hockeytawk

[hockeytawk]

He is very good, but I think $10.5 million AAV is an overpay that might put them in cap trouble in the future.

[hockeytawk]

[hockeytawk]

I knew he was injured somehow in those last couple games at least and he seemed a bit off most of the season.

Hope he has a successful surgery and recovers well.

#nhl #hockey #injury #bruins #rask

[hockeytawk]

Masks when around the players they are with literally every day and then no masks when they shake hands with someone they are that close to once a year at most.

Oh, and everyone involved is tested daily, or more.

This makes sense to everyone, right?

#nhl #hockey #covid masks #handshakes #coaches

[hockeytawk]

NHL is doing the game a disservice, or two

I get covid kind of throwing a bit of a wrench in things this year, but with the exception of the playoff format in the bubble last year this would have happened with the normal playoff format anyway.

The two best teams in the league should not meet in the second round of the playoffs. Period. The most eyes are on the final, always, that's where the best teams should meet. Or as close to the final as is practical. I get the two conferences thing and understand if sometimes the best two teems meet up in the conference final, but it should never be any earlier than that.

I know they think it is important to push the divisional rivalries and have the divisional match-ups in the playoffs, but that approach does more to encourage existing fans and not so much to get new ones. And I can promise you, teams and fans are going to create rivalries without any help from the league needed. The two teams with the most points in the league should not face off in the second round while another series features two teams each with about 20 points less. It would be great if they learn from this happening this year and change things, though I doubt very much the league will even notice.

And along those same lines, the game of hockey is great because it is fast and free-flowing and the best NHL players have amazing skill that is pure beauty to see on display. But all of those things happen much more in the regular season than they do in the playoffs, because of the stupid idea where the refs forget to bring their whistles with them to playoff match-ups.

I understand the argument that they should "let the players decide the game", but I also fully and completely believe it is a bullshit argument. Because when the refs let players go unpunished for doing all the small (or sometimes big) illegal things that restrict the skilled players they are not letting the players decide the game, certainly not the game as it is defined within the rule book. And that makes for less entertaining, slower, less skilled hockey to watch, again, when there are more eyes on the game. It's especially important to ensure the game is as fast and exciting and beautiful as possible when people who don't normally watch decide to tune in, but the trend in the NHL playoffs is exactly the opposite.

Besides, a player doing something he shouldn't do and having to sit for two minutes is not the ref deciding the game, that is that player deciding to break the rules and that choice he made affecting the game. Choices the players make should affect the game, for good or for bad. And if a side effect is more exciting power-play opportunities in games being watched by casual or potential new fans and skilled players more able to show off those skills without being illegally grabbed or impeded, all the better.

#NHL #hockey #stanley cup #playoffs #swallow the whistle #match ups

[hockeytawk]

Oh, they called the team that has literally done NOTHING ILLEGAL COMPARED TO THE BULLSHIT KNIGHTS!

#Fuck these refs #NHL #hockey #Avalanche #VGK

[hockeytawk]

That's 4 goals for Vegas when they would be on the penalty kill if this game had refs.

#NHL #hockey #VGK #Avalanche #Bullshit officiating #Pure bullshit

[hockeytawk]

Can a Canadian tell me where the G is in Nichushkin?

Maybe I just don't see it because I'm American.

#NHL #hockey #Avalanche #Sportsnet

[hockeytawk]

Vegas fans jeering the refs prove they have no idea why their team is currently leading the game.

#NHL #hockey #VGK #Avalanche #Bad refs #Clueless fans

[hockeytawk]

If this game had refs Colorado would probably have a half dozen power play goals by now.

#NHL #hockey #VGK #Avalanche #Puck over the glass penalties only #That's not letting the players decide the game #It's letting the goons decide the game

[hockeytawk]

They should change their name to the Vegas Golden Uncalled Checks To The Head

#NHL #hockey #VGK #Dirty play #They should play with refs #for a change

[hockeytawk]

I know if I was broadcasting the playoff match-up between the two best teams from the regular season I'd make sure to find some announcers that are not horribly blatantly biased towards one team and can accurately describe what is happening in the game.

