Out of Town - Washington Capitals Stanley Cup Champions! Edition

[Tighthead]

Never had much game meat until I moved to Vancouver Island years ago. No moose, but the best deer and elk meat I've ever had. Made friends with some local whose wife was a master cook. She knew dozens of recipes, all delicious. One was deer meat in a cream sauce, man I can still taste it and that was 20 years ago. They tried to bring moose to the island once, but they all swam back to the mainland, or so I heard. And I'm not even going to start on the fish and seafood. Man I miss that place.

Where were you in the Island? I miss it.

 

[peate]

Where were you in the Island? I miss it.

More like where I wasn't. From Victoria to Cumberland, Youbou (yes, it's a real name place), Nanaimo, Duncan, Ladysmith, Cedar, Saltair. Those are places I lived. I wanted to see the North Island and Cape Scott, but never got further than Campbell River. It's the Hawaii of Canada. Best kept secret and NO, it's not Vancouver.

 

[Tighthead]

More like where I wasn't. From Victoria to Cumberland, Youbou (yes, it's a real name place), Nanaimo, Duncan, Ladysmith, Cedar, Saltair. Those are places I lived. I wanted to see the North Island and Cape Scott, but never got further than Campbell River. It's the Hawaii of Canada. Best kept secret and NO, it's not Vancouver.

I was Nanoose. I didn’t explore enough either.

 

[MaxDummy]

Yes, there are many reasons why Eller hasn't scored 50 pts. in the NHL. One of those reasons is he hasn't been good enough. If he ever does put up those numbers I'll be happy for him, however that hasn't happened yet. Right now all I hear are excuses.



Had William Karlsson not scored 43 goals his name wouldn't be mentioned here, and you wouldn't be pretending that his output wasn't being mentioned as an opportunity-ceiling for Lars Eller. Of course that was the intent. Karlsson entered this conversation because of his elite scoring, not his hair. It was just a bad comparison, and the people who originally brought it up dropped it because their linking of Karlsson & Eller was silly. The notion that Eller and a 40+ goal season is separated by opportunity is... farfetched.

You dont like the Karlsson example ? We had a great example in Montreal actually... Desharnais. A Barely NHL level player that the coach gave every opportunity to succeed and yet he's already out of the league at 31 years old.

If David freaking Desharnais scored 60 points I have no doubt in my mind that a Lars Eller with the same opportunity can post 40-60 points while being good on D and NHL level in every facet.

I still cant believe we lost 5 years giving that guy primetime ice time.

 

[Tighthead]

Has there been any discussion about the controversy surrounding John VanBiesbrouckks appointment to USA Hockey?

Hockey culture is very forgiving if you have the approval of the hockey establishment. Ryan O’Reilly gets the Masterton nomination the same year he crashes his car drunk. Rob Ramage gets employed by the same man who publicly vilified Zack Kassian.

Just don’t play cards on a plane after a playoff defeat. That is a weakness of character.

 

[sandviper]

For Eller, 0.52 PPG with almost 52% Corsi For and almost 60% defensive zone starts over his playoff career. All of this as a 3rd liner.

I mean, he's not going to be winning the Conn Smythe, let alone a Hart or Art Ross, but that's pretty good value at $3.5m.

I'm not even a fan of Larry but that's still pretty impressive.

 

[jaffy27]

I am rooting for Ovi as well, he has been a great professional who doesn't take it all too seriously and for me that is refreshing and it might be why I like Russian players. 300lbs is a good haul, all cut up or are you responsible for that part of it? Do you mix anything with the burger meat to give it some fatty portion, we both know how lean moose meat is.

That’s boneless......we add pork to the ground. Yes, it’s all ready. We get it done in Thunder Bay.

So the moose is harvested in Pickle Lake, butchered in Thunder and picked up in North Bay lol

Back to hockey.....Washington for the cup, wanna see Ovechkin lose his mind in emotion, I can see him hoisting the cup and jumping into the boards with it like his goal celebrations

But if Vegas wins, I’ll be happy for Gallant, especially after the the way he was treated in Florida. That image of him and the cab is haunting, wouldn’t hurt at all seeing that being replaced with him and a cup dangling over his head!!

 

[MaxDummy]

A good comparison for Eller would be Kesler. Kesler was seen as a "safe" pick at the time with not much upside . He was seen as a future great 3rd line with no hands. A 20-20 Guy AT BEST

2006-07

16min/game at 22 years old , had 6 goals 10 assists in 48 games. No PP.

