Hockey kicks off tonight, what are you looking for with your team?
What are you watching tonight?
5 Games on Tap tonight, I will likely have Pittsburgh and Philly on tonight as a Caps fan.
Interested to see the effect Covid has here, with the realignment of divisions so all the Canadian teams are in one division due to Covid Quarantine rules between the US and Canada.
All teams will play only divisional opponents in the regular season. Teams in the North division will play each other nine or 10 times, while everyone else will face their divisional opponents eight times.
The North Division may also be forced to play in a Hybrid Hub most likely in Edmonton due to travel restrictions between territories in Canada.
Some of the California teams may be forced to play in Arizona due to competitive event restrictions there.
There are also quite a few players that are still going through Quarantine protocols and won't be available early in the season.
As the league prepares to kick off the abbreviated 2020-2021 season, it announced that each division will have corporate sponsorship.
The Scotiabank North Division
The Discover Central Division
The MassMutual East Division
The Honda West Division
Comments
Your boy Farabee putting on a show. That third goal was way too easy
On pace for a 224 point season!
Really slick hands, couple times he made the puck float to a teammate over multiple sticks. Saw some twitterverse calling him Special Delivery.
Stanley cup or bust baby!!!
Edit: Better GIF
Absolutely fucking nothing, apparently, because Sinclair broadcasting is the absolute worst
As for the Canes, I'm just glad we are away from the Metro for a year. But yeah, we should be a pretty good bet to make the playoffs. And as long as we don't play Boston, who knows, we might win it all.
My in laws gave me their login information for their DirecTV account, so now I should be able to watch this year.
Phew, things were looking dicey there for a while!
Since I'm in Wisconsin, I now have an rink in my backyard which replaces access to Caps broadcasts. I'll be playing hockey pretty terribly all winter, but I'll definitely yell OVI every time I shoot.
I'm a career beer leaguer, so I play hockey pretty terribly all year long!
The Broadway Babies are here now. Laf, Kakko, Chytil, Miller, Fox, Lindgren, Shesterkin. Youngest team in the league by a mile. It's gonna be a rough year probably, but I'm cautiously optimistic, even being in the buzzsaw division we might make the initial round of playoffs.
The Rangers don't open until tomorrow night. There are some interesting storylines...
1) The Rangers are overloaded at left wing, with Panarin, Kreider, and Lafreniere. At the same time, they are very inexperienced at right wing behind Buchnevich. Kaapo Kakko and Julian Gauthier need to take a major step forward.
2) The Rangers have a major hole at second line center. Ryan Strome had a career year playing with Panarin, but he is woefully defensively and doesn't carry the play. Filip Chytil is the young center in waiting, but I still think he is more suited for wing and hasn't showed the passing skills to be relied on as a top two line centerman. There isn't a big time young center draft pick or prospect in the system, despite mountains of young defensemen and wings. Rumors have been swirling that the Rangers are interested in Pierre Luc Dubois, a 23 year old No. 1 center , who is unhappy in Columbus. He was also Panarin's centerman two years ago and both had huge seasons. If Chytil isn't the guy, does he get exposed and loses value as a potential trade piece for Dubois?
3) First full year with The Czar in nets. If he can stay healthy, I think he is a Cup-caliber goalie. And, ignore the chatter. The Czar is a vastly superior goaltender upside-wise over Georgiev.
4) The big story- K'Andre Miller won the job as Jacob Trouba's partner in camp, which leaves Tony DeAngelo as a third pair offensive defenseman who isn't so hot defensively paired with Jack Johnson (analytics worst player in the NHL last season) or Brendan Smith. I hope Miller can hold up because I think you can't have enough long rangy defensemen who eat up space on the ice in today's game. At the same time, with Adam Fox around and Zac Jones in the pipeline, DeAngelo is a very expensive luxury on the third pair, and his social media adventures (which I won't get into) have made him very unpopular with a large part of the fanbase. If things go badly, he is going to be public enemy number 1. He is also likely trade bait.
No matter what happens, we will always have the greatest radio call in history:
Fetisov for the Devils plays it cross-ice, into the far corner. Matteau swoops in to intercept. Matteau behind the net, swings it in front, HE SCORES! MATTEAU! MATTEAU! MATTEAU! STEPHANE MATTEAU! AND THE RANGERS HAVE ONE MORE HILL TO CLIMB, BABY!
just waiting for my Kraken's expansion draft in July!
Going to make for some interesting calls by a few teams on who they protect
Thinking this could be the year the bottom finally falls out on my Pens. Aside from getting rid of Jack Johnson (addition by subtraction) they didn't do much in the offseason to address the things on the roster that have been killing them the last two postseasons. Playing in the B(east) division isn't going to help either.
New assistant coaching staff though so maybe they'll address some issues and have us competitive
Excited to see what Laviolette can do with a talented, veteran roster. Hopefully Samsonov can step in and do an admirable job. No way he can be any worse than Holtby was last season. I definitely feel like the fans are expecting too much out of Chara just because of his name. He's old. I hope the shortened season doesn't ultimately hurt Ovi's quest to pass Gretzky.
