NHL 2021-22 Postseason

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Jaymann
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Re: NHL 2021-22 Season

Post by Jaymann »

WTF the Ducks are 10th in the West. Is that good enough for a playoff spot?
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Re: NHL 2021-22 Season

Post by Isgrimnur »

gilraen wrote: Sun Feb 27, 2022 1:46 am Toronto Maple Leafs won against Detroit tonight with the final score of 10-7...

Defense? What defense?
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Re: NHL 2021-22 Season

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gilraen wrote: Sun Feb 27, 2022 1:46 am Toronto Maple Leafs won against Detroit tonight with the final score of 10-7...

Defense? What defense?
That game was terrible and I should've moved on. Toronto goes up two goals in the first six minutes. It's not looking good. Raymond bangs one behind Campbell but Toronto answers right back :33 later and at 3-1, Detroit pulls Nedeljkovic eleven minutes into the game. Mercifully that's the end of the first period scoring with the shots 15-8 in favor of Toronto. The second period is even more lopsided with Marner scoring the first three of the period (a nice natural hatty by either definition, with the away fans from Toronto littering the ice with their caps and touques). Sam Gagner gets one back and then Mathews pots one with under two minutes left in the period. 7-2 Toronto and somehow I'm still tuned in.

The third brings something a bit more entertaining for me, and not just because Detroit starts the period with Ned back in net. Four minutes and change into the third period Detroit has roared back with three straight goals, chasing Campbell from the Leaf crease. Mrazek comes in to backstop (the rare third goalie change of the game) and almost immediately Rasmussen pots one behind the cold netminder putting the score at 7-6 Toronto with fourteen minutes left in regulation. Wings get a power play (their third straight in the game) and with Seider at the blueline the puck hops his stick giving the Leafs a breakaway the other way that ends up behind Ned (who is no longer the goalie of record, with Greiss sitting on the L if things don't change) putting it at 8-6. Raymond nabs his second of the game with just under 12:00 left and now it's 8-7. Toronto isn't to be stopped, however, and they go up by two with 9:30 left. If the game stays at two goals, I know Blashill will pull the goalie in an attempt at a 6-on-5 miracle comeback at the end (and the uber rare fourth goaltender pull), but it's not to be. Toronto achieves double-digit-hockey with just over four minutes left in the game (Marner's fourth) and we're at our final tally of 10-7 for the night. I stick around to listen to the post game interviews and Marc Staal (wearing the A for the Wings) comes out with an appropriately somber assessment of the game.

It was wild for the fans but had to suck for either team. Toronto shows they don't have any goaltending going down the stretch, absolutely putting a hole in their post-season hopes (such as they are) without some sort of upgrade by the end of the trade deadline (a headline in r/hockey today: "Jack Campbell before Jan 1st: .937 SV%. After Jan 1st: 0.887 SV%"). The Wings are exposed as a team that still has some work to do to hold it together when the wheels come off the bus, and with the upcoming scheduling putting them into the triangle of death (CAR, FLA, TBL) there's not a lot of optimism for much more than some individual stats for their first year duo of skaters. I'll keep watching (of course). Forward steps this season likely still mean no post-season appearance next year without an unexpectedly big drop-off by the Bruins & Caps in the East.
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Re: NHL 2021-22 Season

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And he's on a goal drought at present...

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Re: NHL 2021-22 Season

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A Flames/Avs Western Conference finals would be amazing after that game last night.
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Re: NHL 2021-22 Season

Post by Zaxxon »

pr0ner wrote: Sun Mar 06, 2022 7:36 pm A Flames/Avs Western Conference finals would be amazing after that game last night.
Concur. Although that was a crappy way for the Avs to drop it in OT after such a good game.
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Re: NHL 2021-22 Season

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Zaxxon wrote: Sun Mar 06, 2022 8:11 pm
pr0ner wrote: Sun Mar 06, 2022 7:36 pm A Flames/Avs Western Conference finals would be amazing after that game last night.
Concur. Although that was a crappy way for the Avs to drop it in OT after such a good game.
That Johnny Hockey is sneaky.
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Re: NHL 2021-22 Season

