Around the NHL 2023-24 season thread - part II

[Brodeur]

It's especially important for defenseman. You want the dominant hand on top so you can poke check with your better hand. For some reason, it's mostly Americans that tend to play opposite of that. I'm guessing it comes from playing baseball, where hitters swing with the dominant hand further up the bat.

Maybe more simple than that in some cases, especially if somebody grew up in a non-hockey area like I did. If my clueless parents bought me a stick as a kid, they'd probably have gone to a sporting goods shop and had a random employee ask if I was right or left handed.

I did teach myself how to switch hit when I was a kid since my favorite player was Chili Davis. I'm now equally mediocre hitting right or left handed. Although it was always fun at company softball to take my first AB left handed. Then when I came up the second time, the defense would shift as I was walking up to the plate and then I'd take the AB right handed.

 

[HughesCorporation]

In the old days before radio and cold fusion I enjoyed Andy Capp's Hot Fries. Not sure if they still make those or they were outlawed by the Geneva Convention.

they still do, my wife gets them at shoprite for me.

 

[Guttersniped]

they still do, my wife gets them at shoprite for me.

If she’s not hitting you with a rolling pin for being at the pub all day. (Andy Capp was a terrible comic strip.)

 

[njdevils1982]

I always enjoy finding out that right shooting players are naturally left handed (ie dominant hand on top). An odd number of my beer league teammates like to play hockey but don't really watch the NHL and they're always surprised when there's a majority of left handed shooting players. And I always tell them they're the ones who are odd for shooting right.

Also enjoy how some on the main board had the compulsive need to crap on the Leafs signing Jacob Quillan just because it's the Leafs. But so far with the Sharks signing Graf, everybody is taking pity on how bad San Jose has been this season.

maybe he's really right handed and posing the shot for a lark.

i know when i play air guitar i play lefty....had people comment "oh, youre a lefty"

to which i respond no... but i play air guitar left and real guitar right

 

[Brodeur]

maybe he's really right handed and posing the shot for a lark.

i know when i play air guitar i play lefty....had people comment "oh, youre a lefty"

to which i respond no... but i play air guitar left and real guitar right

My buddy is left handed but learned to play guitar righty since that's what was available. One of my dream guitars to own would be the Jimi Hendrix converted righty Strats. Fender started making replica ones several years back, but I don't play as much in the last decade so I couldn't justify the purchase.

 

[njdevils1982]

My buddy is left handed but learned to play guitar righty since that's what was available. One of my dream guitars to own would be the Jimi Hendrix converted righty Strats. Fender started making replica ones several years back, but I don't play as much in the last decade so I couldn't justify the purchase.

problem for me is i never liked the setup on even a regular strat... sideways 5 way switch shit....no

couldnt imagine playing a hendrix setup with dials on top and a pickup switch in the way.... comical to my brain.

i did this circa 2003...(photo is from last april before rebuild/fix/upgrade april 2023)


switch on bottom horn, stacked neck dials (vol/tone)

single dial for bridge pickup, volume only.


it was a labour of love. and it's got the best setup up of any of my instruments talking about intonation.

it lives

 

[My3Sons]

problem for me is i never liked the setup on even a regular strat... sideways 5 way switch shit....no

couldnt imagine playing a hendrix setup with dials on top and a pickup switch in the way.... comical to my brain.

i did this circa 2003...(photo is from last april before rebuild/fix/upgrade april 2023)


switch on bottom horn, stacked neck dials (vol/tone)

single dial for bridge pickup, volume only.


it was a labour of love. and it's got the best setup up of any of my instruments talking about intonation.


View attachment 846439View attachment 846439


it lives

View attachment 846443View attachment 846443

that looks really sharp.

 

[Bleedred]

My left handed friend is a right handed bass player.

He basically does everything with his left hand, but just couldn't find the left handed bass when he started playing as a pretty young kid.

He's still never played a left handed guitar in his life and says he wouldn't feel right doing it. It would just feel awkward and completely throw him off.

