NHL 2022-2023: FA July 13th - LET IT BEGIN

[gmillerdrake]

I know it's sacrilege, especially here in St. Louis.....but I'm 'over' Darren Pang. 9 seasons is enough....his schtick is old....his "isms" make me roll my eyes and it's just time to move on. Great announcer and all but it's time.

Former Blue defenseman Jamie Rivers has filled in for him a few times this year when Pang was working for TNT and Rivers does a good job and is just as informative and colorful as Pang. Pang is a massive homer (which is fine when done right) and if you were to believe him then Jordan Binnington has not given up a goal this year that was actually his fault.

HOLY JUMPIN!

 

[gmillerdrake]

HOLY JUMPIN!

It is more than that honestly.....like I said.....Binnington does nothing wrong, I swear Pang must get a percentage of his paycheck. And for some reason this season Pang will tell you after literally every slap shot Coltan Paryako takes how 'fast' it was. Never mind it missed the net by 5 foot or that he's had seven giveaways, thank goodness we know how fast every shot he takes is. "like you read about" is a phrase he'll drop at least once a game, sometimes more.....I don't know. I get it...he IS good....the Blues announcing crew is in the top five every season when compared to the rest of the league. We watch a lot of hockey in our house and there are some horrible crews out there.....and I 'get' that Pang is 'good'. I'm just over him....need a change and like I said...Jamie Rivers is very well suited to step in.

[Stadler]

HOLY JUMPIN!

It is more than that honestly.....like I said.....Binnington does nothing wrong, I swear Pang must get a percentage of his paycheck. And for some reason this season Pang will tell you after literally every slap shot Coltan Paryako takes how 'fast' it was. Never mind it missed the net by 5 foot or that he's had seven giveaways, thank goodness we know how fast every shot he takes is. "like you read about" is a phrase he'll drop at least once a game, sometimes more.....I don't know. I get it...he IS good....the Blues announcing crew is in the top five every season when compared to the rest of the league. We watch a lot of hockey in our house and there are some horrible crews out there.....and I 'get' that Pang is 'good'. I'm just over him....need a change and like I said...Jamie Rivers is very well suited to step in.

That's Jack and Andy about David Pastrnak.  I think Pastrnak sucks - he turns the puck over WAYYYYYYYYY too much - and in one broadcast, they were looking at a replay and Brick says "Pastrnak with the turnover, but that's ok, because  all the great ones turn the puck over".  NO!!!  NO THEY DON'T!!! THAT'S WHY THEY'RE GREAT, because they DON'T!!!!!!!

[SchecterShredder]

Story time:

I work from home most days, but still go to the office once or twice per week. Our office is downtown Edmonton across the street from Roger's Place arena. We have an extensive network of above street pedways that connect many of the towers in the core, including Roger's Place. I like to walk these pedways during lunch on my office days, often starting and ending in Roger's. The arena is connect directly to a fancy JW Marrriott hotel where the visiting team always stays, so you'll often see members of the visiting organization in the pedway or the open space in the arena where there's a bar and one of the main ticket entrances (called Ford Hall - Ford being the sponsor for the naming rights). Basically, it's a good place to get an autograph or photo from players from the visiting side.

On my walk today I come across Kings coach, and, of course, former Oilers coach, Todd McLellan. Here's our conversation in its entirety...

ME: "Hey Todd, I'd wish you good luck tonight, but I honestly hope you get blown out of the building"

TODD (chuckling to himself): "Well, I guess have a nice day to you, too"

Hopefully the Oil fans who came running up as I was walking away still got their photos with him lol.

[pg1067]

In the nicest possible way, I hope you go home unhappy tonight.   

[SchecterShredder]

If you're going to score goal #300, that's how you ought to do it.  Well done,  Connor

[Anguyen92]

If you're going to score goal #300, that's how you ought to do it.  Well done,  Connor

That guy can kiss my grits.  He took out Mikey Anderson at the beginning of the game.  I don't want to hear the praise about this guy or hearing any whining on why he can't draw penalties after that bleep.  Kings had to roll 5 defensemen the rest of the way for 58 minutes.  Hard to recover from that.  Offense was anemic though.  Kings were solid enough in the PK and did a great job of neutralizing McDavid on 5v5 and the Oilers PP.  It just happens a turnover on the Kings PP lead to that short-handed McDavid goal. 

