NHL 2021-2022 NHL Out of Town Thread VI - RIP Clark Gillies (No Covid debates)

[AngryMilkcrates]

McDavid and Draisaitl are not hateable players.
I never had a reason to dislike Edmonton.

Now I do.
Thanks, Oilers!

 

[Aussie Bruin]

Yeah I don’t even know what the deal is. Calgary is definitely an exception, they put focus on defense and hired a coach that respects team defense in Suter.

I thought that Habs defense was pretty well built last year in the playoffs, not sustainable and expensive as hell with Weber but overall pretty good and built for playoff hockey. Now they’re just injured to shit and playing infront of backup goalies.

The Leafs have improved their team defense quite a bit, Wonder Boy put more of a focus on two way bottom 6 forwards. Their defense is still sort of offense first but the goaltending has improved so much it hasn’t mattered much.

Vancouver has been pretty decent defensively they just haven’t been able to score enough goals.

Oilers are just built so top heavy and rely way too heavily on PP scoring. These are the same issues they’ve had for a while and Holland brings in two defensive liabilities in Ceci and Keith, trades Ethan Bear who was better defensively and doesn’t bring in a goaltender. Now he’s bringing in Kane who has no interest in team defense and is a massive asshole lol.

Yeah I don't want to overstate the case. As you say, clearly the Leafs have made a genuine effort to improve their D this year, and Campbell helps with that immensely, the Habs had a shot at it even if it was short term, the Jets' defense isn't terrible and I'll give the Sens a pass because of where they're currently at. It's not like they ignore it altogether. But history strongly says that to win a Cup you need a defense that's above average at the very least, not just a middling one, and Calgary and Toronto are the only two that I look at currently and think they might even have a chance of going deep. And in previous years it's been similar slim pickings. So I just don't get it.

With the Oilers I'm not completely against what they're trying on with Kane. Wouldn't want the Bruins to go anywhere near him, but I can appreciate that he's fairly cheap and he has to know that he's on his last chance so he'll behave at least in the short-term. But I agree that he doesn't move the needle at all in terms of making them a better playoff team, because their issues are mostly at the other end and in their lack of all-round depth. So as a bit of a punt, fine, but if they want to be serious the things they need to do to genuinely improve the team are elsewhere.

 

[The National]

Canes win in SO.

 

[TP]

New thread

NHL - 2021-2022 NHL Out of Town Thread VII - (No Covid debates)