N. H. L. -2019-20

[EagerBeaver]

Kane ejected For "Abuse of Official"

TBH in watching this video, it looks like the official abused Kane by jumping him and driving him into the ice:

https://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id...-says-ref-jumped-calls-ejection-absolute-joke

Prior to that, it looked like Kane tried to slash Engelland and the referee jumped in and took the slash, which was clearly intended for Engelland who had cross checked Kane. One has to wonder why the Ref went after and tried to subdue Kane rather than Engelland, if he was being a peacemaker as he claimed. It appeared that Kane was trying to skate away. In the NFL occasionally the referees get in the way of the action and I have seen some NFL refs get steamrolled and flattened when they could not get out of the way. I think the ref here just needed to let Kane and Engelland go at it and strike a few blows and then come in. He jumped in a little too quick IMHO.

I don't think anything that happened warranted anything more than a slashing penalty on Kane and cross-checking on Engelland.

 

[No_Church_InThe_Wild]

^^^
@ Jalimon . Subban is a charismatic fellow and a good two way defender in my opinion ,,, not great but good . But he’s also made a reputation as someone who can be a distraction in the locker room , and that makes him a liability for any team .

@EB . Your trade suggestions make a lot of sense . Maybe this Leafs GM should listen to you or Doc . I’m not really a hockey guy but I’m not sold on this Leafs GM one bit . I know this will sound a bit superficial but he looks more like an office gofer than a GM .
Championship teams are almost always built from the top . And this young dude doesn’t convince me . He looks more like a baseball analytics kind of guy, but this is hockey , different sports culture. Quite frankly I don’t know if I’m making any sense.

Again we know that this is a top heavy team so it makes sense for them to look for some trades that will improve their defence.
But what I think they are missing in their locker room is some Veteran leadership to push the young guys ,,, especially during the playoffs.

 

[EagerBeaver]

He looks more like a baseball analytics kind of guy, but this is hockey , different sports culture.

Regarding Kyle Dubas, ironically, he is influenced by the revolution created in baseball front offices by analytics and is at the forefront of attempting to stir a similar revolution in hockey. It remains to be seen how useful analytics will be in hockey. Apparently most of his efforts have been invested in analytics of puck-control, but there are elements here that are very hard to quantify with stats. Baseball sets up as one of the easier sports in which to quantify player performance because whether a player is at the plate or in the field (in his geographically defined defensive metric zone), he is isolated in the action and his performance can be definitively, metrically quantified. In hockey, on the other hand, you have a bunch of moving parts that are somewhat intertwined with each other.

Again we know that this is a top heavy team so it makes sense for them to look for some trades that will improve their defence.
But what I think their missing in their locker room is some experienced veterans to push the young guys ,,, especially in the playoffs.

I agree with all of this. They thought they got that with Patrick Marleau, but then they discovered that the performance side of things was not really what they wanted. He was just a worn out old horse who needed to be put down, and when a guy is in that phase of his career and is really not carrying his weight, the respect his veteran presence might otherwise bring begins to fade amongst his teammates and there is diminishing returns in leadership. Players on sports teams know who is not carrying their weight and it is hard to respect such guys no matter how long they have played and how good they once were. In his final weeks with the Yankees, A-Rod could no longer hit fastballs and he was really struggling, popping up and making a lot of soft contact. The Yankees cut him at midseason, and gave him another role within the organization. I thought they might make this move in part because it was getting embarrassing to watch, but also you can't allow it to continue and send a message to the rest of the team that a guy keeps his spot because he has a big contract.

The trick is to acquire some veterans who, unlike Marleau, have more than a few drops of gasoline left in the tank.

 

[No_Church_InThe_Wild]

Regarding Kyle Dubas, ironically, he is influenced by the revolution created in baseball front offices by analytics and is at the forefront of attempting to stir a similar revolution in hockey. It remains to be seen how useful analytics will be in hockey. Apparently most of his efforts have been invested in analytics of puck-control, but there are elements here that are very hard to quantify with stats. Baseball sets up as one of the easier sports in which to quantify player performance because whether a player is at the plate or in the field (in his geographically defined defensive metric zone), he is isolated in the action and his performance can be definitively, metrically quantified. In hockey, on the other hand, you have a bunch of moving parts that are somewhat intertwined with each other.





