The Official 2024-25 Season Talk Thread

[DrJones]

Re: The Official 2024-25 Season Talk Thread

I get it. I don't take any offence from what you said.

[slickdtc]

The Official 2024-25 Season Talk Thread

Flyers have scored a goal. Two in fact. Alas, an OTL in Salt Lake City.

When’s the rest of the team being dismantled? Heh

I’ve been catching short clips of former players talking about some interesting on and off ice stories lately. Ryan Kesler and Torts almost coming to blows but coming to common ground when realizing they were both on their way out of VAN. I especially like the ones of the Flyers from the 90s that I grew up watching.

[Majingir]

Re: The Official 2024-25 Season Talk Thread

Never realized Nashville was the 3rd worst team in the league. Would've figured getting the biggest FA would change things. Now the Stamkos deal could wind up quickly becoming one of the worst if he continues regressing.

But also, I doubt the NHL is going to change lottery rules even more are they?

Good chance the top 4 involves the Sharks and Blackhawks for the 3rd year in a row and one of those teams might get their 2nd 1st overall pick.

[Kobalt]

Re: The Official 2024-25 Season Talk Thread

Avs front office might force the coaching staff to separate MacKinnon and Necas before Necas demands Rantanen money.

[Majingir]

Re: The Official 2024-25 Season Talk Thread

Another weird scheduling decision from the NHL.

Today is most teams final game before the 4 nations. A few teams have to play tomorrow too.

3 of the 4 teams who play tomorrow have to play tonight too, while the Jets, Avs, Oilers all played their final game yesterday.

Don't know why you're having 3 teams playing a back to back on their final weekend before the break yet some teams are already off. And never makes sense why the Sunday of the SB you're having afternoon games featuring mostly American teams while 2 Canadian teams don't even play that entire weekend.

[DrJones]

Re: The Official 2024-25 Season Talk Thread

It's been an NHL tradition to have Super Bowl Sunday games in Montreal and Washington for 15 years now (and several years before that in Montreal). Having the Caps game appeal to US audiences and most HNIC teams playing the night before mostly explains the lack of Canadian teams.

Scheduling is hard! Especially since most NHL teams play 2nd or 3rd fiddle in their own arenas.

[Majingir]

Re: The Official 2024-25 Season Talk Thread

As we approach the break, the current playoff look
Atlantic:
Panthers (71)
Leafs (68)
Lightning (66)

Metro:
Caps (80)
Canes (70)
Devils (68)

WC:
Sens (62)
Wings (61)

Bubble teams:
Bruins (60)
Jackets (60)

Caps likely win Metro and Canes/Devils just fight for home ice (again, it's why I hate this format, 2 months left of the season and there's not as much excitement in seeding).

Panthers and Leafs should be fighting for 1-2 barring any team going on a losing streak

The 3rd Atlantic spot and both WC spots are completely up for grabs. Do we see the Lightning and Bruins just wind up with it or could we see Sens, Wings and Jackets all make it.

Central
Jets (81)
Stars (72)
Wild (70)

Pacific
Oilers (72)
Vegas (72)
Kings (65)

WC
Avs (68)
Canucks (63)

Bubble
Flames (60)

Jets likely win the central, Stars/Wild/Avs all likely make it too but they're all fighting for the lone home ice spot (again...thanks playoff format, 2 of these teams could be top 3 in the conference and only 1 gets home ice).

Pacific is up to Oilers and Vegas, Kings and Canucks just playing for final division spot and Flames right now are only bubble team close to the playoffs.

[Majingir]

Re: The Official 2024-25 Season Talk Thread

The NHL interestingly enough is using the 3-2-1 point system for the 4 nations.

It's interesting because the league apparently doesn't like the 3-2-1 point system but they're using it for this event so maybe there's hope...

[DrJones]

Re: The Official 2024-25 Season Talk Thread

The NHL interestingly enough is using the 3-2-1 point system for the 4 nations.

It's interesting because the league apparently doesn't like the 3-2-1 point system but they're using it for this event so maybe there's hope...

Figured they would do so, since a 3-way tie isn't unlikely in such a short tourney. I'm more (pleasantly) surprised they're doing 10 min of 3-on-3 OT instead of 5 (except for the final, which is playoff OT rules).

https://records.nhl.com/events/international-tournament/tournament-recap/tournament-result?gameType=19&season=20242025

[Majingir]

Re: The Official 2024-25 Season Talk Thread

Figured they would do so, since a 3-way tie isn't unlikely in such a short tourney. I'm more (pleasantly) surprised they're doing 10 min of 3-on-3 OT instead of 5 (except for the final, which is playoff OT rules).

https://records.nhl.com/events/inter...eason=20242025

It's very unlikely they'll ever do this in the actual NHL though.

Burke has said that the league and owners hate that because it'll cause gaps in the standings, and we all know how the NHL loves to boast about parity, meanwhile things like that are also hurting them when the stars and top teams can't shine as much.