Post by Zaxxon »

Sure is.
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Re: NHL 2021-22 Season

Post by pr0ner »

Well get to see the teams go at it again twice this month, at least.
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Re: NHL 2021-22 Season

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Re: NHL 2021-22 Season

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It's almost as if people are the problem.
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Re: NHL 2021-22 Season

Post by stimpy »

Isgrimnur wrote: Tue Mar 29, 2022 3:03 pm
Lankinens reaction at the end sums up the season rather well....
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Re: NHL 2021-22 Season

Post by Zaxxon »

It's not often that 'all the bounces go your way' on a single play.
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Re: NHL 2021-22 Season

Post by LordMortis »

The end of an era

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/sport ... 221370001/
Detroit — Al Sobotka, longtime Zamboni driver and favorite of Red Wings fans, has been terminated by the organization, sources confirmed with The Detroit News on Wednesday afternoon.
I can't remember a time before Sobotka because he's been doing his thing literally for my whole life.
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Re: NHL 2021-22 Season

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The Tage Thompson goal was outstanding. Now do it again, Anybody in the NHL in the Next Twenty Years.

I dug into the Al Sobatka rumor mill to figure out what happened. I'm just a guy on the internet digging into what other people on the internet have said. I don't know anything more or less than anyone else. I'm repeating rumors. You have to add your own "allegedly"ies to my words, as they should be thick with them.

Last February he pissed in the ice trough and got caught/filmed. When confronted by Olympia Entertainment management (not DRW, of course, as arena facilities are not run by the team) he created a brouhaha. I'll leave it as an exercise to the reader for why a man would not only piss in a non-traditional location while at work, but also why he'd go apeshit at folks in his supervisory/management path. Al gave me lots of grins and giggles, but it's long been insinuated that he's a pretty cranky, cantankerous, no-shades-of-grey, no-complexity, trashy human. It'd take two parties to come to an agreement to sweep things under the rug and announce an unexpected retirement, and depending on how and who he drunkenly went apeshit on, I'm not sure which party would've been less likely to go down that retirement path.

All rumors, all super believable. And when I first heard the story, I assumed that his violation was much more severe (i.e., not victimless), so to some extent the internet rumors were a bit of a relief.
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Re: NHL 2021-22 Season

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Please context "ice trough"
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Re: NHL 2021-22 Season

Post by The Meal »

The place inside the facilities where item 4 is dumped:

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(no actual ice trough image from an indoor rink appears in my GIS)
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Re: NHL 2021-22 Season

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Thank you.
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Re: NHL 2021-22 Season

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This was a sweet performance by Kuemper. Saved 49 of 50 including 11 (!) in OT, then stopped McDavid, Draisaitl, and Nugat-Hopscotch in the shootout.



Edmonton arena staff: #1 star: Koskinen lolz
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Re: NHL 2021-22 Season

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"Better to talk to people than communicate via tweet." — Elontra
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Re: NHL 2021-22 Season

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And there we go. I guess that would do it.
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Re: NHL 2021-22 Season

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As someone recently stated, one rarely gets fired for a one-time incident. It becomes more likely if one becomes argumentative about it.
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Re: NHL 2021-22 Season

Post by Zaxxon »

Why the NHL Must Expand the Stanley Cup Playoffs

Not sure I agree with the strong headline, but I sure wouldn't be against a play-in format for 7-10 as described in the article. It's certainly the case that the NHL was once fine with 16 of 21 teams making the playoffs (76%). Moving from 16/32 to 20/32 is still a markedly more exclusive post-season (62% make it) than the NHL kept for over a decade. And I'd certainly tune in for play-in games.

What strong rationale for the status quo am I missing?
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Re: NHL 2021-22 Season

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Depends on what you're trying to accomplish. You want more representation? Anyone outside the 16 with >=1 pt/game gets to play in.

Half the teams get in. Should you get to the playoffs if you're in bottom half of your conference?
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Re: NHL 2021-22 Season

Post by Zaxxon »

I like the double-elim play-in idea. I don't love the thought of losing teams getting in. My core question is why was it ok when nearly everyone got in, and now 16 and exactly 16 is sacrosanct, even as the league has added 11 non-playoff teams without expanding the playoffs?