No, no, no, no, no. My wonderful wife is from Edmonton. That p___y had better not catch The Great One.
I'm talking about Ovi, not Crosby.
If by too much you mean serviceable 3rd pairing defenseman, than I'm guilty.
That is what I'm expecting. Another Brooks Orpik essentially.
The lockout season and Covid seasons greatly hurt his chances, otherwise he might have gotten there. I hope he does but I'm not very confident at this point.
Ovie may close out like Jagr just to get there. Hope not but I could see it happening.
Agree with you there. Jagr played
forever... holy shit he's still playing pro hockey in Russia at the age of 48. Drafted by the Pens in 1990. That guy is an animalYeah he is, loves the game...
Actual footage of Jagr during his rookie season:
I just wanna watch hockey😂
Being a casual NHL fan I watch all Caps games I can on NBCSN but what the hell happened with Kane? I keep seeing he is filing for bankruptcy but I thought he was a big earner in the league?
Reddit has been saying among other things, he's a big gambler (had like a $500k unpaid marker with a Vegas casino at one point), then I think he's been sued a few times, and also living that baller lifestyle I'm pretty sure. From the snippets I saw, wouldn't be surprised if he ends up being like many other former athletes who end up with nothing after their playing days are done, and that's honestly kind of sad. I think the deal he's currently on was 7x7 when it was signed, so it's not like he isn't bringing home the bacon from that end.
The only thing I'm optimistic about with the Caps is that they should be first in line in the league to get their COVID Vaccine.
Really excited to watch the Canes! Don't think they have the goalie talent or depth to make it to the Stanley Cup Finals, but should be an interesting season either way.
Goalie is such a ridiculous crapshoot. It certainly helps to have a top notch one, but its definitely not vital.
If the defense can play to its potential, which is honestly the best defensive grouping in the league, then Mrazek and Reimer are more than capable of leading them to a title. Where we really need improvement is scoring depth. Svech-Aho-Teravainen is a legitimate top line, and probably one of the top quartile scoring lines in the league. But we have been spinning tires behind them.
Necas should continue to improve, and that's always good. But we are going to need Trochek to step up and be the kind of guy we brought him in to be. We need Neiderriter to not suck this year. Its probably asking too much to think Staal has much left in his offensive tank, so we'll probably need Foegele to develop a little more consistency.
Also very curious to see how some of the new kids work out. Bean has been hyped for years, and I'm looking forward to seeing how good he really is. Suzuki was hyped a lot after the draft last year, so I'm curious to see what he brings. If we want to have a legit shot at the Cup this year, we might need some of their offensive skill to be realized in meaningful games.
To your goalie point, you can have Patrick Roy in his prime but if the defense in front of him is terrible you won't win.
And likewise, if you have an excellent defense, you can make the finals with someone like Michael Leighton
Eh, Roy won a title with a defense of Kevin Haller, Eric Desjardin, Mattheiu Schneider, Lyle Odelin and Patrice Briesbois. Sometimes a goalie can do it on their own, without being a trapping team. It takes a very unique talent (Hasek in Buffalo for example getting his team to a Final with hot garbage in front of him.)
But it is rare.
I always liked going to Canes games- very accessible arena and good sight lines/game day experience. Now being in Richmond, that is the first place I would head for games. Much cheaper than going to Caps games, for sure. Plus, they have one hell of a top line. It is hard to root against Svech and Aho, even when you are rooting for their opponent.
I'm excited to watch (read: sleep through) a lot of Caps-West games (read: Vancouver).
I always like to pick a team in the west to follow. For a few years it's been Edmonton with McDavid and Draisaitl. I figure this is a good year to change it up with Beagle, Schmidt, and Holtby in Vancouver.
Was just excited to see the puck drop yesterday.
A Flyers win over the Pens is always a good day, just felt a little different without 20k there to chant "Crosby Sucks!" Although his goal was a pretty.
Interesting year for the Flyers. I feel like if Covid hadn't broken everything up, they could have made a serious run the way they were playing to close out the regular season. They just couldn't quite get back into that gear offensively especially the top line.
Looking for a big year for Hart. The kid might finally be the goalie Flyers fans have been waiting for since Hextall was between the pipes.
Be forewarned- if you order NHL Center Ice without having a cable package, they will nail you with all $99 at once, rather than splitting into multiple payments like they have with full seasons. It is an automatic billing if you subscribed last year, so that hit caught me a bit off guard.
Only regret is not getting to see Lundqvist in a Caps jersey this year, but was happy to hear his open heart surgery went well.
#AllCaps 6-4 over Buffalo. Not a great defensive effort but 6 goals with zero from Ovi
As a Caps fan, have to tip the cap to the Penguins goalie tonight for his Ally oop in a two man disadvantage that led to a shorthanded goal for the Pens. It was pure magic how he dropped it over all the Caps.
Hated getting swept by those games, especially after the way we lost in game 2. The good news is that we are four games in, all on the road, and have six points. We get a two game home stand agains the Sabres which should get us up to 10 points. Just have to figure out the special teams.
