NHL 2017-2018, now with 3% more kniggets

[Firesprocket]

Also, Jack Edwards is a straight shooter.  Why stop play when the guy was still conscious?

https://twitter.com/FeitsBarstool/status/986050127738621953/video/1

[gyedid]

Wow, who would've thought the Kings would go down so easily and quickly?

Cheers, Gabe

[Firesprocket]

Wow, who would've thought the Kings would go down so easily and quickly?

In 4 games no, but they have been a flawed team most of the season.  Carter was hurt most of the season.  When he came back though he was absolutly on fire.  To bad the rest of the team wasn't.  Muzzin got hurt at the end of the regular season.  Brown and Toffoli were on fire during the first of the season but cooled down or disappeared in the case of Toffoli over the last 25 to 30 games.  As good as Kopitar and Carter were they couldn't lift this team on its shoulders.  Quick played well this series and you would think when the Kings gave up 7 goals in 4 games they would win half of them.  Fleury and the Knights were just lights out this series.

Last news of the night, Calgary fired Glen Gulutzan earlier this evening and associate coaching staff.  Not a real surprise there given the talent they have an how poorly they were managed.  I will be interested in to see who ultimately replaces him.  I have to image that job looks more attractive with the talent they have over Dallas who is also looking for a coach since Hitchcock retired.

[Fat Guy]

Congratulations to the Boba Fetts being the first team to advance!

Hell, before the season I thought they'd be lucky to hit 50 points!

[Firesprocket]

Psa for the day.  If you are looking for the bolt v devils or sharks v ducks, the games will be broadcast on the golf channel.

[JadeHellbringer]

Psa for the day.  If you are looking for the bolt v devils or sharks v ducks, the games will be broadcast on the golf channel.

I find it helps to very slowly repeat that sentence and really let it roll around in your head. It makes for a great 'wait', what did I just say?' kind of laugh.

While I'm at it, speaking of things that seemed a few months ago like something I'd never say with a straight face, congratulations to our first team off to the second round, the Vegas Golden Knights. I don't understand this planet anymore.  ;D

[Sharpnel]

The GM for Vegas is one shrewd genius. He built a good team from players that were cast aside by their former teams and made few good trades along the way. Aside from Fleury and Neal, there were no exeptional playrs on that team. Now they are in the 2nd round and look prepared to shake up the NHL.

[CrossfirePilot]

The GM for Vegas is one shrewd genius. He built a good team from players that were cast aside by their former teams and made few good trades along the way. Aside from Fleury and Neal, there were no exeptional playrs on that team. Now they are in the 2nd round and look prepared to shake up the NHL.

I think Haula was a good player that was never given an even chance when with the Wild (especially in the Mike Yeo days) he was fast enough where he would often negate and icing call.

[JadeHellbringer]

For the umpteenth year in a row, the Flyers need to address their goaltending. I know I've said it before here, but holy crap- at this point painting a pair of 2X4s orange and nailing them over the front of the net is a better option than what they're using.

[Firesprocket]

The GM for Vegas is one shrewd genius.

Until he is the architect of a Stanley Cup winning team he is the idiot savant that traded Martin Erat for Filip Forsberg and nothing more to me.

I think Haula was a good player that was never given an even chance when with the Wild (especially in the Mike Yeo days) he was fast enough where he would often negate and icing call.

He definitely benefited from the higher ice time in Vegas this year over the 3rd line minutes he was playing in Minnesota.  Had he stayed there he likely wouldn't have had the breakout season he had this year because he would still be playing behind Staal and Koivu for another 2 years.   I am going to assume his scoring numbers drop off next year (he shot 16.6% this year!).  Assuming he dips down to 11 to 12%, that probably still nets him 20/20 next year and he is signed for 2.75 mil for the next 3 years!

Compare that to Lars Eller, who I'm using as a comparison because he hit career highs this year and will likely represent a good regression point for Haula had lower numbers across the board and saw less power play this year and are about the same age.  Eller signed an extension for 3.5 million a year.  Haula is just flat out steal.

The bottom line on this expansion draft was it was more team friendly than any other during the Gary Bettman era.  It also exposed how poorly some teams are run with their failure to protect established talent (looking at you Florida).  Had not a few of these guys had career years (Haula and Karlsson) then we are probably looking at slightly better version of the expansion Bolts or Panthers that still finish close to, but outside the playoffs.

[gyedid]

In 4 games no, but they have been a flawed team most of the season.  Carter was hurt most of the season.  When he came back though he was absolutly on fire.  To bad the rest of the team wasn't.

Point taken, but even a flawed team should be able to win a couple of games.  (Just look at last season's Habs...that was a flawed team that got turned into an execrable team)

  Quick played well this series and you would think when the Kings gave up 7 goals in 4 games they would win half of them.  Fleury and the Knights were just lights out this series.

I think MAF wants to send a message to his former team.

Pens vs. Kniggets for the Cup final, anyone?

cheers,

Gabe

[wantec]

The GM for Vegas is one shrewd genius. He built a good team from players that were cast aside by their former teams and made few good trades along the way. Aside from Fleury and Neal, there were no exeptional playrs on that team. Now they are in the 2nd round and look prepared to shake up the NHL.

Not all players were cast aside by their teams, some were effectively stolen by GMGM thanks to the rules of this expansion draft. Schmidt, for example, was an up & coming defenseman who is now top pair in Vegas and thriving.

[JadeHellbringer]

And just think, we get to do it all over again within the next couple of years when Seattle gets their expansion draft!  ;D

(Actually, now that I type that, would Vegas have to give up a player in an expansion draft? I don't remember how that all worked when the last few teams joined the league)

[wantec]

I don't see why Vegas would get exempted when they're loosing only a single player and they still get the same opportunities to protect players.

