2023/2024 season playoff discussion

[Prime Minister Koivu]

16 minutes ago, The Chicoutimi Cucumber said:

 

How tolerable this quote is depends on what it means to "try to hurt" a guy. If it means typical stuff like cross-checking, high-sticking, and all the other stickwork crap that manifests in hockey, leaving welts and bruises, extracting teeth, etc., OK. If it means doing your best to hit guys as hard as possible and punish them every time they get the puck, you bet. 

 

If it means deliberately looking to concuss guys or break their bones and "take them out" with vicious hits to the head, slashes, knee jobs, etc., then no damned way.

 

He clearly has in mind deliberate attempts to injure. So if Kreider deliberately smashes Carey Price's knee and ends his career, hey, that's great as far as this POS is concerned. Similarly, if Chara intentionally drives Pacioretty into a stanchion, nearly paralyzes him for life, and puts him out for months, that's just Jim Dandy. Just "hockey plays." Nope. No thanks.

 

What Bennett did to Marchand was unbelievably dirty IMHO - a deliberate, sneak sucker-punch on the side the refs couldn't see. I don't really care how Marchand feels about it, Bennett should have been suspended. 

 

This league is a disgrace on player safety and attitudes like Marchand's are the major reason why.

I give Marchand credit for speaking the bare truth of the matter. This practice has been part of playoff hockey forever and certainly isn’t unique to Marchand. 
 

As you pointed out, player safety and the entire reffing system are responsible. 
 

Player Safety needs a complete rebuild and staffed with people with modern education. 
 

I have no idea how to fix reffing. It is wildly inconsistent and the entire game management system is bollocks. I have seen the suggestion that the refs should have an after game press availability to answer questions just like the coaches do. 
 

I certainly don’t praise Marchand but he spoke truth about the league and that never gets done. Bettman’s position has always been to suppress truth. He refuses to acknowledge the reffing problem, concussion problems, problems with Arizona etc..

 

I wouldn’t be surprised if Marchand got a talking to for even saying these things. 

[DON]

1-0 Kotkaniemi & crew over the Rangers... no good like!

But just start of 2nd, go Rangers.

[GHT120]

56 minutes ago, TurdBurglar said:

I expect Draisaitl to sign close to McDavid, but he won't get more. 

I don't expect Draisaitl to be constrained by McDavid's current contract knowing that a year after LD's own new deal kicks in McDavid will himself be getting a new contract (likely at least in-line with Matthews' new deal) ... that Nylander will be getting $11.5M on his new deal won't help the Oilers cause either, in terms of LD's market value ... and if he doesn't see the Oilers as serious Cup contenders going forward, I expect he may well decide that July 1, 2015 is his Independance Day ... as it currently stands, almost half the NHL will have at least $40M in cap space by then.

[DON]

3-1 mid - 2nd

 

 

[Habs Fan in Edmonton]

16 minutes ago, GHT120 said:

I don't expect Draisaitl to be constrained by McDavid's current contract knowing that a year after LD's own new deal kicks in McDavid will himself be getting a new contract (likely at least in-line with Matthews' new deal) ...

Agreed. Plus Bouchard's contract comes up the same time as Draisaitl, although he will be an RFA not UFA.  Bouchard must be thinking that if his buddy Darnell is making 9.5M/year then he must be worth at least 6 or 7 minimum. 

[GHT120]

21 minutes ago, Habs Fan in Edmonton said:

Agreed. Plus Bouchard's contract comes up the same time as Draisaitl, although he will be an RFA not UFA.  Bouchard must be thinking that if his buddy Darnell is making 9.5M/year then he must be worth at least 6 or 7 minimum. 

As an 82-point defenceman he is likely worth at least $8M

[Prime Minister Koivu]

43 minutes ago, DON said:

3-1 mid - 2nd

 

 

I can’t believe how well Carolina is suffocating the Rangers and their counter attack is relentless. 
 

This is going 7 games 

[Prime Minister Koivu]

I spoke too soon. 
 

Bit of a lucky goal by the Rangers followed by a great PP goal and we are tied at 3 with 6 minutes to go in the third. 
 

