ATD Chat Thread XV

[seventieslord]

You know, I like to laugh about how much much the Sens and Habs are a mess and are going to be bad for years to come, but deep down it saddens me. The Leafs are on the cusp of greatness and we're about to have a good 7 or 8 years of contention. We need a rival. One day I'm going to be saying "oh boy, remember all those battles we had with the lightning and the Panthers? Man those were the days..." It's just not the same as if we'd had those battles with the hand and Sens. But we're not going to, because those teams aren't making the playoffs in the next 5 years, are they?

 

[BenchBrawl]

You know, I like to laugh about how much much the Sens and Habs are a mess and are going to be bad for years to come, but deep down it saddens me. The Leafs are on the cusp of greatness and we're about to have a good 7 or 8 years of contention. We need a rival. One day I'm going to be saying "oh boy, remember all those battles we had with the lightning and the Panthers? Man those were the days..." It's just not the same as if we'd had those battles with the hand and Sens. But we're not going to, because those teams aren't making the playoffs in the next 5 years, are they?

Unfortunately Molson didn't return my emails for the GM position, so we're doomed

I agree, I always hate it when a franchise with a deep history is struggling.I've said that about Toronto in the past.It feels wrong.

 

[ImporterExporter]

I've always liked the Sens as "my" Canadian team. Not sure why to be honest. But being American I felt like picking somebody like Toronto or Montreal was way to bandwagon for me. Ottawa always seemed like the red headed step child of eastern Canada hockey. Out west, I was always fond of Winnipeg.

But it's disgraceful what is going on in Ottawa. Starts and ends with shitty ownership. I genuinely feel bad for the diehard Sens fans. At least Toronto has finally put together a seemingfly strong core. Montreal is a dumpster fire but at least they have history to look back on.

 

[Johnny Engine]

I've always liked the Sens as "my" Canadian team. Not sure why to be honest. But being American I felt like picking somebody like Toronto or Montreal was way to bandwagon for me. Ottawa always seemed like the red headed step child of eastern Canada hockey. Out west, I was always fond of Winnipeg.

But it's disgraceful what is going on in Ottawa. Starts and ends with ****ty ownership. I genuinely feel bad for the diehard Sens fans. At least Toronto has finally put together a seemingfly strong core. Montreal is a dumpster fire but at least they have history to look back on.

I wanted the Sens to be my second team, but the playoffs from 2000-04 put a damper on that. My aunt and uncle in Ottawa used to mail me VHS tapes from the 1996-97 season, when the Leafs were on a down cycle and the Sens were on the upswing (even Daigle looked good that year). Then we visited them at Christmas and watched the Sens play the Bruins. Alexei Yashin scored a goal where he was tripped trying to beat a defenseman, and deked out Scott Bailey while flying through the air. Adam Oates scored a goal where he powered through two Sens defensemen who had him in a full dead-puck-era bear hug. I loved the energy around the team, and in retrospect it's a shame that the Alfie/Sundin playoffs brought out so much animosity for them.

The sad thing is, the last decent version of the Senators had a lot of guys I'm really fond of. Karlsson is just pure beauty on the ice, I always liked MacArthur on the leafs, and it's hard not to like Craig Anderson, JG Pageau, Marc Methot... plus fellow Newfoundlander Colin Greening who's been just massive for the Marlies since the Phaneuf trade. My favourite radio station to have on at work is also in Ottawa, so I often hear their players monotoning their way through car ads, and that sort of thing really does build an afinity.

Alfie totally got away with nailing Tucker right in the numbers though, so %@#&! 'em.

 

[VanIslander]

Could someone post the final series matchup?

I'm on Chuseok (Korean thanksgiving) holiday for a week and my smartphone is my only intetnet access and it's friggin' difficult to cut and paste, heck I had to edit this post so many times due to big fingers, small screen.

 

[BenchBrawl]

Could someone post the final series matchup?

I'm on Chuseok (Korean thanksgiving) holiday for a week and my smartphone is my only intetnet access and it's friggin' difficult to cut and paste, heck I had to edit this post so many times due to big fingers, small screen.

