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2025-26 NHL Miscellaneous Thread

cmaleski2 said:
Hopefully we can wrap these series up so we can get going with round 2. I'm calling Wild over Dallas big tonight to take that series and Anaheim winning a close one to wrap up that series.
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Done. Both series got closed out last night and the Canes and Fylers are starting Saturday. Win/Win/Win from where I sit. Rantanen and the world’s most overrated team are out, McDavid’s offseason soap opera can get started in Edmonton, and we get more playoff hockey
 
andyt said:
Ducks finish off the Oilers 5-2. Wonder if McDavid has any regrets about signing the 2 year extension.
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I couldn't get out of Edmonton fast enough, if I was McDavid. The money will work itself out at his skill level. But that organization is a disaster.
 
jeffbear said:
Done. Both series got closed out last night and the Canes and Fylers are starting Saturday. Win/Win/Win from where I sit. Rantanen and the world’s most overrated team are out, McDavid’s offseason soap opera can get started in Edmonton, and we get more playoff hockey
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Other than crappy weather for you guys tomorrow, should be the start of a great series
 
OK, so last night was fun.

Quinn Hughes basically ran Dallas out of the playoffs by himself with two delicious scoring plays, and this time the Stars can’t hang Otter out to dry because goaltending wasn’t the problem. They can’t scapegoat Jason Robertson either, since he and Wyatt Jonshon were basically the only guys scoring goals. Their even strength scoring was pretty much a no-show against the Wild, which led to just a horror show in the plus/minus column. Rantanen was -8, Heiskanen was -9. Their only plus guys were part timers … Bunting with +1 in 1 game, Nils Lunqvist with +1 in 4 games. Honestly, that’s just miserable. I figured rehiring Gulutzan would bite them, and he had no real adjustments to offer as his team got speed boated at even strength by a more top heavy team that should have offered some matchup options. Honestly, I loved it. Plus, I didn’t realize it had been 11 freaking years since the Wild got out of the first round. Good on ‘em.

Then Team Fun blasted Team Dreadfully Serious out west. Anaheim is playing pretty much exactly the way Florida played under Quenneville and you can’t deny that it’s fun to watch. Not sure it’s gonna hold up much longer because they really defend like they’re unfamiliar with basic concepts, but hey … chicks dig an odd man rush, right? Everything about the Oilers is like some sort of global crisis for whatever reason so it’s always nice to just be done with the drama. At least this year they didn’t make us loathe them all the way to the Finals only to lose to a team that everybody loathes even more. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out, guys. I hope your off season sucks too.
 
Montreal is the lone Canadian team who still has a chance to get out of the first round. To me, Tampa is looking old, tired, and may be ripe for the picking.

I'm not sure which team I care less about, Utah / Vegas or Boston/ Buffalo. [Polar's word] 'em.

The Wild / Avalanche series should be great and a challenge for each side.

Brace yourselves for Philly Fan, Raleigh. I don't expect them to be nearly as disgraceful and obnoxious as '06 Sabres Fan, though they're probably going to try hard to be surly. The good thing and saving grace is that the visitors haven't had as much time to buy tickets as the home fans have.

Jim
 
I mean, for the Canes’ sake it would be better if Boston could get the Sabres out of the bracket just because you’d prefer the better, deeper teams to stumble. Not sure there’s a local advantage to Montreal or Tampa. They’re both tough matchups in their own way. Vegas/Utah is easy for me because I can’t stand that stupid nouveau riche Vegas team and would vastly prefer they crash out as early as possible. Plus, same as when they were in Phoenix, that Mammoth team is sneaky fun to watch … even though, like the Canes, nobody in the national media seems to have ever actually watched them
 
Looking forward to round 2. I think the MIN/COL is really going to be a game of attrition and will go the length. That should be a fun series.

For some tortured reason, I’d like to see McDavid in Ottawa. Let OTT and TO torture each other in Ontario and let’s have fun with the Atlantic.

I will be curious as to what Dubas’ plans will be this offseason in PIT. He’s got goalie issues and a group of players ready to join Geritol nation— Crosby, Malkin, Letang with Mantha bringing up the rear.
 
SlapShots said:
I will be curious as to what Dubas’ plans will be this offseason in PIT. He’s got goalie issues and a group of players ready to join Geritol nation— Crosby, Malkin, Letang with Mantha bringing up the rear.
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I know it can be dangerous to be optimistic about Dubas’ general thing, but I think he’s done a pretty good of threading the needle in Pittsburgh thus far. That fan base is just so freaking anchored to their past that they’re going to have to get used to changes, but he’s got it structured so that veterans will drop off the radar over time. Malkin’s out of contract this year and even though he was good this season, he only played 56 games and you have no idea how many he’ll manage when he’s 40 years old next season. So, there’s a natural break point there. Sid’s still producing like a 1st line center, but his deal has another year on it. You can figure that out next summer. Karlsson was SO bad in the playoffs, that you’d think Dubas has the ammo to buy out that last year of his stupid deal and move on. Letang is the only real problem. His game has eroded to where he’s barley replacement level, but they signed him to an over-35 contract so they’re stuck with him for two more years at $6.1 million hit. The actual cash value is lower ($4.8 mil) so maybe they could move the contract to a Cap bottom dweller if he wants to retire … and he should because he just doesn’t have anything left.

