Re: The NHL 2013-14 Thread
 

I am too. Building from the net out, which I love. Putting pieces into place that can be built around as well as being built to last. Complementing those pieces with the right group of veterans who demonstrate the right kind of work ethic. Schreibs has plenty of reason to be excited.
This is such a good point, Tim. Whereas a good forward usually hit his peak around 25-ish, really good defensemen hit their stride around 28-30. Defense is such a calculating position, one where no short amount of wisdom is required to play it well. Yes, guys like Subban can win Norris trophies for scoring goals on the PP and throwing an occasional big hit, but the REALLY good defensemen are the ones the casual fan barely notices because they're playing such a calculated, error-free game. That wisdom only comes with time, and lots of it. Lidstrom, Bourque, Blake, Foote, MacInnis, Niedermayer, Leetch, Pronger, Chara, Zubov, and others all had good seasons as young players, but REALLY settled in to becoming GREAT defensemen in their 30s.

Excited to see how some of these young defense studs mature.
It is absolutely possible. Very true.

Re: The NHL 2013-14 Thread
 

An interesting tid-bit of info I was unaware of regarding coach's fines;

Re: The NHL 2013-14 Thread
 

Watched that on TSN.ca this morning. I was surprised by that. I loved TSN showing the top 10 bench outbursts. Crawford and Bowman is still great. Bowman all calm like it's not big deal just having a conversation. Crawford...about to explode.

Re: The NHL 2013-14 Thread
 

https://twitter.com/wyshynski/status/386146909867356161

haha

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And through it all, Crawford's hair stayed perfect the whole time.

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Another great vlogumn by Bucci.

http://espn.go.com/nhl/notebook/_/pa...13/hockey-life

Again, the reason I love Bucci: He's a fan of hockey more than he's a fan of the NHL.

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:lol well he picked CBJ to go to conference finals so I hope he knows what he's talking about

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Just realized Bolland scored 2 against the Flyers.

Are you doing ok Lockman?

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From what I've heard, Chris and Dave are trying the long distance thing. It hurts to be apart, but I'm sure Chris loves to see Dave doing so well.

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Since I'm right in between Chicago and Toronto, I've let hem rendezvous at my place. I've soundproofed the room though cause...yikes.

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:lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol Such passionate souls.

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Isles finally open tonight. It's about time. Feel like I can finally join in the season. Nice to see a Rangers loss and watching Roy could be fun. He is gonna be writing a lot checks this year, me thinks.

Daneyko said Isles are the best team in the NY area. I'll be shocked if that turns out to be true but man, I hope he is right.

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:lol Lol :lol :lol :lol

You guys are brutal.

On the subject of defensemen--I actually see them as a poor man's NFL quarterback. They have such a workload defensively to figure out the coverages and the matchups--and then God forbid if they are a powerplay quarterback.

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So many chances in front for the Kings through 1. With 18 SOG in the first they need to bury more of them.

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Zetterberg with 16.4 left! I'll take a point after down 2-0.

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And Weiss gets his 1st to win it in ot.

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What a rally by the Wings tonight! Great start so far for the team. New guys are fitting in really well and the veterans seem to be firing on all cylinders.

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So this is what it's like to have a game finish before 10pm.

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:lol I must admit it is very strange to have some games starting at 4pm.

Re: The NHL 2013-14 Thread
 

Yeah that would be weird. I mean I just turned on Tigers/Athletics and it's 9:30 here and it's light out there.

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Chad, my man, what a fun game tonight! Another very complete game by the Avs, who are really firing on all cylinders. Their puck possession and control is just other-worldly right now, and I love how every player is working hard. Very hard. Even the defense looked sharper tonight, although they still need some work.

The only thing that kept the score so low was an incredibly good Nashville defense. Wow, I forget just how solid they are as a complete team unit. Notice how the Avs hardly ever spent any time in the middle of the Preds' zone? Masterful job by Trotz's boys at keeping everyone to the outside.

Most noticeable player tonight? Steve Downie. Guy was an absolute beast out there. Such an important piece to the Av's puzzle. I want to take another look at his hit on Josi. It definitely looked like he left his feet. I missed the replays, but what I saw could warrant a call from Sheriff Shanny.

Guys, watch out for Matt Duchene. He got even stronger this year, which, combined with his speed, makes him dangerous. He's strong on the puck, has great balance, and is battling hard - continuing his trend from last year. And he's still the fastest guy on the team. LOOK. OUT.

I kept an eye on Jones tonight. The fact that he WASN'T too noticeable out there is of course a good thing. He wasn't an all-star, but that's not what i would expect from a rookie defenseman. He played a mostly error-free game and was calm and composed. Still very optimistic about his future, although the way MacKinnon is playing is making it hard to miss my Sethy. The MacKinnon-Parenteau-McGinn line has something like 9 points already.

