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2013-14 NHL Season Thread


dlbalr

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My Lord. Thank goodness he's OK. It's been an alarming season, what with this and Letang's stroke and of course the tragic case of Tim Bozon.

On a less serious note, Canucks give up SEVEN (!!!!) third period goals to blow a 3-0 lead against the lowly Islanders. :crazy: This must be one of the most epic second-half collapses in memory, and one of the most spectacular falls of a Stanley Cup Finalist - to go from Game 7 to this abject garbage in three years. I'm not one to call for people's head, but Gillis definitely should be fired for this utter mess. He threw away a top-6 forward (which these guys desperately need) in Cody Hodgson, and he turned the league's best goalie tandem into Matthias and a couple of prospects. Sheesh,

The really tricky problem is the Torterella file. He's under contract for the next four years...if you're the owner, do you really want to pay him millions to stay home for that length of time? But any new GM will want his own coach. What a debacle.

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Well, the Torts hire was a risky one. I can't understand why they would give him so many years. It looks like they should have gone for some new blood rather than fire and brimstone type. Glad I'm not a Canucks fan!

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My Lord. Thank goodness he's OK. It's been an alarming season, what with this and Letang's stroke and of course the tragic case of Tim Bozon.

There's a scary situation in the OHL too as one of Saginaw's players has been missing for over a week now.

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The really tricky problem is the Torterella file. He's under contract for the next four years...if you're the owner, do you really want to pay him millions to stay home for that length of time? But any new GM will want his own coach. What a debacle.

If rumours are true that the Canucks ownership is going through a messy divorce and is trying to save every dollar he can? Torts will not be fired. There's talk that after trading away their starting goaltender, the ownership told Gillis to wait until the summer to trade anyone else (despite Gillis openly negotiating with teams about Kesler and Edler) because they want to still make the playoffs.

Heck I wouldn't be surprised if they try to save money by just making Torts the GM. Vancouver, Edmonton, Ottawa, they all have embarrassing ownership and nobody pays attention to it because we godify our Canadian teams. If it's true that the Senators can't make a profit (which I don't buy), ship them to Quebec.

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Yeah, one option is to keep the management team and firebomb the roster, I guess. Then you could try to sell it to the fans as a rebuild or a retooling.

Problem is, Canucks fans have a history of not bothering with bottom-feeding teams. Empty seats apparently abounded in the Keenan era. The owners' attempt to save money could end up costing them more in the long term. Plus, Gillis's track record simply does not justify empowering him to radically remake the roster. He has made too many gigantic mistakes to warrant such confidence.

One thing we know...it won't be boring.

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I do like that they want to keep the Sedin's. At 36 they'll be a better age to be traded and if the Canucks make it clear they plan to move them in their final years, the powerhouse clubs can make sure they have room to add them. Trading them now, nobody has the room to add $12M since you know they go together.

Kesler and Edler are gone in the summer. I could see Booth bought out. Bieksa and Hamhuis have considerable value if they waive NTCs. Garrison is a hometown kid who would be good to keep on the roster, even if he isn't playing as well as Bieksa, Hamhuis or Edler. With the Sedin's and Garrison you keep yourself over the floor and prepare for a rebuild.

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The Canucks have many problems, obviously, but to my mind, their most basic problem this year has been that they went into the season with three legitimate first-liners (the Sedins/Kesler) and one other legitimate top-6 forward (Burrows). Relying on only four legitimate top-6 forwards is dangerous to begin with. But then you factor in the following:

1. Daniel Sedin has inexplicably slithered downward into being a decent second-line perimeter player, sort of a glorified Mason Raymond, rather than the top-3 winger he used to be;

2. Alex Burrows has 0 goals and 6 assists in 35 games this season. He is not a top-6 player...barely an NHL player at this point.

So the Canucks are left with a grand total of three legit top-6 forwards, one of whom has declined considerably (Sedin). There's simply no way you win with a talent pool that thin. I agree with you, Machine, that keeping the Sedins is a good idea in principle, but if Daniel continues to play like he has for the last while, that's bad news.

Gillis should have traded Edler this summer, for a quality forward. As usual, he dithered for too long. What a jackass.

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I can't take it anymore. Senaturd fan has convinced himself his team is built for the playoffs. Like Anderson's all world goaltending wasn't the reason they eliminated our team last year.

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With Bernier unable to save the bacon of the Leafs, some fans are worried they'll miss the playoffs. Personally I don't think so since Washington has the Kings twice, the Sharks, Blues, Bruins and Blackhawks in their last dozen or so games and that's gonna be brutal for them, but the Leafs schedule?

- Montreal

- New Jersey

- St. Louis

- Philadelphia

- Detroit

- Calgary

- Boston

- Winnipeg

- Tampa Bay

- Florida

- Ottawa

They likely need 12 points out of that to make the playoffs. There's six points they should be getting from Calgary, Florida and Ottawa while the rest of the games really could go either way. St. Louis, Boston (and hopefully) Montreal are losses. Say it went like that, 3-3. That would leave Philly, Detroit, Winnipeg, Tampa and New Jersey to get six more points.

Imagine if the Leafs missed?

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Wouldn't it be sweet if the Leafs missed the dance! :lol: Unlikely, though, as Machine says.

The naïve look forward to a Habs-Leafs playoff matchup. Personally I want no part of that. I've always said it's a no-win scenario for Montreal. If we beat them, we still have to hear endless TO-centric coverage on CBC and endless minimization of the Habs (e.g., the '93 Habs Cup team was a terrible team that just lucked out with a bunch of OT wins and great goaltending; the Gilmour 1993 Leafs are awesomeness incarnate; the 1967 Leafs are icons, the great Habs teams after 1967 receive only casual mention, etc.). If we win, we have to spend the rest of our lives hearing propaganda about The Great Series of 2014, even if the Leafs go on to lose the next series in four straight.