Korpisalo did all he could in the two losses.  Also when Fiala and Vilardi are out, it hurts the offense.  Team needs one or both of these guys healthy to get the lines rolling.

[jingle.boy]

If you're going to score goal #300, that's how you ought to do it.  Well done,  Connor

That guy can kiss my grits.  He took out Mikey Anderson at the beginning of the game.  I don't want to hear the praise about this guy or hearing any whining on why he can't draw penalties after that bleep.  Kings had to roll 5 defensemen the rest of the way for 58 minutes.  Hard to recover from that.  Offense was anemic though.  Kings were solid enough in the PK and did a great job of neutralizing McDavid on 5v5 and the Oilers PP.  It just happens a turnover on the Kings PP lead to that short-handed McDavid goal. 

Korpisalo did all he could in the two losses.  Also when Fiala and Vilardi are out, it hurts the offense.  Team needs one or both of these guys healthy to get the lines rolling.

And yet many teams do throughout the course of the season.  I didn’t see the play, so I can’t comment, but blaming the L on the loss of a single player doesn’t compute - I think not scoring a single goal might be the bigger issue. 

[SchecterShredder]

It was a penalty,  I'll give him that. Connor finished his check on Anderson, but that check was right in the numbers a foot from the boards. It looked pretty innocuous though,  and i didn't even realize Anderson left the game.  He skated away no problem.

LA had plenty of chances last night. Skinner was simply on fire, so don't blame McDavid for the Kings loss. Blame Stuart Skinner

[Stadler]

So after the Bruins stepped up in overtime (check out that move by Lindholm; that was Bobby-Orr-esque!) I went over to the Oilers/Kings game on ESPN+, and watched the second half of the first period and all of the second period.   

First, let's not beat around the bush: the officiating in the NHL is very inconsistent.   That behind the back shot only gets called about half the time.  Marchand got essentially pasted onto the boards in each of the last two games and no call, so no whining about the non-call agains Anderson.   Last night Bergeron got cross-checked to the face, drawing blood and the refs changed the initial five-minute major call to a two-minute minor (Jack Edwards: "What does Bergie have to do to get a call? Go full on Van Gogh?") then about ten minutes later, Marchand got cross-checked in the face, drawing blood, and it WAS a five minute major. 

Second, games are 60 minutes for a reason; you've got to cover guys like McDavid for the full 60; that's why they are so good, they never take a shift off (or rather, they never play a partial game).  The key with beating a team that is top-heavy like Edmonton is to with the battle of the third and fourth lines, and the Kings didn't do that.  They just didn't seem deep enough for me to be able to do that.

Third, no doubt Edwards is a homer (Jack:  "Get over it!") but at least he's entertaining.  Those two last night, Alex Faust and Jim Fox, - right? - are both just as "homer" as Edwards.   I asked my step son what feed he put on (LA or Edmonton) and he didn't know; we figured it out right quick.  I don't mind "homer"; I find it - sometimes - entertaining, but here, man, they are dry as dirt.   I didn't even bother to watch the third period; not entirely because of the announcers, but they did nothing to keep me there.   

[KevShmev]

I guess it's nice to see the Blues ending the season on a strong note.

The better thing is seeing that the Blackhawks and Red Wings will both miss the playoffs as well  , and it is likely that Nashville will as well.  This makes me feel a little better about the Blues missing out. 

[Stadler]

I guess it's nice to see the Blues ending the season on a strong note.

The better thing is seeing that the Blackhawks and Red Wings will both miss the playoffs as well  , and it is likely that Nashville will as well.  This makes me feel a little better about the Blues missing out. 

