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NHL Targeting Dec 1st to start 2020-21 Season
CreaseAndAssist replied to pilldoc's topic in Around the NHL
It doesn't work like that. I agree with you on cancelling the 2019-20 season. The league has wasted lots of time, and is going to spend a fortune to force the playoffs to happen for very little benefit to the the league or the game itself IMO. And as the risk appears to be increasing; especially for players living in the U.S. (even if the games are going to be played in Canada) the whole thing seems pointless. However, back to my original point. IMO, the 2020-21 season can start whenever. If that means it starts on January 1st, 2021, so be it. But here's my addition...they should not be fearful of pro-rating the season. So if it cuts that deep, then maybe you only play half a regular season and then have the playoffs as you normally would. I see people talking about the possibility of pushing back the college football season to the spring. If that happens, what do you think is going to get prime air time; the NHL or college football? Even regional networks would face a lot of pressure to aire football over hockey because it draws much better ratings and generates more ad revenue. If we didn't have a Stanley Cup winner in 2019-20 it wouldn't be that big of a deal. Sports are full of 'what if's' but if one player, coach, trainer dies during this whole thing...it was probably was preventable by not having this at all. I feel like its been rushed and even after seeing a pretty good summary of their 47-page precautions list it still seems like there are some glaring holes and potential for disaster. The NHL shouldn't worry about starting the 2020-21 season 'on time' they should worry more about starting the 2020-21 season with the most comprehensive and well thought out plan possible. Of course it would help if America would get its act together and not be so problematic in hosting games here as a hub city. -
[Hidden Content] As I said before ...they should have just cancelled the 2019-20 season and try to start the 20-21 season on time. I feel they are trying to cram too much too soon after completing the "revised 2019-20" schedule.
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Just a bizarre ending to an otherwise perfectly healthy athlete and great all around person. Thanks for posting it doc.
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i also hope he can improve both his first two stride quickness and overall speed.
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Sometimes you never know how short life really is ....a sad but inspiring story I wanted to share .... [Hidden Content]
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Exhibit A: Why the Lottery System Needs to be Changed
Villette/Lavaux replied to SpikeDDS's topic in Around the NHL
If the perfect system existed, they would have implemented it already. The problem of tanking had to be solved in some way, and maybe the odds are still not assigned in an equal way. I read somewhere an interesting idea: After the regular season, non-qualified teams play something like a tournament (round-robin, bracket format or whatever), which leads to a ranking amongst those. The winner gets the #1 pick, the finalist the #2, the 3rd team the #3, etc. The advantage: the season is not over for non-playoff teams (= more money) and the highest picks are rewarded to "winners" I'd say. Problem, The League will certainly come with some stupid format and tricks such as eye-blinded shootout or 2 vs. 2 on one side of the ice rink with a neutral goalie (like 3-3 street basketball). -
Exhibit A: Why the Lottery System Needs to be Changed
WordsOfWisdom replied to SpikeDDS's topic in Around the NHL
The Leafs did a REBUILD. You probably didn't recognize it because it's the first time they've ever done one! They were already a bad team and once they began their rebuild they sank to the bottom, exactly as expected. Name one NHL team that did a full rebuild and kept winning with a rookie roster. The NHL doesn't owe last place teams anything. It's not the NHL's job to fix poor management decisions by that team's GM. The Leafs got Matthews because they rebuilt and had the best odds of winning. Had they missed on Auston Matthews, them staying at the bottom probably would have landed them Connor McDavid instead. Think about that. Look how many #1 picks Edmonton has had by being a terrible team. If you want to redefine the word tanking to be "rebuilding", that's fine. Then every team in the NHL goes through a period of "tanking" where they trade away aging veterans, acquire draft picks, and give the rookies a chance. - Last week
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Flyers top goal scorer per 60 minutes this season
CoachX replied to flyercanuck's topic in Philadelphia Flyers
NAK? pbbbbt! The love affair this forum and the Flyers has with this guy is mind boggling. He's an overrated 4th line grinder. He's Zac Rinaldo without the fight ability. I cant believe they give this guy ice time over a playmaker like Vorobyev. And now HE has no choice but to go to Russia. Its pure racism NAK scored a nice goal once. Yay! But he forechecks like a marhmallow, is defensively irresponsible and a cancer in the room. Ugh! Im done. I cant take it anymore. I need to quarantine myself -
Actually Florida has a lot going for them HOFer as a coach TONS of skilled forwards with massive upside BOBrovsky in net. Money spent aggressively in recent years, the team is on a legit upswing.