The trick is to acquire some veterans who, unlike Marleau, have more than a few drops of gasoline left in the tank.

Interesting take on all of this ,,, I guess Baseball and analytics is a good marriage. It certainly has altered the way teams are put together. But like you mentioned the game of baseball is more tailor made for measuring data .
Again hockey and all modern day sports use technology to their advantage these days. Still in hockey a GM has to carry some weight and a certain amount of respect from the players,,, after all they need to answer and be accountable to him regarding their season performances.
I’m not into keeping and recycling the same old dinosaurs with the same old way of doing things .But if I had a say I would prefer some young retired NHLer with new ideas , over an Alex Anthopoulos wanna be . I’m a bit old school in this matter I guess.

On the matter of veteran leadership you bring up a good point again EB .
It makes sense that if they cannot contribute on the ice they sort of loose that Veteran presence in the locker room.
I always thought of highly of Marleau but when they got him he was almost pushing 40 and in such a physically demanding sport you wonder if anything is left in the tank come playoffs when it really matters.

 

[Doc Holliday]

What Toronto needs is a top defenseman. They should consider trading Nylander to Montreal for Weber. Straight up. This deal will help both teams. Nylander was a huge disappointment after his holdout - 27 points in 54 games isn’t going to cut it. In Montreal they are always looking for dynamic young offensive talent and perhaps Montreal can bring Nylander to his full potential. Meanwhile with Weber, Toronto would get an experienced veteran leader on D to pair with Rielly and you could then start seeing real as opposed to make believe visions of a Stanley Cup parade in Toronto.

If I was the Leafs GM that deal would have been done yesterday and all you guys would be buying each other drinks and toasting Canada’s next SC champion, but I am not the Leafs GM, so no drinks for all of you. You can feel free to email or text him my suggested trade.

Number one the Leafs already have a top defenceman in Morgan Rielly. He was one of the league's top defencemen last season and he's yet to enter his prime years. Many were shocked he wasn't picked to be a Norris trophy finalist.

Another top defenceman is Tyson Barrie, whom they obtained from the Avs for Nazem Kadri. And the Leafs also have veteran Jake Muzzin and prized rookie Rasmus Sandin. And Travis Dermott should be back in a month or so. I'm not worried about the defence at all. This is a well-rounded, balanced team.

Number two any team should be advised to stay away from Shea Weber. He's a shadow of what he once was and he's in his twilight years. He's also extremely low. His stats have been steadily going down over the past few seasons and he keeps getting injured for extended periods of time. But the main reason why you stay away from him is that his contract will only end in 2016 and he currently has a cap hit of nearly $8 million per season!!!

You hold on to William Nylander. His cap hit is now only $6.9 million per season for the next 6 years. In years 4, 5 and 6 his contract will look like a great bargain. And that's also why the Leafs wouldn't be able to trade for Weber: no cap room to accomodate such a contract. But like i mentioned no one can touch (or should) Weber's albatross of a contract unless it's a team that needs to get to the cap bottom.

 

[EagerBeaver]

I agree that Weber’s constant injuries are a concern. I generally like defensemen who are horses, like Markov was for Montreal until the very end. When Markov was Weber’s age he was a lot more durable. I felt Montreal fans overlooked and under-appreciated that guy. I would rather have a guy like him who you can pencil in every game and not have to worry about assorted injuries. You want guys who can just suit up and play.

I don’t believe Toronto is as well balanced as you do Doc, but we shall see. They are certainly a very good team and one of my top 3 in the East, but I don’t think they have enough on defense or enough veteran leadership. We will see what happens! Let the games begin!

