f13.net

So, rookie camps are set to go pretty soon, which means we're fairly close to having hockey again.

Also, just got the email that Yahoo is doing fantasy hockey again this year - any takers?

Haha yeah I saw that email and started thinking about my draft strategy in my league with friends.

Would be down for a F13 league too.

I, too, would play.

I am thinking I need to sub to Center Ice this year, so playing fantasy hockey would make that even better. In.

Also, it would be nice to watch some competent players instead of the dregs the Canucks are icing these days  :heartbreak:

Vegas is looking pretty good to start the year.  Nice to see Fleury kicking ass.

Vegas actually has a not awful team, unlike past expansion teams.  If Fleury can play like he use to then they'll be good in goal.  Their defence is OK, not spectacular but not horrible, either.  The real concern was always on scoring.  There's just not much there.  I'm happy Calgary looks like they may be living up to expectations.  Mike Smith has been good so far and they finally beat the Ducks in Anaheim for the first time since like 2004. :ye_gods:

A 36 year old emergency back up goalie had to play 14 mins in a game for Chicago last night.  He made some nice saves while allowing no goals and helping his team to a 6-2 win and some awarded the game's first star.  I love stories like this.  Only in hockey can something like this happen.

http://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/nhl/chicago-blackhawks-winnipeg-jets-recap-1.4599999

The Sedin Twins have announced they are retiring at the end of the season. Final home game against Arizona just went from a half full building to sellout with nosebleed tickets going for $200+ over night.

For you non-hockey fans: these identical twin brothers played their entire 18 year career in Vancouver.

World Championship Gold
Olympic Gold
An MVP award, two Scoring Titles (one each, back to back years) and an Outstanding Player award between them.
Both scored over 1000 points in their careers, playing almost entirely together on the same line.

The only brother tandem they trail in lifetime scoring in the NHL would be the Gretzkys.

Just thought I'd share.

And one Stanley Cup lo..ahh I can't be that much of a dick. Good players and a great story.

Playoffs are here! 

Predictions for conference finals and cup champion?

Forsberg goal for Nashville last night  :drill: :drill: :drill: :drill:

Pittsburgh and Boston in the East. Nashville and Golden Knights in West (please!)

Boston over Nashville in 7..(yes I'm biased)

I am on the GK bandwagon until the Canucks unfuck themselves enough to make the playoffs, or until Seattle's team gets going.

I'd like to see a Vegas/Winnipeg Western final.  Sadly, I think the Bruins are going to win the east and make it to the Cup final but at least that means the Leafs will be gone early. :grin:

At this rate this Leafs are going to quit after 3 games.

I must admit it's pretty funny to watch especially after all the hype (new record for wins!! yeah but SOW...), but they should do better at home.

Pittsburgh/Vegas cup final is my ideal matchup, however unlikely that is.  My gut is that this is Nashville's year, though.

Ew no fucking thanks @ Pitt or Boston ever being in another final in my lifetime.

Ideally East Final is Tampa Bay vs Blue Jackets somehow. Since Devils clearly aren't going to put up any fight.

As for the west, once both LA teams are gone whoever is playing entertaining hockey is ok with me. I'll be pulling for the local Sharks but I don't hate any of the other franchises. I guess I don't want the Jets to actually win bc lol Canada. The Wild are a bit boring most years idk about this one bc i barely touch reg season hockey anymore. So I'll take Nashville from the top vs Sharks or Vegas pls.

I feel like I'm going to regret this post.

Caps - Penguins rematch, woo!  Or not woo, depending on who you're rooting for.

I hope not.  As much as I despise the Bruins, I hate the Leafs even more.  I hope they play 20 periods of OT in game 7. :grin:

I have a theory that the Bruins are engaged in a decade long troll of Maple Leaf fans. 

'Oh we got this!'

'Oh whoops we lost a game'

'Oh whoops we let this get to game 7'

'Oh whoops we let you have the lead'

'HAHAHAHAH NOPE. SUCK IT LEAFS'

Pens and Caps... again... just fucking stop. please.

And the Canucks get fucked again in the draft lottery, though not nearly as bad as last year.

Sure glad they went 6-1-2 down the stretch to fuck their lottery chances.   :oh_i_see:

Seattle's team can't come fast enough. It is a really depressing time to be a Canucks fan. And that is saying something!

Bye Bye, Pens.  :grin:

Every single one of my coworkers has given me a hard time about it today.

At least I get to trim my beard and fully root for Vegas now.

So the Stanley Cup winner is going to be either Caps, Lightning, Knights or Jets/Preds.

Can't hate it. Trying to pick who I root for.

Knights, I'm sorry, you're out, you are not pulling a Florida Marlins here.

Lightning, you've won a Cup, sorry you're out.

Preds, you let the godamn Penguins win another Cup, plus it's Nashville, sorry you're out.

Jets, Oh Canada? Go Winnipeg.

Caps, Ovi's first cup? DC's first cup? THERE'S AN AUSTRALIAN ON THE TEAM?? Fuck yeah go Caps!

Rooting for the Knights, Caps, or Preds at this point.

Not the Jets? :mob:

That's something a Shark would say.

(http://www.americancinemathequecalendar.com/sites/default/files/stills_events_390_240/westsidestory390.jpg?1336609319)

I'd be fine with it, but for whatever reason they don't really excite me - too far west, perhaps.

