Around the NHL

[HannuJ]

and you won the cup if you could get out of your 6 team division. It’s why I don’t take cups as seriously from pre expansion era. Winning is always awesome but a six team league without allot of player movement means an organization could rack up allot of cups with a dynasty.

plus the slap shot (or lack of it), no curved sticks, banana blades on hockey skates. you clearly had players with a high level of skill (the Richards) but the lack of pay and lack of true training means that you had some beer league aspects to old hockey. hell, look at pre-1980s videos of goalies. it was an era where they were putting some skinny little sucker in net who, for some reason, didn't mind players shooting at him, but had no idea how to make a save. plus the heavy water-retaining pads meant zero agility.

 

[tbcwpg]

post-covid, wouldn't it be interesting if the NHL created divisions based on something other than geography?
an Original Six division would be pretty neat. toss in Ottawa for their historical "original" history and maybe toss the Sabres in for ease (keeps the Islanders and Devils in another division for possible rivalries).

re-creating the Smythe division would be interesting but a television headache, so it wouldn't happen.

original six division: Leafs,Wings,Hawks, Habs, Sabres, Sens,bruins, Rangers

West coast: Canucks, Oil, Flames, Kraken, Ducks, Kings, Sharks, Knights.

Central: Jets, Wild, Coyotes, Stars, Avalanche, Blues, Predators, Blue Jackets?

east: Islanders, Devils, Flyers, Penguins, Capitals, Lightening, Panthers, Hurricanes

Travel alone would nix that idea probably.

 

[Daximus]

plus the slap shot (or lack of it), no curved sticks, banana blades on hockey skates. you clearly had players with a high level of skill (the Richards) but the lack of pay and lack of true training means that you had some beer league aspects to old hockey. hell, look at pre-1980s videos of goalies. it was an era where they were putting some skinny little sucker in net who, for some reason, didn't mind players shooting at him, but had no idea how to make a save. plus the heavy water-retaining pads meant zero agility.

80's and early goaltending compared to goaltending today is probably the single biggest change in hockey over the last 50 years. The game went from having sub 6'0 guys who were put in net because of their pure athletic ability to make saves. To 6'3+ guys who use size, angles and technique to shut down pretty much 70% of the net on any given play.

Butterfly and it's adapted styles has made it so that guys have to pick corners. Shooters have evolved to the point where they need pin point accuracy and the window between just missing the net and picking the corner is ridiculously small now.

It's crazy watching old games and just looking at the way goaltenders approach situations and thinking jesus that would be an instant benching today if a goalie tried to make that save in that situation. The goaltending position is so drastically different now.

 

[Jets 31]

80's and early goaltending compared to goaltending today is probably the single biggest change in hockey over the last 50 years. The game went from having sub 6'0 guys who were put in net because of their pure athletic ability to make saves. To 6'3+ guys who use size, angles and technique to shut down pretty much 70% of the net on any given play.

Butterfly and it's adapted styles has made it so that guys have to pick corners. Shooters have evolved to the point where they need pin point accuracy and the window between just missing the net and picking the corner is ridiculously small now.

It's crazy watching old games and just looking at the way goaltenders approach situations and thinking jesus that would be an instant benching today if a goalie tried to make that save in that situation. The goaltending position is so drastically different now.

Totally agree, you don't see 2 pad stacks very often anymore and the equipment has come a long way from the pads that were stuffed with horse hair. I can still feel some slap shots today from then.

 

[Jet]

How about that Laine kid, pretty awesome!

He's not bad but there's no way I'd trade PLD for him

 

[Jetsfan79]

Wasn't sure this was thread worthy and the Laine trade thread is closed so Im posting this here. Can anyone provide statistics or even a generalized report showing how many games Roslovic played center for the Jets? Doesn't have to be actual games but could even be time periods when he was predominantly playing centre (example: from Oct. to Dec 2018 )

 

[Joe Hallenback]

Wasn't sure this was thread worthy and the Laine trade thread is closed so Im posting this here. Can anyone provide statistics or even a report stating how many games Roslovic played center for the Jets? Doesn't have to be actual games but even time periods when he was predominantly playing centre (example: from Nov. to Jan 2018 )

He never played as the number 1 center on the Jets

My report on Roslovic from watching 3 games so far with CBus

They have given him a chance to show he can play as a top line center and time on the top PP unit. My take is his line gets buried by other lines. He still is too much of a perimeter guy but maybe with some coaching he can overcome that. He has looked good on the PP playing the halfboards. I think like a lot of perimeter players he would excel with room.