Ovechkin, Kuznetsov, Orlov and Samsonov all in Covid tracing seclusion after violating NHL Covid social distancing policies. Caps hit with $100K fine.
Apparently the players gathered in a hotel room after an away game. Not sure how long their absence is in effect or if any actually tested positive.
Out at least 4 games. That hurts especially in this shortened season.
Doh
DuBois to Winnipeg and Laine/Roslovic to CBJ. It will be interesting to see how that all plays out, but I will say that I'm happy Columbus isn't in the NYR division this year. That's a lot of goals they just added.
Rutherford is stepping down as GM with the Penguins.
Rangers suck.
Pittsburgh needed a human sacrifice.
Rutherford used the same tactics that won the Canes the Cup in 2006 to get a couple more in Pittsburgh and it took longer for the long term ramifications of that to take hold because the Pens have Crosby and Malkin where the Canes had Brind'Amour on arguably his last good year and Staal who never matched his career year in 2006.
The thing that undid his tenure in each spot was an inability to identify quality defense. He has an unhealthy obsession with puck moving defense with marginal defensive skill.
French, I was really hoping the Rangers would be better than what they are right now. We are only a couple of games into the season, but I've definitely adjusted my expectations for the season accordingly. A bunch of youth talent moving forward, but not nearly as much talent to defend on each line.
Fox, Miller, and Lindgren are one hell of a foundation on the backend. But they need Laffy and Kakko to be next level stars. Laffy is showing some signs, but Kakko is a mystery to me. What made him such a desired prospect was how he made plays by dominating control of the puck, similar to a young Jaromir Jagr. Even though he has done good things this year, he very rarely holds the puck and makes things happen. Some games, he barely gets it on his tape.
How about a night where Connor McDavid, Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin all score Overtime winners? McDavid's first goal was sick, he skated through all five Maple Leafs and lifted it right over the goalie's shoulder
So the Tony DeAngelo situation in New York is..interesting. Had his Tweets and negative attention from that earlier this offseason, ultimately ending with him deleting his account. Now he had a kerfuffle with Georgiev, may have been punched in the face by Kreider, and potentially has other beef in the locker room, which landed him on waivers. I'm guessing he'll clear and then the org will do ???? with him.
Nobody will touch him. This is only the latest in a long line of behavioral issues.
Name a better love story this season that the capitols and giving up goals in the third period and somehow losing or going to OT every game they have no idea how to close a game out.
It was the second period before the Bruins series... They have one disastrous period every game. But hey, we've taken points in every game so far outside the last one against the Bruins, we have the Rangers coming up, and then two chances against the Flyers who are right there at the top of the division with us.
In flashes the caps have been brilliant and then within the same game its like they forget what theyre doing and give away sloppy penalties and allow the opponent back into games they shouldnt be in. Lazy play the last few games I know they are getting points but they are also giving up so many late goals it is going to be a real problem if it continues.
I was shocked when they went the whole first period without a dumb penalty....then they more than balanced in the 2nd and 3rd
Once the first penalty went I knew they were going to give up a few more they played sloppy in the 2nd and 3rd especially with wilson going in for the fight as well. Maybe its the age on the legs and they just havent gotten up to full speed is all but they have got to focus on cleaner finishes to games.
I feel like they might still be getting their legs under them from the offseason. You commit stupid stick penalties when you don't skate fast enough and give the puck away when guys aren't moving to space. This team is playing well enough to have 15 points in 10 games and hasn't peaked, so that's good. Plus, I think the top four looks set in the East as long as the Isles continue to underachieve.
why Nick Jensen still has a job is beyond me. Occasionally he will show a brief flash but then make some boneheaded plays like he did last night. lord i wish we would get rid of him and let fehvary take his minutes. TVD isn't all that great either.
Jensen was the only player who played consistently well in the bubble last season which was strange because like you said, I don't know why he still has a job. How he gets minutes over Siegenthaler is beyond me. I haven't paid a lot of attention to TVD. He did score the other night which is encouraging. Our blue line scoring outside of Carlson the last two seasons was spotty at best.
I do worry about chara playing so many minutes at 43. we need to tone him back some. but aside from a few mistake exiting the zone he has been a solid pickup
He gets pucks to the net from the blue line which we desperately needed after last season. He should only be getting third pairing minutes though, especially if he want him to be there for the playoffs.
Rangers skating making the Caps look like the geezers they are. Much faster team.
Laziest game the Caps have played all year. Sucks to see them lose, but at the same time it's almost good they didn't get some junk goal to force OT and get a point. They need to learn from this.
And Claude Lemiuex's kid does something shitty at the end of the game. Shocked!
This was legit and well done!
Nice to see the Rangers score some goals. Lafreniere finally showed some of that first pick skill we have been waiting on.
Definitely will be interesting to see how our offense looks in the next few games with no Breadman, and Kakko still on the COVID list
No Artemi hurts big time, I hope things get sorted out so he can get back to the team. Seems like it's a "salty hit job" for talking bad about the Kremlin.
