TropicalFruitGirl26

Hmm.... a Gritty Chia Pet giveaway... I wonder if he can play defense? Even if its just a bottom pairing...

Jeebus….Sanheim doing his Hartnell impression.... and it costs the Flyers. Leafs didn't miss there...Kapanen makes it 1-0

Leafs outworking the Flyers to start out. Especially along the boards. Their shots on net aren't accurate and probably why the game is scoreless still, but Philly better get it in gear or they will find themselves down early yet again.

That 70's 'adult film' stache Matthews has going on just needs to go away...

So is this the gameday thread then? Usually, you guys have a game number, followed by date. Asking because I will be watching the Leafs and Fly and didn't see a 'regular' GD thread. So I will post here.

I thought Spezza's shelf life as an NHL'er expired about two seasons ago. And I am sad to say that because I've always liked him as a Sens player and early into his Dallas career. He definitely is no longer top six material, and what's left of his skillset doesn't really lend itself to being a bottom six grinder either. I wondered at first of the wisdom of turning away Marleau...then signing Spezza, when I think Marleau is a more viable NHL'er, but then, the Leafs have to be very cap cognizant and Spezza is dirt cheap compared to even Marleau, and well, they are getting what they are paying for in this case.

Poor bench....it's goalie stats are wrecked...

Well, ok, maybe....for this game. I still think Bob can turn things around, but he is finding out REAL QUICK that the Panther defense is nothing like the one he had in Columbus. I watched that game between Fla and Van...the Canucks were just all over the Panthers. Not sure there was much any goalie could do under those circumstances.

Panthers gotta be thinkin... "Where oh where is our James Reimer...…...oh, wait...we didn't want to keep him around...."

Wasn't entirely on Bob though... He was brought in because MONTEMBEAULT the backup crapped the bed... Bob was brought in to "settle things down", and he did give up two goals on only 6 shots faced, before Montembeault was brought back in again. If Bob have been left in, his stats would have looked much better. Imagine being Bobrovsky, having a cappuccino on the bench, when the head coach says, "Bob...get into this 4-0 game not even halfway through the first period" Then after Bob takes the two goal hit and attempts to smooth out the numbers, he gets taken BACK out, Montembeault back in... It was all messed up... Bob has ugly numbers, you have broken weekly stats, and Bob's cappuccino is ice cold now...... Blame Joel Quenneville.

As was already stated, repeating as Stanley Cup champions was already difficult enough even fully manned. Losing Mr. Tarasenko certainly doesn't help the team, but it still isn't impossible. If anything, this St. Louis Blues team last season showed how "not impossible" things can be in the NHL. Their Cup win is living proof as by all rights they should have missed the playoffs after the start and middle of the season they had. Like I said, it will mean many other guys are going to have to up their games, guys no one knows anything about will need to make themselves known, and of course, the defense, goaltending and execution will need to be there 100%. If they do all that, there is an outside chance....small, but possible....that they can have Vladimir back in time for the playoffs. Imagine that.

Serious post time: This just means guys like Perron, Schwartz, Fabbri (anyone remember him? yea..him…) are gonna have to step up their games and maybe even others like Sanford, Sundqvist, and Thomas may have to play a step above their paygrades to contribute and help fill the large gap left by Tarasenko. The Blues still remain strong down the middle with O'Reilly, Schenn and Bozak. Those guys will still find players on the wings....the wingers just need to bury the chances. Plain n simple.

