The 2018/19 NHL Thread!

[GoGo Yubari]

10 hours ago, Ruki said:

I feel that Sockeyes sounds funny/weird.... but then again, I'm not from Seattle. 

It’s funny/weird too but in a cleverer way IMO. Sockeyes are a type of salmon, in a sport known for brawling, so it’s true to the state’s heritage and also a pun.

[GhostMachine]

Should go with Supersonics.....

 

Edited December 6, 2018 by GhostMachine

[Gabriel]

They should pay homage to Nirvana and call themselves the Seattle Spirit. Or be lame and call themselves the Seattle Starpucks.

On a serious note though, I'm not a huge fan of any of the rumored names that have come out. It's too bad they can't just be the Seattle Thunderbirds. The WHL team has some nice jerseys.

[GhostMachine]

How about a play on words with the weather they're famous for, and calling themselves the Reign?

(Would be interesting when they play the Kings, if they went with that instead of Rain.)

[Mx. Canadian Destroyer]

9 hours ago, GhostMachine said:

How about a play on words with the weather they're famous for, and calling themselves the Reign?

(Would be interesting when they play the Kings, if they went with that instead of Rain.)

The Seattle women's soccer team is already called Reign. 

[million$$man]

https://www.crossingbroad.com/2018/12/hex-spies-and-smaller-plates-a-final-analysis-of-the-flyers-firing-of-ron-hextall.html

 

Really good article about how Ron Hextall micromanaged his way out of the GM job in Philly.....

His spies,  his wanting to control which doors were open and closed in the arena, season ticket perks, etc...

Apparently he shut out Flyers Alumni from the locker room during a charity game, which us odd, seeing as he is a Flyer alumni...

[gunnar hendershow]

The real legacy of Ron Hextall is that he lucked into Nolan Patrick and might have done enough damage where they luck into Jack Hughes.

[SeanDMan]

So after all that, William Nylander gets into a car accident.

[gunnar hendershow]

It was fortunately very minor per reports. Never like to see that headline especially on the same day a couple baseball players died in a car crash.

[Gabriel]

There is a large group of NHL owners who have been championing the idea of an expanded playoffs, citing the increased revenue from additional teams playing in the post-season as a reason why they like it. Both the teams and the NHL make more money if more games are played. That makes sense. Gary Bettman is vehemently opposed, as he believes rightly so that adding more teams dilutes the importance of both the regular season and the Stanley Cup itself.

So I have a proposal that could make both sides happy, and also force non-contending teams to do their absolute best to ice the best team possible night in and night out.

When Seattle joins the league, we will have 32 teams. 16 teams make the Stanley Cup Playoffs. If the owners want more revenue for teams that aren't contenders necessarily, then why not take those remaining 16 teams, and put them in a #1 Pick Playoffs?

The teams that don't make the Stanley Cup Playoffs would be ranked 1 through 16, with the top ranked team playing the 16th ranked team, regardless of Division or Conference. The #1 Pick Playoffs would be a Best of 5, as opposed to Best of 7... or even Best of 3 if it works out better. The team that wins this playoff format gets awarded with the 1st Pick in the upcoming Entry Draft. The runner up gets second pick. The semi-finalist with the lowest regular season point total gets 3rd... the other semi-finalist picks 4th... and so on.

I do believe that it would work out. The biggest issue I can see this early in the morning is that teams who don't own their first round pick could be accused of not trying. So to avoid that, if a team doesn't own its first round pick, maybe winning a round earns them a compensatory pick. So say St Louis has no first rounder, but they win the first round of the playoff. They get rewarded by getting a compensatory pick prior to the second round of the draft. If more than one team is in that situation, I'd give the highest compensatory pick to the team that goes farthest in the post-season tournament... but instead of a second team getting pick #34, the second compensatory pick would be placed prior to the 3rd round of the draft. Again, this is to encourage all teams to play their absolute best hockey throughout the entire year.