Nice finish to that 'Wings game last night.  Andersen played really well, too; I'm no 'Canes fan (in fact the opposite) but it's a shame that that's how his night ended.

[gmillerdrake]

I guess it's nice to see the Blues ending the season on a strong note.

Yeah....welll.....unless they dump a defensive contract or two and start to enact some sort of bail out plan on Binnington it won't matter.

[Anguyen92]

It was a penalty,  I'll give him that. Connor finished his check on Anderson, but that check was right in the numbers a foot from the boards. It looked pretty innocuous though,  and i didn't even realize Anderson left the game.  He skated away no problem.

LA had plenty of chances last night. Skinner was simply on fire, so don't blame McDavid for the Kings loss. Blame Stuart Skinner

I already said the offense was anemic for the Kings that game and I will blame the loss on that.  That being said, I keep reading people whining and crying of how the Oilers should be getting more penalties, than they do, on calls drawn by McDavid and co. and after the contact on Mikey (the 2 min. penalty on McDavid was right, 5 min. would have been way too much), I just don't feel like McDavid should get much of the benefit of the doubt at all anymore.  If the refs missed any calls drawn by him, well, I won't have sympathies on that.

It's also going to get annoying to read that McDavid got his 300th of his career, in a short-handed goal, and the Oilers now have 97 pts in the regulation season and 300 goals total.....  So all of that combined with the fact that our top LD defensemen may not finish this rough road trip, the Kings offense has only scored one goal in two games, and going against a Kraken team the Kings lost 9-8 in their last meeting and a Canucks team that has their number ever since Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes entered the league, yeah, I'm pissed. 

[pg1067]

If you're going to score goal #300, that's how you ought to do it.  Well done,  Connor

That guy can kiss my grits.  He took out Mikey Anderson at the beginning of the game.  I don't want to hear the praise about this guy or hearing any whining on why he can't draw penalties after that bleep.

It's not just that hit - which didn't decide the game.  He's a dirty player (or at least a reckless player).  The ejection for boarding Adrian Kempe.  His head shot to Nick Leddy.  His head shot to Jesperi Kotkaniemi.  Someone at some point is going to teach him a lesson.

But the Kings have looked anemic these first two games of this roadie, and it needs to change right quick.

[TAC]

I know Chicago lost to NJ tonight, but their goalie Alex Stalock played his ass off tonight.

[axeman90210]

I know Chicago lost to NJ tonight, but their goalie Alex Stalock played his ass off tonight.

I couldn't watch the game but I was following along on my phone, definitely getting a little bit nervous when the score was tied or when the Devils were briefly down 1 given how much they were outshooting Chicago by.

[pg1067]

Nice to see the Kings right the ship a bit against Seattle last night.  Hope they keep it up tonight against Vancouver.

[Anguyen92]

All right, good solid regulation win against the Canucks.  That's something the Kings haven't done against the Canucks, especially in Vancouver, in ages.  Playoff spot is locked.  Tight race with 5 games to go for top of the Pacific.  Anyone's ballgame.

[pg1067]

Big games tonight:  Vegas at Minnesota and Arizona at Seattle.  This will bring Vegas even with the Kings and Oilers in games played.  Somehow Seattle still has an extra game in hand.  Edmonton owns all the tiebreakers.  Kings in need of revenge (i.e., a win) against Edmonton tomorrow to start off a tough and critical week of games against Edmonton, Vegas and Colorado.

It's funny looking at the schedule on ESPN.com for Thursday's games.  They list the matchup, the time, the TV network and then "Tickets as low as $__."  For most of the games, that number is between $12-52, but the number for the Kings at Vegas is $115, and for Leafs at Bruins, it's $143!

[King Postwhore]

Big games tonight:  Vegas at Minnesota and Arizona at Seattle.  This will bring Vegas even with the Kings and Oilers in games played.  Somehow Seattle still has an extra game in hand.  Edmonton owns all the tiebreakers.  Kings in need of revenge (i.e., a win) against Edmonton tomorrow to start off a tough and critical week of games against Edmonton, Vegas and Colorado.