At least maybe they will finally get a legitimate number 1 center prospect.
Game delayed until midnight to make the ice playable...SMDH
I thought the biggest debacle of the Lake Tahoe games was having to postpone until midnight to finish a game so the ice could freeze.... then I saw this
Two things that need attention from Caps-Pens Thursday: Oshie's goal of the year candidate and Kris Letang's stick breaking for the second time on a basic pass
Personal update, Southern Wisconsin skating season is over this week, weather is now mid-30s, and I'm itchy for my skating fix. I just learned forward crossovers so I'm very upset. Anybody here play beer league hockey?
D-League Beer Leaguer. I grew up wanting to play and about 2 years ago I was able to finally live out the childhood fantasy. I love it.
The Caps are 11-5-4 which ties Peter Laviolette for the best 20-game start by a head coach for the Capitals. First in the division, as well. For a team that is so wildly inconsistent and regularly does things that are incomprehensibly stupid, I'll take it.
Especially after the 4 Russians missed games with the covid and contact tracing.
Also Vitek Vanicek is the truth!
Frederic has been chipping away all game and even tried to get Ovi to drop the gloves in the second. Boys looking to get a whooping at some point
I'd say his "boys" got a whooping later in the game. Ouch...
I have been in my feels/mid life crisis mode the last couple of months, which for me means going back and watching lots of footage from 1994. Man, loved that Rangers team. The only thing that could have been better would have been for Neil Smith to keep Mike Gartner instead of trading him for Glenn Anderson. Anderson was a tremendous player, but he was toast in 1994, and Gartner deserved a title.
In this year's episode of "Tom Wilson vs. the NHL," we have the first ever suspension for boarding from the front. For those of you who didn't see it, Brandon Carlo was engaged with Jakub Vrana along the boards. Wilson comes flying in and hits Carlo, knocking him out of the game and sending him to the hospital.
There were a couple people who complained about it, mostly because it was Wilson, but I don't think a lot of people at the time thought twice about it. Then it's announced that Carlo had to go to the hospital, and all hell breaks loose.
Everyone is analyzing the hit to death. Look, here are the facts. The first point of contact was the shoulder, not the head, and the call wasn't even boarding on the ice.
Of course, the NHL has to review because it's Tom Wilson. There are three things they determine.
1. Wilson, by definition, is not a repeat offender. A repeat offender is someone who has been suspended in the last 18 months. Wilson has not been.
2. It's not an illegal hit to the head because initial contact wasn't with the head.
3. No one has even been suspended for boarding from the front
So, what does Wilson get? Seven fucking games.
Meanwhile, Brad Marchand crosschecked a Devils' player in the back of the head today and likely won't get anything from the NHL. Marchand, by definition, is not a repeat offender but has a history like Wilson does. It was a dangerous hit to the back of the head. Crosschecking is illegal, and, had a ref saw it, Marchand would have been penalized. By the way, Marchand is the same guy who said Wilson's hit was "bullshit" and a "fucking cheap shot."
I'm not blind or biased. Tom Wilson has made some egregious hits in the past. The hit on Zach Aston-Reese in the 2017-18 playoffs comes to mind. His suspension at the beginning of 2018 was completely warranted.
This was complete bullshit, though, and just another example of the NHL essentially caving in to bitching and moaning from teams with a lot of clout. Boston fans lost their minds over that hit, and Pittsburgh fans did, as well. You'd think Pens fans got confused by the Bruins' black and yellow and thought they were watching their team.
Anyway, rant over. Tommy will be back for the next series against the B's in a month. Bring it on.
I appreciate your break down and passion, but you're wasting breath. Wilson will always be a villain because of how he plays the game. He can lay the biggest clean hits ever and he will draw everyone's scorn. Just appreciate that he is on our team.
So what I learned was that part only applies to fines that are able to be enforced and may have no bearing on suspensions. (sorry, I know this comment is a week old) The other factor being, I think Wilson unfortunately missed a lot of everything and got Carlo in the head. It was one of those calls where as soon as I saw the replay I assumed he was going to get a call from the league. I don't know that it was 7 games worthy, but I don't think it was a play they could let go. Then again Parros is a clown and spin the wheel has almost never been more prevalent than now.
I don't have much skin in the game. I'm a Rangers fan, who goes to/watches a lot of Caps games due to my wife and her family. I consider the Caps a second team, although a bit further removed than when they were in a different division.
They didn't call a penalty on ice but suspended him for boarding? There was no boarding. That's obvious. He comes in hard but elbows down and crunches Carlo along the boards. I love that the Bruins broadcast team immediately begins crowing for a penalty.
If he got ejected from the game, he likely gets a lighter suspension. I think it was probably one of those spots where it is hard for any ref to actually see what happened in real time. The other factor being NHL refs being dicey at times this season. The problem with the hit was his hands come up and hit Carlo in the face, iirc. Edwards is a clown and a homer, and even B's fans know as much.
