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IBatch

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Everything posted by IBatch

  1. No worries you still made a good point and it’s before my time too. Edit: It’s not before my uncles time though ... feel bad they are still waiting for a cup an senior citizen’s now...and that they had to choose between TO and MTL as their favourite teams growing up ha ha ... growing up in Castlegar. At least they had the Trail Smokeeaters amazing run to win the World Cup though..
  2. Until you take his SO wins away and make then ties and SO losses away and make them ties too. For me at least I think this should be done in the record books to treat all the goalies pre 2004 fairly ....
  3. Shameful. Just like his firing was. Of course he’s going to say things that are politically incorrect - but he’s a Patriot and there still is a message in what he did say that’s important to anyone who doesn’t wear a poppy on Remembrance Day. A lot of younger people - for that I apologize for my and my parents generations for not instilling how very important that “Never Again” doesn’t click with you. Imagine an entire world at war - and one side offering facism, racism, genocide winning for the first three years ... we need to do better for sure but doing better isn’t firing an icon for blowing his top on national TV for offending some people (which he always did anyways) especially when the message is that important. And you can bet the ones that were offended the most were not immigrants - the ones I knew were thankful as they want to take on our customs and be good citizens too. Ridiculous really - Cherry’s son shouldn’t have to go to the HHOF and see his Dad posthumously. Now I’m sure folks are nodding their heads and saying good riddance with a lot of recent justification giving them moral high ground. I bet he doesn’t really care much about anyone’s skin colour - what he always cares about were Canadians and Canadian NHL jobs though - especially the pluggers like himself.
  4. Problem is these guys played for us so don’t count ha ha... imagine Don Cherry with Pat Quin ... well it never happened. And from this logic we could say Bure and Mogilny count too - both Red Army brats however brief ...
  5. Bathgate was a superstar...but so was Bower. He and my Grandad served together and if he wasn’t sick would have also landed on the beach in Dieppe with him. Was an AHL superstar ... lied about his age - joined the NHL and toasted his peers in fitness testing as a 33?34?35? year old right until retirement. Then proceeded to become an NHL superstar. Without him TO would have a few less cupa. And he had some stiff competition with Sawchuk largely regarded as the best to ever play goalie...his sp is unreal by those standards only Plante came close...Bower is one of the most interesting players ever. 600 pro wins...like Broduer. Back then in a six team league you can bet the talent was also superb in other leagues.
  6. Went with Esposito but razor thin between Bathgate and Bower. Bower is the only goalie other then Broduer to have 600 pro career wins ... if he played all of his games in the NHL I have zero doubt he’d be in the top two or three guys in the conversation for best all-time. Historians have gone back to 1953 (so far) and his sp was better then Luongo ...where as Espo’s was much better then most of his peers at the time with the exception of Parent and Dryden (also better then most would think - especially as stand up goalies - .919 while on PHI and for Dryden it’s Hasekeqsue...why these guys shared the Vezina’s for a decade - mostly Dryden winning it). Cool topic. Heck changed my mind it’s got to be Bower.
  7. Their forward group is actually pretty solid right down the lineup - don’t have the same top end ability their best players used to have but if they put it all on the line right from the start we could end up disappointed. As long as our players do the same we should come out on top. Worried about cheap shots against our youngsters as a way to knock us out of the series ... will be a big test for EP, QHs and BB.
  8. Amen. Can’t wait until the season gets back to playing. With everyone rested and healthy this could be one heck of a tournament.
  9. Not expecting him to reach McKinnon, Stamkos, Tavares heights - however NHL Olympic teams always had one or two very good two-way guys added all the way back to 1998 in favour of players that could pick up more points. Horvat simply talking about how he’d love to participate is pretty cool - 2022 it’s unlikely but you never know as Biestra mentioned Rob Zamuner made the team as did an aging Shane Corson in 98 over a lot of guys who outproduced them and in 2002 Gagne, Peca (Bergeron of course he should be there) and Ryan Smith...and in 2006 Khris Draper and Captain Canada again and in 2010 a great comparable Brendan Morrow made the team ... so although I’d agree there is an outside chance - I wouldn’t say it’s “highly unlikely” at all. Heck Hamhuis made the roster in 2014 over quite a few candidates that could and were more worthy - because of his overall two-way game which is exactly what Horvat is good at. Who does he get for linemates? Pearson (who’s enjoyed a huge career rebound) and LE - plus at home the toughest assignments (he’s the guy that draws against McKinnon’s line - Crosby’s line - McDavid’s line etc etc). ... think your not giving him nearly enough credit. He’s got a history of clutch play too - maybe we will get to see some of that in a month ... hope we do. Wouldn’t be surprised to see Horvats name come up in the top ten Selke conversations starting now. 60% of you face-offs in your own zone is a lot different then 42% like Bergeron takes...and wow look at his linemates.