I don't know if he can be a play driving number 1 center in the NHL but CBus really needs him to develop into one if they have hopes of making the playoffs

 

[Mortimer Snerd]

and you won the cup if you could get out of your 6 team division. It’s why I don’t take cups as seriously from pre expansion era. Winning is always awesome but a six team league without allot of player movement means an organization could rack up allot of cups with a dynasty.

True, but it also means that every team was very good most of the time. Competition was fierce.

 

[HannuJ]

Travel alone would nix that idea probably.

unsure if that's the case. look at Calgary and who, other than the canadian teams, they'll play against next year

 

[HannuJ]

80's and early goaltending compared to goaltending today is probably the single biggest change in hockey over the last 50 years. The game went from having sub 6'0 guys who were put in net because of their pure athletic ability to make saves. To 6'3+ guys who use size, angles and technique to shut down pretty much 70% of the net on any given play.

Butterfly and it's adapted styles has made it so that guys have to pick corners. Shooters have evolved to the point where they need pin point accuracy and the window between just missing the net and picking the corner is ridiculously small now.

It's crazy watching old games and just looking at the way goaltenders approach situations and thinking jesus that would be an instant benching today if a goalie tried to make that save in that situation. The goaltending position is so drastically different now.

that stand-up-straight-and-kick-your-leg-at-the-puck thing was amazing.

how many Gretzky goals would have been saved if the goalies were semi-competent?



that third goal. lol. the goalie slips on his own piss.
4th goal: Peeters' glove is down by his side. lol
and Cooperalls

 

[Daximus]

that stand-up-straight-and-kick-your-leg-at-the-puck thing was amazing.

how many Gretzky goals would have been saved if the goalies were semi-competent?



that third goal. lol. the goalie slips on his own piss.
4th goal: Peeters' glove is down by his side. lol
and Cooperalls

Gretz still had an absolute rocket shot that he could get off from insane angles that would likely fool a lot of goalies today and he had insane moves in tight to beat goalies. But there are a lot of goals scored back then including by guys like Gretz and Lemieux and all the other superstars that would be routine saves today. The odd one would have gone in but I seriously doubt guys would be hitting 70+ in today's game.

 

[JetsUK]

Gretz still had an absolute rocket shot that he could get off from insane angles that would likely fool a lot of goalies today and he had insane moves in tight to beat goalies. But there are a lot of goals scored back then including by guys like Gretz and Lemieux and all the other superstars that would be routine saves today. The odd one would have gone in but I seriously doubt guys would be hitting 70+ in today's game.

Yep. And the Gretz of today would have trained and played against the goalies of today. Agree that those crazy totals would be adjusted a fair bit downwards but he'd still absolutely dominant. Look at some of the guys who've potted 40+ in the past decade. I sometimes wonder how some of the super-goalies of his era would compare to the Helles and Prices and Bobs of today with the benefit of modern equipment and style modifications.

 

[Daximus]

Yep. And the Gretz of today would have trained and played against the goalies of today. Agree that those crazy totals would be adjusted a fair bit downwards but he'd still absolutely dominant. Look at some of the guys who've potted 40+ in the past decade.

Yeah Gretz would 100% hold up in today's league. Just as much of an enigma who relies on his ability to read and react to plays and has all the tools to be an insane playmaker and scorer in his own right. His insane amount of dominance wouldn't but that's just my opinion and a very hotly debated one. Systems, goalies and pace of play is at such a massively high level these days that there isn't a massive amount of separation between the leagues best and the middle tier players.

McDavid is about as much of an enigma as you can be and even he isn't vastly outperforming everyone around him.

 

[Mortimer Snerd]

post-covid, wouldn't it be interesting if the NHL created divisions based on something other than geography?
an Original Six division would be pretty neat. toss in Ottawa for their historical "original" history and maybe toss the Sabres in for ease (keeps the Islanders and Devils in another division for possible rivalries).

re-creating the Smythe division would be interesting but a television headache, so it wouldn't happen.

original six division: Leafs,Wings,Hawks, Habs, Sabres, Sens,bruins, Rangers

West coast: Canucks, Oil, Flames, Kraken, Ducks, Kings, Sharks, Knights.

Central: Jets, Wild, Coyotes, Stars, Avalanche, Blues, Predators, Blue Jackets?

east: Islanders, Devils, Flyers, Penguins, Capitals, Lightening, Panthers, Hurricanes

Well, other than you having an original 6 div with 8 teams and the rest done geographically, sure, lets deviate from geography.

 

[Mortimer Snerd]

80's and early goaltending compared to goaltending today is probably the single biggest change in hockey over the last 50 years. The game went from having sub 6'0 guys who were put in net because of their pure athletic ability to make saves. To 6'3+ guys who use size, angles and technique to shut down pretty much 70% of the net on any given play.

Butterfly and it's adapted styles has made it so that guys have to pick corners. Shooters have evolved to the point where they need pin point accuracy and the window between just missing the net and picking the corner is ridiculously small now.