But apparently not everyone believes that's the way to go.

#NHL #hockey #Sportsnet #Avalanche #VGK

[hockeytawk]

Other two nominees are McDavid and Matthews.

Good picks in my opinion and I'd have no complaints if any three of them got the award, MacKinnon was robbed the year Hall won it over him but this season I believe he has a less powerful case against McDavid in particular, who I believe will win it.

he deserves it 🥺

#nhl #hockey #hart #mvp #mackinnon #mcdavid #matthews

[hockeytawk]

I'm not sure which advanced analytics you might be talking about. The only category I could find where McAvoy led the league in any analytics category, or was even top 5 actually, was faceoff losses where he tied for first with zero, along with the majority of defensemen in the league.

The big composite analytics of gamescore, corsi, and fenwick where he was top ten all had 4 players ranked above him in all 3 and another 2 ranked above him in two of the three and his highest ranking was 7th. That is considering Dmen who played 30 or more games this season.

An additional stat to his determinant was penalties taken, where he ranked 6th most, with only one of the players who was above him in at least two of gamescore, corsi, and fenwick ranked with more penalties taken.

Looking at the advanced analytics it is questionable in fact if he was truly the best D man on the Bruins, as Grzelcyk ranked above him on both corsi and fenwick.

McAvoy had a solid season and I think it would be reasonable to say he stepped up with Krug leaving the Bruins and his season was certainly one of the better in the league, probably somewhere ranking 6-10th, not top three.

I do agree Fox got a nomination largely because he plays in New York for the Rangers and Hedman mostly got nominated due to his 2020 playoff performance. But I would say the deserving replacements in the top three are Hamilton in Carolina and Theodore in Vegas more so than McAvoy.

How do you feel about Charlie McAvoy not getting nominated for the Norris?

I’m not surprised, because this is always how it goes. There are always a bunch of players who get votes based on reputation, because they’re a big name or had a lot of previous success. It sucks for the ones who really deserved it with their play that year, but they all know how it works.

#nhl #hockey #norris #mcavoy #fox #hedman #grzelcyk

[hockeytawk]

So if I am understanding correctly the argument for the best known defenseman on his team who plays for one of the oldest and most well known franchises in one of the largest cities in the league having his season supposedly overlooked is because of other's name recognition?

McAvoy was outside of the top ten defensemen in every statistic aside from his 9th place in +/-. The argument here regarding people getting selected who are not deserving based only on name recognition would only make sense if he had been named as one of the three nominees.

How do you feel about Charlie McAvoy not getting nominated for the Norris?

I'm not surprised, because this is always how it goes. There are always a bunch of players who get votes based on reputation, because they're a big name or had a lot of previous success. It sucks for the ones who really deserved it with their play that year, but they all know how it works.

#nhl #hockey #bruins #norris #mcavoy

[hockeytawk]

Glad Makar got nominated and believe he should win but I suspect he won't.

This one is decided by media vote and that means there is a bias towards east coast, New York in particular. So I think Fox will get it even though in my opinion he was third best among these nominees this year.

#nhl #hockey #norris trophy #makar #fox #hedman

[hockeytawk]

Very much doubt Marner goes anywhere but if the Leafs did move him I'd think it would be much more likely to be in a package for Seth Jones, they need to improve on D.

In a completely hypothetical situation that I doubt ever happens, do you think a marner/eichel deal would work? I know the leafs might have to add and I’m not even sure either player gets traded or if Toronto will even shop marner but I feel like it’s very rare for elite talent to retrieve elite talent in a trade and it could be intriguing to see what could happen there.

No. The Leafs don't need another center, one dealing with an uncertain injury situation, who makes only marginally less than Marner anyway. If they seriously decide they need to make a change of that magnitude to try and change playoff performance, I don't know how they could come to the conclusion that a guy who's never even made the playoffs is going to offer anything more than Marner has.