Official Hockey discussion thread

Speaking of Lundqvist, the off season has been more exciting than the playoffs. He gets bought bout, Murray gets traded, everyone thinks they got their guy at the draft... Where will Ekman-Larsson go today...
 
It's definitely been the craziest offseason in awhile, thanks coronavirus! Look at this insane shit:
Marc Staal and a pick to Detroit for "future considerations" which will almost certainly turn out to be "nothing".
Sharks get Donato and Dubnyk from the Wild for a 3rd and 5th, which is insane.
Habs and Jackets swap forwards, both guys get signed, Habs signed Josh Anderson for 7 fucking years (also insane).
Murray moved to Sens for a 2nd and a low end prospect, sounds like the Sens are willing to sign him.
Preds buy out Turris and trade Bonino to clear a Hall hell of a lot of cap space for some reason.
Sens trade for Gudbranson for some reason, even though he is a sub-replacement level player.
And last night the Jackets sent Ryan Murray, a pretty good defender, to the Devils for a 5th.
 
Saw this yesterday and confirmed I'm a bitter jerk. The article stated he's retiring after 47 years of broadcasting, and all of could think was, "What? Dude couldn't make it to 50?"
 
A few have, then again, i uaven even been alive for 50 years, much less do the same profession for that long.
 
One day until the season starts! Happy Hockey Eve

Not expecting much from the Hawks. I think defensively they will be better this year .. the younger D-men have some experience and the forwards , they signed are more defensively responsible. However Toews and Dach being out are killers. I had thought maybe they had a shot at an 8 seed if one of the goalies stepped up.... but no way now. Looking forward though to seeing Suter play and hope DeBrincat can get back close to 2 seasons ago. That and seeing if Mitchell lives up to expectations on the back end. A year of development for sure and 1 less year left on some of the veteran contracts.

Sad and happy to see Crawford retire. Sad because I think he was really unappreciated (a but like a modern day Grant Fuhr), his championship speech is an all time f-bomb great, he was wonderful to watch play, and he just seems like an all around good person.

Happy because of the concussions he has battled through and it is probably the best thing for his long term health.
 
As a Devils fan, I am disappointed that Crow had to go, but fully understand. Still looking forward to what promises to be a dumpster fire of a season for The Red and the Black, which I suppose includes Chicago and Ottawa as well.
 
Bit of an odd story around Evander Kane

www.usatoday.com

Report: Sharks’ Evander Kane, nearly $27 million in debt, files for bankruptcy

Sharks forward Evander Kane is $27M in debt and faces six active lawsuits, court actions and administrative proceedings, according to The Athletic.
www.usatoday.com

Bigger version of the story on The Athletic

Sharks forward Evander Kane filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy Saturday, according to a petition in federal bankruptcy court in San Jose, California, acquired by The Athletic.

According to capfriendly.com, Kane has made nearly $53 million in his career. On the filing, Kane listed liabilities at $26.8 million with assets of $10.2 million. While The Athletic notes that the sources of Kane's losses are not clear, the petition indicates that he has lost $1.5 million in gambling over the last year. The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas also settled a lawsuit against Kane for unpaid gambling bills last year.

In his home, Kane lists seven dependents living with him, including a 6-month-old daughter, 27-year-old sister, mother, father, two uncles and his grandmother.

In the filing, Kane said that a shortened 56-game season would make paying off his debts difficult. A total of 47 creditors were listed on the filing.
 
The Crawford retirement is definitely sad in that he should have more to give to the game. He had a brilliant year last year and was the only reason the Hawks sniffed the playoffs. But it's a good thing for someone with his level of injury history to be comfortable owning his career end. I hate watching careers end on the ice.

Jay Bouwmeester retired as well, he had a hell of a run, and I was very happy when the Blues won for him in 2019.
 
Chicago is off to a great start with 3 loses lol. I kid I kid. Not one team is doing "great." If there is a big positive with a week or so into the season it's the scores. 4-2, 6-1, 5-0, etc. lots of scoring.

