he possibly can to keep Coyotes,Canes,Panthers and stuff, but the first chance he gets to move a Canadian team, he'll do it with no hesitation. I don't remember him ever saying that the Coyotes need to get a new arena ASAP, or saying that about any team in general.

Sure,Flames do need a new arena, but I hope it isn't a "get a new arena right now,or else the team is moving" type of situation. Cause while they need a new one,their current one isn't so bad that it's hurting the franchise and league financially(attendance wise),like certain other arenas in the league.

I'm sure it's like any league where when the billionaire owners say they need a new building, and want the public to pay for it, they request the commish to step in and start making threats to worry the public about losing their team.

With Edmonton getting a beautiful new facility, I'm sure Calgary politicians won't have to be convinced to build an even better one that's probably 1sq foot larger than Edmonton's.

[Majingir]

Re: NHL Off-Topic thread

With the Rams leaving St.Louis, I'm guessing this is good news for the Blues market? Sure some Rams fans will probably find a new team to cheer for, but still won't be the same compared to having a hometown team.

Blues won't be 3rd team in town for September-October. It'll now just be them and Cards for those months, and then only Blues from November till MLB season starts.

Despite good teams past few years,they've been bottom 10 in attendance, hopefully being the #2 team in town will now help them out.

[kehlis]

Re: NHL Off-Topic thread

With the Rams leaving St.Louis, I'm guessing this is good news for the Blues market? Sure some Rams fans will probably find a new team to cheer for, but still won't be the same compared to having a hometown team.

Blues won't be 3rd team in town for September-October. It'll now just be them and Cards for those months, and then only Blues from November till MLB season starts.

Despite good teams past few years,they've been bottom 10 in attendance, hopefully being the #2 team in town will now help them out.

Hockey games are played seven days a week, not one.

If they are in the bottom 10 in attendance now there is no real reason to expect that to change now.

[Money99]

Re: NHL Off-Topic thread

I had no idea the USHL experimented with no-icing on PK's during the preseason:

https://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/2014/09/27/ushl-tries-icing-rule-penalty-kill/qiWkHtv5ioLwLIreediwmL/story.html

It was a very small sample. Each team played 2 games with this rule in place.
In that small window, teams averaged 22% on the PP (as compared to 11% from the previous season).
They even saw more SH goals.

There was some drawback though:

One drawback to the rule was loss of flow. Early in each game, shorthanded teams tried to make plays to exit the zone. But later, with fatigue being a possible factor, more icings took place. For example, if a penalty-killing defenseman retrieved the puck in the corner with three forecheckers bearing down and no help in sight, he iced it. The automatic faceoff was a welcome trade to losing control and allowing a scoring chance.

“Teams learned to just ice the puck when they knew they couldn’t skate it or chip it out,” Micheletti said. “They’d take the icing and try to win the faceoff instead of trying to skate through three guys, lose control, and see it become a five-on-three.”

Also, teams were free to change personnel after icing the puck. In the NHL, teams are not allowed to change following an icing.

But if the NHL kept its rule that you couldn't change after an ice, I see this as a moot point.

The other con could be that with the officials already possessing no balls, they would call even less penalites. Hopefully that's not the case.

I've never fully understood the rule as it stands now. Why on earth would you give a team an advantage after they've broken the rules?
Imagine if the NBA allowed an opposing player to stand under the basket and goaltend during a Free Throw?

The NHL needs to start experimenting with this as well either during pre-season games or by forcing the AHL to adopt it for a month.

[slickdtc]

NHL Off-Topic thread

I doubt the threat of not being able to change lines would deter teams from icing the puck.

Think about the defensive, conservative nature of this league. Also, it just makes sense -- why try to force a pass and allow a clear scoring chance with little upside of completing the pass compared to taking your chances on a 50/50 proposition face off.

Perhaps consecutive icings without leaving the defensive zone could result in a delay of game penalty to the team already on the PK. I don't think icing the puck once should be penalized, but abusing it should. In fact, they should do this in ALL game situations.

[Money99]

Re: NHL Off-Topic thread

I doubt the threat of not being able to change lines would deter teams from icing the puck.

Think about the defensive, conservative nature of this league. Also, it just makes sense -- why try to force a pass and allow a clear scoring chance with little upside of completing the pass compared to taking your chances on a 50/50 proposition face off.

Perhaps consecutive icings without leaving the defensive zone could result in a delay of game penalty to the team already on the PK. I don't think icing the puck once should be penalized, but abusing it should. In fact, they should do this in ALL game situations.

I like that.
You're very right that each coach would gladly take the whistle and constantly stopping the game to ice the puck. So a rule needs to be implemented to prevent that.
But I wouldn't leave the decision up the refs. They've proven time and time again that if it's a close game, they throw the rulebook out the window, so it has to be a hard black & white rule.
So maybe give each team 5 icings for an entire game where they won't be further penalized.
This does not mean they get 5 free icings. They still won't be allowed to ice the puck, but they won't get an additional penalty until they've iced it a 6th time.

Either that, or do something else. This is extremely outside the box but:
1. Each icing results in a PS. If the team doesn't score, the PP continues.
2. To prevent constant stoppages, instead of whistling the play dead, allow the PP team to work without any offsides.
So if the PK team ices it, the PP team can retrieve it and fire it on net, or make a 4-line pass without any worry about an offside OR icing call.

It just seems so sad that these extra rules have to be made, but in today's era, where every coach plans and strategizes for a 1-0 SO game (LOSER POINT!), drastic measures are necessary.

[ImTellinTim]

Re: NHL Off-Topic thread

If they start giving 2 for Delay of Game for consecutive or too much icing, that would replace accidentally flipping the puck over the glass as the most asinine penalty in the NHL.

[slickdtc]

Re: NHL Off-Topic thread

But the extreme conservative nature of the game today is why something like that would be needed. It would take an extreme measure like that to stop players and coaches from taking the icing as its the lesser of two evils. With a penalty, you swing the lesser of the two evils to a hockey play, no matter how low percentage.

The spirit of the over the glass rule makes sense, but it's impossible to decipher if it was intentional or not. Not to mention it could be addressed by not allowing a line change instead of a penalty. And it wasn't exactly a problem in the past that needed to be addressed. I can see the thinking behind it.

Money's right that officials wouldn't keep up with the two icings within one defensive "series," but I like his 5 total icings proposal. Kinda like the foul rules in the NBA. Which to be honest, I don't follow it that much and never understood the bonus and all that.

[Madman55]

Re: NHL Off-Topic thread

I was just looking at records against divisions and was surprised to see 7 teams in the east have picked up more wins against the central than the Jets have.

The Jets have 4 wins in 15 division games. Florida has 5 in 7, Ottawa 5 in 8, Toronto 7 in 10, Rangers 5 in 10, Islanders 6 in 9, Pittsburgh 6 in 11, Philadelphia 6 in 9. Then you also have New Jersey with 4 in 9 and Columbus with 4 in 11

(I realize Nashville only has 4 wins against the central as well, the jets are just my hometown team)