Wow. The Canucks just basically ripped through the Florida Panthers at home to the tune of 7-2 yesterday. Vancouver jumped on the cats with a 5-goal first period outburst and just never looked back from there. Yes, the Panthers had backup Sam Montembeault in there, and yes, it was the second of a back to back on the road for the team (they beat the Oilers 6-2 the night before), but truth was, they just didn't look ready and prepared for the Canucks in this game. And it wasn't like the Panthers were weary from playing a ton of games on their road trip...although they certainly might be when they see Colorado tomorrow night to end their trip. The Canucks just came out to play and they gave the Panthers absolutely NOTHING on the ice. Plain n simple. JT Miller lead the charge with his two goal night in a game that saw EVERY single Vancouver forward show up on the scoresheet with either a goal or an assist....EXCEPT Loui Eriksson...but the Eriksson tale is a sad one for another thread. Trying to talk positives here with this team! Alex Edler also had a three assist night from the blue line and Thatcher Demko stopped 31 of 33 shots (most of those came late as he was not at all very busy early on in the game) for his 3rd win of the season (3-1-0), lowering his season GAA to a miniscule 1.73 and raising his Save% to a robust .941 The Canucks also dominated in possession (no surprise when they have a guy like Horvat taking the majority of them) as they killed the Cats 54%-46% at the face off dot. The Canuck PP struggled a bit (again) and it does continue to be a bit of a problem for the team. They went 0 for 2 and I am sure the coach would have liked to have seen more drawn penalties at the very least. All part of what this team still needs to work on, along with some other things, as they try to shape themselves into a contender. The Canucks finish this short two game homestand (they lost 6-5 in a wild game that ended in a SO to the Washington Capitals in the other game where, statistically them dominated everywhere but in the end result) and now head back out on the road on a three game set through California with stops in Los Angeles (tomorrow) and then a back to back themselves on Fri and Sat in Anaheim and San Jose respectively.

Giving this a thread ***BUMP*** because even though it is an older thread, it does have bearing on what is going on with the Vancouver Canucks today! And thanks to one mr. @yave1964 who always seems to have a nose for what is interesting and relevant in the NHL for more than just any given day. Forgetting all the Ottawa Senators stuff (they aren't relevant here....nor, sadly in the NHL landscape at the moment)….but we can talk about Thatcher Demko. Just recently, Jacob Markstrom needed to take some personal time and Demko was given the net...……….and didn't play badly at all. Well, Markstrom is back and he is still the number one, but it seems the Canucks are very open to doing something of a timeshare with Demko and Markstrom and that probably wouldn't be a bad idea. The Canucks still have some growing pains to go through, but they play a decent enough brand of hockey where Demko in the nets wouldn't exactly be "thrown to the wolves". Markstrom can still draw the tough assignments and shoulder the scrutiny (he actually is playing better than I thought I would ever give him credit for), but getting Demko into more games "safely" seems like a good long term approach. Markstrom is in contract year to go along with his stellar play so far (take that for whatever you will), so if this season is somewhat of an audition year for Demko, the Canucks may sneakily have their number one in place for NEXT season. I have taken an interest in the Canucks this year (some of you may already know I morph into a pseudo-fan of certain teams every year based on what that team may have done in a given off season or who is playing on there), and will definitely be following the exploits of guys like JT Miller, Alex Edler, Brock Boeser, Bo Horvat, and yes, Thatcher Demko. Is it Demko time? Hmmm....probably not a full-on yet, but we might be getting close!

From trade central (No, not HOCKEY CENTRAL...they have their heads too far up Toronto's rear to notice anything but what Mitch Marner is having for breakfast this morning )..... The PA40's get: C/RW - Willie Nylander C--- Evgeny Kuznetsov The Green Star Blades get: RW - Patric Hornqvist C-- Ryan Johansen PA40's get goals and PPP with some middling FOW....while the Blades get a potpourri of categories covered by the Pittsburgh winger and Nashville center.

Heh.... Yes, it was. I took as an offhand remark, probably just taking a jab at a certain over-the-top poster....and it worked beautifully. Of COURSE, losing one man on a deep team doesn't sink the chances of winning a championship, and yes, I agree with you that it just makes it more difficult...…. but I love the comedy gold where a single off the cuff remark can send some people into a frenzy!

Funny you should post this, as just yesterday was discussing Koivu's place on the team, and this is EXACTLY what came up! The parallels between where Mikko's career is and Matt Cullen's contributions to teams after his top six days were over are uncanny. The difference, of course, is that Cullen accepted and embraced his role as a bottom six guy, and as you know, continued to make a decent NHL living providing his useful services to a handful of teams in that capacity. Perhaps after this season, when Mikko's contract is up, he will realize that if he wants to continue to be employed by an NHL team, he will have to do exactly what Cullen did...…….or hang them up if he can't accept a bottom six/possession 4th line role. Yes, I know that doesn't help the Wild THIS season, but it is something I would be interested in seeing how it plays out afterwards, as I honestly feel Mikko still has use as an NHL'er…..but in the RIGHT role with the right mindset. And it isn't top six or PP specialist any longer.

