The habs have like 3 games against the Canucks in a row. what is this, baseball?
Penguins' first rounder belongs to the Wild this year, fyi. No lottery protections at all.
Anderson was really impressive last night. Danault was absolute dogshit. That breakaway in OT is maybe the worst breakaway attempt ever.
this is probably why we shouldn't pay him 6m lol
Also to not really fault him, EVERYONE at that shift looked Gassed. even the leafs. I thought there was something wrong with my tv when everyone started to skate in slow motion
I wish we could package Danault for PLD, but Columbus ain't that dumb
I really don't think PLD is a fit. if Suzuki and KK are breaking out this season then all we really need is a 3C. I see a team like Calgary or Winnipeg getting him.
I'm hoping the blue pants/helmets are just a nod to their Nordiques past for the 25th anniversary. It's just too much blue and doesn't look great.Yeah I'm still not sold on the blue pants and helmets for the Avs.
And hopefully Anderson can have a decent stay in Washington. He can play great, but had little support in Ottawa.
The scheduling has some teams playing against each other 4 times in a row. 3 games against the same team in 4 nights is also common. It's like the playoffs. It could get intense and rowdy between division rivals.The habs have like 3 games against the Canucks in a row. what is this, baseball?
I've been waiting a long time to see the Rangers go this direction I can't wait. I Haven't had cable in years but I really want to watch this season, does anyone have experience with using a VPN to get around local market blackouts with nhl.tv ?Psyched to see how the Rangers season goes with all the kids in the post King Henrik era. Not thrilled with advertisements on the helmets though.
We did it, Marvie. One less anthem, and one more to go before we lose that part of the pre-game completely.
You have my sword!We're halfway to our goal. We can't rest until there are no anthems.
The only time McDavid is skating is when the puck is the offensive or neutral zone. Dude was M.I.A and floating hard in the Dzone last night. Shitty coverage in the slot and always cherry picking at the point waiting for someone to do the hard work and get the puck back to him. He'll give 130 points but you will still not crack .500 with him.
Weren't Oilers literally above .500 last season during the actual season? lol. They had the best actual season record of any of the Canadian teams.
Come on. They aren't the Preds.
McDavid sucks defensively and that eats into his actual contributions to his team's success... is the point, I believe. He's still so good offensively that he often makes up for his deficiencies, though.
He's a definite top 5 player
Eh, I watched that game last night, it's not McDavid's fault Adam Larsson decided to gift the Canucks 2 freebie goals.
McDavid is the best player in the world, but the NHL is not the NBA, you can only do so much when other players on your team don't show up to play or one or two of them decide to totally crap the bed.
It's not his fault but he also doesn't help or make it easier. Dude just glides in the Dzone and watches the play until the puck gets back on his stick.
It's fine he can suck defensively because of the Oilers defensive talent on the ba—Oh right. Well at lest they have a capable goaltending—Oh Olympic diver Mike Smith.McDavid sucks defensively and that eats into his actual contributions to his team's success... is the point, I believe. He's still so good offensively that he often makes up for his deficiencies, though.
He's a definite top 5 player
Eh, I watched that game last night, it's not McDavid's fault Adam Larsson decided to gift the Canucks 2 freebie goals.
McDavid is the best player in the world, but the NHL is not the NBA, you can only do so much when other players on your team don't show up to play or one or two of them decide to totally crap the bed.
I think I saw Wayne Gretzky back check like 2 times in his career, same for Mario, same for guys like Ovechkin and Malkin.
McDavid does have two seasons back to back of +27 and +20 ratings I don't think the Oilers issues are there.
The two goals Larsson gifted away yesterday, I mean you would get yelled at even in beer league hockey for those mistakes, you can't have gaffes like that. You're not going to win too many games spotting the other team 2 goals.
So if I get this straight you are repudiating McDavid's defensive issues because:
a) you can point to examples where others were to blame
b) the plus/minus stat!!
c) some other great players, who also get knocked on their defense, also have similar deficits
Got it
I'm just saying looking at the game yesterday
Which of those GA are McDavid's fault? The 1st and 4th goals are complete freebies gifted away by Adam Larsson being bizarrely out of position.
McDavid has had strong defensive years earlier in his career, but if you're going to have plays like that from your blue line where you're just gifting away gimmes that's hard to recover from.
Personally I'm not interested in a small sample like one game's highlight reel and don't think Cake Boss was suggesting McDavid was specifically responsible for the loss so... 🤷♂️...
We're talking about his defensive issues more broadly. And I mean, it's a choice. He is likely more productive because he isn't as attentive or energetic in his own zone. That's fine. Makes for more exciting hockey at both ends!
I don't think you can say any teams are standouts right now. We're one night in. Sometimes teams don't get the bounces, or players have bad games, or one team is simply better than the other. Tonight could be very different, who knowsThey really seem to be one of the teams having a hard time getting up to speed again after a long break and no pre-season/warm up games because of COVID but they better figure that out quick in a condensed season.
Everyone knows why McDavid is always at the top: He's the best offensive player in the world in almost every way measured and it's not close. He's scored 2.89 points-per-60 at 5-on-5 since entering the league, with the difference between him and second being equal to the difference between second and ninth. He's the catalyst for Edmonton's offense and also impacts transition play and offensive zone shot contributions. He ranks at or near the top in all those facets league-wide, thanks mostly to his incredible speed with the puck, a skill that sets him apart from everyone else.
But the reason his grip for the top spot has slipped in recent years is his results at the other end of the ice. If his defense was only average, McDavid would be Tier 1A-plus — easily, too. It's not and hasn't been for enough time to be a legitimate concern, one that stronger data from teams echo — to an extent.
"I think his defensive issues are overblown, but I think you can point to other changes in his game over the years," said a source. "He used to be a one-man breakout machine but has become a more-willing passer on the breakout. He's still a top breakout player, but a McDavid skate-it-himself breakout is probably the best breakout in the league. When you start alternating that with a pass to his teammates and let them try to make the play, it's not going to be as effective. Maybe that's a purposeful change to help him manage his workload over a full season."
In 2017-18, his best season, McDavid exited the zone with control 77 percent of the time, but that dropped to 63 percent last season.
Over the past two seasons, McDavid has one of the league's worst defensive impacts by public metrics, a potential byproduct of this change, potentially driven by a lack of capable support. And his willingness to use it more. At 5-on-5, it led to McDavid being on the ice for just 52 percent of the goals last season, which is a fine number but not one expected from the best player in the world. At his best, he was closer to 60 percent.