2019-20 NHL Season

[Vic Boss 612]

I meant to join a hockey pool to try to get back into the swing of things but still haven't gotten around to it

 

Canucks probably not making the playoffs this year but we've got kids with potential at every position, so here's hoping we start to see something percolating

 

I guess there's a new rule in the league this year that if a player's helmet comes off, they have to either abandon the play and go put it back on immediately or get back to the bench. Cost the Oilers a goal against the Canucks (Edmonton won anyways so it didn't matter) but I already see something bad happening because of it.

[Eizan 126]

Calling the Stars will miss the playoffs. 

[dr. b 492]

I think the Canucks have potential to be sneaky good this year. Not a Cup contender, but maybe they'll turn a few heads. My Jets are probably going to take a step back this year. Not sure what's going on with the Byfuglien situation

 

People in Toronto are really high on the Leafs this year and it will probably end in tears. Should be fun to watch

[dr. b 492]

The Leafs fired Babs

[Vic Boss 612]

This Bill Peters shit is pretty weird

 

>Canucks

>Up 6-3 against Penguins

>Lose 8-6

 

[dr. b 492]

Gotta figure Peters gets fired pretty soon

 

Also, like, is anybody really that shocked that hockey culture is a bit fucked up? Not even just hockey, sprots in general

[Vic Boss 612]

Generational differences rearing their head. We sorta knew about guys like Mike Keenan and John Tortorella anyways, doesn't shock me too much that there's more going on

[Deimos 100]

Arizona is 15-9-4 and in 2nd place right now in the Pacific with 34 points. I haven't been able to catch a game this year, especially since I don't live in Arizona anymore but I've been all over the standings several times a week. 

 

Maybe if I get my Enhanced ID I can drive up to Vancouver and watch them play the Canucks sometime before the Seattle team kicks off in a couple years.

[Vic Boss 612]

>Taylor Hall to Arizona

 

FFfffuuuuuuuuck

[Deimos 100]

I am guessing that's good.

[Vic Boss 612]

I'm not sure if he's a star player or not (probably not), but he's definitely a first-line player on any team in the league. Picking up a guy like him theoretically cements Arizona making the playoffs this year

[Vic Boss 612]

It's mid January and the Canucks are hanging around in a division with no clear runaway leader

[dr. b 492]

Just looked at the standings and the Leafs are a few spots out of the Wild Card. This is supposed to be a win-now team Though they do have enough points that they're within striking distance. From what I hear on Toronto sports podcasts, it sounds like D is the main problem... but I guess they don't really have a top tier goalie either.

 

Also, it is comforting to see the Habs and Sens even lower in the standings  

[Vic Boss 612]

My dad rants at me about them even though he's not a Leafs fan (acks I guess he sorta is, grew up a Habs fan, cheers for the Canucks and then Canadian teams come playoff time). They spent too much on superstar forwards and are apparently so capped out that they don't have enough for a solid d-core (and can't afford anyone coming off the long-term IR).

[dr. b 492]

They're technically over cap if everybody is healthy, I think. I'm not up to speed on how all that stuff works, but I guess they're trying to game the system somehow Or just not good at keeping track of payroll

[dr. b 492]

https://www.hockeyinsiders.net/articles/breaking-nhl-announces-its-official-return-date/

 

 

April Fools' Day of course, but if it were true I'd probably watch some

[Vic Boss 612]

NHL announced that for the purposes of record-keeping, the NHL regular season is now officially over.

 

If they can figure out a way to get the playoffs going, they're going to hold them in a few hub cities. 24 teams will make the playoffs, the top four teams of each conference will play a mini-round robin against each other to determine seeding, the other 8 teams will play a traditional top seed vs bottom seed best of 5.