Re: The NHL 2013-14 Thread
 

Great point, pal. It's not like defensemen have to learn anything NEW per se... the fundamentals of the game are the same. It just takes time to adjust to performing those fundamentals at 100 mph instead of 65.

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81 shots in the Ottawa/Buffalo game tonight. 80 saves. Miller let it in with just over a minute to go. Shots were 46/35 Ottawa. Definitely a first in all of the games I've ever been to.

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So here are my goalies for tongiht (bolded confirmed starters on leftwinglock)

Rask vs Det
Halak vs Fla
Price vs Phi
Emery vs Mon

I get to start two of these sexy beasts and I am assuming Rask will start and Emery may as well get his first start tonight. I am leaning towards Rask and Halak, any thoughts?

I didn't go to bed as upset about that game as the previous. The Avs looked really improved and I was impressed.

The Downie incident isn't even being reviewed by Shanny and that's bs. He torpedoed himself at Josis head. Just another case for why fighting needs to stay. The league won't do anything so someone needs to and they were really giving it to Downie all night.

Jones played mistake free for the most part and I even saw him out there with Weber a few times. Obviously Trotz trusts him enough to have the most ice time throughout the first. I'm very excited to see his progression.

Re: The NHL 2013-14 Thread
 

Yeah, Downie definitely left his feet on that hit. There's no way you're that high in the air without leaving your feet.

At the very least it was a penalty for charging.

Re: The NHL 2013-14 Thread
 

Lots of people saying he didn't leave his feet until after the hit. Still, it seemed like he was targeting Josi's head.

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Downie left his feet only after contact was made, it looks like. I haven't seen any really good slow-motion replays though. Hard to tell.

Fighting occurs so often after these hits but it is almost impossible to determine the "cleanliness" of the hit in real time. So you just have players guessing and going after guys and basically it just boils down to vigilante justice.

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He did get a charging penalty. I still haven't watched a really good replay, but it was certainly reckless. Downie's been really well behaved sice he came to the Avs, but he still plays with that edge. Good on weber and bourque for jumping in.

Re: The NHL 2013-14 Thread
 

Two guys jumping in and delivering punches to a guy on the ice is not just as dirty as the charging penalty committed by Downie?

And were the Preds still given a PP even after Weber and Bourque jumped in? If so, that is just nonsense.

On another subject....after watching the highlights, it looked like Duchene was in total beast mode.

Colorado got a PP afterward and the jumping in was justified. Whether he left his feet before the hit or not, it was very questionable and took Josi out of the game.

And Duchene was very much in beast mode

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Yeah it was 4 on 4. Weber got 2 for roughing. We won't agree on this, but after a dangerous hit like that I'm totally ok with guys sending a message that it's not ok. I know, I know, send the message a different way... Vigilante justice.... Etc. you and I won't agree and that's ok.

Glad you noticed Duchene too. He's been mainly noticed for his speed. People aren't noticing yet how strong he's getting. He drew like two penalties last night as a result of people not being able to keep up with him or knock him off the puck. The guy gives 110% every shift. Keep your eye on him, guys.

Re: The NHL 2013-14 Thread
 

Well, I mean I'm glad that Weber was penalized, then because you can't have it both ways obviously. I don't really like the fighting and I get that Shea Weber is thinking, it's more important that I stick up for my fellow d-man than take the power play. I don't like it but that's the way it is in hockey. Just very hard for me to rationalize it because everyone complains when players start fights after a clean hit but the line between clean and dirty is not very well defined and extremely difficult to judge in real time in the heat of the moment.

Re: The NHL 2013-14 Thread
 

Do you even like hockey anymore?

Re: The NHL 2013-14 Thread
 

Did he to begin with?

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Fucking quick whistlr

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Tim Thomas got lit upppp tonight

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Awful, awful defensive performance tonight. I wonder how different this team would be if we didn't offer Weber an offer sheet we knew Nashville had to accept. We could have tried to get him when he hit free agency and improve our woeful defense. Streit and Coburn had two awful plays that led to Candien goals. Also sucks that the Read goal was waved off due to shitty refs

Re: The NHL 2013-14 Thread
 

Makes me so happy seeing the Tampa/Florida score. Haha Tim Thomas.

Re: The NHL 2013-14 Thread
 

Me too, I have Halak going and I assume you meant St Louis/Florida score

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:lol oh yeah, I did. I don't know why but I always mix the two of them up, even though I'm thinking of the right team.

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Fuck I didn't start Halak.

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Oilers gonna oil.

