NHL 2016/2017 + World Cup of Hockey

[Strazos]

Someone might as well get this thread started.

Anyone else at all excited about the World Cup this month? We'll see if I end up having a way to watch it from Egypt. 

[WayAbvPar]

I really like the look of the US sweaters this go round. Were I not playing poker professionally right now I would totally pick one up.

[Ceryse]

I'm very much not excited for the World Cup. I still think it is a dumb idea, especially the timing. Right before the season? Ugh.

You just know some poor team is going to lose someone important to injury due to this money grab.

Also; Torts.

[Speedy Cerviche]

Better to lose a guy in training camp than February. Might've cost Ottawa a cup.

Never been a big fan of international tournies though, too much hype around single elimination games.

[Bunk]

They lost most of my interest the moment it was clear that it wasn't an actual country vs country tourney. It will be a very fun to watch pre-season exhibition tournament, designed to make the NHL money, and that's how I'm treating it.

[Strazos]

I'm just happy there will be some good hockey to watch in September.

[Speedy Cerviche]

They lost most of my interest the moment it was clear that it wasn't an actual country vs country tourney. It will be a very fun to watch pre-season exhibition tournament, designed to make the NHL money, and that's how I'm treating it.

Although it makes the nationalist aspect a bit less formal, that under-23 NA team is SICK to watch.

[Strazos]

Is there any interest in starting our Fantasy league back up? I don't think we've done it for a year or two now, right?

[Speedy Cerviche]

I could do it

[WayAbvPar]

I am not as connected to the NHL as I once was due to Jim Benning's Retard Circus, but I would be down to round out the numbers. Pretty sure trotski would play too. I will ping him.

[Stewie]

Id be in for a Fantasy league!

[Speedy Cerviche]

Need more than four. Does a 6 player league work? I have never played one that low.

[trotski]

Oh hells yes, I'm down for a fantasy league. It will help distract me from the dumpster fire the Canucks will be again this season.

[Stewie]

I'm sure we could get bunk in as well

[Stewie]

Click here to see Auston Matthews destroy the Sens in his first game: https://streamable.com/2yse

Clickbait title ftw! (but seriously, nice goal)

[Speedy Cerviche]

The Leafs should use their 2017 1st overall to get defencemen, and a goalie.

[WayAbvPar]

The Canucks are utterly unwatchable again. I have no idea how they scored 4 against Carolina- I would bet they won't score 4 goals most weeks this season. Their GM is Tommy Boy incarnate, and their genius coach started the player who led them in points during the 2nd half of last season on the fourth fucking line. They have the Sedins, Horvat, and that is IT. If they score 200 goals this season it will be a minor miracle. I pray that Benning gets fired before he can hand out more patently terrible contracts like he has to Sbisa, Dorsett, and Sutter. Hint- these aren't building blocks for a rebuild. They are role players at the very best (Sbisa is not even that- he is literally one of the worst defensemen in the league). I think you can rebuild with youth and still be semi-competitive if you use your salary cap on the right vets. This is the opposite of that.

Consensus seems to put them at around 65 points. That is probably a bit low given their start, but there is no chance they are breaking 80 points unless they find a way to clone 22 and 33 a few times.

[Speedy Cerviche]

I still think Ryan Miller is a decent goalie, and he managed to dodge rule changes on oversized shoulder pads for another year, so that will help keep their GA down.

They also still have enough of their roster leftover from when they were a top team, which creates a legacy culture of an ingrained system and stability that prevents a total Edmonton/Toronto style dumpster fire of never ending suck.

[WayAbvPar]

Miller is decent at best. He is old and deteriorating quickly. Having to play behind excrement like Sbisa is probably not helping him much either. Going back to Luongo/Schneider, the Canucks have managed to make the exact wrong choice every time one presents itself in regards to goaltending (and most other things, for that matter).

[Stewie]

I don't really agree with your assessment. Are the Nucks a great team? no. But they aren't the dumpster fire that you make them out to be.
We still have a decent 1st line and our 3rd/4th aren't bad. I would definitely like to see more scoring from the 2nd but oh well.