I am happy to see any of the final 4 win, but pulling for Caps and Knights.

You know if Washington wins, Ovechkin is going to hand deliver the Cup straight to Putin for a nice photo op.  So fuck the Caps.  Of course, if the Jets win I'll have to see Trudeau and his smiling, punchable face with it.  Go Caps!

Hockey fans are the best. I work with a guy from upstate new york and who never wants a Canadian team to win the cup cause 'Fuck Canada'..Ginaz is Canadian (right?) and would rather the Russians win over another Canadian team.   :why_so_serious: :why_so_serious: :why_so_serious:
)

Meanwhile, a DC bartender I know who is from Tampa has been getting real salty on Facebook.  Someone recommended she start pouring White Ovechkins, which are White Russians that you pour directly onto the customer's head because Ovechkin doesn't have a cup.

I'll go simple and just root for a Jets / Caps final.

I dug up my Selanne jersey from my youth... That said, I like the Vegas story as well. Don't give a shit about the East at all.

Fuck Vegas, go caps.. :why_so_serious:

DC better win it all or you'll be able to hear the sound of the city's heart breaking from space.

Well, I'd be fine with that.

Sad Ovechkin face is almost as good as sad Eli face.

One thing going against the Caps right now is they are pretty banged up.

Nice to see Ovie get the Cup. Guy deserves it and as an added bonus it shuts up all the people who, for years, claimed you could not win with Ovie (despite the fact he was generally pretty good in the playoffs). The raw emotion the guy exudes is nice to see; one of the reasons he has been a favourite of mine since he came into the league.

That was a hell of a game to see live.

Happy Ovechkin face is pretty awesome, too.  Glad DC pulled it off!

Were you anywhere near this genteel young lady?

She seems nice (https://screengrabber.deadspin.com/champion-capitals-salute-fans-especially-the-one-flash-1826657897?)

No, we were center ice, ten rows up.

Meh, even the sun will shine on a dog's ass every now and then. :awesome_for_real:  That's what everyone will be thinking when the Canucks win a Stanley Cup...that or the end times are truly upon us.

After seeing Ovechkin with the Cup the past few days and the pure joy he's had with it, I'm going to have to take back my previous statements about him.  I don't think I've ever seen anyone so happy to win the Stanley Cup.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/26i2k2mje3prcmx/OVI_STANLEY_CUP_GAME5.mp4?dl=0

i have a lot of video showing how happy he/they are

Whelp, I hope no one here is an Islander fan, because your team has just been set back for the next 5-10 years. :sad_panda:  And I guess this means Leaf fans can, for once, legitimately start their Cup parade plans early.  Now they'll have exactly zero excuses for not winning.

http://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/nhl/john-tavares-signing-maple-leafs-1.4730452

Just looking a bit and there are some salty as fuck Islander fans.  Sorry fellas, but they had 9 years to do something with the team and they just ended up shitting the bed the whole time.  I can't blame Tavares for leaving at all.

https://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/twitter-reaction-islanders-fans-freaking-likely-loss-tavares/

Tavares can be blamed for choosing the bloody Leafs though. I mean, fuck.. already the coverage about it is nauseating. I hope they miss the playoffs.

Well, I mean, that's a given regardless of who signs with them.  Still better than the Islanders, though.  Barring Arizona maybe, I can't think of a worse run organization over the past 20 years.  Horrible owners.  Bad coaches and arguably the worst GMs with Garth Snow and LOL Mike Milbury. :awesome_for_real:

Do the Leafs have the legit defense or goaltending to make it happen? I'm not so sure.

Their goaltending is OK but their defence is still softer than baby shit.  Maybe they can sign a UFA like Dan Hamuis or Johnny Odyua or make a trade but barring any sort of surprise they'll have to go with pretty much the same group as last year. :uhrr:

Tavares is a legit top 10 centre but it's still only a marginal improvement up front because they lost JVR, Bozak and Komorov. Those 3 aren't world beaters but that's a ver solid line's worth of  legit vet NHL talent. Replacing them with rookies or late summer bargain bin signings likely is a downgrade (although if they could find cheap veteran defensive specialists that could be useful)

As noted by others the D is still kind of a trainwreck and I find Andersson to be pretty iffy (but he's not moving). Against the bruins, in 3 of their 4 losses they gave up 5 or more goals. Some strong additions are needed on D so some other talent (Nylander?) needs to be traded. Likely for a younger, less expensive D (who would commander a premium) since they can't afford another big contract with multiple big contract outlay coming up the next year. If they go long term, 8 years then Matthews 11-12$ million, Nylander & Mitchell 7-9$ million. They might be able to get 2-3 year bridge contracts in for the latter 2 and save some money in the short term but then those players will have more leverage for the next round assuming they keep improving.

JVR at least puts up goals. Bozak isn't a huge loss, and Komarov is even less of a loss - if you cannot recover from the loss of those two, you have bigger problems than looking at cap hits 3+ years in the future.

Also, Johnny "I played only single game for the Flyers" Oduya for defense?  :rofl:

If you're that hard-up for NHL defensemen, I'm sure those same Flyers would be happy to part with Andrew MacDonald - he generates so much defense.

Can I still call my fantasy team Bozak Horseman?

Islanders are my East coast team, since they have a couple of ex-Thunderbirds. The Canucks are my first choice team. I am fitting myself for noose.