  10. Yeah ... he’s not a top 4 Canadian center - but he does have very good face off and a growing Selke like game. Hard to know who the heir apparent to Bergeron will be but most certainly 2022 will be his last Olympics unless he’s like Howe or Jagr...even Crosby might be done by 2026 although I’d expect he won’t be and still a top 4 center. McDavid, Crosby, McKinnon will be the top three, followed by guys like Tavares, Stamkos, Bergeron etc...Horvat might have to wait until 2026 and even then with the next crop of guys coming in might not make the cut. 12 forwards plus a few spares...even tougher to get in as a defenseman...From our team id expect JT Miller, EP, BB, QHs and maybe Elder. Podz maybe too but he’d have to have one heck of KHL and first NHL season to get considered and really depends on when rosters have to be in by, definitely a long shot. Oh yeah Markstrom too.
  11. Noticed the Olympics were back on yesterday - always felt that the players would press hard to make sure it would be added to the next agreement. Hopefully 2022 is going to be ok ... could be one of the last time’s we see guys like Crosby and Bergeron represent us same with Weber, Burns and a few others. This was really good news for us as fans, another labour dispute would have just added to the pile (although I didn’t have much doubt they’d make it work, NHL and NHLPA dealings have never been better - escrow was the big topic, followed or maybe just as important to the players - the Olympics). Horvat made some comments about how playing in the Olympics is something players all dream of doing .... he keeps up his solid two-way play and maybe he will be in or at least be a spare in 2022 or used as a winger.
  12. Nah Benn is an huge anchor at this point - let it keep their ship lumbering along at that cap hit.
  13. I agree OTT says no straight up...as far as cap goes BTs likely won’t look much different then BB currently is - the savings would be spent this year but be off the books by the end of the year anyways - it would help sign Tanev to a one year deal, Edper is off too, Sutter, Pearson, Roussel, Bear....those guys won’t all be back ... this deal would help us this year for sure and not make much of a difference next off-season (difference between BT and BB.). Likely have to add ... but even then I don’t see them biting.
  14. Yes thankfully it is. NHL and the NHLPA agreed to re-join the Oympics in 2022 and 2026... given the disappointment missing out in 2018, it’s a great win for hockey players and fans right now - especially the timing. At least that’s something to look forward to, by then Covid should be in the back mirror.
  15. Do they have an actual number yet? Are they part of the 26 confirmed players or do they get added to the total? Most likely they will be fine by the start date if they were part of the original players .... could be 4-6 weeks after in that case ...
  16. That makes it hard for a few players - that want to play despite bring high risk covid cases. If all things were the same back in the 70’s Bobby Clark would probably fit into this category and you could bet every nickel that he would fight this as much as he could just to play anyways. The ironic thing is the players are almost certainly safer in the bubble then their home cities if they play for any US team. Which the players themselves have brought up several times. This tournament is happening barring any catastrophic events. Someone would almost have to purposely bring it in ... which unfortunately is a thing...reading a story of a 30 year old who went to what they call a “Covid party” - 20-30 year olds get together in mass and party literally daring each other to see if anyone gets it (sharing drinks - no social distancing etc...pretty Darwin Awardish) and the mans last words were he wished he didn’t tempt fate (he died). Screening and testing of the support staff will be absolutely critical...anyone who’s impatient or rude to restaurant staff good chance you’ve eaten their saliva or worse. If I was running this I’d have a caretaker/security watching every single step of the supply chain especially in the kitchen monitoring things. That and checking constantly on cleaning and making sure the bubbles integrity is maintained.
  17. Hmmm.. doing the math that can’t be it..marginal difference. For sure it has more to do with showing his unhappiness towards how things have worked out. Injuries for sure played into his exit from the NHL..