2007-08
23 years old
Season after his ice time rise To 19 minutes a game. He started To be used on the PP more often and got 4 goals 4 assists on it. Finish the season with 21g-16a-37points in 80 games.

2008-09
24 years old
19:30 average ice time. Lots of PP time. 10 goals and 8 assists on the PP. Better wingers. Trusted in all situation. 26g-33a in 82 games

The rest is history.

2011-12
22 years old Eller has not much PP time. 2goals 1 assist on it. He plays 15 minutes a night on the 3rd line. 16g-12a 28points in 79 games.

2012-13
23 years old Eller ice time drops below 15min a game. Plays on the 3rd line with better wingers. 8 goals 22assists for 30 points in 48 games. The logic would be To raise his ice time the year after .

2013-14
24 years old Eller still plays third line, still 15 min a game while Desharnais plays 17 with PP and no PK.

 

[jaffy27]

I miss the moose meat from Sweden, it's very hard to get here in the US. It's wonderful, not gamey at all, my mom's moose meatballs were legendary. Then we have another dish called Tjälknöl which loosely translates to Permafrost-Lump/Hunch it's easy to make. Freeze a
1.5-2 kg moose steak, once frozen turn on the oven to 75 degrees celsius, put in the steak and let it sit in that temperature for 8-12 hours the meat temperature inside should be 65-70 degrees C. Cook up a marinade made of 10-12 dried juniper berries, 1 litre of water, 1 dl of salt, 1 tsp of thyme. Let cool, put the warm steak in the marinade for 4-5 hours and let stand cold. Finally serve it with a potato au gratin with lots of garlic.

I am the master of moose meat balls, mine absolutely ROCK!!!!!

Ive made notes of this recipe you’ve just described, I will try it and let you know

You’re right, moose is not gamey at all, like nada. Pure protein, organic at its finest......just like Mother Nature intended

 

[Laurentide]

There are always people who side with management regardless of the circumstances, even years after the fact, particularly when they share common opinions.

Tremblay was a fine hockey player, but was a crappy coach and a crappier human being.

When he was coaching the Habs, I often thought that his biggest fault was in assuming that his players would care about winning and losing as much as he did when he was a player. Nobody was ever more intense than Tremblay. He was so wound up in big games that I think he had clenched hair. He was the Eastern Canada distributor of "giving a damn". But of course he was because he wasn't blessed with the god-given talent of some of his teammates like Lafleur. The fact that Tremblay was able to hang on a roster so loaded with future Hall of Famers is a testament to his committment level.

All of these things are what made him an effective player but they are also the very things which made him a bad candidate for a coaching job. In this age of 31 teams, guaranteed contracts, no-trade clauses, free agency and the like, players no longer have to give a damn in order to take a regular shift in the NHL so consequently, they don't care as much. They don't lose sleep over bad games. Tremblay, by contrast, was consumed by them. So naturally when he felt that Roy was being allowed to follow his own set of rules, Tremblay wanted to put a stop to it. But in so doing he essentially cut off his own nose to spite his face.

 

[Laurentide]

And here we disagree. Most competent GM's know how to build a top 6, most contending teams have an elite goalie. In a war of attrition it's your depth guys that will be the difference makers whether that's on offense or defence. Pittsburgh didn't win even make it back to the Finals let alone win the Cup until they added Kessel to their 3rd line.

Elite can mean different things. You can have someone who's elite at faceoffs or elite defensively. It's not fair to simply look at points when evaluating a player. Eller has't had the most illustrious career in gross part due to playing for a bigotted coach and was never given the opportunity to shine. He also led the league in defensive zone draws. It's like Subban leading the league in defensive zone while still being nominated for the Norris. Do you think it's fair that Hedman wins the Norris because he scored more points or should you analyze more their complete game?

Using Kessel as an example is a specious argument. Kessel was only a third liner on the Pens because he played behind Crosby and Malkin. Not many teams have players of that caliber, let alone two of them. Malkin on the Pens is a second liner but he's a first liner on just about any other team. And Kessel is no worse than a second liner on most other teams. Calling him a third liner is disingenuous, He's only technically a third liner because he's playing behind two future Hall of Famers.