[Firesprocket]

In the last few drafts the NHL made exempt a team that was previously an expansion team with the last two years of the newest expansion draft.  Prior expansion drafts in llast 20 years have allowed a higher amount of protected players per team as well.  I will elaborate later as I hate posting from my phone

[Firesprocket]

Not all players were cast aside by their teams, some were effectively stolen by GMGM thanks to the rules of this expansion draft. Schmidt, for example, was an up & coming defenseman who is now top pair in Vegas and thriving.

Schmidt aside the incompetence of Florida and Columbus are exactly how Vegas got their best gems.

The Florida Panthers traded Reilly Smith in exchange for Vegas selecting Jonathan Marchessault and a fourth-round pick in the 2018 NHL Entry Draft

The Minnesota Wild traded Alex Tuch in exchange for Vegas selecting Erik Haula and a conditional third-round pick in the 2017 or 2018 NHL Entry Draft.

The Columbus Blue Jackets traded their first-round pick in the 2017 NHL Entry Draft, a second-round pick in the 2019 NHL Entry Draft and David Clarkson in exchange for Vegas selecting William Karlsson

The prior expansion drafts allowed for 9 forwards, 5 d-man, and 1 goalie to be protected.  This was the first draft with a larger pool of available players and on top of it the selections governed by the salary cap.

[CrossfirePilot]

Looks like the Wild missed the bus to Winnipeg.  Good job guys...going out on a whimper...

[Sharpnel]

And the Avs managed to stave off elimination with, of all people, Andrew Hammond in net. Here's hoping they can push it to a seventh game.

[Firesprocket]

This is either a call of the Avs game winning goal or a an ECW play by play call.  Still trying to figure out which.

https://twitter.com/Avalanche/status/987737317279346688/video/1

[Fat Guy]

Way to keep it classy Philly fans.

Just for that, I'm glad you're eliminated! 

[JadeHellbringer]

The Avs put up a hell of a fight for five games.

It seems they didn't realize they had a sixth game.

[Firesprocket]

I have to applaud the Avs on their effort this series.  I expected them to get swept in quick fashion.  Next season, perhaps, the injury bug doesn't hit them abruptly at the end of the season. 

Jake Guentzel is a helluva playoff performer.  Perhaps the Flyers should have covered that guy.  It is debatable who had the worse series.  The combined futility of Philly's goaltenders or Claude Giroux.  1 g 2 a and a -10.  Vorachek was 0 g 3 a and a -3.  Konecny and Simmonds barely showed up.  Sean Coutuier on the other hand was a 5g 4a +1.  Coutuier's teammates should just be glad that he wasn't throwing stuff at them too.

[Sharpnel]

The Avs put up a hell of a fight for five games.

It seems they didn't realize they had a sixth game.

Avs were forced to use Andrew Hammond as their goalie. He's third on the depth chart.

[Fat Guy]

Avs were forced to use Andrew Hammond as their goalie. He's third on the depth chart.

And he singlehandedly won game 5.

[Sharpnel]

Truth, but he couldn't carry that over to the next game which was on home ice. At least the Avs went from worst in the league one year and make the playoffs the next year. All it took was getting rid of Duchene. who knew?

[Fat Guy]

A game 7!

Could there finally be one upset this round?

[Firesprocket]

All it took was getting rid of Duchene. who knew?

I'm sure he's happy to be out Colorado and in that hot bed of a dumpster fire that is Ottawa.

Caps eliminate the Jackets this evening with a solid 2nd period.  I'm fairly impressed by their come back from being down 0-2 in the series.  Didn't think this team had it in them.  The top players though played that way.  Imo that bumps their chances from beating Pittsburgh from roughly 5% to 10%.  I'm fairly certain though that Pittsburgh isn't going to as undisciplined as Columbus was this taking bad penalties.

A game 7!

Could there finally be one upset this round?

Technically the Sharks sweeping the Ducks was an upset.

Andersen was outstanding tonight and Rask too.  It should be a helluva game 7.

[Dragon Cat]

Anderson is keeping them in it after a very wobbly game one and two he’s bounced back impressively

[gyedid]

The Leafs sure are finding a way to make it interesting after those first couple of games.  Have they actually solved Boston's top line or have the Bruins slacked off?

On another note, the hockey season in Russia is over.  The KHL's Gagarin Cup has been won this year by Ak Bars Kazan, in a somewhat surprise victory over CSKA Moscow (the former Soviet-era Central Red Army club), taking the series 4-1.  (Surprising because 8 of the CSKA players were on Russia's Olympic gold-winning squad.)

This means that former Hab Andrei Markov finally has a championship (although not the one I'm sure he really wanted).
I wonder if they'll let him take the Gagarin Cup to Montreal, just so he can shove it in Marc Bergevin's face?  (Some Habs fans [like yours truly] want Nashville to win the Cup, just so P.K. can bring it to Montreal and shove THAT trophy in Bergy's mug--after he shares it with the kids at the hospital first, of course.)

Yeah...both Markov and P.K. taking it to Bergy in the same year...that would be sweet.

cheers,

Gabe

EDIT:  I should have mentioned that Markov signed a 2-year deal with Kazan after Bergevin left him twisting in the wind following the 2016-2017 season and no other NHL team wanted him.  He was 4 games short of 1000 with the Habs.  Now it seems as though he'll finish his pro career in the KHL.

[wantec]

Glad to see Holtby back to form, now if only the D could limit the shots against, then the games won't be so close. On to the next round. Oh look, its Caps vs Pens vol. 23518621, yaaay