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I'm wondering if the owners of the Panthers are using the team as a tax write-off? Eddie Debartillo (sic)did that with the Pens in the 1980s.
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Exhibit A: Why the Lottery System Needs to be Changed
flyer4ever replied to SpikeDDS's topic in Around the NHL
This is a good chuckle too. You have been trying really hard to get a date with Austin covid Matthews, your beloved Leafs went way beyond tanking to get him, yet you would be okay with getting Jesse Pulljarvi out of that draft. Give us all a break. -
2019-20 Iowa Wild and Prospects
CreaseAndAssist replied to TropicalFruitGirl26's topic in Minnesota Wild
Per Russo, Khovanov signs a 1-year deal to play in the KHL even though he's under contract with the Minnesota Wild. Has the ability to return to North America whenever play resumes here during the 2020-21 season. The things he needs to work on... ~ Stop taking needless retaliatory penalties ~ Playing with more pace - too much floating in his game. -
Exhibit A: Why the Lottery System Needs to be Changed
CreaseAndAssist replied to SpikeDDS's topic in Around the NHL
If a perennially mediocre team like the Wild has a shot at getting #1 overall by losing their play-in series?!? Great, I'm all for it even if its just to have a 12.5% chance at it. I'm tired of picking in the early to mid-teens and getting some player who might be able to be a contributor on the 3rd or 2nd line if we're lucky. Is the lottery messed up? No, it turned out like a lottery as it isn't going to the most deserving. It's just how the ping pong balls turned out as improbable as it was going to be. -
Brave the Wild one of the longest running Minnesota Wild podcasts Part of the fun of blogging about the team is meeting lots of new people. Joey is certainly a super Minnesota sports fan where he hosts a podcast about the Wild, Vikings and Timberwolves. Check it out!
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There is the link''' Awesome hawaiian shirt for hockey lovers Get yours here: [Hidden Content] Available up to size 5XL
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It's now up to the NHLPA to vote and ratify the agreement. Should the agreement go into effect, hockey fans can expect to see the puck dropped on the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs on Saturday, August 1st. Training camps (Phase 3) will officially open a week today on Monday, July 13th. Players will travel to the NHL's two hub cities (Edmonton in the Western Conference, Toronto in the Eastern Conference) on July 26th in preparation for puck drop on August 1st. The hope then is that the Stanley Cup Playoffs will conclude with a new champion sometime before October, 2020. No word yet on the opening of the 2020-21 season, but I think it's probably safe to say that the NHL will push things into 2021 and utilize a condensed schedule in an attempt to wrap things up in June 2021. Hopefully come the 2021-22 season there will be some sense of normalcy when it comes to the NHL's schedule. In any case, the NHL looks to be officially back. At the very least it's nice to pencil in some important dates on the calendar.
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Is that a Boogaloo Flyer's shirt?
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Where do I get one of these magnificent specimens of classic attire?
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Party Time......
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They can only offer him a 2-year deal based on his age. As it would be his Entry Level contract. If we can't sign him until January of 2021, it would be just a 1-year Entry Level contract and the year after that he'd be an RFA.
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Well leadership in Wisconsin didn't want to break the quarantine. The GOP legislature challenged the executive order made by the Governor. More or less the legislature pressured the Wisconsin Supreme Court for permission to break their own law; to strike down the governor's executive order. It wasn't something the people asked for, but Wisconsin Dells and the bars were worried they were going to be doomed. Yet, Dells attendance is half of what it normally would be. But for the most part, It was just politics. And once things were opened up...it wasn't going to go back. My guess testing has been minimal here, and its going to hit us pretty hard at some point. I know myself and MNSOTA are still Social Distancing, wearing a mask...and being careful. But maybe the better question is it really feasible to have hockey back. Even in a place its been far better contained in Canada, to give the players their 'bubble' its going to cost the league a fortune to pull it off for something that will still probably draw minimal TV ratings. I don't get it.
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I don't think the NHLPA dropped the ball; they instead used that as a bargaining chip to give their actual members something they wanted. That being guaranteeing their participation in the Olympics for 2022 and 2026. In fact if you look at some of the preview of the CBA portions; the NHLPA really leveraged the league well to drive down their escrow commitments. Honestly, with how insanely expensive its going to be to pull off this summer hockey thing...its hard to see how or why the owners would really want to agree to some of the things they gave up.