I also like the play-in option because it leaves the existing format as-is (4 best-of-7 rounds among the 16 playoff teams) while adding some excitement to get to the final determination of the bottom quartile of those playoff teams.
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Re: NHL 2021-22 Season

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NHL could probably borrow the play-in format from the NBA. Essentially instead of having #7 and #8 teams in the conference to be guaranteed wild card spots, you have teams #7-#10 play for those two spots. However, it introduces a disparity where a team playing 2 extra games for their wild card spot is risking more player injuries and fatigue, automatically putting these teams at an unfair disadvantage against top seeds that get a week to rest and heal up.
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Re: NHL 2021-22 Season

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gilraen wrote: Thu Apr 21, 2022 3:15 pm NHL could probably borrow the play-in format from the NBA. Essentially instead of having #7 and #8 teams in the conference to be guaranteed wild card spots, you have teams #7-#10 play for those two spots. However, it introduces a disparity where a team playing 2 extra games for their wild card spot is risking more player injuries and fatigue, automatically putting these teams at an unfair disadvantage against top seeds that get a week to rest and heal up.
This is exactly what the article is suggesting. And there's always that old 'injury vs rust' risk debate in every sport.
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Re: NHL 2021-22 Season

Post by gilraen »

Zaxxon wrote: Thu Apr 21, 2022 3:29 pm
gilraen wrote: Thu Apr 21, 2022 3:15 pm NHL could probably borrow the play-in format from the NBA. Essentially instead of having #7 and #8 teams in the conference to be guaranteed wild card spots, you have teams #7-#10 play for those two spots. However, it introduces a disparity where a team playing 2 extra games for their wild card spot is risking more player injuries and fatigue, automatically putting these teams at an unfair disadvantage against top seeds that get a week to rest and heal up.
This is exactly what the article is suggesting. And there's always that old 'injury vs rust' risk debate in every sport.
I can't read the article since it's behind a paywall. But it's Greg Wyshynski...so I have a pretty good idea what he's advocating :)
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Re: NHL 2021-22 Season

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Ahh, sorry. I got ESPN+ for the hockey streams and I forget that some ESPN articles are gated.
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Re: NHL 2021-22 Season

Post by Jeff V »

Zaxxon wrote: Thu Apr 21, 2022 2:26 pm What strong rationale for the status quo am I missing?
Only that during those occasional years when a bubble team gets hot at the right time, they produce an enormous amount of national press and support. I suppose that buzz gets monetized into higher ratings than otherwise called for, meaning more revenue. I dunno...ask that NCAA 15 seed that played over their skiis for a few games, and what that meant to their program and the college basketball in general this past tournament (no, I don't remember what school that was because it's still insignificant trivia and my brain has no room for that!) And then there's the added revenue of marginal teams playing more games with an artificially excited fan base. Bonus if that happens in a major market, and dollars to donuts this comes up every time there's a major market that could benefit from a change. Again, look to college where they have so many post season games that 5th place in the Mediocre 8 conference get to take on the the 6th seed from the Droopy Dozen conference in the annual Cheese Bowl.

And then there's the "Any given Sunday" mentality of the NFL. Fans are quick to dismiss a shitty season if they make it to the post season, using injuries, poor scheduling, bad weather, whatever as an excuse to believe a new day dawns on wild card weekend.

What if the regular season in all sports was merely an exercise in seeding the teams for playoff time? How much would this detract from the regular season -- really? Regular season games would still give the proletariat the chance to see their favorite players live without taking a second mortgage. Wrigley Field would still be the world's largest beer garden. And just think...mid-season sell-offs and tank jobs would likely vanish as even the bottom teams would be fighting for something to the bitter end...a slightly more favorable adversary when it comes to post-season.
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Re: NHL 2021-22 Season

Post by The Meal »

I honestly have no full fledged opinions on where the line is allowing folks into the playoffs. It's absolutely arbitrary. We've had a #8 conference seed win the Cup and that was legit. It wouldn't freak me the F out if a team like Montreal last season got hot from a #9 or #10 spot and goes on the win the little tournament after all the statistically valid months of games had taken place. Bettman is 100% against expanding the number of post-season teams, and the owners/GMs aren't pushing him to add any additional teams (despite the obvious benefits to their bottom lines). There's a nice symmetry for 16 of 32 to make it to the playoffs. But it couldn't be any more arbitrary.