It's funny looking at the schedule on ESPN.com for Thursday's games.  They list the matchup, the time, the TV network and then "Tickets as low as $__."  For most of the games, that number is between $12-52, but the number for the Kings at Vegas is $115, and for Leafs at Bruins, it's $143!

My brother and I were trying to by playoff tickets for the B's.  Most were $400.00 for the balcony the 1st round.  We got lucky and found 3 tickets for $210.00 a piece.  So now my bother, young nephew and I are going to game 2 of the 1st round. 

They've really priced out the real fans.

[Stadler]

Big games tonight:  Vegas at Minnesota and Arizona at Seattle.  This will bring Vegas even with the Kings and Oilers in games played.  Somehow Seattle still has an extra game in hand.  Edmonton owns all the tiebreakers.  Kings in need of revenge (i.e., a win) against Edmonton tomorrow to start off a tough and critical week of games against Edmonton, Vegas and Colorado.

It's funny looking at the schedule on ESPN.com for Thursday's games.  They list the matchup, the time, the TV network and then "Tickets as low as $__."  For most of the games, that number is between $12-52, but the number for the Kings at Vegas is $115, and for Leafs at Bruins, it's $143!

My brother and I were trying to by playoff tickets for the B's.  Most were $400.00 for the balcony the 1st round.  We got lucky and found 3 tickets for $210.00 a piece.  So now my bother, young nephew and I are going to game 2 of the 1st round. 

They've really priced out the real fans.

My stepson and I have been doing the same thing for the regular season and the best we could do was the Easter Sunday game IN PHILLY!  It's really expensive.   Fun, but expensive.  The problem is, we like to watch the game, so it's not really just about the "atmosphere".  Some seats just don't let you really immerse in the game.

EDIT: And the worst thing is, it seems that the days of paper tickets - and thus standing outside and picking up a set cheap after the puck drops - are over. 

[pg1067]

Big games tonight:  Vegas at Minnesota and Arizona at Seattle.  This will bring Vegas even with the Kings and Oilers in games played.  Somehow Seattle still has an extra game in hand.  Edmonton owns all the tiebreakers.  Kings in need of revenge (i.e., a win) against Edmonton tomorrow to start off a tough and critical week of games against Edmonton, Vegas and Colorado.

It's funny looking at the schedule on ESPN.com for Thursday's games.  They list the matchup, the time, the TV network and then "Tickets as low as $__."  For most of the games, that number is between $12-52, but the number for the Kings at Vegas is $115, and for Leafs at Bruins, it's $143!

My brother and I were trying to by playoff tickets for the B's.  Most were $400.00 for the balcony the 1st round.  We got lucky and found 3 tickets for $210.00 a piece.  So now my bother, young nephew and I are going to game 2 of the 1st round. 

They've really priced out the real fans.

My stepson and I have been doing the same thing for the regular season and the best we could do was the Easter Sunday game IN PHILLY!  It's really expensive.   Fun, but expensive.  The problem is, we like to watch the game, so it's not really just about the "atmosphere".  Some seats just don't let you really immerse in the game.

EDIT: And the worst thing is, it seems that the days of paper tickets - and thus standing outside and picking up a set cheap after the puck drops - are over.

I've heard about folks hanging out and checking at the box office 15 minutes or so before the game starts to catching seats for media or VIPs that are released shortly before puck drop.  Full price, but better than resale prices.

[King Postwhore]

I'm not driving 75 minutes to take a chance to get a ticket.

[pg1067]

Sigh...Kings let Edmonton man-handle them all game last night.  Edmonton was stronger, faster and better in every phase of the game.  There were a few times where there'd be some pushing after the whistle, and the Kings just took it and skulked away.  Hard to believe that the absence of Fiala, Anderson and Vilardi could make THAT much difference.  This gives me very little hope for the likely first round re-match against Edmonton.