Again, I don't think it was 7 games worth, but upon immediate review it did look like a 1-2 gamer to me because he basically missed everything and the primary POC was head, since he managed to like miss most of the armpit/shoulder area which is what I'm guessing he wanted to hit.
Given his history (questionable) I could stomach 1-2 games. The zach aston reese suspension against the Pens in 2018 was totally bogus
Meanwhile, Holy mother of god! What is happening in the Flyers vs Rangers game. Bwahahahah.
https://tenor.com/xsvf.gif
3-4 games worth of goals in one period 😂 and a natural hat trick for Mika, he needed this breakout badly! Happy for my blue shirts after a rough season so far.
I'll never frown on the flyers getting the beat down.
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Gritty let the Leprechauns out and they all wore Rangers uniforms.
Likely burning these unis I would think
That was an ass whooping of massive proportions. What happened to the flyers this season I thought they were supposed to be legit contenders?
Alain Vigneault will do that to teams.
Thought the East was going to be a five-team battle between the Bruins, Islanders, Capitals, Penguins, and Flyers. The Flyers appear to be falling off a cliff though. It's crazy because this time last year right before the shutdown, they were the hottest team in hockey.
Naturally the Flyers beat the Isles last night. Maybe it is a five team race after all.
Direct result of this happening last night...
I'm happy. That man single handedly screws the Canes every time he is working our games, so I'm not surprised he was the one caught on the hot mic. Good riddance, asswipe, don't let the door hit you on the way out.
Can't speak to that ref exactly, but this confirms what a lot of people have thought (known) about NHL officiating for a long time. They, more than any other sport I can think of, call the game how they want it to be. If a team is up 3-0, they would have to have their leg hacked off to get a PP or if they've gotten the last two penalty calls on legitimate penalties, they won't get the next one no matter what.
Edit: I understand that this clip makes it seem like he was directly trying to screw a team, so that's obviously worse. Just pointing out the control they seem to wield over the game in general
Vrana, Panik, a 1st, and 2nd for Mantha? And Raffl for a 5th? Caps seriously going all in to win now.
I guess Siegenthaler for a 3rd helps, but dang
Panik was a salary dump (likely the reason for the 2nd)
Vrana and Mantha are pretty similar in terms of value, and Jake was headed into Free Agency -- sounds like the Caps knew they wouldn't be able to offer him what the market was going to bear + Mantha is 26 and under team control for 3 years.
Sounds like CBJ was in on Mantha too, which likely drove the price up overall.
I hate it, because I love Vrana as both a player and as a person (AKA his drunken shenanigans after winning the Cup), but I think that's the rationale.
I am a filthy casual but man I hate seeing vrana leave he was a favorite of mine for the above reasons not to mention his work rate was awesome. Can't say I know much on Mantha but seems people think it was a fair deal so far
I've seen a lot that says the Caps got fleeced. Mainly for the price of picks especially the first rounder.
Mantha was a good player on a bad Detroit team. But his underlying play has him about the same kind of player you would expect with Vrana, if maybe a little bit better.
Not really sure it was worth a 1st, 2nd and Panik to upgrade from Vrana to Mantha. Its definitely a win now deal, but might be signaling the end of the contention run is coming soon.
also Mantha's significantly bigger and under team control for longer than Vrana
At least one of those picks was a direct result of dumping Paink's cap onto Detroit. $2.75M for an underperforming 4th liner for 3 more years is not good, especially with the flat cap for the next few years. I don't watch enough Detroit games to know a lot about Mantha, aside from his name, he is a big body though. Vrana was streaky and had times where he had a garbage attitude, which sounds like may have played a part in him moving along, as well as his pending RFA status at the end of this season.
The contention window for the Caps is absolutely closing, and will be closed likely when Ovi and Backstrom move on. Not that they won't be able to compete for playoff spots or will end up bottom 5, but it's just really hard to backfill that much point production from 2 guys who have been franchise cornerstones for an eon now.
Oshie too, he's around the same age as those guys
https://www.bardown.com/the-caps-gm-gave-a-strange-explanation-for-why-h...
Mantha with a searing goal and an assist in his first outing not too shabby.
Panarin breaks Messier's "most points first 100 games record", Buchnevich gets the 20,000 goal in franchise history, and Igor puts up his first shutout. I will take that for the Rangers. Now the Flyers and Bruins need to keep losing.
Unfortunately, I think the Rangers are going to be short, with that shootout loss to Buffalo being the nail in the coffin, but I'm happy that it looks like they'll be in contention through the end of the season.
Yep. Lost too many points during their early season struggles. They need to learn how to play in tight checking physical games. But the future looks bright.
The future looks awfully bright french. I've been reading on some of the prospects that we have, and I'm drooling at the talent we have waiting in the wings. Boston will be hard to catch, especially with the deal they made at the deadline, but I look forward to this young team fighting till the end.
I think Lundkvist is going to be a star. I worry a bit about Jones size, but he can play. I have less intel about Robertson and Schnieder. At least two of those guys will get packaged for a center asset at some point. I am anti-Eichel (if they wanted a star, they should have offer sheeted Barzal and 4 firsts would have hurt less for a better player), but you get the feeling that it is just a matter of time.
