NHL (2020-2021) v. Draft, sign, & trade.

[TAC]

I'm obviously not paying attention, mainly because I guess I assumed it would be a record that would never be broken, but tonight, Patrick Marleau  will be breaking Gordie Howe's record for games played. That's amazing!

[jingle.boy]

Indeed. There are probably only a couple dozen unbeatable records.  I thought this one was as well.  Glad he’s doing it as a Shark

[jingle.boy]

Nice tribute to him https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDFHWJ0FQZw

Just too bad it was from Bettman!  Should've been from Jumbo.

[TAC]

Yeah, and man, does Bettman look old!

[Anguyen92]

Nice tribute to him https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDFHWJ0FQZw

Just too bad it was from Bettman!  Should've been from Jumbo.

Take a look at this tweet.  Jumbo had a few words to say.  The video is even narrated by James Hetfield.

https://twitter.com/NHL/status/1384328699114401795

[KevShmev]

I know fans give him a hard time, but I thought the league did a good enough job with the season last year after the shutdown to where I can give Bettman a break.  If we can still consider hockey one of the four major professional team sports in the U.S., he might be the best of the commissioners at this moment. That is not saying a lot, perhaps, but it's something.

[jingle.boy]

I know fans give him a hard time, but I thought the league did a good enough job with the season last year after the shutdown to where I can give Bettman a break.  If we can still consider hockey one of the four major professional team sports in the U.S., he might be the best of the commissioners at this moment. That is not saying a lot, perhaps, but it's something.

Can't disagree with that, but he will always be the one responsible for 2005 in my mind.  He'll never do enough good to erase that stain.

[Anguyen92]

I mean it's a tough pill to say Gary Bettman was all right when that guy was the commissioner for about two seasons worth of games lost (94-95, 04-05, and 12-13).  Ovi would have been a lot closer to Gretzky's goal record had he played those games in 04-05 and the games lost from 12-13.

Unpopular opinion, but I will say he probably made the right call to not give the ok for the NHL players to play at the Olympics in 2018 (then again, it came down to like three greedy corporate entities not getting along on the same page in all chipping what is needed to make that happen).

Speaking of Olympics, the NHL will be there for 2022 games right?  I haven't kept track of that.

[KevShmev]

I know fans give him a hard time, but I thought the league did a good enough job with the season last year after the shutdown to where I can give Bettman a break.  If we can still consider hockey one of the four major professional team sports in the U.S., he might be the best of the commissioners at this moment. That is not saying a lot, perhaps, but it's something.

Can't disagree with that, but he will always be the one responsible for 2005 in my mind.  He'll never do enough good to erase that stain.

I get that.  And I am not saying I am a fan now or anything, just that recent history has made me want to cut him a little bit of slack.

[TAC]

I know fans give him a hard time, but I thought the league did a good enough job with the season last year after the shutdown to where I can give Bettman a break.  If we can still consider hockey one of the four major professional team sports in the U.S., he might be the best of the commissioners at this moment. That is not saying a lot, perhaps, but it's something.

Can't disagree with that, but he will always be the one responsible for 2005 in my mind.  He'll never do enough good to erase that stain.

I don't even remember 2005, nor do I give a shit.

[Anguyen92]

^^ Well, of course, you don't remember 2005 because nothing, relevant to our viewing interest, happened at all in the NHL in the first half of the year.

[pg1067]

Nice tribute to him https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDFHWJ0FQZw

Just too bad it was from Bettman!  Should've been from Jumbo.

Take a look at this tweet.  Jumbo had a few words to say.  The video is even narrated by James Hetfield.

https://twitter.com/NHL/status/1384328699114401795

Gotta love Twitter...first comment I saw on that post was, "Most amount of games without a Stanley Cup."

[romdrums]

Nice tribute to him https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDFHWJ0FQZw

Just too bad it was from Bettman!  Should've been from Jumbo.

Take a look at this tweet.  Jumbo had a few words to say.  The video is even narrated by James Hetfield.

https://twitter.com/NHL/status/1384328699114401795

Gotta love Twitter...first comment I saw on that post was, "Most amount of games without a Stanley Cup."

I think he only made the Stanley Cup Finals once.

[Anguyen92]

^^ Yep, once.  That was probably the last time Marleau made it past the 1st round of the playoffs in any team.

[pg1067]

^^ Yep, once.  That was probably the last time Marleau made it past the 1st round of the playoffs in any team.

Indeed.  Since making the finals in 2016, the Sharks made it to the second round and conference finals (in 2018 and 2019), but that was when Marleau was with the Leafs.

[jingle.boy]

Man, I thought losing in OT to the Covid Canucks was going to be the low point of the season.  Nice to see Big-Save Dave (who stole a Game from the Leafs earlier in the while a Flame) showed up as No-Save Dave.