But even if they hang on to Sid, Karlsson and Letang, they still have $45 million in Cap space and they actually have a 1st rounder for a change … and 2 second rounders. This is a good draft to get quality where they’ll be picking too. Dubas should be able to continue to infuse youth and he’s got a coach that seems to be willing to actually play those guys. And the beauty of that Skinner deal is that he’s out of contract this summer. Silovs is an RFA and they should be able to find a more stable rotation partner for him than old walrus face. If the Pens are smart, they’re in pretty good shape to keep improving year to year from here … so long as they don’t overreact to fan pressure to bring back the fossils.
 
I kinda forgot to post mortem teams as they were eliminated this year.

I hit Pittsburgh above. I like where they are and feel like they were ahead of schedule this season. Now they just need discipline to not try to take too big a next step.

Ottawa is trickier, because so much is riding on whether or not their idiot Captain really wants out or not. I don’t believe 90% of what I see in the press about the dumber Tkachuk brother, but if he IS serious about agitating for a move, Ottawa could make some really cool changes to get more depth and at least stay where they are in the pecking order if they’re smart. If he’s sticking around then they really just need to tweak some stuff and resist getting sucked in to spending roster space on their older, grubbier players who are out of contract. Like what exactly is Nick Cousins doing for you? Or Lars Eller? And don’t even think about re-signing that idiot Gilbert. They’ve got a first rounder and a moderate amount of Cap space, with room to tweak the depth and maybe fold in some youth and continue to develop their depth. They aren’t that far away, if they manage their roster well. I think they need a new coach, but … whatever.

In the West, I think the Kings are screwed. They brought in Holland as GM and he loaded them up with fellow fossils which got them exactly where they get every year. Kopitar is done, there’s no replacement on the radar and they only have the Cap for one big move after they get Clarke extended. Have fun.

Dallas is fine, or at least they’ll convince themselves that they are. They’re going to blow their entire available Cap space getting Robertson extended (unless they’re morons) which will leave them with something very similar to this year’s roster … which frankly wasn’t good enough even in a Western Conference with no bottom third at all. I’m sure Jim Nill will probably win GM of the Year again though.

Edmonton … who knows? And who really cares? So much ink is going to be spilled and podcast hours burned talking about that obviously flawed team that it will boggle the mind. In the end I might just be the only person in North America who is 100% agnostic on whether or not McDavid gets a Cup. I’m not even agnostic, since I’d prefer that the team I root for win every Cup until he retires. They’ve got about $11 million in Cap space to find another goalie, get a 6th defenseman and build a bottom six. And the clock is ticking on McDavid’s sweetheart deal. Good luck with that.
 
For the record, the finalists for the Jack Adams are Jon Cooper, Lindy Ruff and Dan Muse … and it feels like Cooper might get it on lifetime achievement. If you want to know how much actual value this award holds, Cooper has never won. Which is beyond ridiculous. He’s also only been a freaking finalist 3 times. The man has two Cups and was the second fastest coach to get to 600 wins after Scotty Bowman. Clearly a bum.
Ruff won at some point during his Buffalo run and has been a finalist 5 times. Muse is in his first year.

The broadcasting media vote on this award, if you want to know why it’s so screwed up. They famously don’t watch that many games that they’re not working and clearly have devolved this award into a reward for the guy who defies the broadcasting media’s expectations, set before the season by people who mostly just figure last year’s standings are the best way to set expectations going forward. You want evidence of my gripes with the broadcast media that cover hockey? Look no further than voting for the Jack Adams Award.

At least Brind’Amour already has a Jack Adams, having won in 2021 when the Canes first won a Division title … the Central Division because it was that dumb bubble season.
 
Forgot about tonight’s slate (Friday) … three series all at 3-2

Tampa looked a bit worn and ragged in Game 5 at home and Montreal is looking increasingly frisky. Honestly, this one feels like it’s pulling into the station for the Canadiens but that’s sometimes when Tampa is at their best. I don't think they give a single crap about being on the road for this one, because they’ll be so deeply into survival mode. Should be a good watch

Buffalo/Boston also has the feel of a series reaching its logical end, but I don't have as much confidence in the Bruins to pull out the series save, even though they’re at home. Buffalo has been growing into this one and unless Lyons throws a shoe, I’d honestly be surprised to see them fail to finish it off tonight.

Vegas/Utah … who knows? Vegas also has grown into the series a bit, as they’ve remembered how to slow down the Mammoth’s rush game, but this one could go either way for me. Without nearly as much playoff experience, this one does feel like a good time for the Mammoth to be at home. I think they’ll extend this series, because somebody has to … right? Maybe not. I could be letting my anti-Vegas flag fly a bit.
 
I've watched a few other games, but have had zero interest in the Utah series, or the Buffalo series. Also ignored the Dalls series. I watched some of the Edmonton series just to see them lose.
 
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