  18. We have arguably the deepest top nine in the league and experts and regular folks have noticed this. We match up well against Boston..after Marchand their left side is all 4th pairing compared to deeper teams...Tampa Bay is the standard to beat - that has a lot to do with their no state tax and extremely team friendly contracts more then anything - still they had to trade JT Miller to allow for raises. Our team is chocked full of middle six depth, we lose a forward no big deal at all and have flexibility as several guys can play more then one position. I agree for sure out top six isn’t elite - but it is in the top ten... even fantasy playoff pools are coming out with our top line as a 6-8 spot, same with our second line. (For anyone who does these sort of things a big factor is how far teams might go...this is second-third round expectations too which is cool...why? Because we are a Dark Horse for sure!!). Agree too that our top six has the potential to move up...however it id be much happier if we get just a little bit better - would hate to end up like TO, PIT, WSH, TB, Boston where it’s a WCE scenario and rely on a couple or few guys to carry the mail... CHI went through it too and look at how they’ve had to waste both Kane and Toews prime as a result of huge raises. That said the above teams aside from TB and TO won all the cups (with the exception of LA) the past decade. (ok St Louis too...that’s exactly the type of team we are building...good for JB having a pulse on trends before they come...the NHL has always made micro-changes to mimic the most recent winners and we are almost already there..hate Myers all you want but without him both Tanev and Edler wouldn’t have played nearly as many games - depth depth depth). Personally I’ve only seen the Canucks this much top nine depth ... well factually never. Make a lineup you think was deeper with relative PGP ... only the Linden teams match up. Adams, Linden, Ronning, Courtnall, Craven, Momesso and Bure. The Sedins maybe but not really- they relied on their top line and Kesler and then a middle of the row third line (without Miholtra) and a ok fourth line but not great relatively. Our fourth line is probably Sutter Beagle LE...expensive but top tier. Edit: I have a feeling good things are coming ... maybe even over the next couple of months. Once the puck drops our team is going to play hard and win a lot of games. And the farther we go the more the pendulum switches into our favour ... as far as attrition goes in our forward group few teams can match up our top 12.
  19. 100% agreed. GMs shouldn’t ever be fired if their team is consistently getting better - just like any worker who’s production starts ok/fine and gets better year after year. And yes we’ve seen this many times on other teams recently and our very own (Nonis - did he really deserve the axe?... Bertuzzi trade gave us one of the biggest bumps we could ever hope for - no Luongo - no President trophies period). I didn’t think we’d be as good as we’ve ended up so quickly. Figured 6-8 years from the time JB took over before we’d sniff the playoffs. Why? Sedin era team wasn’t giving us anything back - Horvat and Markstrom and Sutter ... wow ... big effing deal. Go from the best team in the league for two years and a top 7 team over a five year period to a total disaster - the disaster being we got relatively sh!t back for it. A few picks - which were used on Vey and Bear - understandable. I thought we were headed into a decade of irrelevance given like you said - how many teams there are now. Used to be the last teams that made the playoffs were sub-.500 (21 teams - 16 make the show right?). Now it’s virtually impossible to create a dynasty. As far as product goes the hockey is very good. But I do miss the enforcer element and how much harder players used to hit. It’s exciting. Off topic but truly this is not the golden age - that passed by us from around 73-94. No adds on the boards (anyone remember that?) ... a lot cleaner look - awesome open ice hits - a way more physical game. Sometimes emotions spilled over and bench clearing brawls occurred (nobody remained sitting including most watch on TV). We had guys like Dave Brown, Shultz, Ben Wihlson, Probert, Gillies...watch some Brown highlights- that guy was unreal. Of course Williams too. Now who do we have? Virtually no one. With apologies to Reaves, Wilson and Simmonds... the average enforcer (Odjick) would have fed you your lunch every time. Ugh. Hockey isn’t the same - but maybe it’s gone back to how it used to be which I guess is ok too (pre Ferguson). The only issue I have is players had been taken care of for 3 decades - and pre PHI all players were expected to fight their own battles. 30 years of big brother doing it for you has removed that from the game for the most part (doesn’t help that the league is full of mellinials and gen z ‘s either - but that’s ok). We are back to 1950-1960 style rolling four lines with the very best teams can manage - with the exception back then if you were challenged you didn’t look for someone else to do it for you - you dropped the gloves and did it yourself. Hopefully that will change too - but not sure given the generations already doing it or the ones coming in. It’s frustrating. Hockey could be a lot better then it is... it was better then it is. Hopefully that also will revert with time and some balance will come back...either way I’m happy the quality is pretty good.