I do, however, enjoy the first round helter skelter very much. Round 2 is still very enjoyable as the teams haven't beaten each other to too much of a pulp yet. Rounds 3 and 4 are all about the mayhem and eventually seeing who comes out on the tippy top. What I'm trying to say is that the first couple of rounds are about the journey and the end of the post-season is about the result. Extending the post-season by an extra half-month isn't something that would thrill me, but it's not like I'd stop watching or anything.

(Also, the Penguins have advertising on their actual sweaters now—not just on their buckets.)
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Re: NHL 2021-22 Season

Post by Zaxxon »

I think this particular proposal would extend it by more like nearly a week.

And apparently the ads on uniforms thing is likely about to become widespread.
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Re: NHL 2021-22 Season

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https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/article/in ... ments-era/

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The Washington Capitals became the first NHL team to announce a “jersey patch partner” late last year, their multi-year deal with Caesars Sportsbook reserving space for the betting company’s logo on the Capitals’ home and third jerseys for the coming campaign and beyond. The Blue Jackets and Penguins joined the fray just recently, Columbus announcing last month that glass-repair company Safelite will feature on their home, away and third jerseys next season, Pittsburgh announcing this week that healthcare company Highmark will feature on their home threads.

The moves usher in a new era of advertisements on NHL jerseys that figures to soon include the rest of the league’s 32 clubs, the league’s board of governors having officially approved the addition of jersey ads last August.

Exact terms of the deals haven’t been disclosed by the clubs. But according to those who helped craft the league's very first one, all signs point to the sums being anything but slight.
...
[W]hile the Blue Jackets signed on to feature one company’s logo on three different jersey iterations, the Capitals and Penguins are opting for separate partnerships for their home and away threads.
...
That there are a portion of fans who are hesitant to see ads on NHL jerseys isn’t news to the league, says Wachtel, who points to the league’s decision to continue selling jerseys to fans without any additional logos once the ads join the fray in 2022-23.
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Re: NHL 2021-22 Season

Post by gilraen »

I will never understand the whole advertising thing...like, will I really buy a product from a company just because they slap their logo on everything? If anything, I might get annoyed enough to deliberately avoid them in the future.

Speaking of Caesar's Sportsbook and their ilk, I'm so incredibly sick of non-stop ads for online betting, I completely lost all interest in ever doing it (I was mildly interested in trying it out when it was first legalized in Colorado...and that lasted about a week, until I couldn't stand the commercials anymore).
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Re: NHL 2021-22 Season

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gilraen wrote: Thu Apr 21, 2022 11:23 pm Speaking of Caesar's Sportsbook and their ilk, I'm so incredibly sick of non-stop ads for online betting, I completely lost all interest in ever doing it (I was mildly interested in trying it out when it was first legalized in Colorado...and that lasted about a week, until I couldn't stand the commercials anymore).
Seconded. As well as the ever-present betting odds that now make it into every broadcast of every sporting event everywhere. Ugh.
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Re: NHL 2021-22 Season

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Re: NHL 2021-22 Season

Post by Isgrimnur »

Congratulations to the Montreal Canadiens on being the first team to ever finish 32nd in the NHL season standings.
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Re: NHL 2021-22 Season

Post by Zaxxon »

Also congrats to VGK for managing to miss their first playoffs, to go 0-17 in their past three SO losses (which happen to also be their last 3 games), and for managing to have a worse record than BUF since the Eichel trade. (As of last night.)
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Re: NHL 2021-22 Season

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:dance:
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Re: NHL 2021-22 Season

Post by Zaxxon »

Strange year all around...

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