 

[HBK27]

 

[Guttersniped]

Pretty epic prank from Fleury.

Timeline

1) 12/19/24 - Duhaime calls Fluery 50 in postgame interview.

This prank war has been going on for months. It started when Duhaime made a quip on the Bally’s postgame show in December in Boston that Fleury delivering a brilliant performance was great considering he’s 50 years old.

In a game not too long after, Fleury said Duhaime would find his clothes somewhere. The winger ended up walking out without a shirt under his coat and wearing furry boots.

2) 12/24/24 - Fluery messes with Duhaime’s clothes



3) Duhaime gives Fleury gag gift.

Duhaime left a pink cane on Fleury’s net at practice around Christmas, part of his “Secret Santa” gift.

4) 3/8/24 - first COL vs MIN (@COL) game after Duhaime is traded to Avs

The pranks didn’t stop when Duhaime got traded to the Avalanche at the deadline. The Wild played the Avalanche a game later, and Duhaime said Fleury tied his skates together, giving them some bunny ears.

5) 4/4/24 - second COL vs MIN (@MIN) game after trade

So with the Avalanche in Minnesota last week, Duhaime ended an interview with a reporter, asking if his recorder was off.

“I’m going to get (Fleury),” he said.

Then came Duhaime’s TP’ing of Fleury’s car, which Duhaime called a one-man job.

“That’s the type of guy he is,” Shaw said of Duhaime. “He’s a fun guy away from the rink, not afraid to get in a battle on or off the ice. Not surprised at all. It’s been pretty funny to watch this unfold.”

6) 4/9/24 third COL vs MIN (@COL) game after trade

Fleury, known as “Flower,” doesn’t typically own up to pranks. Sometimes, it’ll take years for him to do so. Even on Tuesday, Fleury said with a straight face, “Usually, I don’t do pranks.” But the future Hall of Famer left a special signature on this one, laying his own flower garden of pansies on a bed of soil on the hood. There was a “For Sale” sign on the windshield with a hand-written note telling Duhaime he’d get keys to the lock and tools to fix it if he sent a video apology.

Apology video:

“He could have been more sincere,” Fleury joked.

Fleury comments:

How did Fleury pull it off?

Fleury said he’s been brainstorming since Duhaime’s brazen prank last week, wrapping rolls of toilet paper all over his car during a morning skate in Minnesota. The fact that the Wild were heading to Denver the next week, arriving Sunday with a full off-day Monday, meant Fleury had ample opportunity.

And help.

“It definitely wasn’t a solo job,” Duhaime said. “I don’t think he can change a tire, to be honest with you.”

“Me?” Fleury asked, laughing. “I can. He can’t. That’s his problem. It’s still in the parking lot.

“This guy? Jeez.”

Fleury said he took an Uber from the team hotel to Home Depot to gather the supplies, including the cinder blocks, soil and flowers, picking pansies because he was in a hurry.

<cut>

When Fleury got to the parking lot, helpers/teammates were waiting.

“I don’t want to reveal, but I can’t take all the credit,” Fleury said. “I did have some help. Some fine gentlemen helped me throughout the process.”

“He’s a good kid, always in for a good laugh,” Fleury said of Duhaime. “I’d rather do it to him than (Mats Zuccarello), who’d be more pissed off about it. You’ve got to choose your crowd.”

What struck Duhaime, too, was that this was allowed to happen in the Avalanche lot, which typically has security.

“He had inside sources, outside sources,” Duhaime quipped. “He knows everyone in Colorado at this point. You’d think (security) would buckle down and take care of their own. They let him in with flying colors.”

Fleury said security “did their job.”

“They got busy with something else,” he said. “So I took advantage of it.”

Duhaime’s new coach on prank

Avalanche coach Jared Bednar thought the whole exchange was funny, but he did make an interesting point: Why the heck did Duhaime even risk bringing his car to the arena on Monday, knowing Fleury was in town?

“No way I would have brought mine,” Dakota Mermis said.