What did I say a couple pages ago.... it's amazing how goalies who are otherwise crap turn into Vezina candidates when they play the Leafs.  Holtby had a 3.57GAA and sub .900 save %.  Then makes 35+ saves against the Leafs in both games.  The hockey Gods had it out for the Leafs on Sunday (4 times they hit the pipes), and Holtby was possessed by Hasek for at least one save.  Tonight's loss was all on Rittich, and to a lesser extent the D (three soft goals by the former; twice the Canucks had rebound tap-ins courtesy of bad play from the latter).

This season is not going to end well if this team can't find some consistency.  Since the end of Feb, they went on an 1-6 streak, followed by a 9-0-1 heater, now into an 0-3-2 slump.

[romdrums]

Looks like the Red Wings/Capitals trade is working out for both teams so far.  Anthony Mantha had a goal in each of his first five games with the Caps, and Jakub Vrana now has 5 goals with the Wings thanks to a 4 goal night last night against the Stars. It's nice to see the "Yzer-Plan" come together!

[jingle.boy]

Solid W (in regular time) by the Leafs over the Jets last night.  Nice to see Helly actually look like a not-extraordinary goalie.

On the flipside, the Sens shut out the Covid Canucks?!?!?!  FFS, that angers me even more now that the Leafs could only must 1 point over 2 games against them.  Seems the Leafs far too often manage to play to the level of their competition.

[TAC]

  Seems the Leafs far too often manage to play to the level of their competition.

The Bruins have the same problem. I wouldn't worry about it. The Bruins played up to and won 3 straight against the Isles and Caps, then sleptwalked through a win against Buffalo on Tuesday, and played like complete ass for two periods last night before deciding the play one period. I think that's why the B's have had so much trouble against NJ, but have had relative success against Washington.

[KevShmev]

Blues with two huge wins over the Avs in the last three days. 

[gmillerdrake]

Blues with two huge wins over the Avs in the last three days. 

Tonight’s game may have been the best 60 minutes of hockey they’ve played all year. Outside of that PP goal the AVs scored the Blues had them shut down

[pg1067]

This appears to be the other half of the NHL's national TV deal:



Source:  NHL Facebook page.

[Anguyen92]

Wheeeee.  $225 million a year for the TNT/TBS package and $400 million for the ESPN deal.   Both for 7 years.  Plus, I think the games are going to be on a slightly bigger platform than the NBC networks as well.  Things are looking up for the league when it comes to the visibility of the game in the states.

[pg1067]

Agree.  Between ABC, ESPN(+), TBS, TNT, and HBO Max, I think the league will end up with FAR more exposure than it's gotten on NBC/NBCSN.

[jingle.boy]

Just don't bring over Pierre McGuire.

[SchecterShredder]

Just don't bring over Pierre McGuire.

They already did. No joke

[jingle.boy]

Just don't bring over Pierre McGuire.

They already did. No joke

Ah see... we're off to a bad start here.  What's next?  Red and blue streaks?

[King Postwhore]

Pierre doesn't bother me like he does for you Chad.  We have Jack Edwards.  He can numb you to any other announcers.

[SchecterShredder]

Pierre doesn't bother me like he does for you Chad.  We have Jack Edwards.  He can numb you to any other announcers.

True. Edwards is among my least favorite

[Anguyen92]

Pierre doesn't bother me like he does for you Chad.  We have Jack Edwards.  He can numb you to any other announcers.

Regarding Jack Edwards, I've been meaning to ask you or TAC on how you guys feel about Jack Edwards as an announcer.  I've watched a few clips of Bruins games with him on the play by play and my main thought was, "if I was an opposing fan of the Bruins, I would avoid watching feeds with him as the play by play."  It's not that he's a homer for the Bruins (which is fine for the local sports feed), but the little things he say just gets me a little irked a bit.

For instance, this video.

GOTTA SEE IT: Penguins Botch 3-on-0 In Overtime Followed By Bruins' Game Winner

[King Postwhore]

But he is a big homer for the B's.  It works for a lunch pale fanbase that rabid for hockey like Boston is.  I completely understand how it can drive other fans batty having to listen to him but he really bring emotion for "Us homers."

The balance it off with Andy Brickley.  Ex player who knows his gam.  Very straight forward.

[TAC]

I'm done with Jack Edwards, honestly. We have Andy Brickley as a TV color guy and he's as good as they get. But he's got to put up with Jack, who blows.

When he got the gig, his quirkiness and homerism were kind of amusing. But he's just become a caricature of himself. He's actually an excellent play by play guy when he tones it down a bit. I think he tries too hard to be the Bruins' version of Tommy Heinsohn, and he comes off sounding goofy.

[TAC]

Andy Brickley is one of the best color guys I've ever heard.

[King Postwhore]

Tim funny how that works for TV but the radio pundits will never be homers.  Example Felger and Maz.  Remember how Minahane hated the Sox openly?

[TAC]

Remember how I hated Minihane openly? 

I have no idea what he thought about the Sox.