In short, if we win, it's just one more series win, one more notch on the Habs' vast belt of playoff successes. If we lose, it becomes an epic victory for the ages, recycled in an endless CBC loop. Forget it. I'll take Boston - a much worthier and noble rival - any day of the week.

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Wouldn't it be sweet if the Leafs missed the dance! :lol: Unlikely, though, as Machine says.

The naïve look forward to a Habs-Leafs playoff matchup. Personally I want no part of that. I've always said it's a no-win scenario for Montreal. If we beat them, we still have to hear endless TO-centric coverage on CBC and endless minimization of the Habs (e.g., the '93 Habs Cup team was a terrible team that just lucked out with a bunch of OT wins and great goaltending; the Gilmour 1993 Leafs are awesomeness incarnate; the 1967 Leafs are icons, the great Habs teams after 1967 receive only casual mention, etc.). If we win, we have to spend the rest of our lives hearing propaganda about The Great Series of 2014, even if the Leafs go on to lose the next series in four straight.

In short, if we win, it's just one more series win, one more notch on the Habs' vast belt of playoff successes. If we lose, it becomes an epic victory for the ages, recycled in an endless CBC loop. Forget it. I'll take Boston - a much worthier and noble rival - any day of the week.

Leafs have 60.2% chance of making playoffs.

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Do you think Florida will still be a free be wins with Lu?

No, but he won't make them a contender either. Instead of just being a mediocre-at-best team, they're now a mediocre-at-best-with-good-goaltending team. Still a step up, I suppose.

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No, but he won't make them a contender either. Instead of just being a mediocre-at-best team, they're now a mediocre-at-best-with-good-goaltending team. Still a step up, I suppose.

An Ekblad or top 5 forward in draft will help but still a rebuilding team, with some nice pieces. Luongo has played on worse Florida teams.

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Funny how Bobby Loo went from being a "disappointment" in Van to being a "game-changer" in Florida. -_- Just goes to show, it's all relative to expectations. The fact is that he was a fine goaltender in Vancouver and remains a fine one now.

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Funny how Bobby Loo went from being a "disappointment" in Van to being a "game-changer" in Florida. -_- Just goes to show, it's all relative to expectations. The fact is that he was a fine goaltender in Vancouver and remains a fine one now.

I honestly dont think anyone who knew anything about hockey thought Lu was a disappointment. He was never the reason they lost or the reason they were not winning now.

Problem is fans in the lowermainland don't really know the game and just all jumped on the Lu hate train bc he sometimes lets in bad goals and starts years off slow.

I don't know anyone who would say he was a bad goalie. Or that he wouldn't perform better outside of Vancouver.

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Luongo was demonized in the city after those playoff disappointments, and that Finals series against Boston in particular. The shellackings in Beantown were HIS fault in the minds of a deluded fan-base (while it's true that he could have stood on his head, the fact is that the Canucks were run out of the rink when the refs decided to pull the ol' "anything goes" switcheroo on a team that had been constructed to kill teams on the PP; in effect, deciding to call the series in a way that gave the Prunes a massive systematic advantage). Only after he took to Twitter and showed himself to be a great team guy, in the teeth of multiple gratuitous humiliations, did they soften.

Burke called this place a "goalie graveyard." He was right.

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Cloutier sunk TWO teams - Vancouver and then LA, after Crawford refused to learn his lesson and relied on him again there. He must have been one hell of a guy for Crawford to sacrifice himself twice like that. :bonk:

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For those keeping track of the Leaf woes, I mentioned they needed 12 points in their remaining 11 games.

Well that's now nine games. They need 12 points in nine games now. St. Louis (who ran Bernier out last time), Philadelphia (Leafs won both games), Detroit (most important game of the year for both teams), Calgary, Boston, Winnipeg, Tampa, Florida and Ottawa.

Beating the Blues could be a fortune turning moment for them and the Blues have only scored two goals in their last three. Meanwhile games like Philly, Calgary, Winnipeg, Tampa, Florida and Ottawa could be 12 points for them. The Blues, Red Wings and Bruins are much harder games to figure out.

Fact is, two regulation losses to Montreal and New Jersey were something I didn't even think they'd do. Reimer's confidence is shot, McIntyre is an AHL goalie and Bernier is hurt. Kind of reminds me of 06-07 when we were waiting for Huet to get back eh?

Gotta say, Leaf woes are much more fun to follow than bickering about Therrien coaching.

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Justin Faulk gets a 6 year extension from Carolina with a cap hit of just over $4.8 million. No bridge deal for him.

There's no way that deal doesn't look good down the road, barring a Komisarek-level total collapse.

McDonagh signed a similar deal that currently looks like the best contract in the league.

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i was reading an article clarifying the playoff seeding. It suggested that the conference winner automatically got the last wildcard. That would mean, if it happened today, that the fourth seed or the first wildcard team would be the crossover team? Personally, i believe you should fill the four seeds in your own division and the fifth seed should be the crossover. The odd man out is usually the last guy?

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Detroit vs. Columbus is a big wildcard game tonight. Same to Washington/LA and Toronto/St. Louis.

Detroit could jump ahead of the pack with a regulation win. Columbus or Washington would make things tighter with a win in regulation.

With a regulation loss, Leafs would drop to 24% in making the playoffs.

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