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The Motherfucking 2021 Season Thread

You'll be hard pressed to find a less innovative group of executives in basically any industry.

In their minds, very little has changed about hockey since the 70's. How to play it, how to analyze it, etc. In a way, it's a shame that Clarke broke Kharlamov's ankle. Had the Russians won the summit series playing what is a pretty modern version of the game, it might have forced Canadian hockey culture in a different direction. But we gooned, we won, and thuggery/goonery became the highest virtue in hockey. You couldn't win in the NHL without it for 25 years after that.
 
In their minds, very little has changed about hockey since the 70's. How to play it, how to analyze it, etc. In a way, it's a shame that Clarke broke Kharlamov's ankle. Had the Russians won the summit series playing what is a pretty modern version of the game, it might have forced Canadian hockey culture in a different direction. But we gooned, we won, and thuggery/goonery became the highest virtue in hockey. You couldn't win in the NHL without it for 25 years after that.

though the Habs stopped Clarke and his Broad Street Bullies from winning 3 straight...and won four in a row, including some vs the "Big Bad Bruins"....then the Islanders won four Cups in a row with their goon being their goalie...and then the Gretzky/Messier/Coffey pretty much took care of the rest of the 80s.

Talent was always the way...it's just easier to draft/trade based on obvious measurables like height and weight
 
though the Habs stopped Clarke and his Broad Street Bullies from winning 3 straight...and won four in a row, including some vs the "Big Bad Bruins"....then the Islanders won four Cups in a row with their goon being their goalie...and then the Gretzky/Messier/Coffey pretty much took care of the rest of the 80s.

Talent was always the way...it's just easier to draft/trade based on obvious measurables like height and weight

Even those Oilers teams employed a whole fuckload of hack and chop goon hockey.

Montreal mostly an exception though, agreed.
 
Even those Oilers teams employed a whole fuckload of hack and chop goon hockey.

Montreal mostly an exception though, agreed.

you had to though...simply as a measure of self defence...even the Habs had their goons. You basically needed a 4th line of muscle to protect your stars
 
and don't forget ...the argument for goonery was also based on revenue optimization...there was a fear that most US markets liked their hockey sprinkled with a little boxing and wrestling...and would not appreciate the game's more effeminate "Euro-Style" elements

the league is changing....but so fucking slowly....the half assed pace of change is what's stunning to me

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leafman2005 would have a point - to an extent - about draft status if Tkachuk was taken 6th and Nylander was taken, say, 60th. Then, yeah, it would be pretty accurate to say Tkachuk was more highly touted coming out of junior.

(Nylander wasn't coming out of Junior, since he was drafted out of the SEL, but you know, facts don't ever matter when they don't support your narrative.)

You're right, I did say junior. You got me!
 
stay tuned for the reveal:


Stuck in two hours of traffic this morning and caught Mike Zigomanis saying that you have to be careful benching Nylander because he will likely respond to it by checking out completely and purposefully floating more. Like Jesus Christ this is what the anti Nylander crowd is listening to every day? No wonder.
 
Teams play defensive, kitty bar the door hockey to provide the best chance to succeed. The islanders are a great example of this. The problem is officiating in the NHL.
Hockey is fast .... of all the sports that don't use mechanical devices such as motors or animals, there isn't a faster or more exciting game on the planet.
Stop allowing teams and players the opportunity to level out the skills department by implementing hooking, holding, cross-checking, and interference. The Lamoriello hockey creed. By allowing teams the opportunity to implement avenues of obstruction and predatorial attacks upon other players, they only sanctify the abuses other teams like the islanders use to compete. BTW, these teams are in these positions because of their poor scouting and drafting.
Start providing space for skilled players in the league to make plays without a Wilson or a Chara blanketed over your body or trying to take your head off along the boards or in front of the net.
I love the hitting and the occasional fight between two consenting players, and I hope they never take that out of the game. But fights that happen because your teammate was stupid enough to admire a pass then I believe that they are deserving of the consequences, as long as the hit was clean and not predatorial. But if anyone hits someone deliberately blindsiding them, then the refs should be using the 5-minute major for deliberately attempting to injure a player, I don't care if the player was injured or not. This penalty isn't called often enough and I am sure it could be used in at least 50% of the games this season.
I have never understood the reasons for allowing teams to ice the puck during a powerplay. As soon as it crosses the hash marks and is obviously going to pass the goal line as icing, whistle it down as icing and take it back to the opposition zone. This allows the powerplay another chance to gain control of the puck, instead of having to lose 30 seconds from going back to pick up the puck and move towards the opposing goal. It is a penalty and there shouldn't be anything to help the penalized team.

JMHO.
 
whatever you think of Nylander and his critics, I think we can all agree it's not a good sign to see his ice dropping and him getting benched by Keefe.
I think Nylander is what he is.
I don't believe he will ever be a top-line star but he is uber-talented and provides enough offense to usually cover up his occasional mental lapses.
I think Nylander is an important component for the success of this team.
I do think he is lazy ... But I also believe that he has more talent than most players in this league? missing one skate, he would still achieve more points than many.
Nylander is more important to this team than many believe, and I don't believe that Dubas will ever get full value for this type of player. Trading Willy will result in 50 cents on the dollar.
One must just hope Nylander finally gets it and proves many of us wrong.
Keep him and put him on the third line as the center .... Tavares and Willy don't seem to be meshing well and it is affecting both players.
Give Nylander a chance for 10 games as the center of the third line against Hyman and maybe Simmonds. They might become the number two line and provide a lot of lifting for the team.
 
Nylander is just overwhelmed.

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