 

East (City 1) Round Robin for Seeding in First Round (regular season overtime rules apply):
1. Boston Bruins
2. Tampa Bay Lightning
3. Washington Capitals
4. Philadelphia Flyers

East (City 1) – Best-of-5 Qualifying Round
No. 5 Pittsburgh Penguins vs. No. 12 Montreal Canadiens
No. 6 Carolina Hurricanes vs. No. 11 New York Rangers
No. 7 New York Islanders vs. No. 10 Florida Panthers
No. 8 Toronto Maple Leafs vs. No. 9 Columbus Blue Jackets

 

West (City 2) – Round Robin for Seeding in First Round
1. St. Louis Blues
2. Colorado Avalanche
3. Vegas Golden Knights
4. Dallas Stars

West (City 2) – Best-of-5 Qualifying Round
No. 5 Edmonton Oilers vs. No. 12 Chicago Blackhawks
No. 6 Nashville Predators vs. No. 11 Arizona Coyotes
No. 7 Vancouver Canucks vs. No. 10 Minnesota Wild
No. 8 Calgary Flames vs. No. 9 Winnipeg Jets

 

I was assuming the players union was gonna shut this shit down, but it sounds like they're on board with trying it. I have zero hope that this is going to play to fruition though. The Mexican soccer league just tried to play a season and just cancelled it because 8 of their players came down with covid.

 

From a pure play standpoint, everyone's going to be relatively healthy and not very sharp, so this might be one of the highest quality postseasons we've seen in a long time.

[dr. b 492]

I'm surprised that anybody is on board to be honest. With no fans (I'm assuming the games will be played in empty arenas?), no ticket sales, merch sales, etc then they're not going to make money on this. I'm also skeptical that TV ratings will be good. But who knows. I'll watch a bit if they do go through with it, and I'm sure that most teams can afford to take a hit financially this season, so if they're doing it for the love of the game then that's cool. 

[Vic Boss 612]

I bet it has something to do with ad rates. They may lose money running the playoffs, but they'll probably lose less overall than if they didn't run them because they can make back some advertiser money that would otherwise probably be pulled.

 

Also with players there's only so many shots at a Championship. If it was just the regular season, I bet they don't give a single fuck, but getting your name engraved on the cup might be worth the risk. That's the only explanation I can come up with because otherwise if you're the player's union, I'd stop that shit because my players are getting paid regardless and this doesn't potentially risk their careers.

[dr. b 492]

2 hours ago, Vic Boss said:

Also with players there's only so many shots at a Championship. If it was just the regular season, I bet they don't give a single fuck, but getting your name engraved on the cup might be worth the risk. That's the only explanation I can come up with because otherwise if you're the player's union, I'd stop that shit because my players are getting paid regardless and this doesn't potentially risk their careers.

Yeah, I think the players' motivation is some combination of wanting to win the Cup, they want to play because they love to play the game, or they just have been hockey players so long they don't know what else to do with themselves. Maybe the special playoff format will be fun for them too. But I think most NHL contracts are guaranteed, aren't they? I would have expected quite a few players to be content just riding it out and not playing, but maybe I'm wrong. Guys who are coming up on free agency are probably conflicted; on one hand you want to prove your worth and earn a good contract, but on the other hand you don't want to risk injury/illness and mess up your free agency.

[Vic Boss 612]

I've seen a few players grumble on social media that the excuse for not having the NHL in the olympics was so that they don't get injured in non-NHL games but then they keep trying to hold the season during a pandemic. At the time I thought it was pandemic grumbling but now I'm wondering if that was olympics grumbling instead

[Vic Boss 612]

Auston Matthews and some of the Tampa Bay Lightning tested positive

 

Probably just shut'er down. This Stanley Cup would already have an asterisk attached to it, imagine if we're in Game 3 of the Cup Finals and then one or two players on the other team test positive. Shut the league down for two weeks? Keep playing and award a Championship because of avoidable bad luck?

[dr. b 492]

Yeah just throw the season away. Basketball might have to do the same thing. And it's still unclear if baseball can salvage their season, last I heard the players and league were not close to an agreement yet. 

[dr. b 492]

Seattle... Kraken?

[Tassifox 418]

 

FUCK YA BABY!!!!!!

[dr. b 492]

I'm, uh, not a fan

[Vic Boss 612]

Orcas eat Giant Squid, so it's fine by me :D

[Tassifox 418]

2 hours ago, little birdy said:

I'm, uh, not a fan

No one's asking you to be!

Bring it on Vic!

[Vic Boss 612]

 

Holy shit, Elliot Friedman came down from the mountainside he's been squatting on to report on hockey again

[Vic Boss 612]

These playoffs are legit is as fuck up until the Canucks get eliminated, then they're an asterisk and this isn't a real Stanley Cup

[Vic Boss 612]

YOSHHHH, Canucks beat Minnesota to make the first round.