I would also institute a change in how draft pick trading works. If Anaheim trades their first rounder to New Jersey, and the Devils now have two picks, their spot in the draft order becomes back to back picks based on where New Jersey lands, not where Anaheim finishes. So if the Ducks win the Draft Order Tournament, they are entitled to the first pick in each round that they have a pick, with the only exception being any compensatory pick that they receive. Meaning, the next team in the Draft Order who has a 1st Round Pick receives the 1st Overall, and then Anaheim would draft 1st in the rounds where they have selections.

 

I would rather not see more than 16 teams competing for the Stanley Cup... but I do feel like rewarding shit teams with high draft picks hasn't been working, and though no one will ever admit to tanking, it encourages teams to give up on their season when they fall too far back. I also understand that a lot of fans stop watching during the playoffs if their team doesn't make it or gets eliminated, so having the additional Playoff for the Pick encourages those fans to continue watching, and thus increases possible television revenue and live attendance for those teams.

My proposal isn't perfect, but I feel like it could benefit all sides, and provide better hockey all-around, as well as better parity throughout the league... as teams that are hoping to rebuild through the draft will still need to hold onto guys who can contribute immediately so that they have that shot at 1st Overall. Teams that go into firesale mode essentially shoot themselves in the foot, as you can still get some very good guys at 9 through 16, but your immediate impact players and generational stars typically go 1-5.

[gunnar hendershow]

I think the player's union would have some issue with playing games for the top pick. It's essentially risking injury for not a trophy. 

A proposal I heard once (and really like) is an FA Cup-style tournament with all the professional hockey teams in the US and Canada, not just in the NHL. Obviously some challenges to sort out since AHL and ECHL teams are mostly affiliated with NHL teams, but it would give a more open elimination tournament format to entertain fans and sell additional tickets/TV revenue. I think if done right it could be a fun annual thing, especially since if it's single-elimination there will probably always be an AHL team or two that sneaks deep into the tournament.

[Meacon Keaton]

There's no reason hockey needs to expand the playoffs. They go on for too long anyway. If you played seven games in each round, that's more than another quarter of the season. That's insane to me. There's no reason half of a league should make the playoffs when you're already playing 82 games. 

[gunnar hendershow]

8 minutes ago, Meacon said:

There's no reason hockey needs to expand the playoffs. They go on for too long anyway. If you played seven games in each round, that's more than another quarter of the season. That's insane to me. There's no reason half of a league should make the playoffs when you're already playing 82 games. 

The regular season is mostly meaningless in the NHL and NBA because of this. If 82 games aren't enough to determine that team A is better than team B, then what's the point? The only upshot of it is that it gives middle-of-the-road teams something to play for and fans something to care for in the last quarter of the season whereas in MLB and NFL you don't have this since the teams know they're already out.

Also, the NHL has had a 16-team playoff field forever, even when the league was at 21 teams. That idea is ridiculous to me.

[million$$man]

https://www.theobserver.ca/sports/hockey/ex-coach-under-fire-amid-sarnia-sting-hazing-allegations

 

If you don't follow Daniel Carcillo on Twitter, he's very open about concussions in hockey, and mental health in general. Recently he's been opening up about getting hazed when he was in the OHL playing for Sarnia 

[SeanDMan]

https://mobile.twitter.com/sportsnetmurph/status/1073290259725721600

[Lowerdeck]

Carolina is playing in Whalers throwback jerseys, and played Brass Bonanza after scoring a goal.

Not a fan of this.  I'd rather just see the Whalers back in Hartford.

[gunnar hendershow]

The Kings, dedicating 100% to a rebuild, have sent Jake Muzzin to Toronto for a 1st rd pick in this year's draft and some other pieces. It's a trade Toronto needed to make, and while LA would have gotten similar offers from elsewhere (including possibly a trade that got them a higher spot in the 1st round this year) you can't be overly concerned with that nuance.