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(shrugs) Its a lottery. Ottawa had the best odds of anyone and did about as bad as they could possibly do. Detroit has to feel burned, but the lottery isn't about setting things up to give it to the most deserving team. Its a lottery with the hope to thwart tanking. However, as far as this Wild fan is concerned it gives the team a chance to do what it should've done all along and that is tank. Its a rare opportunity indeed. But as far as the draft normally goes. Winnipeg got a great draft after making the playoffs, same with Colorado; and they did it by being savvy with their drafting and the teams that dealt those picks to them had miserable seasons which gave clubs that were already pretty good another blue chip player. That happens. By what I've heard...Lafreniere is the only maybe generational talent and even that's a maybe. Byfield isn't, but he's going to probably be a good player. But overall this draft is fairly deep with forwards and if you need help up front this was the year to try stock up on some picks. Its pretty sparse with big defenseman and even the top defenseman available are players that have incomplete games. I don't care. The Wild have never had a superstar and while losing doesn't guarantee Minnesota will get that pick I'm game for taking that chance. People can complain all the want. We were outside of the playoff window; so its not like we're a President's trophy team possibly has a chance at the 1st Overall pick. Its not like we're Edmonton and getting 1st Overall year after year.
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Because they are the current champions. Wont be considered a fluke
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It's not a hockey culture down there. Nobody plays hockey in Florida. The majority of the fans that the Panthers and Lightning draw are retired Canadian snowbirds (who are typically Leafs fans) spending their winters down south. Whenever the Leafs come to town you can see all the Leafs jerseys come out and hear all the "Go Leafs Go" chants overpowering the home fans.
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Our picks
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Recap of 10 year zoom reunion of Flyers 2010 SCF Players
Poulin20 posted a topic in Philadelphia Flyers ,
Dear all,
As part of my season ticket holder benefits the Flyers invited me to a 10 year reunion of a handful of the 2010 players on a Zoom type system where we could see and hear all the players but they could not hear or see us (see screenshot at end of recap). It was hosted by Steve Coates and radio announcer Tim Saunders. In attendance were JVR, Scott Hartnell, Claude Giroux, Simon Gagne, Danny Briere, Ian laperriere, Kimmo Timonen, and Brian Boucher. The event lasted an hour and they discussed some of the behind the scenes stuff from the 2010 playoff run.
Firstly they discussed how they had been picked to go far at the beginning of the season and how they laid an egg early on which got Stevens fired. Coatsey and Saunders asked if the hiring of Lavvy made a huge difference and they tried to be diplomatic about it but said yes implicitly. Hartnell said that Stevens was all defense and that nobody likes to play defense and they all felt freed by Lavvy's offensive system to do their thing. As you can imagine they also highlighted that Stevens was very soft spoken and that Lavvy was very fiery which really inspired them. They also said the leadership of Pronger was huge. Harts said just the name gave them more confidence but also his big body and the leadership as well.
Then they went into a discussion about how the season was ending where they were losing 8 out of 11 down the stretch including one to the Rangers in game 81 of the season. The most interesting thing we learned about the last game of the season was that Lavvy anticipated that the Rags would play them tight and may even play for a shootout as they had Lundqvist in net and figured if they could get it to a shootout they would beat the Flyers in it (I myself certainly thought so when it got to the SO). Lavvy wanted them to be prepared for this so at practice he called Gagne, Giroux, Briere, JVR, Richards and Carter over to him and said he wanted them to study film of Lundqvist in the SO and pick a move that they planned to move and practice that move. They did so and Briere went out and executed is perfectly. Giroux on the other hand changed his mind in the middle of his attempt and then had nothing to shoot at so he just went 5 hole and was lucky that it went in. Boucher mentioned that he was so nervous before the game and really felt the pressure that afternoon. He also note that he couldnt stand Lundqvist's celebration at the end of Ranger wins where he taps his posts and then does a huge fist pump. Bouch witnessed it from the bench in the previous game and wanted to do it back to him if the Flyers won and when he made that last save his celebration was an attempt to emulate and mock it. Booch said he actually tripped up when trying to do it as he got up awkwardly from the save but that was the story behind his famous celebration.
cont'd on forum post
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- 10 replies
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hf101, -
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Leafs Players Sorted By Defence (The "Minus" Score) Version 2.0
WordsOfWisdom posted a topic in Toronto Maple Leafs ,
Okay, after listening to feedback (I do occasionally listen lol) I took a second crack at this stat.... and here's what I came up with:
To me, what was missing previously was a way to get defensive scores back UP again through continued playing time, so now it's here. It's like a "counter-balance" to allow defensive scores to rise.
With this recent improvement, there was no longer a need to add 100 to try and pretty up the scores. I left them as is and they fluctuate between positive and negative values, just like regular +/-..... but this is NO +/- !!! This is much closer (I hope) to what people have been looking for. It is quite literally DEFENCE..... just defence and nothing else.