 

Pittsburgh, Edmonton and Nashville are the first teams to lose to "Non-Playoff" teams in the qualifier. I put "Non-Playoff" in quotations because like in the Canucks case, even though they were a playoff 7 seed vs a non-playoff 10 seed, the Canucks only had one more regular season point so it was an even matchup. Pit/MTL is a bit of a disaster but the rest aren't

 

But also because of how this shook out, fucking Edmonton has a shot at the first overall pick again

[dr. b 492]

Leafs fans were losing their shit last night down 3-0 late, I think there were less than 4 minutes left in the game when they finally scored their first goal. Pretty impressive comeback for them (or a pretty impressive collapse for the Blue Jackets - I wasn't watching so I don't really know how it all went down). Game 5 is tomorrow night and I trust the Leafs will find a way to break their fans hearts yet again Based on what they've done this season, they really don't seem like a very good team. They've got some talented players for sure, but that ain't enough. Seems like they don't really care enough / try hard enough.

[Vic Boss 612]

"Awriiiiiight, the round robins are over, who we got in the real first round?"

 

>Defending Stanley Cup Champion St Louis Blues

 

Fuck

[dr. b 492]

Leafs down 1-0 near the end of the 2nd

[Vic Boss 612]

TBH, I don't know what I want more: The Leafs losing again as normal, or the Leafs winning the asterisk Stanley Cup that they can't even hold a parade for and any time they bring it up you can be like "Well yeah, but that wasn't a real Stanley Cup."

[dr. b 492]

Well they're down 2-0 now with approx. 7 minutes to go, so it looks like losing as usual. Your Canucks can take a run at the asterisk Stanley Cup. Gonna be hard to maintain physical distancing at the riots if they get close and lose though

 

---

 

2ish minutes left now, Leafs still scoreless  

[Vic Boss 612]

It would be completely on point for the Canucks to win the asterisk real Stanley Cup. Easily more legit than most Cup wins

[dr. b 492]

CBJ wins 3-0

[Vic Boss 612]

TBH if they cut off 10 games in the regular season and had this play-in round every year, shit would be pretty cool.

[dr. b 492]

Might be fun. I'd like to see the NHL, NBA, etc. mix things up a bit and try more new things. The NBA has been toying with the idea of a mid-season tournament. I don't think everybody is on board with it yet, but it could be fun. Basketball gets pretty boring basically from All-Star weekend until the playoffs start. I guess they're trying to think up a way to steal some attention away from March Madness.

[Vic Boss 612]

I think basketball's problem is that, outside of a few blips every once in awhile, you know which four or five teams actually have the a shot to win the championship and everyone else is kind of just there

[Vic Boss 612]

Aw man, Bob McKenzie retired

[Vic Boss 612]

Aw man, Gary Bettman rigged the draft for New York

[Vic Boss 612]

Pro: Bo Horvat is dominating the shit out of St Louis

 

Con: St Louis is starting to find their game

[Vic Boss 612]

AGH NO

[Vic Boss 612]

 

Here's hoping the Canucks fuck up Vegas' season too (I'm mad they're so successful with so little time in the league)

 

Also: Arizona moving to the Central Division once the Kraken enter the league. It's really the only choice, (the other team furthest east is Edmonton, and they weren't gonna break up Calgary and Edmonton) but apparently the Central Division teams are better draws for Arizona than the Pacific teams anyways so it all works out.

[Vic Boss 612]

Plz no

[Vic Boss 612]

We still hangin on

 

(Canucks giving up too many shots and not shooting enough themselves, I can't see them winning three straight against Vegas)

 

I think Tampa wins the Cup this year (said that to my dad before they beat Boston)

[dr. b 492]

I just took a look at the bracket because I don't even know which teams are in or out anymore... Good to see the Bruins out. And I hope the Flyers are next to go. I probably won't watch any games, but I would maybe jump on the Isles' bandwagon if they get to the Cup Finals. There aren't any likeable teams left in the West

[Vic Boss 612]

WE IN GAME 7

 

(Another 40 shots against, Canucks should not be in this series still)