Yes, it's definitely a conundrum. True, many of the younger guys haven't taken the ball and ran with it, so to speak, but also true, we won't ever truly know unless they get heavier minutes. At some point, someone (I.E. the owner) is just going have to decide on a course trajectory and stick with it, as this "chicken and the egg" thing simply isn't working for the team. The team was already in trouble in many areas, as you already know, but man, Paul Fenton....he hurt this team....hurt them deep with his debacle of a tenure. Whatever lifelines the Wild may have had, he pretty much pissed away with the awful trades. I am trying to still have faith that Bill Guerin will be persuasive enough with Leipold that he would be allowed to reshape the team the proper way.

While Koivu should not be a top six forward and his skillset is diminishing rather quickly, THIS at least, he still does well. Gives his team possession more often than not. Now...what the team does AFTER the possession, well, that's another story.....

Instead of color changes, would you prefer a style change? Perhaps this lil tube top number? I can see these being GREAT for a heritage classic outdoor game...………...

Zucker looks pretty good in this game. Hitting, shooting, even getting under the skin of the Preds a bit. All he needs to do now is actually score a goal....

I always thought they had an army of accountant types in suits counting, "One one thousand, two one thousand, three one thousand..."

Some pretty good vibes from having an actual mini win streak going with a good chance to extend it even further. We now will get to see if the Wild are ready to take on the road warrior role. I'd like to see the team spread the scoring out over three periods, as I still found it a bit concerning that Minnesota got all their goals in the first, then did nothing else after that against the Oilers. The shut out took care of that of course, and yes, I am happy about the win, particularly over a strong starting Edmonton team, but I think they need to be more balanced against a team like Nashville. The Preds are pretty dangerous on offense. When they've lost, they've looked real bad doing it...but when they've won, oftentimes, they've put up big goal totals. Wild have the potential to get blown out here if they don't show up for a full 60. At any rate, yep.... a feel-good aura around this team for now. Winning will do that. But time to put that in the rear view and focus on what I believe can still be a team to come out of the Western Conference. Go Wild!

Another big nugget of news with regards to Jon Cooper's lineup changes: Nikita Kucherov will be on the 3rd line tonight. Yep. Kuch on the 3rd. I don't believe he has played third line since when he first came up. Why? Could be for a number of reasons.... Kuch hasn't been his usual beastly self. He has been ok, but oftentimes, away from the puck, seems a bit lost. He will be on the same line as Alex Killorn (wing) and Anthony Cirelli (C), two very good, hard working but also skilled guys...and perhaps the coach is hoping some of the blue collar stuff rubs off on Kucherov. By the same token, particularly with young Anthony Cirelli...look, that young center has done everything the Lightning ask of him, but he is mostly stuck in the bottom six due to having Point, Stamkos and/or Johnson ahead of him on the center depth chart. Perhaps putting the reigning scoring champion on his line is also a way to reward Cirelli. "Here ya go young man...Kuch needs a bit of a boost in the workman department, you get an elite scoring winger to play with....go get some production done!" Unlike most teams, playing the 3rd line in Tampa Bay isn't necessarily a straight up demotion. Coach Cooper, for the most part, spreads the ice time out pretty evenly. Sure, the top six will always log more time, but its not like the 3rd line, or even the 4th, only get like 7-8 minutes of ice time per game like you may find on others. Team is deep enough to where the coach understands he will have guys in the bottom six that likely would be top six players elsewhere (such as the aforementioned Anthony Cirelli), so he has to manage the ice time accordingly. At any rate, I am sure Kucherov would love to remain in the top six, but best thing he can do right now, is do what is asked of him playing on Line 3 and while helping himself there, he also has an opportunity to "pay forward" and help bolster linemates Cirelli and Killorn. Very interested in seeing how Kuch handles this...