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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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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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Cale Makar's Assault On The Record Book
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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Vladimir Tarasenko Out 5 Months
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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It's Demko time!!
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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Post in Paul Fenton has been fired as GM after just one season.
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. 
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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
 

 

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! 

Why no Canadian NHL team will win the cup
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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