[TAC]

As a Bruins fan, I'm generally confident of their chances their off season, provided they get past Toronto in the 2nd round. Obviously, Vegas is good, and a healthy Avs team if they get decent goaltending would be tough, but increasingly, the one team that I do not want to see in the Finals would be Edmonton.

[Stadler]

As a Bruins fan, I'm generally confident of their chances their off season, provided they get past Toronto in the 2nd round. Obviously, Vegas is good, and a healthy Avs team if they get decent goaltending would be tough, but increasingly, the one team that I do not want to see in the Finals would be Edmonton.

When you have a guy where your reasonable goal is to hold them to two points or less - a statement made by Billy Jaffe before not the last game with Edmonton, but the one before - you're playing with fire in a finite series.

[Anguyen92]

Defensively, the Kings has been the best they've been this season in this stretch, which is interesting given that they were horrible at the start of the year.  That said, offensively, as the good playoff teams are clamping down on their end, and without some offensive firepower in Fiala and Vilardi (their power play has been lacking without those guys), Kings are going to have their struggles scoring.  Their top 6 (aside from Arvidsson whose been great) needs to get going. 

Edmonton is catching fire at the right time.  Stuart Skinner should be their guy in net for the playoffs.  Heck, I'm hoping Oilers win the division at their current pace (I think they have the easier schedule than Kings and Golden Knights) and the Kings should take their chances against the Golden Knights.

[SchecterShredder]

As much as I'd love to see the Oil win the Pacific, I'm not holding out much hope. Even when Vegas loses (which isn't often), they still manage to grab a Bettman point. With 4 games left it'll be hard to close the 3 point gap. Edmonton's ROW is the only thing that still provides a faint glimmer of hope.

The first round is what scares me most heading into the playoffs. It's just too wild with all the players jacked up on adrenaline, and the amped up place. I like Edmonton's chances against any team in the West if they can make it out of the LA series. Edmonton has definitely been on fire lately, but here's hoping they haven't peaked a touch too early.

[romdrums]

As a Bruins fan, I'm generally confident of their chances their off season, provided they get past Tampa Bay in the 2nd round. Obviously, Vegas is good, and a healthy Avs team if they get decent goaltending would be tough, but increasingly, the one team that I do not want to see in the Finals would be Edmonton.

FTFY.  We all know Toronto chokes again.

I hope the Wings finish strong, but not so strong they fall out of the Connor Bedard sweepstakes.  If the Wings somehow luck into the number 1 pick and draft him, I think that makes the Wings a playoff team next year.  Putting Bedard with all of the other young talent on the Wings will make them dangerous for sure.

[TAC]

Bedard is going to Montreal.

[Anguyen92]

I just need Bedard to not go to Anaheim, San Jose, and Chicago.  Columbus would be great.  Him and Laine and Gaudreau could wreck havoc if all is healthy and if the rest of the Blue Jackets roster can figure itself out.

[romdrums]

I just need Bedard to not go to Anaheim, San Jose, and Chicago.  Columbus would be great.  Him and Laine and Gaudreau could wreck havoc if all is healthy and if the rest of the Blue Jackets roster can figure itself out.

I would also add Montreal, Philadelphia, and Arizona to that list.  Vancouver, too.  All of those teams are varying degrees of dumpster fire.  I think the worst one would be Chicago, by far.  That organization hasn't done nearly enough penance for the fuckery that went on during their Cup runs.

[axeman90210]

Devils have been all over the place lately. Blown out by the Islanders last Monday and followed it up with a tightly contested win in a likely playoff preview against the Rangers on Thursday. Dominating performance against Chicago on Saturday followed by maybe our worst game of the year versus the Jets on Sunday. The only highlight from that Winnipeg game was finally scoring with like 13 seconds left to keep our streak of not being shut out this season alive. All it took was one day off and we were back in form with a dominant win over Pittsburgh last night.

[axeman90210]

Laugher of a game last night, 8-1 over Columbus and both Jack and Timo just missed on potential hat tricks in the 3rd period. Michigan also lost in the college playoffs, which means that Luke Hughes will be joining the team this weekend. That's right, there's about to be two of them