The Official 2024-25 Season Talk Thread

[DrJones]

Re: The Official 2024-25 Season Talk Thread

Where do we stand on Chris Pronger? He was a main character to start the 00s with STL, did that year in EDM and went to the SC final, came to the Ducks and got his Cup, then traded to Philly towards the end and helped us reach a SC final. Maybe didn’t play long enough in the last 25 years (he played most of the 90s) but man, he was a force.

Similar trajectory to his old running mate Scott Neidermayer. A lot more Cups for him with NJD and a lower profile (more finesse/skating ability than brutality) but also a lot of time in the 90s.

Perfectly reasonable to include Pronger and/or Niedermayer on the list. Both are arguably better historically than any of my D picks except Lidstrom. I just couldn't decide who to leave off, so I went with the guys who played a lot more games since 99/00. The only skaters I included who played fewer than 800 games were McDavid, MacKinnon, Kucherov, and Draisaitl. Some tough calls!

[Psyblast]

Re: The Official 2024-25 Season Talk Thread

Where do we stand on Chris Pronger? He was a main character to start the 00s with STL, did that year in EDM and went to the SC final, came to the Ducks and got his Cup, then traded to Philly towards the end and helped us reach a SC final. Maybe didn’t play long enough in the last 25 years (he played most of the 90s) but man, he was a force.

Similar trajectory to his old running mate Scott Neidermayer. A lot more Cups for him with NJD and a lower profile (more finesse/skating ability than brutality) but also a lot of time in the 90s.

The sasquatch and Niedermayer can both go spit.

[DrJones]

Re: The Official 2024-25 Season Talk Thread

I really REALLY hate the trend of play-by-play announcers yammering about narratives or stats instead of actually calling the play. 75% of Sean McDonough's goal calls are him interrupting himself or Ferraro talking about BS instead of describing what's actually happening on the ice.

[Kobalt]

Re: The Official 2024-25 Season Talk Thread

CBJ had all these Michigan alums and none of them decided to plant a flag in the middle of the ice? Embarrassing.

[l3ulvl]

Re: The Official 2024-25 Season Talk Thread

It is tough - Miller's in a big blob of good-to-great goalies with similar numbers to Bobrovksy, Quick, Rinne, and Price. But including Patrick Roy for his last 4 seasons alone is certifiably insane. Even if you just wanted a goalie with a short but very high peak over the last 25 years, Tim Thomas is sitting right there.

Kiprusoff was another, I keep trying to find better examples and I'm like damn, we don't really have tenders with sustained excellence anymore. Maybe Vasilevskiy, who I'm just learning is only 30

[Majingir]

Re: The Official 2024-25 Season Talk Thread

Leafs with the literal buzzer beater!

That's literally as close as you'll ever see to a buzzer beater in hockey.

Officially they had to put 0.1 second on the clock for the puck drop after but commentators think there was literally a few hundredths of a second left and that was it (since hockey counts a goal based on the time the puck crosses the line, which I've always disagreed with and like the NBA/NFL clock style where the clock could be at 0, but if you got the snap or the shot off before the clock got to 0 then you're fine)

[Majingir]

Re: The Official 2024-25 Season Talk Thread

Panthers acquire Seth Jones (at 7m since Hawks retain 2.5m) for Spencer Knight and a conditional 1st.

Imo the Hawks got a steal. A bad contract like Jones is gone and they got a 1st AND a goalie who very well could turn in to their starter (say goodbye to tank commander Petr Mrazek).

Panthers give up a guy who could've taken over for Bobrovsky once he's done (he's 36 and has one more year at 10m) and instead replace that with a 30 year old dman making 7m for many more years, all while your top dman in Ekblad is expiring this season.

And Tkachuk being out...Panthers are going Vegas mode with LTIR that conveniently has a guy coming back in time for the playoffs while his team adds salary to their roster by the deadline.

[Kobalt]

Re: The Official 2024-25 Season Talk Thread

Oilers might trade for Gibson before this game is over

[DrJones]

Re: The Official 2024-25 Season Talk Thread

Leafs with the literal buzzer beater!

That's literally as close as you'll ever see to a buzzer beater in hockey.

Officially they had to put 0.1 second on the clock for the puck drop after but commentators think there was literally a few hundredths of a second left and that was it (since hockey counts a goal based on the time the puck crosses the line, which I've always disagreed with and like the NBA/NFL clock style where the clock could be at 0, but if you got the snap or the shot off before the clock got to 0 then you're fine)

Finally saw the replay, that was damned impressive. Knies shot the puck at the top of the circles with 0.6 seconds left. The only other buzzer beating breakaway I can recall in recent times was Marchand's coulda-been series ender at the end of the 3rd period in Game 5 against the Panthers in 2023, and Marchand released his shot mid-circles with a full 1.0 seconds left and Bobrovsky made the save at 0.8.

Now I'm curious if that was the fastest ever non-EN goal from a faceoff in the defensive zone - 5.6 seconds.

[Majingir]

Re: The Official 2024-25 Season Talk Thread

People used to say Wes McCauley has it out for Sheldon Keefe because Keefe testified against Wes' brother in law.

Some brushed it off as "Leafs fans exaggerating" but on Sunday another incident happened between the two, this time with Keefe in New Jersey.

Keefe gets fined while no sort of investigation gets launched on Wes.

[slickdtc]

Re: The Official 2024-25 Season Talk Thread

Went down the rabbit hole looking in to that relationship. Forgot all about Mike Danton and Frost.

[Majingir]

Re: The Official 2024-25 Season Talk Thread

Went down the rabbit hole looking in to that relationship. Forgot all about Mike Danton and Frost.

Keefe/Leafs are also 0-9 in playoff games reffed by Wes.

Devils and Leafs being in the playoffs this year, will be interesting to see which one gets Wes and what happens in the game.

[pietasterp]

Re: The Official 2024-25 Season Talk Thread

Sounds like Hughes might be out for the season. Going along w/ the Tkachuck injury, I hope this doesn't cast a pall on the Four Nations concept, which was brilliant.

Yes, it's always a risk when guys play high profile games and it sucks when it happens to a key member of one of your teams, but what's the alternative? The NBA model of "we don't care about anything ever"?

Despite the injuries to key players, I still think the exposure and excitement of the 4 Nations was worth it. I suppose Panthers and Devils fans may disagree(?).

[Majingir]

Re: The Official 2024-25 Season Talk Thread

There's really no perfect option.

Do it in February, you risk guys getting hurt during the final stretch of the season.

Do it in September, you risk guys getting hurt right before the season starts.

Do it in May, you'll obviously have some big names still playing in the playoffs and the other guys will likely just want to go on vacation rather than continue playing hockey (which is basically what the world hockey championships is anyways).

Do it in August and guys would probably opt out because it interferes with their vacation/offseason.

[Majingir]

Re: The Official 2024-25 Season Talk Thread

Reilly Smith trades have been something.

Vegas dealt him in 2023 to the Pens for a 3rd.

Pens dealt him in 2024 to the Rangers for a 2nd and 5th

Rangers now deal him in 2025 to Vegas for a 3rd and a prospect.