I wouldn't go that far. 4 points behind Boston with 14 games left. And half those games are against NJ, Buffalo, and Philly. Only 2 against Washington and 3 against the Isles. The 2 against Boston at the end will be crucial if they can take care of business against the dregs of the East and get a couple against the Isles/Caps.
I'm glad the Caps are getting all their scoring done in the regular season. Will those goals still be there come the playoffs?!
Goals in the East are definitely going to decrease in the playoffs, mainly because the Flyers won't be there to score against.
Mass Mutual East teams are set 👀 only the seeding remains 🏆
So how is the NHL going to police Tom Wilson this time?
$5,000 fine, max under the CBA
Twitter said he should be arrested and banned from the NHL for life, so the $5000 fine might seem a little light to some.
Twitter is always the voice of reason.
So I'm not a lunatic that thinks he should be banned for life or anything super dramatic like that, but I don't understand how the NHL can keep letting Wilson do things like last night and essentially be unpunished. Buchnevich was in a vulnerable position and the clown takes aim at the back of his head after basically dragging him into that position. Thankfully he missed. Hell if anything, suspend him for like 3 games which is the rest of the season and I'd probably be okay. Fining him $5k for intentionally trying to injure 2 guys (Buch and Panarin), and throwing a shot at Strome's ribs when he's tangled up with Dowd and has no way of defending himself is just garbage.
I'm not anti-fighting, I'm not a take big hits out of the game person, but I am a person who thinks Wilson doesn't respect the game he plays for a living with how he chooses to behave in it.
Lastly, I'm not condoning this, but it's only going to lead to people taking runs at Caps players as well because the NHL has proven that they just don't give a shit about the safety of their players half the time.
-pissed off Rangers fan
I think Wilson should have caught a game for throwing punches, but let's not pretend Panarin was innocent here. He jumped on Wilson's back, and they wrestled and fell to the ground. Guys try and take the other to the ground every time they fight and don't get fined/suspended for it.
Buchnevich gave the Caps' rookie goalie an extra whack and did put his skate blade into him. Intentional or not, that's going to draw a crowd. Wilson had Buchnevich in a position where he could have hit him anywhere and chose the shoulder. Cheap? Yes. Dangerous? No. He was fined for it.
I was more shocked by him getting nothing for Panarin. While that premise happens all the time in hockey (players jousting and wrestling after a scramble in front of the net), very rarely do you see someone just get absolutely manhandled the way Panarin did. The size difference obviously allowed that to happen. I'm not sure what Panarin was thinking jumping on his back like that. I don't think I had ever seen that before.
The grabbing of the hair and gray area slew foot could have gotten Tommy two games, and I would have been okay with that. This is just further evidence, though, that the NHL doesn't know how to deal with him, nor does he know how to deal with himself.
At this point, Tommy knows what it is. Anything he does will be viewed under a microscope more than any other player in the NHL. He has 10 good games where I think "oh, he's finally growing up." Then he toes that line again and is sitting right in front of the department of player safety again. Before this season, he hadn't had an incident since preseason 2018. I'm hoping he can really work on some things this offseason because he has a lot of talent.
I thought he was lucky with the $5k fine given his history.
Per the ESPN story...
The NHL focused on three factors in assessing supplemental discipline for Wilson. The first was his fall on Buchnevich in the crease, which the league felt wasn't egregious and that Wilson didn't drive down on Buchnevich's neck with his stick.
The second was Wilson's gloved punch to the back of Buchnevich's head while the Rangers player was on the ice. The force and location of the punch were a consideration; ultimately, the league considered the incident to be commonplace within the context of a scrum around the net but worthy of a fine.
When it came to Wilson throwing Panarin to the ice, the league also felt it was commonplace when players engage during a scrum. Wilson didn't seek out Panarin to assail him. Panarin jumped on Wilson's back to pull him away from Strome, and Wilson responded by throwing him to the ice twice. The NHL did not find ample evidence that Wilson pulled Panarin down to the ice by his hair, which was a popular theory on social media on Monday night.
Phew, Rangers coming in hot
Karen's going to Karen. They didn't want Panarin suspended for climbing Wilson's back. Don't bring a straw to a machine gun fight.
This is a first. I imagine the Rangers might call up some players from the AHL to rough up the Caps tomorrow.
I was thinking this earlier I'd be tempted to keep wilson out against the rangers the remainder of the season to avoid any issues potentially brewing to a big deal again. If what wilson did to panarin was an "egregious act of violence" then what do we call what chara did to the poor little shit who he whooped on a week ago?
Couldn't be more proud of the team for this statement. Guessing it's going to cost Dolan his snack money for $500k+, but they absolutely should be calling out DoPS. Between this incident from last night and then all the other stupid decisions they make across the league, that department needs to be reformed.
Crosby got in a giant wrestling match last night with headlocks and him driving the other player's head into the ice. Where is everyone complaining about that "egregious act of violence?" At first, I thought TW went over the line. Now I don't any longer with the hypocrisy of NHL fans.
