Around The NHL Discussion 2021-22 Part III

[CaliforniaBlues310]

Tbh I'd be really happy if the way over the cap and fully healthy knights beat the balls off the avs. I dislike that fan base almost as much as the leafs.

Assuming the Wild and Blues finish 2/3, a Petro vs Blues or Fleury vs Knights matchup would quite the story as well.

 

[Reality Czech]

This is a pretty insane argument.

McDavid and Draisaitl are literally 1 and 2 in the entire league in points. They are absolutely dominant players.

Blaming them for the teams' struggles makes absolutely zero sense. Ovechkin didn't win a Cup until he was 32. The Edmonton duo are 25-26.

Who ever said they aren't dominant players? There are many reasons for the Oilers struggles, and I'm not "blaming them" per se. I'm only saying that maybe relying on two guys so much is not the best overall strategy, and that the whole team should re-think their approach. They can win all the scoring titles they want, but until that team plays a stronger overall game then they are going nowhere in the playoffs.

I do think that team will eventually break through and make a solid playoff run at some point, but they really need to play better 5-on-5.

 

[Stupendous Yappi]

I think this is good illustration of how hockey isn't like basketball. Top basketball players are on court for roughly 75% of game. Top hockey players are on ice for half that.

It’s also a strong piece of evidence in support of Armstrong’s approach to accumulating a lot of ‘good’ players even if it’s at the expense of winning the bidding for ‘great’ players.

 

[ChicagoBlues]

Tage scored his 31st today.

Yay him!

 

[Ranksu]

 

[Stealth JD]

I’m so confused by the date of this article, which I read as “news” this morning.

'Monster,' not Kessel, will steer Leafs — ABC News

TORONTO -- Give the other teams a sporting chance, Gary Bettman. Break 'em up -- the Toronto Maple Leafs are just too darn good. In the blink of an eye, the Maple Leafs have gone from jug heads to juggernauts. OK, maybe "juggernaut" is overstating it a bit, but this is Toronto, after all, the...

apple.news

 

[Linkens Mastery]

I’m so confused by the date of this article, which I read as “news” this morning.

'Monster,' not Kessel, will steer Leafs — ABC News

TORONTO -- Give the other teams a sporting chance, Gary Bettman. Break 'em up -- the Toronto Maple Leafs are just too darn good. In the blink of an eye, the Maple Leafs have gone from jug heads to juggernauts. OK, maybe "juggernaut" is overstating it a bit, but this is Toronto, after all, the...

apple.news

Maybe he woke up from a Coma?

 

[BlueDream]

Who ever said they aren't dominant players? There are many reasons for the Oilers struggles, and I'm not "blaming them" per se. I'm only saying that maybe relying on two guys so much is not the best overall strategy, and that the whole team should re-think their approach. They can win all the scoring titles they want, but until that team plays a stronger overall game then they are going nowhere in the playoffs.

I do think that team will eventually break through and make a solid playoff run at some point, but they really need to play better 5-on-5.

Playing a better overall game is on the rest of their team (bottom 6, their defense and goaltending). You know, their weaknesses. Grouping in two of the best players in the world in that still makes no sense. What are they supposed to do about the team's front office being incompetent?

 

[BlueDream]

Clown take.

1. Mike Yeo is a terrible coach. Nobody would want to play for him regardless and he's not going to be their HC next season.

2. This is why many ironman streaks are a complete farce. The player keeps getting played just because of the streak, not because their play merits it. By all accounts, Yandle has been awful and should have been scratched long ago. It's not some travesty that his streak ended. He's not a good player anymore.

 

[Chainshot]

Clown take.

1. Mike Yeo is a terrible coach. Nobody would want to play for him regardless and he's not going to be their HC next season.

2. This is why many ironman streaks are a complete farce. The player keeps getting played just because of the streak, not because their play merits it. By all accounts, Yandle has been awful and should have been scratched long ago. It's not some travesty that his streak ended. He's not a good player anymore.

Agree - his play should have put him out of the lineup a long time ago.

 

[JoshFromMO]

It's crazy to think that even with as good as Colorado has been this year, they would need to win every game to close the season to have the same # of wins as the 18-19 Lightning.

 

[BlueDream]

It's crazy to think that even with as good as Colorado has been this year, they would need to win every game to close the season to have the same # of wins as the 18-19 Lightning.

Man that Lightning roster was so good. Surely no other team won the Cup that year instead of them.

 

[JoshFromMO]

Man that Lightning roster was so good. Surely no other team won the Cup that year instead of them.