 

[Lshap]

So you are inferring that what I said isn't what i said. Try stepping bacvk and reading what I said. Becasue you got it all wrong. At no point did I suggest, infer, or say that eller would score 40+ goals. THAT IS ENTIRELY IN YOUR MIND. Now kindly shove off if you keep trying to put words into my mouth. 2nd line center potential which is what I did SAY, is not saying he has the same potential as 1st line 40+goals. You are making this **** up. So just stop.

Strawman arguments aren't usually worth responding to. If you are saying it is someone else, maybe you have a point. I have not said what you imply.

EDIT: I changed my original response to something less frustrated. To be clear: YES, this discussion began with someone else, not you. You jumped in the middle of it and seemed to be following that thread, which -- as I said -- was based on an illogical comparison. This conversation and my point was not based on what you said; it was about comparisons to William Karlsson made by others.

 

[Lshap]

You dont like the Karlsson example ? We had a great example in Montreal actually... Desharnais. A Barely NHL level player that the coach gave every opportunity to succeed and yet he's already out of the league at 31 years old.

If David freaking Desharnais scored 60 points I have no doubt in my mind that a Lars Eller with the same opportunity can post 40-60 points while being good on D and NHL level in every facet.

I still cant believe we lost 5 years giving that guy primetime ice time.

I don't think anyone would disagree with your Desharnais example. But it's still apples and oranges when it comes to Lars Eller. Rather than overlay a bunch of comparisons and reasons and expectations, why not simply appreciate him for the good hockey player he is? I don't consider him a top-line forward, but that's hardly an insult. I doubt he becomes something different as he enters his 30s, but good on him if he does.

 

[Per Sjoblom]

Never had much game meat until I moved to Vancouver Island years ago. No moose, but the best deer and elk meat I've ever had. Made friends with some local whose wife was a master cook. She knew dozens of recipes, all delicious. One was deer meat in a cream sauce, man I can still taste it and that was 20 years ago. They tried to bring moose to the island once, but they all swam back to the mainland, or so I heard. And I'm not even going to start on the fish and seafood. Man I miss that place.

They are good swimmers, sometimes a Swedish moose swims to Denmark and scares the shit out of the Danes before swimming home because the place is too small and there are no forests in Denmark because we burnt them down in 1658.

 

[groovejuice]

They are good swimmers, sometimes a Swedish moose swims to Denmark and scares the **** out of the Danes before swimming home because the place is too small and there are no forests in Denmark because we burnt them down in 1658.

There must be a shortage of Danes on this board because I haven't seen too many challenges to your hot takes on them!

 

[Belial]

You dont like the Karlsson example ? We had a great example in Montreal actually... Desharnais. A Barely NHL level player that the coach gave every opportunity to succeed and yet he's already out of the league at 31 years old.

If David freaking Desharnais scored 60 points I have no doubt in my mind that a Lars Eller with the same opportunity can post 40-60 points while being good on D and NHL level in every facet.

I still cant believe we lost 5 years giving that guy primetime ice time.

Oh man this Eller thing again... Now that PK's out it became an Eller thing?

I was one of the biggest fan of Eller when he was here!

I even had him on my avatar...

But some of you are clearly trying to reinvent history at this point!

He got his opportunities at the time and he failed each time he was given a bigger role.

Stop being ridiculous...

 

[MaxDummy]

He got his opportunities at the time and he failed each time he was given a bigger role.

So it should be easy for you to point me to those ''opportunities'' he had and how he ''failed each time he was given a bigger role"

Ridiculous? If someone is, it's you.

 

[Per Sjoblom]

There must be a shortage of Danes on this board because I haven't seen too many challenges to your hot takes on them!

I know, Ellers is Danish though so maybe he can come here and tell me what he thinks of Sweden. To be quite honest, I like Denmark, we just make fun of each other, same with Norway.
In general they seem to have more fun than us Swedes or Norwegians (Norwegians are very much like Swedes, too Lutheran at times), Danes just enjoy life more it seems.
Whenever they play soccer if it is not against Sweden I root for them, same in hockey or in the Olympics. The funny thing is that Denmark used to be terrible at hockey, a joke after losing 47-0 to Canada once. Norway used to be the second Scandinavian team after Sweden (Finland is not Scandinavian, they are Nordic) but the Danes have really got their hockey going after copying the Canadians youth system and they are better than Norway these days, not too far from Switzerland.

I doubt though I am a good rep of Sweden these days since I have lived in the US for quite a long time.