What Wilson did by the goal was wrong.
What Panarin did to Wilson, jumping on his back was wrong...which only elicited Wilson's response and act of tossing him off and onto the ice. We all know TW. If he WANTED to pound Panarin, he could have and would have. He defused someone on his back.
What Crosby did last night was extremely close to what TW did by the goal. Defenseless guy, on the ice, face down, and sitting over him. And this wasn't his first effort at banging on people's heads like this.
This is pretty much how I feel about it. I don't condone what Wilson did, but if you jump on a guys back you may expect some retaliation.
Since TW is TW, and Crosby is viewed in a different light they're treated completely different on the instances.
Crosby actually did push the guys head down into the ice twice. I actually think what Crosby did was more dangerous, and it's fortunate the player was still wearing his helmet.
For reference
1. I have no problem with the NHL suspending Crosby too.
2. I would love to have Tom Wilson on the Rangers. He is the exact kind of player they need. That said, it is the extra stuff (the punch with Buchnevich face down was the most egregious thing that crossed the line with me) is bad for the game. Not because stars get hurt... it isn't a tea party out there. But, because if the league overlooks it, it becomes part of strategy. The Flyers, as a response to the Bruins and Blues rough play, turned the league from a product where toughness and skill were inherent parts of winning, to clowns like Tiger Williams and Dave Brown skating on top lines to go after other star players. Wayne Gretzky had Dave Semenko on his wing for years. Mike Bossy had Clark Gilles (not a knock on Gillies who was also a good player.) It lowers the quality on the game. And, the end result will be, if the league doesn't police itself, the players will and that is going to result in lots of promising careers lost.
3. The Rangers fan base is overreacting, at least based on the incidents I have seen. This wasn't Todd Bertuzzi on Steven Moore, or Matt Cooke on Mike Comrie. This wasn't Chris Simon's crosscheck on Ryan Hollweg, Dale Hunter's crosscheck on Pierre Turgeon, or yes, Mark Messier's elbow to Mike Modano's head. As the game was transitioning out of the 1970s blood sport, the stick work and interference remained nasty, and it took a tough team that was willing to stick up for their teammates to win. Go back and watch some of those early 90s playoff series. They are vicious. The Rangers fans are more upset with what happened with Panarin, and while I hate the outcome, that is the risk you run as a teammate doing the right thing and protecting another teammate. The punch to the back of the head while a player is face down, instead of rag dolling him off the goalie, is the bad act. Rangers fans lost the narrative here.
4. And yet, they expose the bigger problem- the uneven and lack of clear policies and enforcement by the NHL. In the 1997 playoffs, Esa Tikkanen took a two handed axe handle chop with his stick on the back of Eric Lindros' legs while he was on his knees in a post-whistle dust up. TIkkanen got a penalty, but nothing else. Rewind to 1992, Graves tapped Mario Lemieux's gloves on the wrist. Mario went down in a pile, and Graves got suspended. Honestly, I got a harder paddle from the principal went I bent cafeteria spoons in 2nd grade.
The league, which can't decide if it wants to protect and showcase the stars like the NBA, or benefit small markets and promote the hockey made famous in Slapshot, is going to be stuck in this rut until it figures things out. And it is a damn shame because it is such a beautiful sport to watch.
Agree 100% with what you've said here.
And, not that I think it will happen, if the Rangers roll out Georges Laraque, Colton Orr, Mike Rupp, Tanner Glass, and some of Tim Dr. Hook McCracken's favorite one day contract guys, the NHL and Wilson reaped what they sowed. And all hockey fans and the game will be worse for it.
And I didn't expect that turn- the Rangers just announced that they have fired John Davidson and GM Jeff Gorton. I can't wait to hear the explanation for this.
Apparently George Parros is Thanos.
What the hell is happening?
I've read that Dolan was ready to accelerate the rebuild process and that he was sick of waiting on the slow and methodical rebuild. I hope it doesn't set our progress backwards.
Two takes from TSN
Game tonight (5/5) at 7 ET on NBCSN nationally. If there are fireworks, they'll either happen at the beginning/pregame or in the third period. I suggest having it on before puck drop. Ovi, Kuznetsov, Samsonov, and Panarin are all out tonight, but Oshie is back for his first game since his dad died.
And there it is one second into the game
And Tom Wilson engaged about 5 seconds onto the ice. There are 4 guys in each box rn. Not even a minute into the game.
When will the Rangers put out a statement, I wonder.
6 fights in 4.5 minutes. Penalty box is standing room only now.
I'm pissed I missed the opening fight club trying to figure out how the hell I can watch the new rivalry game. For those like me who couldn't get it to blackout try nbcsn app it's a free stream
Aside from the brawls and penalties as retribution, which were warranted from last game, what a cowardly, cheap high cross check to the face by Buchnevic on Mantha. Lucky the officials intervened or he would have gotten his ass beat
That hit will probably draw a suspension if I had to guess the launch was not a good sight
A thought to bookend the night
Was planning on watching a fight filled hockey game and hear I'm am shedding a tear or three for oshie after netting the hat trick, can't imagine what he's going through and nothing but respect
Was Monday night's actions over-the-top? yes. Was it the most egregious thing I've ever seen on the rink? nope. I'd take Tom Wilson and guys like him on my team every time.