 

[jalimon]

We absolutely adored Markov in Montreal. I think it's wrong to think he was under-appreciated. Thus it's true he wanted a simple life and not be bothered. He was injured just as long as Weber in his prime year as well...

Toronto will rock this year. They are a top 3 cup contender.

 

[EagerBeaver]

Jalimon,

In his age 35, 36 and 37 seasons, Markov played 81, 81 and 82 games, a 3 year stretch in which he only missed 2 games. That’s incredible for an over age 35 defenseman. In those same seasons he produced 43, 50 and 44 point seasons.

It was just his last year at age 38 when he became, like Marleau at age 40, a broken down old war horse.

And yes he was underappreciated, due to his being Russian. If he was French, he would have been more popular than Larry Robinson, more popular than Serge Savard. I personally felt sorry for him because I thought I should see more Markov jerseys on the street, but Habs fans just didn’t feel the love for him. Look at the jersey sales, that’s really all you need to know. Shit, Galchenyuk had more jerseys on the streets, and for what? The only recent foreign guy the Montreal fans really embraced was Sakko Koivu. And Markov was a better Hab for longer than Koivu.

 

[Doc Holliday]

I don’t believe Toronto is as well balanced as you do Doc, but we shall see. They are certainly a very good team and one of my top 3 in the East, but I don’t think they have enough on defense or enough veteran leadership. We will see what happens! Let the games begin!

I'm quite comfortable with the current leadership on the team with the likes of John Tavares, Jake Muzzin & Jason Spezza, among others. Sure it's nice to have veteran players on a team but they also have to be productive or have cap-friendly contracts.

Of course i'd love to have someone like Shea Weber on my team. But considering what he now contributes as far as production goes and the fact he has one of the biggest contracts for a defenceman which will only expire in 2016 makes his trade value pretty low. One day the habs will have to part ways with his big contract and the only way this will happen is by trading him to a team that is struggling to reach the cap basement. The habs would also have to sweeten the pot by adding a prospect or two plus draft picks to the trade in order to the trading team to accomodate them. But Weber likely has a non-movement clause in his contract so he'll be difficult to move no matter what.

Speaking of Andrei Markov he wanted to come back to the habs this season. My guess is that he would have come cheap. But the habs told him there was no room on their roster for him.

 

[jalimon]

EagerBeaver

Sorry but you are wrong on this one. I think Montreal fan can confirm. We LOVED Markov. He never became a popular star because he hated stardom. But Markov loved Montreal. He loved living here. I think from an outsider perspective you might get the idea he was not well liked but really it's wrong.

Saku was liked but mostly because he was a fighter. On the ice and off the ice. But the fact that he never made a single move to learn just a few sentence of French was a downer. I mean even Tatar said this week he took french course out of respect for the fans!

Cheers,

 

[EagerBeaver]

ESPN Ranks Defensemen Groups

Here is ESPN's rankings of the defensemen groups of each NHL team. Note that the Toronto Maple Leafs rank a mediocre 12th, Montreal ranks a weak #20, and the best defensemen group is that of the Carolina Hurricanes:

https://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id...-ranking-all-31-nhl-defenseman-groups-2019-20

 

[EagerBeaver]

ESPN NHL Preview

https://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id...questions-bold-predictions-guide-all-31-teams

Here is what ESPN says about Montreal:

"The Canadiens are a confusing team, or in the more poetic French, an "équipe déroutante." They were one of the best even-strength offensive teams in the NHL last season, finishing fifth in 5-on-5 goals (188), and a middle of the pack defensive team (15th). Their power play shot blanks, finishing 30th at a 13.2 percent conversion rate. One imagines they could have found three more standings points to make the playoffs had it not. There's some real talent up front here: Max Domi, Tomas Tatar, Brendan Gallagher, Jonathan Drouin (maybe), Phillip Danault and the delightful trio of Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Artturi Lehkonen and Joel Armia. So they should put some pucks in the net. Carey Price and an improved defense should bring down a good, not great, goals-against average (2.88). There's a lot to like here, particularly under coach Claude Julien; the question is whether or not it's their time yet."

