The Official 2024-25 Season Talk Thread

[DrJones]

Quote: Originally Posted by Majingir

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]

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]

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

[slickdtc]

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]

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/DF8X...n/?img_index=3

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

[l3ulvl]

Quote: Originally Posted by DrJones

1972 Summit Series 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).

The not yet Foes Bowl?

[DrJones]

1974 Summit Series

Canada 3 USSR 3 (Quebec City)
Canada 4 USSR 1 (Toronto)
USSR 8 Canada 5 (Winnipeg)
Canada 5 USSR 5 (Vancouver)
USSR 3 Canada 2 (Moscow)
USSR 5 Canada 2 (Moscow)
USSR 4 Canada 4 (Moscow)
USSR Canada 2 (Moscow)

USSR wins 4-1-3

Didn't take long for us to reach best-on-best adjacent territory. Gordie Howe and Bobby Hull got their chance to wear the red maple leaf, as this Team Canada was WHA-only. 1972 whetted the appetite for this kind of competition, but the WHA was always considered second-string by most "hockey men" and the Canadian public, so this series has been more or less forgotten now.

Notes and Fun Facts:

- For those who weren't around back then, the 60s/70s were the glory days of offshoot leagues (TV had created big fanbases in underserved markets, people figured out there was money to be made in pro sports, the leagues preferred a closed shop and resisted expansion, etc.), resulting in the AFL, the ABA, and finally the World Hockey Association
- Starting with 12 teams in 1972, the WHA made a big splash with the Winnipeg Jets signing 50-goal man Bobby Hull from the Blackhawks for 5 years/2 million; Gordie Howe followed the following season to play with his sons in Hartford
- WHA teams weren't as strong as their NHL counterparts, but they played a run-and-gun style that became the NHL norm in the 1980s; the WHA's 4 survivors - Edmonton, Quebec (now Colorado), Hartford (now Carolina), and Winnipeg (now Utah via Phoenix) merged with the NHL before the 1979-80 season
- Wayne Gretzky won the Hart but NOT the Calder following his 137-point rookie season; he was deemed ineligible because he's played 80 games (and scored 110 points) as a 17-year-old in the WHA with the Oilers (Ray Bourque won the Calder instead)

Here's a nice goal from Kharlamov (no Bobby Clarke to worry about here):

[DrJones]

1976 Canada Cup

Format: 6-team round robin, 2 best records advance to best-of-3 final
Participants: Canada, USSR, Czechoslovakia, Finland, Sweden, USA
Locations: Ottawa, Toronto, Montreal, Winnipeg, Quebec City, Philadelphia

Canada 6 Czechoslovakia 0 (Toronto)
Canada 5 Czechoslovakia 4 (OT) (Montreal)

Canada wins 2-0

Finally, a real-*** tournament!

Notes and Fun Facts:

- Canada's "unified" roster (NHL & WHA) was arguably the most stacked team in history, with 18 future Hall of Famers (Canada's famed 1987 squad had 12)
- Bobby Orr was already on his last legs at the tender age of 28, but was the tournament's MVP with 9 points in 7 games; he appeared in only 26 NHL games after this
- For reasons unknown (politics? fear of players defecting? butthurt about their game against the Flyers a few months earlier?), the Soviets elected to keep half of their stars at home
- As a result, the Czechs were considered to be the 2nd favourite going in and lived up to their billing (indeed, they beat Canada 1-0 in the round robin); they featured one of the great goalie names of all time (Vladimir Dzurilla!) and two Stastny brothers (Peter and Anton, Marian missed out)
- The Canadian public had quickly developed a taste for this kind of thing after 1972; Game 2 of the final apparently garnered the highest TV ratings in Canadian history to that point (I'm skeptical of this claim, kinda doubt it beat out the moon landing)
- The OT winner was scored by Leafs captain Darryl Sittler, coming off his still-record 10-point night against the Bruins a few months earlier; his faked shot technique is still used to this day (yes, this is a cheap excuse to sneak in a Canucks highlight)