Around the NHL 2023-24 season thread - part II

[NJDevs26]

Post-Christmas edition

Click to read more...

 

[Nubmer6]

Whelp... someone sent me this and I had to share.

 

[Bleedred]

Huberdeau is one of the biggest shit bag, hot garbage players going right now. I can smell his rotten trash all the way down here.

f*** him.

And he has one of the most punchable faces in the entire league.

 

[Brodeur]

Not really NHL news, but an excuse to share a Khabibulin anecdote that I didn't know until a few years back. I missed most of the 1998 Olympics due to school + time difference + Team USA bowing out early. There was a thread on the history of hockey board with some highlights of the Gold Medal game and I was surprised that Andrei Trefilov Mikhail Shtalenkov was in net for the Russians. Then I was shocked when I looked up the roster and Khabibulin wasn't even on the team.

The story behind that was amusing. In 1992, Khabibulin was the young third string goalie on the post-Soviet breakup unified team which won Gold. Viktor Tikhonov was still the head coach but figured his time with that job would be coming to an end. Coaches don't receive medals and Tikhonov felt like he deserved one, so he essentially took Khabibulin's. Khabibulin was understandably upset about that but couldn't speak out due to fear of retribution. He'd play for Team Russia at the 1996 World Cup but refused to play in 1998 since most of the old guard still held positions of power.

https://www.seattlepi.com/sports/article/olympics-notebook-after-10-years-khabibulin-1080612.php

Slava Fetisov took over in time for the 2002 Olympics and was able to get Khabibulin back on the team. The IOC also presented Khabibulin with a replacement medal.

 

[MadDevil]

Whelp... someone sent me this and I had to share.

View attachment 790829

My Twitter timeline was filled with these with various jerseys the other day. AI is already annoying.

 

[Whaddagoal]

What year is it?

khabibulin....a name I haven't heard in awhile!

Does he own a team too? Like Jagr and they need him to lace it up....

Jagr is in some sort of hockey prison. Has to skate forever.

 

[MadDevil]

Khabibulin to his goalies...

 

[Bleedred]

I saw that thread on the mainboard with confirmed with link and Khabibulin signs without seeing the last part of it and I instantly thought someone bumped the thread from the last time he signed somewhere over 10 years ago now.

 

[MadDevil]

 

[NJDevs26]

Sign this beast

 

[MadDevil]

Sign this beast

His rebound control at 44 and retired looks better than Vitek's at 27 lol

 

[NjDevsRR]

Sign this beast

 

[Bleedred]

It’s been a very long time since we’ve seen an older player like that return to the NHL after being retired that many years already. And how many guys have come back to play after already being in the hall of fame? Other than Mario Lemieux, who was put in right away after his first retirement?

And I don’t mean someone like Kovalchuk or Khabibulin (lol) coming back to play in Europe after years of retirement. We haven’t seen a thing like that in the NHL in a very long time. Hasek teased something like it back in 2012, but it didn’t happen.

Luongo works for the Panthers, but can you imagine if he decided to play somewhere else? It would be wild. It would be a huge story.

 

[Devils731]

Devils barely beat a Hutchinson led team and it was only after Detroit injured their own players that the Devils could eke out a win. That’s some disrespect to the Devils.

 

[Ripshot 43]

Devils barely beat a Hutchinson led team and it was only after Detroit injured their own players that the Devils could eke out a win. That’s some disrespect to the Devils.

Wow. I didn’t realize Jost was 25 already. He sticks out as one of those guys I always thought would be good during that draft year but definitely didn’t develop as expected.

 

[Hisch13r]

Just another 3 years at 2.4 after this one lol

 

[Bleedred]

Samsonov this year is as bad as anything I’ve seen since either Scott Darling his last two years or the first 10 games that Cory Schneider played in each of his last two seasons here.

Only Samsonov has played 15 games already. Other Leafs goalies (including Martin Jones lol) have played way better.

I’ve counted just about half of Samsonov’s goals stoppable this year. And he’s good for at least a couple of goals a game lately that aren’t just stoppable, but are hilariously soft, just blooper reel goals. Like that Tage Thompson goal last week. Or the Brendan Gaunce goal last night.

And on moneypuck he’s averaging over 1 more goal per 60 minutes than expected.

This is not unbelievable, because he was never any good in Washington. He wasn’t this bad, but he wasn’t at all good. The only decent season he had there was his first year, which was sort of like Akira’s season last year because he didn’t play a whole lot of games because they were still sucking off UFA to be Holtby. Though he still wasn’t as good as Akira’s 22-23, but he was okay.

I don’t think he would be claimed if he were waived either. His contract is too expensive, even though he’s only on a one year deal. There’s probably a better chance Martin Jones would be claimed, because he’s on a minimum wage deal.

Looking like another one hit wonder.

 

[Bone Density]

 

[Devs3cups]

 

[aero8279]

Caps goaltending reunion! Lol

 

[Goptor]

Just another 3 years at 2.4 after this one lol

View attachment 792589

This was, low key, the worst signing of all time.

You know its bad when there's 10 or so players not qualified becauce GMs are afraid arbitration will use this as a comparable.
The Devils also signed 2 David Kampfs combined for less than the one Toronto picked up.

Clearly worse than any deal Dubas made in his tenure there.

 

[Bleedred]

Caps goaltending reunion! Lol

No way

Pick one or the other. If Samsonov comes here, Vitek GOES.

I don't want Samsonov. He's probably one of the only goalies that wouldn't be an upgrade to Vitek here right now.

He's never been better than Vitek when they were on the same team and he reeks of one hit wonder. And that one hit was last year.

He hasn't been good in the NHL. Last year was an up year. The only other year he had that wasn't bad was his rookie year, where he barely played like Schmid last year. And he still wasn't as good as Schmid last year. And he barely played because the Capitals were too loyal to a REALLY BAD and DECLINING Holtby, that they only moved on from in UFA (as they should have) that coming offseason anyway.

 

[Bleedred]

Wasn't Samsonov asking for like a million more than what the Leafs gave him this year?

lol

 

[Its Always Sundstrom]

Love this. Hope the Devs do something fun for the stadium series.





And good for Tuna.

 

[None Shall Pass]

Love this. Hope the Devs do something fun for the stadium series.





And good for Tuna.

The Devils should 100% come out dressed like they were in The Sopranos.