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Ugh, le sigh :lorraine

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Well game Friday night was a lot of fun until the 3rd period. Pretty awesome to see the crowd so into it.

Glad to see them bounce back against the Isles Saturday, it's such a long season but I just hope they didn't leave a bad taste in anyone's mouth Friday, they really needed to carry the momentum from last year.

Re: The NHL 2013-14 Thread
 

Well, that didn't take long;

‏@DNFlyers Flyers have fired Peter Laviolette, per a source. Replacing him with Craig Berube. Press conference at 11am.

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:lol:lol already?!

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Holy crap. Yeah that didn't take long at all. I know it's more than just this season that he's getting fired for, but has a coach ever been fired this early in the season?

Re: The NHL 2013-14 Thread
 

View from my seats this year:

http://imgur.com/KLpP0bL

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you'd think if the idea was there they would have fired him over the summer and taken their time to find a new coach

Go home Flyers, you're drunk.

Re: The NHL 2013-14 Thread
 

lol flyers!

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Lollergren

Gotta think Paul is going to follow suit soon if he's not careful.

Re: The NHL 2013-14 Thread
 

Exactly. You had all summer to do this. If you fire him now you clearly were thinking about it before.
Bucci posted he had heard Paul's seat is hot too.

FYI:
Per @NHLAdamK:
According to TSN, earliest coach ever had been fired was 4 games into a season (Savard, Chi, 2008; Hlinka, Pitt, 2000; Demers, Mtl, 1995)

Re: The NHL 2013-14 Thread
 

Too bad for Laviolette. But, as we've talked about before, so goes the coaching carousel in the NHL. He will be employed before long and will probably do very well wherever he goes. I like the guy.

Very interested to see how Berube does.

Re: The NHL 2013-14 Thread
 

It's insane. Flyers could potentially have hired Torts, Vigneault, Ruff, or Eakins over the summer. Instead, Craig Berube.

#CrosbySux
OMGCG

Re: The NHL 2013-14 Thread
 

@cotsonika Holmgren called this a "gut feeling" and the Flyers aren't playing well enough to win. Up to Berube to pinpoint problem. Have fun, Craig.

Re: The NHL 2013-14 Thread
 

Problem: Richards, Carter, and Bobrovsky traded to sign Bryzgalov. Bryzgalov bought out after two seasons.

Solution: Fire the coach.

Re: The NHL 2013-14 Thread
 

I liked the part where he felt the shortened season wasn't enough that he deserved more time to prove himself. Three games? Sorry if you were ready to pull the trigger after three games, you should have been ready in the offseason.

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What a fiesty press conference!

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Holmgren's fighting for his life at this point, and he is 100% aware of it.

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Unreal. Why now? Honestly? If he was that much on the hot seat, fire him before the season and hire someone new then, so the team at least has the offseason/training camp to work with the new guy?

Also, Holmgren still having his job is an absolute JOKE. His Wikipedia entry is hysterical though, not sure how long it'll last:

Laviolette isn't the one that traded Mike Richards, Jeff Carter, James Van Riemsdyk or BOBROVSKY!...the one that continues to trade away almost every draft pick they have which has resulted in possibly the worst group of prospects in the league...OR the one that started his team this season with about 100 defensemen on the books, with two backup goaltenders, etc. etc.

Holmgren honestly is approaching Mike Milbury status. He is so bad. He had a great team in 2010 that could have been managed around to build a perennial Stanley Cup contender, and he absolutely blew it.

Maybe Laviolette's time was up, I don't know the situation as well as I'm sure some Flyers fans do, but Holmgren's time is WAY expired. This should be every Flyers fan in regards to Holmgren:

http://youtu.be/b07sactDEKU?t=7s

Added in an extra "t" there, my friend.

Seats look awesome though.

Re: The NHL 2013-14 Thread
 

:lol:lol I couldn't for the life of me figure out why that didn't create a link.

Re: The NHL 2013-14 Thread
 

I edited your post sweet cakes.

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The Flyers are on par with that Khardasians show.

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As you know, Lavy fired. Here's my story with bunch of quotes including the Snider vs Eskin blow up: http://flyers.thecheckingline.com/bl...raig-berube-re

Re: The NHL 2013-14 Thread
 

:lol Wow. Holmgren has that organization in a vice grip. Absolutely dreadful front office in Philly.

Re: The NHL 2013-14 Thread
 

"I would never say to Paul, 'you can't make a change.'" :lol

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It bothers me how bad this season has been. :(

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It bothers me that my phone can auto-correctly spell reality tv shows.

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Just to play devil's advocate, the Hawks fired Savard only a few games into the season and haven't missed the playoffs since....but then again Berube isn't exactly Joel Quenneville.

