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oldnews

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Everything posted by oldnews

  1. good game. not sure how the Habs didn't manage to finish in the last 10 minutes - I think the Leafs were fortunate to escape without OT....
  2. Hard pass on pointless D targets like Vince Dunn that we don't need / and aren't really a fit here. Stick to the RHD that can handle themselves without the puck....ideally someone that could partner with Hughes at some point... Cernak / Cal Foote Mayfield / NYI another possible good target.... what is Buffalo gonna do? Ie Risto. some decent potential UFA placeholders expiring as well (that won't cost assets...) Savard, Larsson, Johns (if he recovers from concussion(s), Ceci....
  3. "protests" over hockey storylines referencing "history", right sides, wrong sides lol. carry on doubt this helps.
  4. Love watching the Isles - solid build - deep, balanced team. One of those franchises I hope we might be able to "exploit" in the expansion draft - would be nice to poach a Mayfield from them if they can't/don't/are unable to protect him.
  5. Is there a way to see these polls? I think I had the Avs in 5 - thought St L might win one - but not surprised at all to see Colorado roll over them. What a fun team to watch. What a job Sakic has done. Took a long time - but coming together. They are no short-window team either - they are likely to continue to terrorize the league for some time. Kudos on the victory. Really easy team to like (Kadri aside) - lots of respect for players like NM, GL....
  6. well, I'd never accuse you of understating your case, KH. I can't stand McMe1st's / McMilkhotdog's ultra entitled attitude (same with Matthews = embarrassing) - but I wouldn't go as far as you lol (not even close). "locker room 'cancer'?" I've never been in the Oiler's locker room.
  7. Listen to his appeal and then extend the suspension. Cheap shot artist that has earned his reputation = 100%. This is his gutless m.o. - ala his cowardly blindside head shot on Sedin - hope he spends the rest of the postseason in the sin bin where he belongs.
  8. Furlatt and Pollock jobbed the Habs in game 2 - did a bang up job - not sure they need Meier. The NHL has plenty of game-management depth.
  9. you're welcome to feel sorry for the "City of Champions". I can understand how a Leafs fan would relate to the futility - one with a 'modern' memory - but you don't have fistfuls of Stanley Cups like the Oilers, do you? I don't think anyone here is expressing 'cruelty' to their fans. I believe the main points would be: 1) you have had countless first overall picks - and you still can't lottery your way to a winning team 2) you have extremely obnoxious elements to your media - that trolled this team at every opportunity (and Calgary) - that gloated endlessly over your lottery championships- and counted the chickens prematurely - yes, we're talking about people like you, Mark Spector. Elite troll - who has invited all the 'pushback' they could possibly receive. 3) you have played pond-hockey for over a decade - it's hard to feel sorry for a franchise that can neither build a team, nor play the game "the right way." Even the Leafs were quicker to alter their course (brought in a 'puck-possession' coach, one that expected two-way hockey out of them (Babcock) from the outset of their re-re-rething.) 4) you never stop with the Connor, Connor, Connor commercializing, the Messier phone calls, dredging Gretzky - substituting 'superstar' glitz (and cheese-whiz) for building a playoff hockey team. That said - I still don't 'mind' the Coilers - I enjoy the Jets success more than I do Oiler failures (it's gotten so old at this point that I can borderline sympathize - but until they do more than bring in a Dave Tippett to correct it all - it's still all on them.) Do for themselves and perhaps they'll command more 'respect'.
  10. What a game of beauty. Typical lottery champion performance. Get 6 pts from your two players - still can't win the hockey game. That's with Kassian attempting to take that team on his back. Kudos to him - what a game - best/most consistent Oiler on the ice (and a +2 to show for it). But this is why you don't "tear down" your team "culture". Tippett is still "rebuilding" the Oilers - whether people realize it or not. He's done a great job in some areas, but that was a long term clusterphuck that will take a long term 'rething' to correct imo. Tippett was a good choice imo - Holland, not sure I can think the same.
  11. The Habs have a pair of 20 and 21 year old centers, 44% and 47.9% in the faceoff circle - both of them 'needing' relatively tilted minutes... If the Leafs can't take advantage of that specific aspect of the mathup = they are in a world of trouble. Then again, if they can get a steady stream of enabling, game-managed leads to help them avoid getting outskated 5 on 5 - that's where their other 'advantage' lies. Game 2 was disgusting = reminded me of (at least) one of the San Jose playoff series. I'd like to think there won't be any repeats in this series - but been around too long to expect the NHL to opt for 'subtlety' - we've seen how heavy handed they get when they desire a particular outcome.