Now, I know what people are going to say: "But guys are still being punished for offence..." (That comment makes me cringe.) No player is ever technically "punished" for offence. They're just not able to boost their DEFENCE rating by scoring points. That's it. If you're the worst defensive player in the league, you can't score 100 goals, boost your stat, and then turn around and claim a Selke trophy. This isn't +/-. Just like you can't erase ERRORS in baseball by hitting more home runs. It doesn't make sense. If you commit 50 errors in baseball, the only way you can get better is to stop making errors... and if you play long enough error-free, you will eventually raise your fielding percentage to a respectable level. But the bottom line is that you can't hit your way out of bad fielding stats.
(Whew!)
Okay, so how does this work now? It starts with the Minus stat (as described previously) but now I take TOI (Time On Ice in minutes) and divide it by 60. That value gets added to the score. So for every game you play without committing a "-", your defence score will go up. Notice that this accomplishes a few things: It sort of considers "quality of opposition" into the stat (because your best players play the most) but it also rewards the players who contribute the most to your team.
I still don't know if I have anything viable here, but it gives me a good feeling this time around.
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hf101, -
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Cale Makar's Assault On The Record Book
jammer2 posted a topic in Colorado Avalanche ,
OK....some crazy stuff going on in Ave's land! The all time record for a rookie defensemen is 76 by the great Larry Murphy. Even Ray Bourque had under 70...he had 4th best with 65 rookie pts. Makar is on pace for 93. Staggering.
The scary part is he is doing this with Rantanen and Landeskog both out with serious injuries. Cales hockey sense is outrageous for a rookie...howitzer of a shot...wicked moves, agile and smart. He reminds me of Bourque as a rookie. He has 100 pt potential...as silly as that sounds in this day and age.-
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- 13 replies
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TropicalFruitGirl26, -
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Vladimir Tarasenko Out 5 Months
Hockey Junkie posted a topic in St Louis Blues ,
The defending Stanley Cup champion St Louis Blues have just received a dose of bad news. Teresenko, the superstar that helped the Blues hoist their first Cup, is now to be lost for 5 months due to shoulder surgery. If they can survive without him and still make the playoffs, it would seem he would return for that. I believe they are deep enough to do it.-
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- 19 replies
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TropicalFruitGirl26, -
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It's Demko time!!
yave1964 posted a topic in Vancouver Canucks ,
Small deal between the Canucks and the Senators today with possible large implications for both.
Vancouver gets: Taylor Pyatt, a 13th forward not much of a player. McKenna, an AHL goalie pressed into duty because of injuries to the Ottawa net and a 6th round pick.
Ottawa gets Anders Nilsson who in two years as a backup in Vancouver went 10-27 and Darren Archibald who has been a meh prospect forever now and who looks like he is just a body to even out the players involved.
A bunch of hot garbage in other words but it may be a sign of things to come for both.
First Ottawa seems almost certain to trade Craig Anderson at some point now and ride out the season with Nilsson in net. A contender wanting a veteran goalie will take a shot at him.
Vancouver likely will ship McKenna to the AHL and call up top prospect Thatcher Demko to share the net at the least and possibly become the primary starter after two very successful seasons with Utica in the AHL. Demko is a California boy, a big surfer looking dude who Benning has shown surprising patience with as he developed. Moving Nilsson clears the way for him to get his shot probably moving Markstrom to the backup role for the remaining of the season to see what Demko can do.
So a trade of junk for junk has implication for an aging brittle goalie and for a kid chomping at the bit wanting a shot.-
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TropicalFruitGirl26, -
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Post in Paul Fenton has been fired as GM after just one season.
ruxpin posted a post in a topic,
It's possible. But I think right now your biggest issue is timing. The Wild fired Fenton at a time is year where the replacement pool is such that if the candidate were any good, he'd already be working.
Leipold should get a lot of "credit" for badly bungling this situation (and it's on him if what you describe is accurate, and I think it is up an extent). His statements indicate this started at exit interviews.
First of all, if you did any credible due diligence, you knew this before. But make a decision when you did realize it. You don't go to the end of July, in hockey's no man's land (we'll call it "Miami," for short) and then make this move.
Leipold is nearly single-handedly destroying his own franchise.
Picked By
hf101, -
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Post in What makes a good NHL GM?
rottenrefs posted a post in a topic,
To answer your question, what makes a good NHL GM?
You noted player personnel wins and losses... But didn't cover anything else. Understandably, I get it, but IMO there's a ton more behind being a good GM.