He's just so so bad. The fact that he actually could be quoted saying that he fired Laviolette because he "had a gut feeling" is hilarious.

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I don't think Paul guts could even get him a piece of the Agro-crag, let alone a Stanley Cup.

Re: The NHL 2013-14 Thread
 

feel bad for Lavy and that he had to take the fall. Great post by Lockman, summing up Holmgren's bad job.

Isles cut him loose way too soon. He's a very good coach. Maybe he lost the room but I think it is just one those things where they can't fire all the players so the Head Coach takes the blame.

He'll land on his feet somewhere.

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Next place where a coach is fired, I expect him to get the job.

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That was a completely different situation.

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You mean cause the Hawks had talent?

I do remember when Q was brought on in the offseason and thought "well Savard's on a short leash."

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Exactly. He'll be at the top of the list.

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Lavy is a great coach, no doubt about that. And I'm shocked there hasn't been a rumor/report saying Lavy lost the locker room yet.

Re: The NHL 2013-14 Thread
 

while I don't disagree with the firing because sometimes what is needed is a scenery change, Laviolette is not a bad coach by any stretch. The problem in Philly is clearly the front office and their poor decision making, and it has been for a while. Laviolette will just go somewhere else.

here's a question I've seen no one ask. Isn't Laviolette supposed to coach Team USA? Don't you have to be currently coaching in the NHL to be on the staff?

Re: The NHL 2013-14 Thread
 

Yes, it certainly was. That's why I said "just to play devil's advocate."

All I'm saying is that even though Holmgren is probably running the team into the ground, this type of move early in the season could completely just torpedo, say, an NFL team's season. In the NHL, the team's season could possibly turn around to some extent...

Re: The NHL 2013-14 Thread
 

Ed Snyder and Paul Holmgren need to go.

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Home opener at Staples tonight, should be a good time and I have a DD!

Re: The NHL 2013-14 Thread
 

Also, with it being against the Rangers, secretly I win no matter what.

Re: The NHL 2013-14 Thread
 

1). I've said it all along that Holmgren is a joke (glad to see after 5 seasons and 3 games everyone else is on-board with my initial assessment)

2). The Flyers will never, ever will another Cup as long is Snider is controlling the team. The older he gets, the worse it is going to get for the fan base

3). The "gut feeling" that Holmgren had was the players complaining to him that Peter had to go. The players are the ones responsible for the timing of this.

4). Last year was the first time since '93 that I didn't go to a single home game. Not really sure if that is going to change this year......

Re: The NHL 2013-14 Thread
 

enjoy! i'll only make it through the first period

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Haha last year was the first year I never bought tix for the Flyers. I still went but that was under different circumstances ;)

Speaking of which, I'm covering tomorrow night's game for the paper :multi

Re: The NHL 2013-14 Thread
 

Good stuff John :thumbsup

Re: The NHL 2013-14 Thread
 

these non condensed seasons are boring

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Thanks Brad!

Re: The NHL 2013-14 Thread
 

So this is that deadly oilers offence we keep hearing about, 4 straight goals

Re: The NHL 2013-14 Thread
 

I thought about trying to find a shot of your avatar wearing hipster glasses. But then I didn't. ;) :cool

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OMG Quick. That was truly embarrassing, cleared the puck into his own net, he has the worst luck.

Edit: :BANG :BANG

Re: The NHL 2013-14 Thread
 

nice to see richards on the stat sheet. solid road win. another tough one tonight.

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So much less stressful though. Sure the games "don't mean as much" but last year was a little much. 20 games fewer would be ok. That takes more than a month off of the year. However, we know that won't happen cause of $$ and since they want division and conference games to mean so much, the game taken away would be from the other conference and I don't want that. I like that every plays everyone else twice a year now.

Re: The NHL 2013-14 Thread
 

I went to bed after the 2nd when they were down 3-0, imagine my surprise this morning. Glad they found a way to dig deep and win a game, especially under such circumstances. This should be huge for their confidence moving forward. Now, if we could only get a half-decent goaltending performance...

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seriously who has the attention span for all this stuff :goat

Re: The NHL 2013-14 Thread
 

Bernier looks so good. Picked up right where he left off.

Meanwhile, Flyers have some spunk back. And Thomas is hurt! Hahahaha

Re: The NHL 2013-14 Thread
 

Why do people hate Tim Thomas? I don't get it.

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Political stuff?

Re: The NHL 2013-14 Thread
 

It was awesome to see. I'm excited for this season (though I still have a sneaky suspicion they will let us down again). Dubnyk has gotta step up though. He's looked absolutely horrid. LaBarbera scares me too.