Laine is hurt again. I remember reading a couple of seasons ago he has a chronic back issue and to be honest, it explains his less than stellar numbers. This was a kid with high hopes, ALMOST Ovie like expectations and for a second, he delivered, but his production has dipped, his health hasn't helped and I don't think he'll ever meet said expecations. It's not easy to do. In the past 20 years I think only Crosby, Ovie, maybe Stamkos along with McDavid and Mathews have really met said expectations. All other hyped up players, like Hall, haven't really met said expectations. The Chicago kids, Toews and Kane, had modest expectations, but I think it had to do with being in Ovie's and Crosby's shadow. But I don't recall the same amount of hype surrounding Kane like that of Laine, Hall, Nuget-Hopkins, etc.

Let's see how much damage Ovie can do in 56 games, I'm gonna saaaay.... 38 goals. Aside from that, keeping an eye on McDavid and Draistle as their stars are still rising, even if their team isn't.
 
Hawks are just sucking. On the good news side, Mitchell has been touted for a while and he looks like a legit top 4 D-man. He makes good decisions and wins a fair amount of pucks. This is clearly a "figure out what they have" year. I think initially that was the plan for the second half of the season, but without Toews and Dach that started much earlier.
 
Funny, I feel the Bruins are in a similar boat. Letting Chara go and giving Bergeron the C (like 5 seasons too late) definitely marks a change in Boston. The back end looks very different without Krug or Chara, so they're figuring things out there. Our core is OLD and I'm not afraid to say over-the-hill. Bergeron's defensive play will help him play a bit longer, but Krejci and the others.... forget it. Our one bright spot is Pasternak.

Speaking of over-the-hill has beens, Lundquist won't play for Washington due to heart issues, which probably explains why they hired Chara.
 
Honestly, Chicago tanking & rebuilding just makes sense. The team doesn't have enough left, unless they can get rid of some of their boat anchor contracts. Keith can't play at the level he's being played, Seabrook is an actual anti-player, Toews is still good but he he's a $5 million player making $10.5, etc. The pipeline is pretty dry, too. Still, Chicago will remain a prime destination for free agents and they'll likely get it together better than, say, CBJ.
 
LooseCannon said:
Honestly, Chicago tanking & rebuilding just makes sense. The team doesn't have enough left, unless they can get rid of some of their boat anchor contracts. Keith can't play at the level he's being played, Seabrook is an actual anti-player, Toews is still good but he he's a $5 million player making $10.5, etc. The pipeline is pretty dry, too. Still, Chicago will remain a prime destination for free agents and they'll likely get it together better than, say, CBJ.
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Agree .. Kane is the only one playing up to his contract, he had an unreal goal last night... though I will say Keith is at least solid still and I am sure he is a good influence on the younger D-men.

The real solace is that they have Cups to show for it, nothing worse than a team being in salary cap hell with little to show for it in the rafters. 2 more season after this one and most of the contracts roll off the books/Seabrooks could be bought out then. I do think they have some guys in their very early 20s that can be part of a good next core .. Mitchell, DeBrincat, Kubalik, Strome, Kurashev, Boqvist already in the NHL and they should be drafting pretty high the next few drafts, which will be the key for them. Plus having some cap room by then to fill in the missing pieces.
 
Absolutely. Flags fly forever, and the Hawks winning three in the 2010s really cements them as a great team, one of the greatest ones of the post-expansion era. Comparable to the dynasties of the 70s and 80s, really, because of the increased difficulty in winning Cups in the modern league.

There's a future for the Hawks, for sure. But they do need to get past those contracts. Keith is projected to add 0.1 wins of value this year, which is obviously deeply undervaluing his contract. He's fine, but he's very near to replacement level at this stage in his (great) career. After a few years in the basement and a few great drafts, Chicago will have finished paying their penance and will be back.
 
They had an interesting discussion during the game last night .. and I had forgotten about this .. that the ref used to announce the goal and assist(s), then it went to the home team and Olczyk essentially complained about the points inflation from phantom assists in the 1980s .. specifically with the North Stars .. that is the part I had forgotten about, if possible, I think they would have handed out 4 secondary assists on each goal. Interesting how that has progressed.
 
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