  12. Cowardly, borderline Marchandian. But the Jets waive that suspension. And thank him.
  13. Classic, ugly game management. Feed the Leafs a lead with powerplays Make it clear to the Habs that they better play cautious hockey - the 200ft, aggressive game will be ballbusted. The Habs effectively stop outskating, outhitting the Leafs. It's no longer a 5on5 game - it's special teams and game management. And boring af. Zebras throw the whistles away - enable the Leafs to 'protect' their managed lead. Fine Weber to underlie the message.
  14. seems like an odd place/thread to drop this into - but who cares. I agree. The expectations of Hughes - were/are absurd. First - he was outstanding in his rookie season - and/but many people seriously underestimated the impact of Tanev. Second - he struggled without Tanev this year - but further, Hamonic parachuted in exceptionally rusty, really struggled early in the year - and then he too was gone for a long stretch due to injury. The early stretch of the season was extremely challenging for most young players/teams imo. Hughes was playing with a revolving door of partners (don't want to be too hard on Benn, who played well, but a replacement D on his off side is not an ideal partner for Hughes...) EP played only 26 games (and was still 6th on the team in scoring this season). Long stretches without their hard minutes centers - and Motte - a lot of 'foundation' lacking this season...not to mention the obvious outbreak....Hughes must have been plain exhausted through stretches of the season - but to his credit, imo his game tightened up a bit as the season progressed, in a good way - and he showed some real signgs of utilizing his strenghts without the puck late in the season. Some folks believe he was entering his "prime" this season - perhaps in part why some of the expectations are so unrealistic. The expectations of Rathbone - are likewise - absurd. Already talk about him taking Edler's minutes next season (no concept of how difficult Edler's minutes are) - and also the assumption that he's already leapfrogged Juolevi. Folks need to slow down - the excitement is great - but the pressure and expectations they put on rookies just entering the league - is not helpful or realistic. It's great timing imo to have a player like Rathbone emerging in one sense - he could be a great #2 pp unit quarterback - and he looks like a player that is likely to stick in the NHL - great skater, poised, intelligent - love his game as well. But at the same time, the team has three young LHD - so to fit all of them in the lineup, and complement them well - will require a very solid right side. Myers, Schmidt and (Hamonic? if he's returning) are solid imo - but it puts a lot of hard minutes weighted to those three....I'd expect to see more of a tandem situation among LHD - likely with at least one veteran (Edler returning) to bring some balance to the group (perhaps we see OJ and Rathbone platooned?)
  15. Danault mugged behind the net Kotk hit in the numbers Furlatt and Pollock managing this one
  16. Carry in 43%. Tied with Boston for 8th lowest. 14% entries with chances (1% below Boston). Anaheim next closest at 43/11.... Only 10 NHL teams were above 14% entries with chances (according to your source). New Jersey is top in the league at 55% carry-in (unfortunately, they were 19w-30l - one of the worst teams in the NHL). So, two things there - if a team leads the NHL in %carry-ins, as NJ does, there is no necessary correlation to results. NJ, Buffalo and Chicago = none of them playoff teams - were 3 of the top 4 in carry in%. Buffalo and Chicago wound up at the same (14) and lower (12) percentages than Vancouver for entries with chances %. Toronto who finished 1st in the North was at 46%/16%. Only 5 teams in the NHL were over 50%. Carolina - at 44% - had 17% entries with chances - tied for top in the NHL... Not sure that says as much about our 'systems' relative to the rest of the NHL as people that seem to believe the 'dump and chase system' of the team is what drags it down from a coaching/tactical sense. No real evidence of that there. And - contextually - I'd expect our entries to be deflated without a player like EP in the lineup most of the season - certainly effects the top line and top unit of the powerplay - needless to say Pettersson's puck handling/stick handling, ability to carry the puck, vision to move it - and his quickness - enhance the team's entries. Also as pointed out elsewhere - this is a team that had Boyd, Chatfield, Graovac, Hawryluk, Highmore, (Hoglander), Lind, Lockwood, Michaelis, Rathbone, Vesey...all in their lineup - (a few other youth like OJ not named) - the only newcomer there that earned a spot to start the season was Hoglander ()... 10 replacement, waivers, AHL callup, rookies, young prospects in the lineup.....Combine that with a poor start to the season - I don't expect their particular entry numbers to be better than the lower-mid-range that they were. And really - says very little about the team's overall systems.
  17. two or three Leaf dives that period. they know they're gonna lose this series at 5 on 5.
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