Don't mess with Flower: How the Wild's Marc-Andre Fleury pulled off his latest prank masterpiece

Brandon Duhaime said Fleury must've had an inside man on the prank: "You’d think (security) would buckle down and take care of their own."

theathletic.com

 

[AfroThunder396]

Watching Rangers fans twist themselves into pretzels trying to defend Trouba and Rempe while throwing tantrums over Pelech and Tom Wilson is quite the spectacle.

 

[Poppy Whoa Sonnet]

Really does seem like the Arizona Coyotes are on their last legs. The market is fine, but the ownership is a joke and has alienated all local governments that would be potentially friendly to a new arena.

A committed team owner is just so crucial to long term success. Thanks to John McMullen for putting in the effort and funding to make NHL hockey in NJ a thing.

 

[NjDevsRR]

Watching Rangers fans twist themselves into pretzels trying to defend Trouba and Rempe while throwing tantrums over Pelech and Tom Wilson is quite the spectacle.

Even I had to go into the main boards to poke fun and I normally stay away from there lmao.

Wonder how bad Zib knocked himself loopy. He has had prior concussions.

 

[JrFischer54]

Really does seem like the Arizona Coyotes are on their last legs. The market is fine, but the ownership is a joke and has alienated all local governments that would be potentially friendly to a new arena.

A committed team owner is just so crucial to long term success. Thanks to John McMullen for putting in the effort and funding to make NHL hockey in NJ a thing.

so the rumor is this version of the yotes relocate to salt lake for next season. then when the arena gets built in arizona they will get an expansion team. in theory that is smart but does the current owner have to sell then buy an expansion fee team? or does the new owner in salt lake front that money for the arizona fee?

 

[Poppy Whoa Sonnet]

so the rumor is this version of the yotes relocate to salt lake for next season. then when the arena gets built in arizona they will get an expansion team. in theory that is smart but does the current owner have to sell then buy an expansion fee team? or does the new owner in salt lake front that money for the arizona fee?

My guess is the current owner would never put up the money for an expansion team and will probably end up a minority owner of the Salt lake Coyotes. The Salt Lake owner will pay close to the expansion fee for control of the Coyotes I think. That's what Dundon paid for the Hurricanes ($420 million for 52% control, expansion fee was $500 million).

The expansion Arizona team would get a clean slate with someone with deep pockets. But I really have no insights here. The weirdness with the San Jose Sharks / Minnesota North Stars might be a more appropriate blueprint to examine for such a scenario, if the Coyotes only move with an expansion owner in place in Arizona.

 

[NjDevsRR]

 

[Patrik26]

Even I had to go into the main boards to poke fun and I normally stay away from there lmao.

Wonder how bad Zib knocked himself loopy. He has had prior concussions.

Just took a peek over there. My bad.

 

[Guttersniped]

so the rumor is this version of the yotes relocate to salt lake for next season. then when the arena gets built in arizona they will get an expansion team. in theory that is smart but does the current owner have to sell then buy an expansion fee team? or does the new owner in salt lake front that money for the arizona fee?

This seems more like conjecture but it’s a fun rumor.

If Meruelo can get his real estate scam ambitious arena project done then he has a chance at getting an expansion team.

But Atlanta is talking about building an arena to get a team and Houston is pushing for one as well.

I’m actually surprised Houston didn’t get more consideration now after the Rockets owner said he would take a relocated NHL team. Who knows, maybe he changed his tune too late.

Not sure what you mean by “front money for Arizona fee”. They would buy the Coyotes.

Meruelo allegedly paid ~420m for the team, a lot of that went directly to paying off debt. The team has bled money since he owned it, and the team still must have a cartoonish pile of debt, which explains the (very alleged) ask of 1b. He would likely try to make some profit here.

The Devils sold for 320m in 2013, but the amount of debt the team had was massive. Forbes had it at 260m debt and 60m of equity. They also had to pump in an extra 80m to pay off loans.

So Vanderbeek’s profits were negligible. Not negligible for normal people, they had to give him x millions dollars to walk away, but there’s not the profit you would associate with selling a sports team these days.

