NHL Off-Topic thread

[Majingir]

Re: NHL Off-Topic thread

An interesting proposal for next year.

Depending how the season goes, could we see a Canadian division?

Change up divisions for 1 year to accommodate everything.

In this case, we have a division based entirely in Canada so that guys can still travel from city to city if things go similar to MLB where they can play at home but with no fans.

Not sure how it would look league wide. No conference would really be balanced. West could have maybe 7 in their division. But then theres so many teams remaining, who gets put in the "south" division with Lightning,Panthers,Canes,Preds?

[Majingir]

Re: NHL Off-Topic thread

Latest report I saw seems to think it could be a 4-6 city bubble, all bubbles being locations which can host games with some fans.

1 bubble like mentioned would have to be in Canada.

I think 5 divisions work best in this case. You have 4 divisions of 6 teams, and 1 with 7. For 1 year we get Wings back in the "west". Geographic reasons dont matter as much since theres no travel, but timezone wise it still works out well.

Division 1: (Canada bubble)
All 7 Canadian teams

Division 2: (California bubble?) Sharks,Kings,Ducks,Knights,Coyotes,Avs

Division 3: (Dallas bubble?)
Wild,Hawks,Stars,Blues,Preds,Wings

Division 4: (NY bubble?)
Bruins,Rangers,Islanders,Devils,Sabres,Caps

Division 5: (Florida bubble?) Panthers,Lightning,Canes,Jackets,Pens,Flyers


Season would need to end before Olympics start. So mid July is probably latest they can run.

[Majingir]

Re: NHL Off-Topic thread

Vegas with their first ever alternate jersey.

Like many teams, the alternate looks better than their primary.

[Majingir]

Re: NHL Off-Topic thread

Flames unveil their jerseys.

https://twitter.com/NHLFlames/status/1313133265457299456?s=19

I hope their red and black logo could be an alternate in the future. That's the one look from their modern jerseys I liked a lot, but retro overall is great.

[Majingir]

Re: NHL Off-Topic thread

2 big notes

1. McDavid tested positive for covid

2. NHL now saying January 1st is a target date to start the season.

[nikethebike]

Re: NHL Off-Topic thread

2 big notes

1. McDavid tested positive for covid

2. NHL now saying January 1st is a target date to start the season.

Why wait so long. It's not like the virus will just go away. I think they'll need to set up a way to play with it.

[Majingir]

Re: NHL Off-Topic thread

Division news might have just leaked.

Bill Foley was commenting on Vegas facing Nate Schmidt (now on Canucks) and he mentioned how they(Canucks) are going to be in the Canadian division.

Either he was joking based on rumors, or leaked some info.

I think it would be fun having the new divisions for a year. NHL seems to think the current 4 division format with top 3 making playoffs is a non issue, but a small forced change like this might make them realize how much more fun things could be with different divisions.

[Money99]

Re: NHL Off-Topic thread

Division news might have just leaked.

Bill Foley was commenting on Vegas facing Nate Schmidt (now on Canucks) and he mentioned how they(Canucks) are going to be in the Canadian division.

Either he was joking based on rumors, or leaked some info.

I think it would be fun having the new divisions for a year. NHL seems to think the current 4 division format with top 3 making playoffs is a non issue, but a small forced change like this might make them realize how much more fun things could be with different divisions.

With 31 teams it fits perfectly with 7, 8,8,8.
I'm excited for an all Canadian division.

[Majingir]

Re: NHL Off-Topic thread

With 31 teams it fits perfectly with 7, 8,8,8.

I'm excited for an all Canadian division.

If there's fans, even a small amount, it would be even better. Atmosphere for nonstop Canadian matchups where everyone is a division foe will be great. Playing those teams several times each will be fun.

I wonder when they'll start announcing things like this. If season does start in January, you'd think by November, early December for the absolute latest they'd finalize everything.

Although they only JUST announced that due to this virus known as Covid, the 2021 Winter Classic and 2021 All star game will be cancelled. So if it took this long to announce something so obvious like that, who knows...

[speels]

Re: NHL Off-Topic thread

With 31 teams it fits perfectly with 7, 8,8,8.
I'm excited for an all Canadian division.

While I love this idea for season play it really sucks for playoffs. I mean we have 4 to 6 potential playoff teams in Canada right now, but with this we may only get 3 perhaps 4 into the playoffs. That being said, as a Leafs fan I would love to see McDavid more than twice a year.

[Majingir]

Re: NHL Off-Topic thread

While I love this idea for season play it really sucks for playoffs. I mean we have 4 to 6 potential playoff teams in Canada right now, but with this we may only get 3 perhaps 4 into the playoffs. That being said, as a Leafs fan I would love to see McDavid more than twice a year.

Wouldn't put it past NHL to run another play in round this year.

Maybe 10 teams instead of 12.

3 Canadian teams for sure will make it. 4 if the 4th is actually good. 5 if we get expanded playoffs and/or other division sucks.

Flames,Leafs,Jets,Oilers will likely get in. One of other 3 get in with expanded playoffs most likely.

[rdnk]

Re: NHL Off-Topic thread

No Canucks love? They went the furthest in the playoffs of all Canadian teams...

[nikethebike]

Re: NHL Off-Topic thread

No Canucks love? They went the furthest in the playoffs of all Canadian teams...

They lost a lot to the Flames...
Tanev was awesome in the playoffs for them. Markström was their best player the last two seasons. Holtby has not been close to Markströms level the last two seasons. The canucks will need to hope for a developed Demko.



Toffoli went to Montreal. Stecher is out too.



On the other hand EP, Hughes, Boeser all have another year under their belt and won't get worse aslong as they stay healthy.

[Majingir]

Re: NHL Off-Topic thread

Coyotes joke of a franchise continues, but this time for reasons that have nothing to do with their arena. Just look up Mitchell Miller and you'll find out everything.

Like many are saying, this is one of the issues in hockey. Theres a reason the hockey diversity alliance cut ties with the NHL so soon after forming.

NHL will just acknowledge the issue, but ignore any attempt to fix it.

How Mitchell Miller was even drafted is beyond me. You could maybe understand a team being reluctant to release a guy they just drafted in the top 2 rounds, because they found out about his bad past. But Coyotes refusing to release a guy drafted in the 4th round, after already being aware of how horrible a person he is goes to show the issues in hockey.

[rdnk]

Re: NHL Off-Topic thread

They lost a lot to the Flames...
Tanev was awesome in the playoffs for them. Markström was their best player the last two seasons. Holtby has not been close to Markströms level the last two seasons. The canucks will need to hope for a developed Demko.

Toffoli went to Montreal. Stecher is out too.

On the other hand EP, Hughes, Boeser all have another year under their belt and won't get worse aslong as they stay healthy.

Toffoli was a deadline pickup, Stecher was a 3rd pairing guy. Schmidt should be an upgrade over Tanev. Vancouver was 1-2 against Calgary last season.

I'd say Elias Pettersson was their best player the past two seasons. Markstrom had a sv% of .912 and .918 the past two seasons, which is fine but not spectacular. The Holtby/Demko is a more risky play than just resigning Markstrom, that I agree with. Vancouver was put into a spot where they had to choose between Markstrom and Demko due to what Markstrom was offered from Calgary.

I'd say Edmonton, Calgary, Winnipeg, Montreal and Vancouver all have rosters with playoff upside that have flaws in roster construction. I'd say the only sure things would be Toronto making it and Ottawa being on the outside looking in.