It's crazy watching old games and just looking at the way goaltenders approach situations and thinking jesus that would be an instant benching today if a goalie tried to make that save in that situation. The goaltending position is so drastically different now.

The old time goalies used angles and technique just as much as today's goalies. Techniques were quite different, because of equipment and player size. But they knew what they were doing.

But the size of the goalies and the size of the equipment has changed the game tremendously. I still marvel that they ever score.

The level of professionalism is much higher now too. It used to be that if you saw players spitting while on the bench, it was tobacco juice . Players did actually smoke on the bench too. They stayed fit and worked out by playing hockey. 'Gym? What for? I play or practice hockey almost every day! I'm in great shape'.

 

[Mortimer Snerd]

He's not bad but there's no way I'd trade PLD for him

 

[WolfHouse]

Gretz still had an absolute rocket shot that he could get off from insane angles that would likely fool a lot of goalies today and he had insane moves in tight to beat goalies. But there are a lot of goals scored back then including by guys like Gretz and Lemieux and all the other superstars that would be routine saves today. The odd one would have gone in but I seriously doubt guys would be hitting 70+ in today's game.

The equipment is about twice the size now too...

I think back in those days what you had Mike Palmateer and Tony Esposito as butterfly goalies? Roy really changed the way the game is played... that and goalies were fair game for a stick to the head if they were down low in the early 1980s - ask Billy Smith

 

[tbcwpg]

unsure if that's the case. look at Calgary and who, other than the canadian teams, they'll play against next year

They stay in the Mountain or Pacific zones (or Central) for a lot of their games next season - reduced trips all the way out east in the eastern time zone. Even worse for Vancouver, for example. Plus, going the other way, Montreal or Ottawa making repeated trips out east.

 

[Mortimer Snerd]

He never played as the number 1 center on the Jets

My report on Roslovic from watching 3 games so far with CBus

They have given him a chance to show he can play as a top line center and time on the top PP unit. My take is his line gets buried by other lines. He still is too much of a perimeter guy but maybe with some coaching he can overcome that. He has looked good on the PP playing the halfboards. I think like a lot of perimeter players he would excel with room.

I don't know if he can be a play driving number 1 center in the NHL but CBus really needs him to develop into one if they have hopes of making the playoffs

What would you say are his chances of being a 2C? How does he compare to Domi? Texier? Is he really the best bet they have?

 

[Mortimer Snerd]

The equipment is about twice the size now too...

I think back in those days what you had Mike Palmateer and Tony Esposito as butterfly goalies? Roy really changed the way the game is played... that and goalies were fair game for a stick to the head if they were down low in the early 1980s - ask Billy Smith

.... and half the weight, if that.

 

[Joe Hallenback]

What would you say are his chances of being a 2C? How does he compare to Domi? Texier? Is he really the best bet they have?

He has the tools to be a good center in the NHL. I just didin't think his commitment here was good. Maybe going home and getting minutes will help him. He just hasn't looked good in the D zone yet. They got buried yesterday by the Caines when it comes to shots and good scoring chances and if the Caines had better goaltending that game wouldn't be close. I feel for CBus because they really need those guys to be very good. Torts is a real good coach who preaches solid defense first hockey and limiting the other teams chances. Are those 2 guys from what you have seen of them sound like the types to be able to help with that?

 

[WolfHouse]

.... and half the weight, if that.

The shoulder pads that goalies used would have left 80% of the net open back then too...

 

[Mortimer Snerd]

The shoulder pads that goalies used would have left 80% of the net open back then too...

They wore shoulder pads?

 

[pictman]

Esposito was the first goalie I remember who broke the mould of the goalies in the Original 6. Butterfly, athletic, mobile, came way out to challenge.....Fiercely competitive. Oh yeah and well known as constantly trying to cheat by modifying his equipment. Extra large Jersey, stuffed his own pads making them bigger and even went as far as adding a net to his pants to cover the 5 hole lol. It was because of him that they really started checking goalies equipment and regulating it more. Pre Jets, Chicago was my team. I'm old enough to have watched the original 6.

 

[WolfHouse]

Esposito was the first goalie I remember who broke the mould of the goalies in the Original 6. Butterfly, athletic, mobile, came way out to challenge.....Fiercely competitive. Oh yeah and well known as constantly trying to cheat by modifying his equipment. Extra large Jersey, stuffed his own pads making them bigger and even went as far as adding a net to his pants to cover the 5 hole lol. It was because of him that they really started checking goalies equipment and regulating it more. Pre Jets, Chicago was my team. I'm old enough to have watched the original 6.

I think he was the first goalie to use the fibreglass/cage combo too