NHL 2021

[Krabby]

1 hour ago, damshow said:

God damn the Habs actually did it. What a run. Now for the Knights/Avs to presumably crush them.

If only the Jets had had a top 6 center available...

[SeanDMan]

Shouldn't have traded one to Columbus.

[Krabby]

This is pretty tasty poetic justice as a Wild fan - I was there at the draft when Schiefele was taken and man were Jets fans annoying all freaking day before and after the pick ugh

[SeanDMan]

I mean Schiefele is good, but it serves him right having to sit and suck it down after that hit. NHL should not suspend or not suspend people based on how important they are to their team, either the offender or the victim.

 

[gunnar hendershow]

Were I a Jets fan, let alone a player, I'd be pretty pissed at him. It was a disgusting and deliberate hit. To do that in game 1 of a playoff series is a supreme level of idiotic.

That said based on the recent track record either Vegas or Colorado probably should just give all their centers a rest for game 1 just to be on the safe side.

It just occurred to me that what might be the last game ever at Nassau is going to be filled with people dressed up like priests, nuns, and saints.

[The Buscher]

What a series Islanders/Bruins was. Islanders off to the semifinals for a second straight year, hell yeah.

Isles fans trolled Bruce Cassidy with loud chants of “New York Saints”

[gunnar hendershow]

I'll be very surprised if it isn't Tampa Bay vs Vegas. Montreal and New York are both really good teams for the playoffs based on having deliberately frustrating play styles but both Vegas and TB have depth down all the lines that Toronto, Pittsburgh, and Boston were each lacking this season.

[The Buscher]

Isles doing all they have without Anders Lee makes it feel even more impressive.  But yeah, Tampa and Vegas both feel like buzzsaws.  We'll see.

[gunnar hendershow]

It helps that Nikita Kucherov and Steven Stamkos miraculously got healthy just in time for the playoffs.

(I'm not bothered by TB exploiting a loophole that almost every other team also exploits in some capacity, just hilarious they pulled it with Kucherov and Stamkos of all people)

[Lowerdeck]

On 09/06/2021 at 22:05, Buschie Kay said:

What a series Islanders/Bruins was. Islanders off to the semifinals for a second straight year, hell yeah.

Isles fans trolled Bruce Cassidy with loud chants of “New York Saints”

I get that Bruce was upset with the officiating, but he really set himself up for the heckling with the Saints comment.  Also, seems like every game in that series was ridiculously loud at Nassau.

 

It's seriously time for Rask to leave Boston.  He never seems to be reliable and tends to collapse (or bail) once the playoffs begin.  He shouldn't have played in game 5 or 6 - got pulled later than he should have in 5, and never was in 6.  I know Swayman is young and doesn't have playoff experience, but give the kid a chance.  It's just baffling why the Bruins feel so loyal to Rask, when he's not feeling the same way about this team.

Just during that entire Isles series, it was so frustrating.  Only the first line could do anything productive.  Taylor Hall didn't do much.  The defense was banged up, which allowed the Isles to neutralize McAvoy and put everything on Rask.

This offseason, they really need to let Rask and Krejci walk.  Let Swayman be the #1 goalie and use some of the money to help McAvoy on defense.  Build some resemblance of a productive 3rd and 4th line, since outside of Charlie Coyle who knows what's there.

 

[Ruki]

I'm pulling for Vegas because fuck the Habs, fuck the Islanders, and fuck Tampa for the cap shenanigans that I wish the Leafs could have done. (Seriously, there needs to be like, a luxury tax or something. Let the teams spend)

[RoHitman Reigns]

Watched the game last night and the Habs clearly are out matched here it seems against Vegas. The end was fun to watch them go empty net to try and make anything up, but damn does Fleury ever impress me almost every time I see him play and how skilled he is.

[The Buscher]

Vegas are so good and on top of all that they're exempt from losing a player in Seattle's expansion draft.  I'll be intrigued in seeing how Seattle fare next season given the draft is being operated under the same rules that allowed Vegas to have depth on the lines right out of the gate.

[gunnar hendershow]

Yeah Seattle should be strong with depth on all 4 lines. I'm kinda glad they're no longer making expansion teams by total ass for their first few seasons. Too bad we likely won't see more expansion for a long while. There doesn't seem to be a lot of will from the league to expand to more than 32 teams. Even though hockey is in a unique position where there's multiple cities that are more or less "NHL ready".

[Maxx]

On 12/06/2021 at 12:49, Ruki Returns said:

I'm pulling for Vegas because fuck the Habs, fuck the Islanders, and fuck Tampa for the cap shenanigans that I wish the Leafs could have done. (Seriously, there needs to be like, a luxury tax or something. Let the teams spend)

Counterpoint, fuck John Tavares

[Ruki]

11 minutes ago, Maxx said:

Counterpoint, fuck John Tavares

Counter, counterpoint, fuck the Islanders. 

[gunnar hendershow]

I don't know why you're still so salty. Isles would be first round fodder if they had him swallowing up that much of their cap. It's their depth and their (well for another year maybe) lack of bad contracts that's letting them compete.

[Maxx]

Getting less salty every year he gets knocked out early!

[The Buscher]

I'm always gonna say fuck him because he bailed after talking up wanting to be a career Islander for years.  I hope he makes a full recovery from that brutal hit of course, nobody deserves that - it would be more satisfying watching the Leafs choke with him out there.

But I don't give him much thought otherwise, team has moved on just fine without him.  I'm all for renaming Bill Simmons' Ewing Theory to the Tavares Theory.

[SeanDMan]

Developing story out of Chicago that there was systemic and repeated sexual abuse of players by members of coaching/management, and that the league became aware of it and helped to cover it up by convincing one of the victims that he was asking for it and thus at fault.

Fucking hell.