Some teams just have it all. If only we could be so lucky

 

[Moose and Squirrel]

Some teams just have it all. If only we could be so lucky

helps to have THE best goalie in the league

 

[Thallis]

Man that Lightning roster was so good. Surely no other team won the Cup that year instead of them.

This kind of loses its teeth now that they won the next 2 Stanley Cups

 

[BlueDream]

This kind of loses its teeth now that they won the next 2 Stanley Cups

I know but it wasn't a shot at them, more of an endearing memory when 18-19 was mentioned.

 

[Blueston]

Matthews with hatty as Leafs hang 6 on Vasi and Lightning.

 

[The Note]

Matthews with hatty as Leafs hang 6 on Vasi and Lightning.

Matthews rocks. Hope he hits 60. There's so much young, elite talent in the league right now, it's pretty cool. Just don't try to "skill it up" too much or the Jay Beagles of the world will get mad at you.

 

[Blueston]

Getzlaf announces retirement. Gonna miss him. He was helluva player and seemed like great guy. Perron has credited Getzlaf with making him much better player. And more importantly, after JayBo collapsed I recall Getzlaf and Ducks compassion.

 

[bleedblue1223]

Getzlaf announces retirement. Gonna miss him. He was helluva player and seemed like great guy. Perron has credited Getzlaf with making him much better player. And more importantly, after JayBo collapsed I recall Getzlaf and Ducks compassion.

He also basically demanded that Backes get to play one last game when they returned to St. Louis.

 

[ChicagoBlues]

Pat Foley announced that he is retiring as the Hawks' PBP guy. As a long-time Chicagoan, I know that Foley is a sports icon in that town.

This is certainly not Hawks praise, but acknowledgment and respect for one of Chicago's most beloved sports legends.

Also, J. Toews just reached 1000 games. Too bad the game was in Florida, but there was a cool celebration with a few of his former teammates coming out. Was especially nice to see Hossa's big smile.

 

[Spektre]

@Ranksu I feel so bad for Vegas… if they only had a RHD whose name rhymed with Craptangelo they would probably be a playoff team

 

[Brian39]

@Ranksu I feel so bad for Vegas… if they only had a RHD whose name rhymed with Craptangelo they would probably be a playoff team

The right side of their blue line is just about the only thing that's gone right for them this year. Their top LHD (Martinez) has missed 56 games this year, which has left them real thin after Petro/Theodore.

Their team SV% is 21st in the league and that is somewhat propped up by the last 10 games where their 3rd string goalie played very well. Prior to this recent 7-3 stretch their team SV% was 26th in the league. Lehner has had numerous injuries and has been very inconsistent when healthy. Brossoit hasn't been good and Logan Thompson took a few games before he found hi NHL game. Genuinely bad goaltending is a big part of the hole they dug themselves.

Stone ($9.5M) and Patches ($7M) have each missed 40+ games and the rest of the forward group is underperforming. They only have 2 forwards who have hit the 40 point mark. To compare, we have 9. Their leading scorer would be 5th in scoring on our team, so it isn't like they have a top line carrying the load while the middle 6 focuses on defending. Karlsson ($5.9M) has 26 points in 57 games. Dadonov ($5M) has 34 points in 68 games. Smith ($5M) is playing at a 55 point pace, but he's missed 15 games so his total is only 38. They've only gotten 24 games out of Eichel, but it is worth noting that the roster player they traded to Buffalo (Tuch) started the year injured and didn't play a game for Vegas this season. They built a top heavy forward group that pays 3 guys $26.5M. Those 3 guys have combined for 81 total games played this season. Behind them, they have 4 more forwards making $5-$5.9M. Two of them have been terrible (Dadonov/Karlsson) and only Smith/Marchessault have performed as expected. Having 5 of your 7 $5M+ forwards either not playing or playing terribly is a pretty large thing to overcome.

Petro wasn't great to start the year, but he, Theodore and Marchessault have been just about the only things keeping that team even near the playoffs. Petro's 14th in TOI per game league-wide, has very strong possession numbers, is 4th on their team in scoring with 40 points, and is somehow a +4 despite his goalies playing at an .897 at even strength when he's on the ice. His expected +/- is +9.3, which is the highest of his career. His 13 goals are 5th among NHL D men. He's not having a Norris-caliber season, but he's absolutely putting in a season in line with his career norm.

I have zero sympathy for Vegas. The poor goaltending is 100% their own doing. The gave away last year's Vezina winner "because you can't spend that much on goaltending" just to spend all of the cap savings on Brossoit and Dadonov (who combine for $7.35M against the cap). Patches has always had injury issues and that contract was never going to age perfectly. Injuries are a risk with a top heavy team. They took that risk and actively gutted their goalie depth. I want to see them squeak in to force Colorado to go against a 'suddenly' $10M+ over the cap' Vegas team in round 1. But I also won't lose any sleep about them missing. But Having Petro at his AAV is waaaaay down the list of issues with their team this season.