Done

 

[BenchBrawl]

We have a pretty interesting start for the Art Ross race.

Malkin, McDavid and Kane are Top 5 in scoring.Then you have some young guys like Matthews and MacKinnon also near the top.

If any of the former trio wins it would be massive for their legacy.

 

[VanIslander]

Kane and Price are having a great start!

Malkin seems to be motivated to having a career year.

But that wizard Kuznetsov is as amazing passing as shooting or deking or skating. It seems he has just picked up where he left off in the Stanley Cup playoffs last spring. It could become his all-time great breakout year (though he was impressive in his first couple of years too in terms of decision making and puck management - the guy's got awesome hockey sense).

 

[ResilientBeast]

I guess we're decent again?

With two games in hand McDavid has climbed to 5th in scoring 4 points behind Rantanen for the lead

 

[VanIslander]

Not since I saw live Malik's shootout goal and Ovechkin's rookie spinorama have I been as dumbfounded by unanticipated innovations as I have been this season in another sport:

Has anyone seen Thielen's behind the helmet catch or Mahomes' left hander to Tyreek Hill?

In 34 years of watching that sport, I haven't ever seen such kinds of play.

 

[VanIslander]

Wow. I recommend you guys check out the highlights of the Tampa-Nashville game!

Vezina winner vs. Vezina finalist and the winner won, Pekka Rinne stopping over 40 shots - including several highlight ones - in a 2-1 Preds win.

Ryan Johansen set up both goals, one of them a Gretzkyesque no-look pivot backhand laser accurate pass to Josi.

Seriously top level hockey this game.

 

[ResilientBeast]

Really enjoying NHL19 with all the legends even though most of the ratings don't make very much sense

C.Lemieux - Nieuwendyk - Gartner
Bucyk - Ferraro - Conacher
Mahovolich - Otto - Lehtinen
Rakell - Gilmour - McDavid

Salming - Burns
Danyeko - Iafrate
Hanifin - E.Johnson

Hextall
Moog

 

[tinyzombies]

The players don’t make sense either but I imagine they want to be paid for once so are asking $$.

 

[VanIslander]

Great Crosby vs. Ovechkin game tonight!

There have been so many over the years.

What a great rivalry.

We've been fortunate they aren't in different conferences.

 

[seventieslord]

How could you argue for Crosby for the Smythe in years he didn't lead the playoffs in scoring and then say Kuzy was "robbed?"

I must've missed this.

Are you saying I "argue" for Crosby for the Smythe in years he didn't lead the playoffs in scoring? I would not say that's accurate.

2016 - no one "argues" for that. They defend it perhaps, but it's a weak smythe. (but also, who else can you really give it to? He was still driving the play and had horrible puck luck)
2017 - this one needs no arguing. No one disagreed Crosby earned the Smythe.
2009 - yes I have gone on record in the past, arguing for 2009. While my stance on that has softened over the years, it's hard to deny that the same logic that gave Malkin the Smythe over Crosby should have also give Kuzy the Smythe over Ovechkin.

 

[ResilientBeast]

I've come around on hating our GM we could be here right now if it wasn't for him. This would leave us in great shape and if we still have JP and Yamamoto in this future we would have trade chips to upgrade the defence. But nope

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins - Connor McDavid - Ty Rattie
Taylor Hall - Leon Draisaitl - Tobias Reider
Drake Cagguila - Matthew Barzal - Jordan Eberle
Jujhar Khaira - Kyle Brodziak - Zack Kassian

Darnell Nurse - Oscar Klefbom
Andrej Sekera - Kris Russell
Kevin Gravel - Matthew Benning

Cam Talbot
Mikko Koiskinen

Cap Total: 74.1 million

 

[VanIslander]

Marleau's goal in the 2-1 OT win over Anaheim last night saw him pass Tkachuk in career NHL goals.

Now,... EVERY player with more goals than Patty are HHOFers. (Jagr & Iginla are surefire first balloters.)

Marleau will be the posterboy for marginal status. We will ask: "Was player x's career better than Marleau's?" as a litmus test for induction.

