The Official 2020-2021 Season Talk Thread

[rdnk]

Re: The Official 2020-2021 Season Talk Thread

I figured either Demko would be legit or Holtby could be at least serviceable. Unfortunately, they've both been garbage, although the team defense is the bigger culprit here.

Green is probably gonna get sacked. Honestly it might be best for the Canucks to go full Torts and bring in someone who can take Benning down with him at the end of the year. Babcock? BBQ Bruce?

EDIT: It finally came to me who Laine reminds me of- Alex Semin. This is in no way set in stone going forward; it'll be interesting to see what happens after Torts gets his hands on him.

[Majingir]

Re: The Official 2020-2021 Season Talk Thread

No surprise, no discipline for Tkachuk. He doesn't see any issue with anything that happens, and just writes it off as another thing people complain about.

He's gonna be the next Marchand isn't he.

Its funny how NHL will go after the littlest of things in the league, but when it comes to players safety on the ice, they back away from it. You dont want fighting in the games, but then let guys go after superstar players and/or goalies with no consequences either.

[DrJones]

Re: The Official 2020-2021 Season Talk Thread

I must admit, I was really invested in the SOG total tonight, LOL.

A harmless flip with 0.2 seconds left is the difference, and Ottawa outshoots Vancouver 36-35.
The streak is at 21 games and counting!

[nikethebike]

Re: The Official 2020-2021 Season Talk Thread

I must admit, I was really invested in the SOG total tonight, LOL.

A harmless flip with 0.2 seconds left is the difference, and Ottawa outshoots Vancouver 36-35.
The streak is at 21 games and counting!

Yeah they can't even out shoot Ottawa. The top lines can't keep the puck in the offensive zone. Vancouver won but it was Demko actually playing decent and good work from the grinders that made the difference. Still a fall forward with Demko. Now keep him in net until he has a bad game. Holtby is not good enough.


The top line getting nothing out of a 7-1 game against Ottawa is really worrying though. EP was terrible the entire game.

[Majingir]

Re: The Official 2020-2021 Season Talk Thread

Still cant believe Leafs lost to these Sens....

But tonight should be fun. All but several teams play tonight. A 9pm ET game between Leafs and Flames.

Anyone wanna guess how soon into the game the Leafs send someone (Simmonds likely) to "dance" with Tkachuk? I wonder if they even have guys playing more aggressively near the Flames goalie. That's one thing on the offensive side the Leafs lack, which their defence has historically been known to allow to happen in their end, and that's having a net presence like that. So many times their guys are basically just shooting at the goalie with the goalie having a clear view of the shot, and Leafs goalie is often the one screened with guys bumping into them all the time.

[nikethebike]

Re: The Official 2020-2021 Season Talk Thread

Still cant believe Leafs lost to these Sens....

But tonight should be fun. All but several teams play tonight. A 9pm ET game between Leafs and Flames.

Anyone wanna guess how soon into the game the Leafs send someone (Simmonds likely) to "dance" with Tkachuk? I wonder if they even have guys playing more aggressively near the Flames goalie. That's one thing on the offensive side the Leafs lack, which their defence has historically been known to allow to happen in their end, and that's having a net presence like that. So many times their guys are basically just shooting at the goalie with the goalie having a clear view of the shot, and Leafs goalie is often the one screened with guys bumping into them all the time.

Even though there can be a pretty good reason having someone like Simmonds infront of goal on the leafs PP I still think it's a waste of talent leaving Nylander out of the PP. Tavares has been more productive in combination with Nylander so far.


It'll also be really interesting to see how many skate bounces they can score on Calgary tonight.

[Majingir]

Re: The Official 2020-2021 Season Talk Thread

Leafs leading 2-0 before Flames got a shot! Simmonds didnt go at it with Tkachuk, but he got the opening goal.

Shot count after 1 is 10-1 Leafs! Andersen's first action since Friday and he only has 1 shot on him on 20 minutes.

Edit-And of course the Leafs go on a 10 min slump with no shots and now Flames outshooting them and its 3-2 Leafs

Thankfully Leafs manage to win after blowing the lead.

And as is tradition, a North division game ends in a scrum. Games basically over, Muzzin has the puck, flips it towards who else...Tkachuk and the teams briefly go at it. Refs pull them apart, teams leave the ice as the games done, and Tkachuk goes wild on the bench and almost breaks the Gatorade holder.

We'll see you next month Calgary.

[Majingir]

Re: The Official 2020-2021 Season Talk Thread

A hot take on TV about the current schedule.

We know next season at the earliest we'll "go back to normal". However, after seeing what things have been like this year, can NHL go back?

The way it was basically described....Let's say the car you currently drive had to be taken in for months. In the meantime they gave you a new car for all those months. When it's time to return the new car and pick back up the old one, it's hard to adjust back because you got a taste of something better. You know you cant afford that new one you got spoiled with, so you either stay with the current car you have or get something similar to that other one you had, but at a price which makes sense.

Point being, would NHL just go back to the same 4 divisions, top 3 seeds make playoffs + 2 wc, and the same old scheduling they did before? Or could we start seeing them changing up how the schedule is like? More of those back to backs vs the same team?

I know sadly the condensed NFL style divisions is out of the question, although that probably would've been the best idea to replicate what we had this year since you'd likely play the 7 other divisions 2 times each and then your own divisional teams something like 6 times.

