The Official 2021-22 Season Talk Thread

[Majingir]

Another season of hockey is about to get underway. Preseason kicks off this Saturday with a team that can win playoff rounds vs a team that can't win playoff rounds, which by the sound of things, could have a full house.

Lots of storylines to follow this season.

Seattle enters the league as the 32nd franchise, which could very well be the start of the longest time in the post O6 era without expansion, as I doubt we see any more in the next decade or two.

The Arizona Coyotes are playing their final season in their current arena. And maybe final season in Arizona? Where have we heard that before over the course of the last 15 years?

NHL returns to ESPN for the first time in 15+ years, and also goes to TNT.

Marc Andre Fleury is now in Chicago, and could be playing his final season.

Joe Thornton is in Florida of all places.

Ovechkins quest for the goal record continues. He's likely passing Dionne, Hull and Jagr this season to move into the top 3 all time.

Crosby likely gets goal #500 this season.

Both Ovechkin and Crosby could crack the top 20 all time in points.

Getzlaf, Backstrom, Spezza could all get 1000 points in their career this season.

Fleury likely gets win #500, becoming 3rd ever goalie to do that.

And the Leafs continue their neverending quest to win a playoff series.....

[Majingir]

Re: The Official 2021-22 Season Talk Thread

My early guess at playoff teams:

Atlantic:
Lightning
Bruins
Leafs
Panthers (WC)

Metro:
Pens
Caps
Canes
Islanders (WC)


Central:
Avs
Wild
Blues
Preds (WC)
Jets (WC)

Pacific:
Vegas
Seattle
Oilers


Cup finals: Lightning over Avs

[Majingir]

Re: The Official 2021-22 Season Talk Thread

Hockey is back tonight!

It's weird though how I'm not even so excited. Maybe its partly because of how last season ended, or because of things not feeling normal for so long that I've gotten use to things being different from how they used to be.

[rdnk]

Re: The Official 2021-22 Season Talk Thread

My early guess at playoff teams:

Atlantic:
Lightning
Bruins
Leafs

Metro:
Pens
Caps
Canes
Islanders (WC)
Panthers (WC)

Central:
Avs
Wild
Blues
Preds (WC)

Pacific:
Vegas
Seattle
Oilers
Jets (WC)

Cup finals: Lightning over Avs

I thought the only division realignment was Coyotes to central and Seattle to pacific. I'm pretty sure the Panthers are still in the atlantic and the Jets in the central.

Not a big fan of Nashville. They lost Arvidsson, Jarnkrok, Rinne and Ellis in the offseason. Replacements include Rittich, Glass and Myers. It feels like a retool year. I think Dallas, Chicago, Vancouver and LA are better teams.

Picking 15/16 teams who made the playoffs last year to make it again is interesting.

[Majingir]

Re: The Official 2021-22 Season Talk Thread

Only took 4 months, but Leafs finally got that 4th win vs the Habs.

[bhurst99]

Re: The Official 2021-22 Season Talk Thread

Hockey is back tonight!

It's weird though how I'm not even so excited. Maybe its partly because of how last season ended, or because of things not feeling normal for so long that I've gotten use to things being different from how they used to be.

You shouldn't be excited about the regular season. Our Leafs could go 60-20-2, Matthews could score 70 goals and Marner could tally 150 points -- and none of it will matter if they go out in the first round.

[Majingir]

Re: The Official 2021-22 Season Talk Thread

You shouldn't be excited about the regular season. Our Leafs could go 60-20-2, Matthews could score 70 goals and Marner could tally 150 points -- and none of it will matter if they go out in the first round.

Even in a fantasy scenario, no way Leafs are only losing 2 in OT/SO lol.

I'm sure the entire team knows the deal here. If they lose in rd1 or dont make it, major changes are bring made. Could be something like Rielly not brought back along with Marner moved.

If they make it to rd2, that's where it gets tricky. They should be making it far, but rd2 is more than likely TB. So losing to the 2x defending champs isn't bad, but losing in the 2nd round sounds bad.

[Majingir]

Re: The Official 2021-22 Season Talk Thread

Evander Kane now under investigation for submitting a fake vaccine card to the NHL.

And nobody was surprised.

[Majingir]

Re: The Official 2021-22 Season Talk Thread

Mikheyev out 2 months

Matthews out at least this week


This season already getting off to a lackluster start and it hasn't even begun yet.

[Kobalt]

Re: The Official 2021-22 Season Talk Thread

My SC prediction is Islanders over Vegas

[DrJones]

Re: The Official 2021-22 Season Talk Thread

My SC prediction is Islanders over Vegas

That'd be a hell of a feat. I can't help thinking their style of play isn't conducive to three lengthy playoff runs over a compressed time frame, but we'll see.

[Fiddy]

Re: The Official 2021-22 Season Talk Thread

Well, didn't expect the Pens to head into Tampa and pull that off. But, hot dang I'll take it.

[Jeffrey99]

Re: The Official 2021-22 Season Talk Thread

Not a big fan of the drone camera or whatever ESPN was using last night. Just way to far from the action and couldn't see anything.

[pietasterp]

Re: The Official 2021-22 Season Talk Thread

It was good to see hockey back on ESPN, though. It was immediately noticeable how much more coverage hockey got on "Sportscenter" right off the bat (insomuch as there was coverage, unlike the past 20 years or so). And the iconic NHL on ESPN theme music always warms the heart as well...

Watched the Kraken debut. I like that they went clean with their sweaters; didn't succumb to the 'expansion team' zaniness of using odd color combinations or overly 'market tested', Disney-fied looks. Minor minus points for using teal, but it sort of fits with Seattle (Mariners use a similar shade, and I generally like the idea of cities having a relatively uniform "theme" color palette for the pro sports franchises, like Pittsburgh with black-and-gold). That ended up being a pretty exciting game as well.

Also, good laugh of the night when Scott Van Pelt mentioned the "NHL 94" move on one of the goals...I know that joke gets old, but I laugh every time.

Bonus anecdote only meaningful to me: in college, I lost about 100 straight games of NHL 94 on Sega Genesis to my roommate (yes, I'm old, but that game was old even at that time - it was not a new release when I was in college, so save your insults LOL). He basically did the exact same move that everyone knows over and over and over again (skate straight at one side of the goal, make a hard-90-degree turn to the other side of the goal, release shot - rinse, repeat, ad infinitum until you win the game 12-8), and I eventually got so pissed off that I complained that if I could control the goaltender, he would never be able to score a goal because I wouldn't fall for that play.

So he looked up how to take control of the GK (I think hold down "C"?) to call my bluff, and the very next game, I won 2-1, the last 2 minutes of the game consisting of me icing the puck repeatedly to burn the clock. My roommate claimed my icing the puck at the end was not within the spirit of the game (although he used language that was not quite as erudite...I'm pretty sure he referred to me as female dog at one point) and threw down the controller in disgust.

We never played again.

[DrJones]

Re: The Official 2021-22 Season Talk Thread

NHL 94 was a new release when I was in college, LOL