  20. Add CAR and CLB to the list. Factually when JB took over our team wasn’t much better then an expansion team under the old rules - with the exception our lineup was chocked full of aging vets in cap eating contracts all with NTC/NMC....CAR almost a decade ... CLB 3 playoffs appearances in 2 decades (and two of them just now)....we had Horvat folks ... and Markstrom who only just broke out the last 1.5 years...(before never ranked in the top 30 goalies)....ugh. Yeah some people can’t see the forest for the trees of whatever. The Linden team quickly turned into the WCE team which also had the Sedins. That core is still with us today in Markstrom. JB should be given an award for what he managed - all the GMs on all those other teams mentioned couldn’t turn things around with higher picks and more to work with (except CLB - they had to do it the hard way under old expansion rules). CAR was a top team in the 2000’s... no wonder they took almost a decade to get back. Top teams usually end up going through the mill before they get another chance at a cup once it’s over. See Detroit... EDM with all its riches in picks and prospects after arguably the best dynasty ever couldn’t make it work in the 90’s (although CUJO stole some series for them). I truly never thought we had a chance ... JB has given me hope - damn him for that ha ha. Blowing things up just to go after what if’s is ridiculous. We can only afford 5-7 core players depending on star status...and already have EP, QH, BB, Horvat, Miller and Markstrom... Edit: As far as JBs first rounders - only one - OJ - didn’t make it and so far is a bust. NHL.com had been doing re-drafts for a month or so now and the top ten rarely looks anything like the draft order - same with the top 11-20. Scouts don’t consider a player drafts 6-10 a bust if he plays 400 games ... JV is not a bust at all. EDMs demise the past 12 years is they can’t get a player past the first round (and even then not always - Yakupov is a bigger bust then Daigle was or Stefan for that matter) ... if they had guys like Demko, Tree, AG properly inserted into their lineup they would never had to wait so long to get back into the playoff hunt. Terrible drafting one of the worst in the entire league especially given how high they picked. Personally I think we will end up with one of the best top nine in the league once Podz, Lind or Hogs makes it ... and they don’t have to be stars - 20/20 guys are almost as valuable on the third line (hello JV that’s you). The extra money will have to focused on defense - the same way MG managed by adding Erhoff and Hamhuis. No big deal - JB already put that in motion with Myers. The extra money of course being the 9 million we will have once LE and Luongo are done ... Sutter, Roussel, Beagle, and maybe Pearson will all be replaced with cheaper options - hopefully internal ones. Then we should have 3 years of maximum cap advantage... I’d rather have Horvat and Miller then one of Mathews, Kucherov or even McDavid anyday. Teams that don’t have ridiculous cap hits for one player have a much more sustainable system. McDavid plus Kassian .... is that better then EP plus Miller? Not IMO... Sure superstars are great and all but their is a cap trade off. McDavid at 12.5 compared to JV at 1.5....who’s the better value player? Even JV at 3 it’s debatable.
  21. If BB is has to go for cap reasons ... I think we need to find a partner with a good RHD prospect who’s on an ELC to help carry us until next season at least cap wise... Bouchard or Dobson ... EDM is out (way too big a trade within our own division when we are both competitive now, plus they need Bouchard even more then we do) so maybe Dobson. Otherwise I’d rather keep the status quo...and I don’t like the idea of trading BB at all. Has Neely/Hull like potential regret written all over him. If TT doesn’t want to sign with us then BB shouldn’t even be a discussion. We still have Ferland for 3 more years - Pearson for one and Bear for one and Roussel for one ... at least short term our left side is loaded enough.. and AG plays the left side when Sutter takes face offs... so he’s a LW/C just like Miller .... Personally doubt we can afford both TT and Pearson long term - so any trades should start with him (not a cap dump the best we could do without getting into a core player like BB) his stock is high - and we have Ferland and Bear ... surely one of them could fill that role for one season while we see if Lind can make the jump....
  22. Things aren’t much different now fear/anxiety wise as they were growing up with the fear created by the threat of nuclear war - so yeah I get the bunker idea in fact doesn’t seem that looney to me at all (every three months emptying dozens of gallons of water jugs with Dad - fill them up with tap water and store them with 80lb bags of wheat grain, rice ,beans and peas that filled a 10 x 10 storage room in the basement) in fact seems smart. At worst you won’t make it to your bunker but someone else will find it and survive ha ha. 1/4 positive testing makes you wonder how many aren’t bothering with it and how bad it really is .. at 200$ a test with no insurance you can bet not everyone is bothering without serious symptoms. The US is mostly backwards because of their ignorant education system - center is the universe propaganda ... 30th worldwide and they don’t even know it for the most part. Not we are number one ... and their north/south politics need to adapt and change too. They kind of got the president they deserve. A capitalist blowhard. We are number one! In violence, propaganda and creating obese folks living in poverty. The internet might just save them - taught they are best at everything and then find out ranked 30th education wise.... have high hopes the next couple of generations will create change for the better down there. Should look at our system .... it’s not so bad.
  23. Nobody isn’t aware of the risks...
  24. Sure. So many things COULD go wrong that maybe nobody should ever leave the comfort of their homes again. Maybe a puck will hit Weber and then carom off and take out Price but on the way take out all players on both benches too...since we are talking about what ifs. Daily testing might not be enough - but it sure will reduce the risks ... the entire bubble staff is also under protocols too - a lot stricter ones then the average grocery store or Canadian Tire or whatever. Plus they have the best health care anyone could hope for at their fingertips...Players all have the option not to play. So far it’s a nominal issue - why not just let them play and worry about things as they come - especially considering they have such a safe environment in which to do it. Of course anything can happen but they are safer then they would be a home. More chances of a player getting very ill because of the US spread then there is of doing their job - many players have expressed this including our Captain, Horvat (who despite some chatter is playing even though he’s just had a baby). Respect.
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