Looking at it from a fan perspective player personnel is about the only thing one could care about. But from an operations standpoint, or from an owners standpoint, generating $$ is all they ever put much emphasis on. Business, or rather being a successful business equals follow the money.
Something I brought up several years ago was the Wild, under Doug Risenbrough, were an economically successful team. The team never spent to the Cap but they had sellout after sellout. Contrary to some the previous ownership claimed they were losing money. Where have we heard that with the Minnesota North Stars? Hence, they left for Dallas and won a Stanley Cup, 2 Conference Titles, 2 Presidents Trophies and 8 Division Titles... They're doing well generating revenue. They were bought for $84 million in 1995 and are now valued at $525 million. The Dallas Stars are a prime example of spending more (wisely) can create residual earnings. Which is something the Minnesota North Stars never figured out.
Insert the Minnesota Wild. So under Robert Naegele, Jr., and GM Doug Risenbrough, as mentioned they ran a tight ship on spending. Wild fans here viewed them as cheap. The results as some pride themselves as describing, they're a successful team because they've had so many sellouts in a less than desirable "Hockey Market" because everyone here keeps reminding everyone (nationally) that Minnesota isn't a very good hockey market. (That's something I totally disagree with.) Minnesota probably has more hockey pucks and hockey arena's per capita than any other state or Canadian Providence... To match it's 'Land of 10,000 Lakes' boast.
Granted, it's a bit off-topic talking about Minnesota's hockey market, but in the grand scheme of things no one can match Minnesota's superior high school hockey programs or the number of successful college hockey programs... Fans following them could have gone to more North Stars games, or more Wild games... But why if neither of those teams have anything to show for their efforts except being on the losing end of highlight reels (nationwide)?
Okay, back on topic now that I've eliminated any just cause that Minnesota can't be a major hockey market.
Read more ... https://www.hockeyforums.net/topic/71822-what-makes-a-good-nhl-gm/?do=findComment&comment=390931
Picked By
hf101, -
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Post in Fire Hextall, gut senior management and the coaching staff
ruxpin posted a post in a topic,
The more I'm thinking about this the more I'm coming to the conclusion it's not simply the coach but the result of the coach trying to compensate for the goaltending -- which is ultimately on Hextall.
The centers ARE a mess. And so is Ghost. Why? Because the centers are not staying low in the offensive zone and--Patrick and Coots in particular--not mucking it up in the slot to cheat back to hedge against being caught.
Ghost is doing less going low or pinching much for the same reason. It's possible they're doing this on their own. Whether deliberate or not, it's a natural response to the knowledge that any mistake, any odd man or often even man rush the other way will end up past the incompetent sieves in our net.
It's just as likely that this is per coach directive much for the same reason.
The question remains--bluntly--how does a competent GM look at his goaltending this past summer and not move to fix this while leaving $10M in cap space on the table?
How does that same competent GM go through the summer knowing he doesn't have a 3C and not move to correct that in any sober way? Again, with the $10M sitting there.
I know he doesn't want a contract that blocks kids and doesn't want to move said kids for it, but that effectively and explicitly tosses this season away.
Meanwhile, the tickets are still full price.
You see the results in the stands during the game. The last game, the stands had all the energy of a wake.
There was apparently zero thought of putting out a quality product this season. And there's no good reason for it.
I do like what Hextall has done with draft picks. But it sucks that the most exciting time of year is the lead up to the draft. Only to keep saying, "boy, in five years!"
I've been uncharacteristically calling for patience the last couple of years. Those who have been around for awhile--especially those from the silly.com days--know how out of character that really it. But the patience has waned. At this point, supplement through trade. Move out "leadership" that isn't leading.
Do SOMETHING other than punish kids you yourself have damaged only to bring up other soon to be damaged kids. Wake the hell up and get the lumina out of neutral and go get us some damn halibut!
We're starving!
Picked By
hf101, -
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Why no Canadian NHL team will win the cup
Fanboy posted a topic in Around the NHL,
Gary Bettman who is the commissioner of the National Hockey League (NHL) was brought in 30 years ago with one agenda, and that was to grow the game of hockey in the USA. In Canada the game of hockey is like a religion, with winters lasting 6 months all there is, is hockey. Fans are passionate and it's the number one sport. Football and baseball come second and third. Unfortunately for fans in Canada, no Canadian NHL team has won the Stanley Cup for 25 years since the Montreal Canadians have won.
This thesis will explain why no Canadian team will win the Stanley Cup until at least 2050.
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- 40 replies
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hf101, -
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The random (hockey related) picture thread.
WingNut722 posted a topic in General Hockey,
Hey It works!-
- 285 replies
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hf101, -
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