 

[rmartin65]

I think I agree with Marleau being a litmus test kind of guy. Very good, great player. But I dont think I would ever have said that he was, say, one of the ten best players in the league in any given season. So, despite the numbers, I just don't think of him as a HOFer.

Remarkable ability to stay healthy, though.

 

[VanIslander]

But I dont think I would ever have said that he was, say, one of the ten best players in the league in any given season.

In 2009-10 he was 4th in NHL goals with 44 and was beat out of 2nd team all star honours by 2 votes shy of D. Sedin. AND... during that season was the Olympic break and Patty played on both the pp and pk units, finishing 3rd in ice time among forwards for gold-medal Canada, scoring 5 points in 7 games. Then in the postseason he led all Shark forwards in ice time (22+ minutes) on a conference finals run, no one in San Jose scoring more at even strength and Marleau scoring 8 goals, 13 points and two game winners.

I was saying he was top 10 then.

 

[Johnny Engine]

In 2009-10 he was ... top 10 then.

There's a quote by the author Rivka Galchen that I really like: "The difficulty with forecasting is nowcasting".
In the case of nailing down the Top-10 players at any given time, you're dealing with their recent body of work, up to 2 or 3 years worth of it, active hot/cold streaks, injuries, short-term projections, and the sort of untapped talent that their peers, coaches and other onlookers see when they're just fooling around in warmup. Virtually everyone agrees that Connor McDavid is the best player in the world right now despite being behind both Rantanen and McKinnon in scoring, and there's a good reason for that. Did Patty have enough support for his case in the years surrounding 2010, and did we think his 2010 performance was something you could take to the bank in 2011? I'm thinking not quite, but that season is still better than what I'd imagine if you asked me to picture Marleau at his best.

 

[VanIslander]

He was 6th in NHL goals the following season and again led the Shark forwards in ice time to the conference finals.

A couple of years later Team Canada coach Babcock again picked Marleau for another Olympics, and Patty led Canada in assists while playing on Toews wing in a two-way role to another gold.

So, in HINDSIGHT, that 09-10 season was a genuine career peak for Marleau, and not an anomaly fluke.

 

[ImporterExporter]

Sid off to a great start this year. Old man still has it.

Still never ceases to amaze me how quick he processes the game. He simply sees shit that 99% of the league can't.

 

[VanIslander]

Since when is 31 "old man" territory?

Yeah, decent enough start. He's 3rd in team scoring, well behind the team lead in points.

Now, old man Malkin is starting on fire, 5th in NHL points.

 

[ImporterExporter]

Since when is 31 "old man" territory?

Yeah, decent enough start. He's 3rd in team scoring, well behind the team lead in points.

Now, old man Malkin is starting on fire, 5th in NHL points.

I was being facetious It's just surreal to me that he's now on the old side of 30. Nicknamed "Sid the Kid" for years.

BTW, you probably didn't notice but he recently missed 3 games due to injury so he's really only "well behind" because he's played fewer games.

24 points in 19 games is 1.26 PPG. Makin has 30 in 22 at 1.36, so slightly better.

Also, Crosby is a +11, Malkin a -1

Crosby's only scored 6 of his points on the PP compared to 10 for Malkin

Sid is 56% in the dot compared to 45% for Geno.

2 PIM's for Crosby

32 PIM's for Malkin

Crosby has a ridiculous 10.2% relative Corsi compared to Malkin's -0.6 which means Crosby's line is dominating possession at a much, much better rate than Malkin's.

Still early but Sid is really off to a fantastic start (i've only missed 2 Pens games thus far). Gotta stay healthy the rest of the way but his game is really strong across the board thus far.

 

[ImporterExporter]

And damn has Nate Mackinnon ever turned around his career. He's one of the few players based on last year that could keep McDavid from running away with another Ross. I think Rantanen will come back to the mean (though he is on Mac's line) over the course of the year but props to him for his fantastic start.

Laine is a streaky damn player but when he's on he fills the net. He goes on another few tears this year, like Novemember, and it'll be the Rocket for him.