The cross check to Mantha's face tonight was a punk move!
Whats bizarre to me is what French said, the internet has centered in on the wrong thing about Wilson's antics. The punches were the problem, that's what drew the fine and easily could have done more.
I actually thought the worst part was what happened to Panarin. It just looked bad punching guy while face down and his arms pinned to his side defenseless. What Crosby did the other night was way more egregious, but his name is Crosby!
Rangers fined 250k for calling out the NHL. It has been an astoundingly bad last 2.5 days for them.
Honestly, I thought it would be higher. Pocket change for Dolan. We have like $13 million in dead cap this year. What's $250k?
LOL.
That's what happens when their players start cross-checking to heads in "horrifying acts of violence!"
Alrighty, so what do we think of the playoff schedule? As a Caps fan, I'm very nervous about Boston. Would have much preferred drawing the Islanders. Maybe our old friend Barry Trotz can pull a rabbit out of his hat and upset the Pens.
I don't know anything about any of the other divisions.
I think the caps are just too old and too dinged up to do much this year in the playoffs (except at goalie, where they will probably be rolling out a rookie, not good).
I'm a bit worried about the defense being a bit leaky to end the year but will see these teams have played alot this year so familiarity will play a big part. Hope Ovi is really ready to go we will need him badly to keep up I think.
As a Canes fan I'm very glad they avoid Boston for at least the first couple rounds 😂
I feel pretty good about facing the Preds (better match-up than the Stars imo.) I'm a little nervous potentially facing the Lightning in a full series, if we advance.
If we get past Nashville, it sounds like we'll potentially have a full arena for the 2nd round. At least that's what my ticket rep told me on Monday before I got my round 1 strips.
As an aside, it sounds like most places are planning to open up in full as of June 1st. Makes me hopeful that we could actually have the outdoor game next year, let alone be able to head up to Blacksburg for some games in the fall.
In the last decade, the Caps have done very well against Boston, whether it be regular season or playoffs. I think you can throw the 4-4 split out the window for this season considering the Caps rolled out an AHL team for a couple meetings and the Bruins rolled out an AHL team for the last.
Beyond Boston's perfection line, it's very difficult to see where the scoring is going to come from. I'm not sure adding Taylor Hall to their second will be enough, although he and Krejci seem to have really good chemistry.
Caps will hopefully be okay. I think we can all forget Samsonov for playoffs. Vitek has earned the starting goalie job, and Craig Anderson is not a bad bet behind him with his experience, plus he played excellent last week against Philadelphia. Oshie and Carlson are day-to-day, so I expect them to be back Saturday. I think Kuznetsov should be off protocol by Saturday assuming he doesn't actually have Covid again.
OT here, but hope you are celebrating that Natty from last night!!!!!! One heck of a game.
Is rather play Boston than have to deal with Barry Trotz
Rangers have fired David Quinn and his staff minus Beniot Allaire. I thought Jacques Martin did a good job with the defensemen, but what do I know.
I'm hearing murmurs that the want Torts back, I'm going to be so annoyed if that's the hire. I was luke warm on DQ, but I think Torts would be a step backwards.
DQ firing was the right move, only because I think he built a solid foundation, but we need another coach to take the next step. Martin was probably let go just so the new person can bring his own people in. The defense was leaps and bounds better this year.
Benoit Allaire should just get a lifetime contract. He's gold. I had to re-read the headline to make sure that he was staying.
The potential of an Edmonton-Toronto matchup is exciting. Matthews/Marner vs Mcdavid/Draisaitl yes please
CAPS CAPS CAPS LETS GOOOOOOO
Florida-Tampa is a barn burner series. Fantastic, offense, grit, highly competitive. I love it.
I hope Tavares is okay, that was a nasty hit he took. For a change Perry wasn't unintentionally intentionally injuring someone, that one was pure bad luck all around. Really hate that happened.
Kadri is a moron that shoud be suspended for the rest of round 1 and all of round 2, or like an additional 10 games after his hit on Faulk last night. That was an awful hit and this is going to be his 3rd playoff suspension. Just a disgraceful hit.
Pens-Isles was hilarious to see full boxes with that big scrum. Hopefully that series stays gritty so both teams are out after next round.
That play by Florida to win the game in OT last night was a thing of beauty from an execution standpoint. Beautiful design
Tukka Rask punches Hathaway in the head three times while he is down, after he is pushed into the crease by a Boston player. By the NHL rule book, it's a match penalty, but nothing called. Not a word out of the hockey world about cheap shots or anybody who hates on Tom Wilson.
Hypocrisy at it's best.
I hope Wilson retaliates.
I was really hoping for a goalie fight!
There is a specific Stanley Cup playoff thread btw
I remembered that after I brought this back to the top last night and didn't think it was worth bringing both up top