Rangers have serious momentum 

[DON]

22 minutes ago, Prime Minister Koivu said:

I can’t believe how well Carolina is suffocating the Rangers and their counter attack is relentless. 
 

This is going 7 games 

3-3 5 minutes left in 3rd.

[Prime Minister Koivu]

18 minutes ago, DON said:

3-3 5 minutes left in 3rd.

What a finish!!!!!

 

I can’t believe the final score is 5-3. What a comeback for the Rangers. 
 

Screw you Carolina 

[Prime Minister Koivu]

Late third period goal to give the Canucks the series lead. 
 

Go Nucks Go

[Prime Minister Koivu]

https://x.com/ginohard_/status/1791310937317593368?s=46&t=C6D_OzldSuuSefel4GDZoQ
 

Twitter app still broken but hopefully the link will work. 
 

Pettersson gets a charging penalty for being hit and he is standing in place. 
 

This is crazy 

[Commandant]

24 minutes ago, Prime Minister Koivu said:

https://x.com/ginohard_/status/1791310937317593368?s=46&t=C6D_OzldSuuSefel4GDZoQ
 

Twitter app still broken but hopefully the link will work. 
 

Pettersson gets a charging penalty for being hit and he is standing in place. 
 

This is crazy 

 

He jumped into the reverse hit.  That's charging.  You can't leave your feet 

[Prime Minister Koivu]

2 hours ago, Commandant said:

 

He jumped into the reverse hit.  That's charging.  You can't leave your feet 

Yep he certainly jumped and I didn’t even consider that. It just looked ridiculous. 
 

Thanks for the clarification 👍

[The Chicoutimi Cucumber]

Epic win by the Canucks. JT Miller is such a gamer. What a warrior. 

 

The Canucks were by far the better team in Game 5. Whether they can keep that going is another story. But the biggest development was that Tocchet's line-juggling FINALLY seems to have woken Pettersson from his stupor. That could be enough to tip the series.

 

On the other hand, every time EDM has had their back to the wall in this series, they've won. Canucks will need to break that pattern, or die.  

[TurdBurglar]

15 hours ago, Prime Minister Koivu said:

I have no idea how to fix reffing. It is wildly inconsistent and the entire game management system is bollocks. I have seen the suggestion that the refs should have an after game press availability to answer questions just like the coaches do.

I keep going back to rugby for their officiating system.  Nothing on-ice changes.  There's at least one official (could be as robust as a team doing multiple games) watching the game off-ice.  If something happens that's missed by the on-ice officials, the off-ice official signals the on-ice officials at the next stoppage in play and provides a clip of the suspected infraction.  Then the on-ice officials review the clip and make the determination if it's a call or not.  The off-ice officials do not make the calls, only provide the notice and clips.  These little reviews would take less than a minute realistically and wouldn't happen as frequently as the nay-sayers think they would.  Now the officials have all the information.

 

Couple that with official media availability, so they can be questioned on their decisions, and you have a better system.  Officials aren't going to ignore blatant calls or call phantom calls if they know they are going to get media/public blow back for it, guaranteed.  There were some bad calls in the Edmonton/Vancouver game last night.  The ultimate issue is the officials don't have any major accountability.  Sure there are systems in place for internal reviews, but it's far easier to answer those questions from a group that expects it, than from a group of media.

 

Also, when are we getting automatic embellishment fines for things like phantom head snaps creating high-sticking penalties?  This is a 5 minute video review after the game that never happens.  They only review it when there's an embellishment call on the ice.  They should also be able to reverse and change it to embellishment a high-sticking call if it went to video review anyway.

[Prime Minister Koivu]

24 minutes ago, TurdBurglar said:

I keep going back to rugby for their officiating system.  Nothing on-ice changes.  There's at least one official (could be as robust as a team doing multiple games) watching the game off-ice.  If something happens that's missed by the on-ice officials, the off-ice official signals the on-ice officials at the next stoppage in play and provides a clip of the suspected infraction.  Then the on-ice officials review the clip and make the determination if it's a call or not.  The off-ice officials do not make the calls, only provide the notice and clips.  These little reviews would take less than a minute realistically and wouldn't happen as frequently as the nay-sayers think they would.  Now the officials have all the information.