It'll just be an adjustment going from seeing Toronto vs Calgary/Edmonton and so on so often with these intense games to going back to a Toronto vs Carolina or Florida game.

[kehlis]

Re: The Official 2020-2021 Season Talk Thread

I want no part of this current format being a permanent thing.

And I don't feel (personal opinion) like we're living in your analogy at all.

To me, my good car is in the shop while I have a half baked rental that gets me from point A to point B okay but can't way to get back to my car.

[DrJones]

Re: The Official 2020-2021 Season Talk Thread

I think most fans in the North and East divisions would be fine with these divisions becoming permanent - the West and (particularly) the Central, not so much.

In theory, you could do something like this:

West: Seattle, San Jose, Los Angeles, Anaheim, Vegas, Arizona, Colorado, Dallas
Central: Chicago, Detroit, St. Louis, Minnesota, Nashville, Carolina, Tampa Bay, Florida
East: Columbus, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Washington, Boston, New Jersey, NY Rangers, NY Islanders
North: Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Buffalo, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal

Each team plays division opponents 8x (56), other teams 1x (24), 80 games total.
Home fans would still see every team in the league once every 2 years.
Top 4 make playoffs, re-seed by points for Final Four.

Who would be unhappy here? Detroit for sure. Probably Dallas. Buffalo? Maybe Seattle?
Probably won't happen, but I've heard worse ideas.

[kehlis]

Re: The Official 2020-2021 Season Talk Thread

I think most fans in the North and East divisions would be fine with these divisions becoming permanent - the West and (particularly) the Central, not so much.

In theory, you could do something like this:

West: Seattle, San Jose, Los Angeles, Anaheim, Vegas, Arizona, Colorado, Dallas
Central: Chicago, Detroit, St. Louis, Minnesota, Nashville, Carolina, Tampa Bay, Florida
East: Columbus, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Washington, Boston, New Jersey, NY Rangers, NY Islanders
North: Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Buffalo, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal

Each team plays division opponents 8x (56), other teams 1x (24), 80 games total.
Home fans would still see every team in the league once every 2 years.
Top 4 make playoffs, re-seed by points for Final Four.

Who would be unhappy here? Detroit for sure. Probably Dallas. Buffalo? Maybe Seattle?
Probably won't happen, but I've heard worse ideas.

I don't care much about the division alignment. It's pretty much a crapshoot for me as an Avs fan as there can be an argument for them to be grouped with any set of teams. I gave up hoping for them to play more games in the central time zone a long time ago (selfishly for my benefit only).

What I want to go back to was what you alluded to with the balanced schedule. Don't get me wrong, I like games against rivals but also want to see more teams.

If i interpreted Maj's post wrong then it's my mistake but I took it as him saying he wanted to see a division exclusive schedule.

I just want to go back to what you mentioned about playing every team.

[DrJones]

Re: The Official 2020-2021 Season Talk Thread

I don't care much about the division alignment. It's pretty much a crapshoot for me as an Avs fan as there can be an argument for them to be grouped with any set of teams. I gave up hoping for them to play more games in the central time zone a long time ago (selfishly for my benefit only).

What I want to go back to was what you alluded to with the balanced schedule. Don't get me wrong, I like games against rivals but also want to see more teams.

If i interpreted Maj's post wrong then it's my mistake but I took it as him saying he wanted to see a division exclusive schedule.

I just want to go back to what you mentioned about playing every team.

Ah no, I'd never want a schedule where you never see the other divisions.

[Majingir]

Re: The Official 2020-2021 Season Talk Thread

I don't care much about the division alignment. It's pretty much a crapshoot for me as an Avs fan as there can be an argument for them to be grouped with any set of teams. I gave up hoping for them to play more games in the central time zone a long time ago (selfishly for my benefit only).



What I want to go back to was what you alluded to with the balanced schedule. Don't get me wrong, I like games against rivals but also want to see more teams.



If i interpreted Maj's post wrong then it's my mistake but I took it as him saying he wanted to see a division exclusive schedule.



I just want to go back to what you mentioned about playing every team.

I didn't mean division exclusive, but more emphasis on divisional games. You could still face all other divisional teams 2 times each, but all other games could be against your own division.

And back to backs vs the same team is something which should be a fixture. I don't mind seeing a team playing 2 games in 2 nights when the game is against the same team where you know they're just as tired on night 2. More level playing field.

As we've seen so far, no matter how game 1 has gone, game 2 seems to be just as good if not better because of everything from night 1 carrying over into the next game.

[Kobalt]

Re: The Official 2020-2021 Season Talk Thread

Good time for Lafreniere to get his 1st goal

[Majingir]

Re: The Official 2020-2021 Season Talk Thread

Refs sure not doing Leafs any favors to start the season.

They get most ridiculous things called against them which lead to goals.

4 of top 6 most penalized teams in the NHL are in the north. But despite that, they average a full 3+ minutes of less penalty minutes than everyone in division besides Oilers (although that'll change after tonight).

Last I checked, Leafs aren't even a physical team and their opponents out match them, but Leafs are faster, so not sure how Leafs are the ones taking penalties and not drawing them.

Leafs take 7 penalties in this game!? 0 fights, not even a scrum or any sort of animosity between guys. This was far from a physical game on either end.