On Toronto Maple Leafs:

"Can Toronto win anything with over $33 million in cap space dedicated to three forwards: Auston Matthews, John Tavares and Mitch Marner, the restricted free agent who broke the bank with the Leafs?

Is Kyle Dubas in over his head, or has his constructed a one-and-done championship roster on a capped-out team?

Can Toronto, and its fans, trust Matthews after his idiotic decision not to inform the team about his charges of disorderly conduct back in Scottsdale, Arizona, as his employer had to find out about it on Twitter?

What happens if they have to play the Bruins in the playoffs again?

Is Frederik Andersen a Cup-calber goalie?

So many questions. Win or lose, it's never boring in Toronto."

Finally, on the NY Rangers:

"The Rangers infamously decided their winning window had closed in February 2018, as management parted with many familiar faces and stockpiled draft picks. Just 20 months later, is it possible they're back in the mix? An excited flurry of offseason moves has the Rangers at least relevant again. In the best-case scenario, the youngsters take a step forward and New York emerges as a dark horse playoff team. More realistically, we see promise but 2020-21 is when the Blueshirts actually level up."

 

[gaby]

Evander Kane suspended 3 games for physical abuse on officials,..,plus will forfeit 112,903,23.

 

[gaby]

Yes....season starts tonight. So i will go for,

ATLANTIC.....T.BAY...again they have the full package this year with an excellent goaly.

METROPOLITAN.....WASHINGTON.....another 50 plus goals for OVI......KUZY--BACKSTROM and co. should perform well and Holtby is a sure value.

CENTRAL......NASHVILLE.....they should b better offensivement and again their defensive players will do the difference.

PACIFIC......VEGAS....i don't really like this team BUT i give them big credit pour une équipe bien balancée et surtout bien dirigée........sorry for my SHARKS.....will still watch them for BURNS and KARLSSON.

TORONTO---FLORIDA---NJERSEY---NYORK---DALLAS--COLORADO will b fun to watch.

ENJOY.

 

[Doc Holliday]

Something tells me the Leafs will prevail in their division this season. Don't really know why since most people would go with Tampa. But something tells me it's the Leafs.

The Habs will miss the playoffs again but they'll make it very close.

Shocking prediction by the Doc: the Penguins will also miss the playoffs.

 

[gaby]

It will b quite a battle TBAY--LEAFS...BUT at the end of the day i believe LIGHTNINGS have a better goaly......agree with the Habs......yes shocking prediction for the Pens ..i think they will b in...cause of Galchy......lol.

 

[EagerBeaver]

The Lightning have a better goalie and better defensemen group than Toronto, but the way they flamed out of the playoffs last year is concerning. We will need to see how it plays out and also the health of these teams going into the playoffs which is always a big factor. I feel like TB is overdue to win at this point, but having their key guys healthy will be crucial.

I am very interested to see if the NY Rangers can sneak in and grab a playoff spot, maybe they will be fighting with MTL for the last one. That would be fun.

Gaby were you joking when you said Galchenyuk would propel Pittsburgh into the playoffs? I am kind of surprised Arizona traded him after just one season. This kid seems not to have fulfilled his potential, much like Drouin.

 

[vilaingarcon]

As a Rangers fan I don't see it happening, we've got too many new guys and there's no way Hank plays 60 games, which is our only real hope to make it into the playoffs this season. The metro division has become death row now. I don't see Galchenyuk playing more than 15 games alongside Malkin, which will give him a couple games with Sid...following a demotion to the 3rd line, where he belongs.

 

[gaby]

Was kidding with Galchy.....RANGERS ---am not a fan---BUT as already said with PANARIN--KAKKO--TROUBA they should b competitive...fans have been comprehensive and patient.... now.they deserve their team to b in.....yep the battle for playoffs will b fun.

 

[EagerBeaver]

I heard a hockey expert on WFAN today who said all 3 NY area teams will make playoffs, Rangers, Islanders and Devils, and Rangers will have most points of those 3 teams.