The coming weeks with the trade market will be interesting. Are the Blues going to be sellers? What are the Ducks going to do? How much more gets traded out of LA? Where does Wayne Simmonds go?

[Gabriel]

LA is the first example of a former powerhouse team being handicapped severely by the changes to the game, the way that rosters used to be built and the ridiculous contracts that were being given out at the time of their dominance. They're also victims of being too loyal to their players. There's a reason why MLB teams are so reluctant to give out huge term on contracts now, and I think we've started to see it in the NHL a little bit already. Big term used to be the norm for anyone considered a superstar, regardless of age, but while looking at the Doughty and Carey Price contracts, you can't expect that their GM's are too excited to be dealing with those back-end years from a performance standpoint, but also from a salary cap standpoint.

Big term is going to become harder to get, in part because of the Kings, the Blackhawks and other similar teams who are now struggling because of roster restriction issues.

Another note: great pickup for Toronto. Muzzin is going to fit in nicely, and he has term on his deal still.

[gunnar hendershow]

7 hours ago, Gabriel said:

LA is the first example of a former powerhouse team being handicapped severely by the changes to the game, the way that rosters used to be built and the ridiculous contracts that were being given out at the time of their dominance. They're also victims of being too loyal to their players. There's a reason why MLB teams are so reluctant to give out huge term on contracts now, and I think we've started to see it in the NHL a little bit already. Big term used to be the norm for anyone considered a superstar, regardless of age, but while looking at the Doughty and Carey Price contracts, you can't expect that their GM's are too excited to be dealing with those back-end years from a performance standpoint, but also from a salary cap standpoint.

Big term is going to become harder to get, in part because of the Kings, the Blackhawks and other similar teams who are now struggling because of roster restriction issues.

Another note: great pickup for Toronto. Muzzin is going to fit in nicely, and he has term on his deal still.

Yeah there's a lot that's going to change between teams seeing what long-term contracts have done for teams like LA and Chicago as well as the owners potentially pushing for a limit on how long contracts can be in the new CBA. One thing about the salary cap constraints is they should reduce themselves over the length of the contracts as the cap increases. But the big problem with having so much tied up in just a few players is how success in the NHL is so closely tied to the guys you get on the 3rd and 4th lines. Having that depth, and paying the little extra to get it, is so important. And teams that are paying past-their-prime vets huge AAV are going to run into a situation where they simply can't. They'll be paying players who have regressed to 2nd or 3rd line status 1st line money. It works its way down from there. A retool takes a couple years to do no matter what, but when you've got players you're paying for the retool and then beyond it's a major cause for concern. What are you to do with the next generation of stars you bring up? For reference, look at Chicago and Panarin.

And another thing. With the young, speedy players coming into the league in huge numbers the last few years I would really hate to have a lot of money tied up in aging defensemen right now. They're not going to keep up with the game, and then the good, younger defensemen a team does find it's going to be harder to keep all of them. An aging goaltender on a big contract is a potential problem, but an aging defenseman is going to be a liability for the duration of their contract.

Also, speaking of Panarin. He's getting lightly booed by the home crowd tonight whenever he touches the puck or gets announced. This after his agent effectively said "he's not staying". Obviously between him and Bobrovsky there is a decent return Columbus can get should they just say f it and move both. But they're in position to make a run in the playoffs at the same time. Difficult place to be.

[gunnar hendershow]

The Leafs have inked Matthews to a 5-year contract extension worth about $11.5 annually. This gives them plenty of breathing room with Marner's negotiations and they also have the luxury of having money to sign on the much-needed depth to put around their core. Similar to the Hawks with Toews/Kane they're shooting for a 5-6 year window before everyone comes up for contracts again. At that point the salary cap is gonna be a lot higher and the new TV rights deal will be bringing in much more revenue for the league. Players are actually going to be enticed to sign short-term deals (unless they're already in their late 20s) because of the future cap projections. They can maximize their money that way. And teams love it because they get to save some money against the cap to win now.