While Benning has made some curious moves I thinks he has also made some pretty astute ones as well.

Here are some wins for us that I think most fans hated at the time:
- Shinkaruk for Granlund. Shin might never see regular nhl time let alone be a 20-30 goal scorer that so many nuck fans thought.
- Lack was never good enough to be a starter. He cant even take the starting job from Cam Ward for fucks sake.
- Getting anything for Bieksa was great. He is essentially done.
- The Gudbranson deal was a win for us IMO. 
- Jensen deal was a wash
- Baertschi was a win. We gave up a 2nd for a regular NHL body. The reality is that the vast majority of 2nd rounds never amount to much.

What I am seeing is that Benning and Linden know that they didn't really have a lot in the cupboard asset wise to begin with and are trying to win on a bunch of small moves which will eventually lead up to better assets.

Are some of the contracts suspect? Sure. But I am not certain what fans expect. If we don't pay these guys we are left with nothing and fans bitch. We pay them and we don't have any superstars and fans bitch. Looking at Sutter's 4.25 mil is kinda tough. That being said they know they can put him out there in any situation and not worry that we are gonna get punished for it.

Everything they are doing is to build up a base of nhl capable players and then look to the draft and prospects to start filling in the skill/scoring. In the pipeline we have a top tier forward prospect (Boeser), a top d prospect (Juolevi) and a top goalie prospect (Demko)

Would I rather be in Edmonton's situation? Of course, but we never had the luxury of all of those early (1st overall) picks.

Just my 2cents

[Speedy Cerviche]

The Canadiens look GOOD !!

[Shannow]

The Canadiens look GOOD !!

The Bruins have been making them look good for the last 3 years, that's for sure. B's suck btw so don't get too excited.

[Speedy Cerviche]

I posted that on Friday...

But yeah always fun to watch the Bruins go down. The 6 on 3 fail at the end was a nice touch.

[Ginaz]

Looks like the recent outbreak of the mumps here in Canada has hit the Vancouver Canucks pretty hard with up to 5 players (Chris Tanev, Nikita Tryamkin, Mike Chaput Markus Granlund, Troy Stecher) either having the mumps or showing signs of having it and are quarantined because of it.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/5-vancouver-canucks-sidelined-due-to-mumps-1.3998731

[Speedy Cerviche]

Oh man, and the Canucks were such a sure fire playoff team too...

[Ginaz]

Oh man, and the Canucks were such a sure fire playoff team too...

They probably weren't going to make the playoffs anyway but until recently they kept themselves in the hunt.  They've certainly done better than most people expected them to this season (Canucks were picked by many to finish dead last overall) but this is probably the final nail in the coffin, esp. with two of their top Dmen down with the mumps.  It's not like they had great organizational depth to begin with.

[Bunk]

Believe me, we are happy the quest to get demolished in the first round is now over. Now it just comes down to whether or not they can get any assets for their UFAs.

[WayAbvPar]

I would take the mumps in trade for Benning.

[Bunk]

Well, they just made a trade that everyone in the city is happy about. Burrows for Johnathon Dahlen (sp?). One of Ottawa's top prospects. We've put a stay on the Benning lynch mob for now.

[Phildo]

The Capitals picked up Kevin Shattenkirk.  Might be time for my adopted city to finally win the cup.

[Speedy Cerviche]

On paper they look great. But I just don't think they have the mojo to get past the Penguins.

edit (If the Pens get their 3 injured D-man back)

[Phildo]

As a lifelong Penguins fan, that would be fantastic.  But I've spent so much time in DC that I'll happily settle for them winning a cup as well.

[Strazos]

Flyers sucked this year, even with a 10-game win streak. It seemed like they could compete with competitive teams, and then drop games to basement dwellers.

Oh well - DRAFT POSITION.

[Speedy Cerviche]

I like the Canadiens chances against the Rangers. They always light up Lunqvist.

[Strazos]

For those who had some kind of playoff bracket going - do any of you still have one that's intact? The Preds sweeping CHI has to have screwed a lot of people, even if they didn't pick CHI to win it all.