Edit: to tie their situation back to the Blues, I think the decision to move Fleury illustrates a short-sighted view that a lot of people have about paying goalies. The attitude that "you just can't spend that much on goaltending" and/or "you don't want that much cap tied up in a guy who won't play in the playoffs" has probably become a bit too widespread. Shedding a pricey 2nd goalie is a good cap move if you're using the cap savings to fill a genuine roster hole or to give raises to important players. We're going to have to make a big decision on Husso this summer and if we extend him we will almost certainly be spending "too much" on our goaltending next year. But it is important that we focus on what his extension costs vs what else we would do with those cap dollars instead of simply looking at the total dollars in net.

 

[Reality Czech]

The right side of their blue line is just about the only thing that's gone right for them this year. Their top LHD (Martinez) has missed 56 games this year, which has left them real thin after Petro/Theodore.

Their team SV% is 21st in the league and that is somewhat propped up by the last 10 games where their 3rd string goalie played very well. Prior to this recent 7-3 stretch their team SV% was 26th in the league. Lehner has had numerous injuries and has been very inconsistent when healthy. Brossoit hasn't been good and Logan Thompson took a few games before he found hi NHL game. Genuinely bad goaltending is a big part of the hole they dug themselves.

Stone ($9.5M) and Patches ($7M) have each missed 40+ games and the rest of the forward group is underperforming. They only have 2 forwards who have hit the 40 point mark. To compare, we have 9. Their leading scorer would be 5th in scoring on our team, so it isn't like they have a top line carrying the load while the middle 6 focuses on defending. Karlsson ($5.9M) has 26 points in 57 games. Dadonov ($5M) has 34 points in 68 games. Smith ($5M) is playing at a 55 point pace, but he's missed 15 games so his total is only 38. They've only gotten 24 games out of Eichel, but it is worth noting that the roster player they traded to Buffalo (Tuch) started the year injured and didn't play a game for Vegas this season. They built a top heavy forward group that pays 3 guys $26.5M. Those 3 guys have combined for 81 total games played this season. Behind them, they have 4 more forwards making $5-$5.9M. Two of them have been terrible (Dadonov/Karlsson) and only Smith/Marchessault have performed as expected. Having 5 of your 7 $5M+ forwards either not playing or playing terribly is a pretty large thing to overcome.

Petro wasn't great to start the year, but he, Theodore and Marchessault have been just about the only things keeping that team even near the playoffs. Petro's 14th in TOI per game league-wide, has very strong possession numbers, is 4th on their team in scoring with 40 points, and is somehow a +4 despite his goalies playing at an .897 at even strength when he's on the ice. His expected +/- is +9.3, which is the highest of his career. His 13 goals are 5th among NHL D men. He's not having a Norris-caliber season, but he's absolutely putting in a season in line with his career norm.

I have zero sympathy for Vegas. The poor goaltending is 100% their own doing. The gave away last year's Vezina winner "because you can't spend that much on goaltending" just to spend all of the cap savings on Brossoit and Dadonov (who combine for $7.35M against the cap). Patches has always had injury issues and that contract was never going to age perfectly. Injuries are a risk with a top heavy team. They took that risk and actively gutted their goalie depth. I want to see them squeak in to force Colorado to go against a 'suddenly' $10M+ over the cap' Vegas team in round 1. But I also won't lose any sleep about them missing. But Having Petro at his AAV is waaaaay down the list of issues with their team this season.

Edit: to tie their situation back to the Blues, I think the decision to move Fleury illustrates a short-sighted view that a lot of people have about paying goalies. The attitude that "you just can't spend that much on goaltending" and/or "you don't want that much cap tied up in a guy who won't play in the playoffs" has probably become a bit too widespread. Shedding a pricey 2nd goalie is a good cap move if you're using the cap savings to fill a genuine roster hole or to give raises to important players. We're going to have to make a big decision on Husso this summer and if we extend him we will almost certainly be spending "too much" on our goaltending next year. But it is important that we focus on what his extension costs vs what else we would do with those cap dollars instead of simply looking at the total dollars in net.

Vegas deserves to miss the playoffs for all the negative karma they have accrued in recent years. Maybe Alex Pujolsangelo cursed them just like Albert cursed the Angels after he abandoned St. Louis.

 

[ChicagoBlues]

Ovechking is only 121 goals from passing Gretzky as the NHL's all-time leading goal scorer. He's only 36 y/o and showing no signs of slowing down. Wow!