[DrJones]

Re: The Official 2024-25 Season Talk Thread

It's very unlikely they'll ever do this in the actual NHL though.

Burke has said that the league and owners hate that because it'll cause gaps in the standings, and we all know how the NHL loves to boast about parity, meanwhile things like that are also hurting them when the stars and top teams can't shine as much.

Not that it matters, but I don't like the 3-2-1 either. I'm an anti-loser point absolutist.

I've always preferred a 2-1-0 system (2 points for a reg/OT win, 1 point for a SO win, 0 points for any kind of loss), though it appears I'm the only who does. OT could go back to 5-on-5 (and be extended to 10 min). If the game reaches a shootout, both teams are punished. All games will feel result in someone going home empty-handed. Any time a game is tied late, both teams will be desperate to score and avoid this fate. It'll never happen, but I'll go to my grave believing this system would provide the best on-ice product, and without any gimmicks required.

[DrJones]

Re: The Official 2024-25 Season Talk Thread

I can't imagine anyone (except maybe Maj) will read them, but to kill time and set the stage, I think I'll post brief summaries of past best-on-best (and best-on-best adjacent) tournaments. Shall we begin?

[DrJones]

Re: The Official 2024-25 Season Talk Thread

1972 Summit Series

USSR 7 Canada 3 (Montreal)
Canada 4 USSR 1 (Toronto)
Canada 4 USSR 4 (Winnipeg)
USSR 5 Canada 3 (Vancouver)
USSR 5 Canada 4 (Moscow)
Canada 3 USSR 2 (Moscow)
Canada 4 USSR 3 (Moscow)
Canada 6 USSR 5 (Moscow)

Canada wins 4-3-1

The grand-daddy of all international hockey events, this is pretty much Canada's creation myth. A mix of John le Carre, Rocky IV, and Slapshot, I highly recommend those curious to find a good book or documentary about it (I'll recommend some when I'm done this).

This was no Miracle on Ice. Canada (players, media, populace) approached this "exhibition" with supreme confidence. The gold medals that the Soviets racked up at the Olympics and World Championships were seen as fraudulent - they were allowed to send their best players; we weren't. It was finally time to put the Commies in their place, show them who's boss. Instead it became an existential crisis.

Notes and Fun Facts:

- 3 of Canada's most famous players missed the tournament: Gordie Howe and Bobby Hull had joined the rebel World Hockey Association (Canada only allowed NHL/NHLPA players on the roster) and Bobby Orr was injured; Phil Esposito was the lone Canadian superstar in his prime (and played like it)
- Some things never change: as soon as it became clear that the Soviets were for real (employing never-before-seen tactics such as "teamwork" and "conditioning"), the atmosphere surrounding the series became toxic
- My brother and uncle (I was 2 months old, was too busy sh**ting my diaper to attend) were at the infamous Game 4 in Vancouver, where the crowd booed Canada after losing, prompting Esposito to give them sh** in return
- In Game 6, Bobby Clarke broke the ankle of the Soviets' most skilled forward, a proto-Bure named Valery Kharlamov; by sheer coincidence, the Canadians won the last 3 games of the series
- Imagine if Seth Jarvis somehow emerged from the 4 Nations as Canada's greatest hero; that's pretty much what happened here, as middling Leafs winger Paul Henderson (career season high = 60 points) scored the winning goals in Games 6, 7, and 8, the final one with 34 seconds left in the 3rd, still considered to be the greatest moment in Canadian (sports?) history
- There was no OT in international hockey in 1972; if Henderson hadn't scored, the series would've ended in a draw, and the Soviets were already preparing to declare "victory" on goal differential
- 6 Soviets who appeared in this series (Tretiak, Kharlimov, Mikhailov, Maltsev, Petrov, Vasiliev) also played in the Miracle on Ice game 8 years later

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Ul32-hDZnRs?si=Bkobdwver-4jSr43" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/RXxEBTaTf5Q?si=o2n7_PkXnsJfM_3W" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/FMiMzq0YTwc?si=iYogfzwReMt80RgY" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[slickdtc]

Re: The Official 2024-25 Season Talk Thread

Man, I vaguely recall Bobby Clarke chopping Kharlamov’s ankle in ‘72 as just a footnote amongst my family, with the ‘76 Flyers win over the Red Army taking precedent in the household and everything that stood for. Just hit YT for a clip and that was nasty work. Took Clarke outta Philly but not the Philly out of Clarke, lol.

Good luck to all in the tourney. Cant wait to see the best on the best, it’s been too long.

Just saw Sam Ersson got added as injury replacement to Team Sweden (happened like 1-2 weeks ago). Hope he shines if he gets time in net!

[Majingir]

Re: The Official 2024-25 Season Talk Thread

I know people talk about Wendel Clark once looking like the world's oldest 18 year old when he got drafted, but Brock Nelson looks like he came out of retirement.

https://www.instagram.com/nhl/p/DF8Xq7RPzVn/?img_index=3

Speaking of team pics, Auston Matthews should take a page out of another Leafs captain Mats Sundin and shave his head.