That’s why Vanderbeek was doing everything in his power to avoid selling the team but the debt was too much.

 

[forceten]

I want no part of Salt Lake City. You'd be putting your eggs entirely in one person's basket. I'm not sure there are a wealth of people able to run a major sports franchise there, whereas in other, larger markets you'll have many corporate HQs, lots of potential owners, lots of market revenue. Salt Lake to me is minor league and yes I know the Jazz play there. It's growing, etc. But there are other markets growing faster and well ahead of it.

 

[My3Sons]

I want no part of Salt Lake City. You'd be putting your eggs entirely in one person's basket. I'm not sure there are a wealth of people able to run a major sports franchise there, whereas in other, larger markets you'll have many corporate HQs, lots of potential owners, lots of market revenue. Salt Lake to me is minor league and yes I know the Jazz play there. It's growing, etc. But there are other markets growing faster and well ahead of it.

Unless and until there is a team in Houston, any other market under consideration seems relatively modest.

 

[JrFischer54]

This seems more like conjecture but it’s a fun rumor.

If Meruelo can get his real estate scam ambitious arena project done then he has a chance at getting an expansion team.

But Atlanta is talking about building an arena to get a team and Houston is pushing for one as well.

I’m actually surprised Houston didn’t get more consideration now after the Rockets owner said he would take a relocated NHL team. Who knows, maybe he changed his tune too late.

Not sure what you mean by “front money for Arizona fee”. They would buy the Coyotes.

Meruelo allegedly paid ~420m for the team, a lot of that went directly to paying off debt. The team has bled money since he owned it, and the team still must have a cartoonish pile of debt, which explains the (very alleged) ask of 1b. He would likely try to make some profit here.

The Devils sold for 320m in 2013, but the amount of debt the team had was massive. Forbes had it at 260m debt and 60m of equity. They also had to pump in an extra 80m to pay off loans.

So Vanderbeek’s profits were negligible. Not negligible for normal people, they had to give him x millions dollars to walk away, but there’s not the profit you would associate with selling a sports team these days.

That’s why Vanderbeek was doing everything in his power to avoid selling the team but the debt was too much.

from what i thought was going to happen is the yotes owner sells to the utah owner and they relocate there. then the yotes owner gets an expansion team when their new building is done. an expansion team is going to come with a hefty fee though probably more then what the yotes will sell for

 

[Ripshot 43]

View attachment 849320

Best ever

 

[Guttersniped]

from what i thought was going to happen is the yotes owner sells to the utah owner and they relocate there. then the yotes owner gets an expansion team when their new building is done. an expansion team is going to come with a hefty fee though probably more then what the yotes will sell for

Vegas payed 500m
Seattle payed 650m

No idea what the next one will be.

 

[tailfins]

I want no part of Salt Lake City. You'd be putting your eggs entirely in one person's basket. I'm not sure there are a wealth of people able to run a major sports franchise there, whereas in other, larger markets you'll have many corporate HQs, lots of potential owners, lots of market revenue. Salt Lake to me is minor league and yes I know the Jazz play there. It's growing, etc. But there are other markets growing faster and well ahead of it.

SLC has a good amount of tech money. That plus lack of football or baseball should help them a lot.

Columbus, Nashville, Seattle, Vegas are all examples of markets where the NHL has thrived in part due to lack of competition.

The Salt Lake City media market size seems pretty comparable to Nashville, and materially larger than Las Vegas. IMO, the big differences are:

1. Tourism: lots of people go to Nashville (and Vegas) for music, partying, conventions, etc. I think fewer people go to Salt Lake City and those who go tend to head out to the mountains or the parks
2. Concessions: lots of drinking and sodas in Nashville and Vegas. Lots of Mormons in Salt Lake City.

The lack of competition is actually why I think SLC could be a better market than Houston or Atlanta. Will be interesting to see.

 

[Ripshot 43]

Vegas payed 500m
Seattle payed 650m

No idea what the next one will be.

I’m willing to put 5 dollars into the pot if hfboard Devils wants to sponsor the next expansion team.