 

Couple that with official media availability, so they can be questioned on their decisions, and you have a better system.  Officials aren't going to ignore blatant calls or call phantom calls if they know they are going to get media/public blow back for it, guaranteed.  There were some bad calls in the Edmonton/Vancouver game last night.  The ultimate issue is the officials don't have any major accountability.  Sure there are systems in place for internal reviews, but it's far easier to answer those questions from a group that expects it, than from a group of media.

 

Also, when are we getting automatic embellishment fines for things like phantom head snaps creating high-sticking penalties?  This is a 5 minute video review after the game that never happens.  They only review it when there's an embellishment call on the ice.  They should also be able to reverse and change it to embellishment a high-sticking call if it went to video review anyway.

I really like the off ice official concept. That would catch the missed high sticks and missed punches to the face. 
 

There needs to be a further defining of goaltender interference as well. Those calls seem arbitrary much of the time. Sometimes it’s a penalty and sometimes it’s not. 
 

Good ideas 

[Habs Fan in Edmonton]

1 hour ago, The Chicoutimi Cucumber said:

Epic win by the Canucks. JT Miller is such a gamer. What a warrior. 

 

The Canucks were by far the better team in Game 5. Whether they can keep that going is another story. But the biggest development was that Tocchet's line-juggling FINALLY seems to have woken Pettersson from his stupor. That could be enough to tip the series.

 

On the other hand, every time EDM has had their back to the wall in this series, they've won. Canucks will need to break that pattern, or die.  

 

Miller is an absolute warrior, the kind of player that shines come playoff time.  The Canucks were absolutely the better team and fully deserving of the win. I don't expect them to let up. The Oilers are in trouble. 

 

This is Petersson's first test in the playoffs. Perhaps the intensity and rugged play surprised him a bit. I am not sure if he is built to thrive with the physical pounding that happens in the playoffs. We will see. 

[Prime Minister Koivu]

This made me laugh 😂 

 

Posted by a Canucks fan of course but the caption was:

 

The Oilers planning game 6

 

 

[TurdBurglar]

1 hour ago, Prime Minister Koivu said:

This made me laugh 😂 

 

Posted by a Canucks fan of course but the caption was:

 

The Oilers planning game 6

 

 

Why does, I'm assuming, McDavid have 4 arms and the player on his right, our left, have none?

 

Game 6 will be relatively penalty free.  There's a pretty common pattern in playoff series.  Few calls, the series gets out of hands, then you get a game where more than everything is called (last night), then it goes back to almost no calls again.  Especially if it's an elimination game.  Edmonton won't, or shouldn't, have it's PP to rely on.

[alfredoh2009]

19 minutes ago, TurdBurglar said:

Why does, I'm assuming, McDavid have 4 arms and the player on his right, our left, have none?

 

Game 6 will be relatively penalty free.  There's a pretty common pattern in playoff series.  Few calls, the series gets out of hands, then you get a game where more than everything is called (last night), then it goes back to almost no calls again.  Especially if it's an elimination game.  Edmonton won't, or shouldn't, have it's PP to rely on.

AI generated...

[tomh009]

3 hours ago, TurdBurglar said:

I keep going back to rugby for their officiating system.  Nothing on-ice changes.  There's at least one official (could be as robust as a team doing multiple games) watching the game off-ice.  If something happens that's missed by the on-ice officials, the off-ice official signals the on-ice officials at the next stoppage in play and provides a clip of the suspected infraction.  Then the on-ice officials review the clip and make the determination if it's a call or not.  The off-ice officials do not make the calls, only provide the notice and clips.  These little reviews would take less than a minute realistically and wouldn't happen as frequently as the nay-sayers think they would.  Now the officials have all the information.

This is similar to the football (soccer) VAR system: the VAR is an assistant referee, and the ultimate decision remains with the on-field referee. And I do agree that this would be better than having the league make the call.

[DON]

I didnt think Canucks would be playing a game 6, maybe i underrated them.

[Prime Minister Koivu]

Ha Ha 😝 

 

Screw you Boston

[Helmethead]

15 minutes ago, Prime Minister Koivu said:

Ha Ha 😝 

 

Screw you Boston

crazy how things work out huh..