 

[groovejuice]

I know, Ellers is Danish though so maybe he can come here and tell me what he thinks of Sweden. To be quite honest, I like Denmark, we just make fun of each other, same with Norway.
In general they seem to have more fun than us Swedes or Norwegians (Norwegians are very much like Swedes, too Lutheran at times), Danes just enjoy life more it seems.
Whenever they play soccer if it is not against Sweden I root for them, same in hockey or in the Olympics. The funny thing is that Denmark used to be terrible at hockey, a joke after losing 47-0 to Canada once. Norway used to be the second Scandinavian team after Sweden (Finland is not Scandinavian, they are Nordic) but the Danes have really got their hockey going after copying the Canadians youth system and they are better than Norway these days, not too far from Switzerland.

I doubt though I am a good rep of Sweden these days since I have lived in the US for quite a long time.

I knew it was good natured teasing Per, but hilarious regardless. I too like the Danes, having dated one more Dane (1) than Swede (0).

 

[Belial]

So it should be easy for you to point me to those ''opportunities'' he had and how he ''failed each time he was given a bigger role"

Ridiculous? If someone is, it's you.

Ok buddy check this out.

His amazing seasons that gave as all hope was the 12-13 season where he got 30 points in 46 GP.

He played a ton with Chucky on his left wing that season.

Then the 13-14 arrives and:

He gets 26 points in 77 GP and where there was that amazing mythical EGG line...

What happened there?

What exactly are those opportunities for you? , Therrien was supposed to put him on the first line or what?

 

[scrubadam]

You dont like the Karlsson example ? We had a great example in Montreal actually... Desharnais. A Barely NHL level player that the coach gave every opportunity to succeed and yet he's already out of the league at 31 years old.

If David freaking Desharnais scored 60 points I have no doubt in my mind that a Lars Eller with the same opportunity can post 40-60 points while being good on D and NHL level in every facet.

I still cant believe we lost 5 years giving that guy primetime ice time.

So what if we played Eller in DD's spot? Team would be in the same position it is now. Eller was in the right chair when he was here. Put him with Max and he gets 50 points and ?? Eller isn't a top 6, he broke 30 points twice in his career. He had a good season this year, last year he had his usual 25 points, and thats playing on one of the most offensive teams in the league.

So Eller has one or two seasons of 50 points, he gets a 5-6 mill contract and then goes back to scoring 30 points a year. So now the habs have a 3rd C making 5-6 Mill masquerading as a top 6 C. The problem wasn't where Eller played when on the habs nor getting 2 2nd rounders for him as he approached 30. The issue was that the habs didn't have a 1C so DD got to play with Max. DD could have been a decent 2nd line C if we had a real 1C in front of him, a guy like Kopi or Giroux or Getzlaf/Carter.

 

[scrubadam]

Some Kessel rumors floating around. Should MB be in on that?

Is this more of a dump on the Pens end or do they want to make a hockey trade?

As a dump I can see us moving a few 2nds and a guy like Mac maybe. In a hockey trade I could see Max for Phil and their 1st. Maybe we send a 2nd or 3rd to offset.

And does the Leafs retention still stand in a trade or are the leafs off the hook?

 

[CHfan1]

Some Kessel rumors floating around. Should MB be in on that?

Is this more of a dump on the Pens end or do they want to make a hockey trade?

As a dump I can see us moving a few 2nds and a guy like Mac maybe. In a hockey trade I could see Max for Phil and their 1st. Maybe we send a 2nd or 3rd to offset.

And does the Leafs retention still stand in a trade or are the leafs off the hook?

Why is Pittsburgh adding when Kessel just put up a 34 goal 92 point season and Max is in the last year of his contract?

 

[Wats]

Why is Pittsburgh adding when Kessel just put up a 34 goal 92 point season and Max is in the last year of his contract?

Agreed. Kessel is significantly better than Pacioretty and proven in playoffs. Not to mention, contract wise Kessel is only a 6.8M cap hit for 4 years. Pacioretty is going to be north of 7M guaranteed.

 

[Sorinth]

I don't think anyone would disagree with your Desharnais example. But it's still apples and oranges when it comes to Lars Eller. Rather than overlay a bunch of comparisons and reasons and expectations, why not simply appreciate him for the good hockey player he is? I don't consider him a top-line forward, but that's hardly an insult. I doubt he becomes something different as he enters his 30s, but good on him if he does.

Development plays a huge role in how a player turns out, so even if Eller never scores 50 points, it doesn't mean he couldn't have if we had used him better when he was younger.