What exactly does the President of a hockey club do? 

5 minutes ago, JR Ewing said:

Coming into the Golden Knights first season, every single person who is paid to write and talk about hockey, as well as almost every single person who writes about hockey in their spare time had them pegged as a non-playoff team that would struggle.

 

 

Ehh, most sports "journalism" is hot garbage at best and is designed to make the local population feel good and smart. Of course the commentators in every city outside Vegas would predict the team would be middling. 

I remember in a lot of interviews the people running things were talking about the benefits starting a new franchise had, one of which being that they weren't walking into an established culture and mindset. Methinks they brought sports psychologists in board to create a winning culture and attitude.

When they had success early on due to a variety of reasons (mentioned above) they kept this positive culture as the standard mindset. It could be argued that- as TFG mentioned- not having individual superstars but a generally good consistent team dynamic could very well feed positively into this, very often big egos make for a dismal team dynamic *cough*ErikKarlsson*cough*

Plus yeah, it makes sense the league would try to make the entry of the team as good as possible. Vegas spent $500m on their license, Seattle $600m. Add on stadium building and ask other costs associated with starting a new franchise and yikes I'd like assurances the team has a chance to put in the sort of games that people will want to see if I were spending that sort of cash

I'm yet to be convinced this year's team is as good as their numbers make them seem, what with most of the northern division being hot garbage. Until Toronto actually starts to actually make headway in the playoffs people won't take them seriously. 

Ahh, what a nonsense season. Guaranteed Canadian presence for longer than usual, though

Ottawa's Anderson did this all the time and this frequently caused goals (usually after he mishandled the puck and it ended up turned over)

Ho boy, here's the latest

Evander Kane accuses creditors of boasting ban on slavery

As many of our readers will know we have been closely following the developments surrounding San Jose Sharks star forward Evander Kane and his extremely controversial bankruptcy filing. Kane, who himself admits that he currently has a staggering $26.8 million in debt, has been in a heated battle with his lenders with both sides calling the ethics of the other into question. In his latest attempt to get out from under the full brunt of the debt he accumulated Kane is now trying to argue that being placed under Chapter 11 bankruptcy, something his lenders have asked the court to order while also appointed a Chapter 11 trustee, would be a violation of the United States' 13th amendment. 

For those of you not familiar, the 13th amendment abolished slavery and involuntary servitude.

"While Kane currently intends to continue playing with the Sharks, the Lenders request that his personal choice be removed from the equation," Kane's motion said as per The Athletic. “Granting the Motion would place a Chapter 11 trustee in charge of Kane’s life. It creates a risk that the Chapter 11 trustee would seek to assume a personal services contract that Kane may wish to reject. It would also result in the Chapter 11 trustee making important decisions about Kane’s future employment, residence, and all of his living expenses. Subjugating Kane, as well as his family, to the whims of a Chapter 11 trustee not only violates the Thirteenth Amendment, but it is also an affront to Kane’s dignity."

The lenders want the court to appoint a Chapter 11 trustee, someone that would effectively control Kane's financial future until the lenders are made whole, and it's easy to see why. One could easily argue that accumulating this much debt is a sign of serious financial irresponsibility, and when you combined that with Kane's well documented history of excessive gambling it does look like Kane is not very adept at managing his own finances.

Should the lenders win their case, Kane's wages would be garnished for years to come, likely even beyond the length of his current contract with the San Jose Sharks. I can see why a situation of this nature would not appeal to him in the slightest, but it's hard to feel for the guy when he clearly put himself in this predicament to begin with.

A buffalo newspaper does a power ranking of the teams

1 hour ago, RonJeremy said:

I was making a sarcastic remark. The statement was not directed to anyone here specifically and I am not saying anyone  here has defended Kane . It’s just a statement about the mentality these days , that everything is always someone else’s fault other than the actual person who is really at fault.  If you know anything about NYers aside from us being rude and inconsiderate, we have a very sarcastic sense of humor. You guys gotta lighten up a little. 

I thought New Yorkers mostly told each other that they're walkin' 'ere

10 hours ago, pilldoc said:

Sorry... I have no sympathy for him.....

I have to agree, it's amazing how someone could piss away so much money so quickly. Fame has crazy trappings, but ultimately he's responsible for his actions. 

Sharks considering cancelling Kane's contract

Just weeks after filing for bankruptcy and listing almost $27 million in total debts, Evander Kane and the San Jose Sharks are considering terminating the remaining four-plus seasons on his seven-year, $49 million contract.

According to Daniel Kaplan and Kevin Kurz of The Athletic, Kane and the Sharks told federal bankruptcy court that they are considering scrapping the contract, which is scheduled to pay the forward another $29 million.

While on the surface this seems backwards, the contract itself is what Kane used to acquire loans from multiple creditors. If the contract were to be terminated, it could, according to The Athletic, "deprive creditors of their main source of financial redress."

The deadline to terminate the contract was recently pushed back another 90 days by a bankruptcy judge, which likely means that Kane will play out the remainder of the season in San Jose and continue earning on the deal.

San Jose, meanwhile, may just be interested in scrapping the deal for the sole reason that Kane is failing to live up to the expectations tied to a $7 million annually salary. Kane does have a respectable nine goals and 20 points in 23 games for San Jose and is the team's second-leading scorer, which would be considered reasonably strong production in a vacuum, but perhaps not enough considering his annual intake and the Sharks' status as a re-tooling organization dealing with the financial repercussions of playing during a pandemic.

Both Kane and the Sharks remain mum on the subject.

https://www.behance.net/gallery/114622377/What-if-NHL-teams-wore-soccer-kits

I'm not a fan of the aesthetics of soccer but I must admit they're well executed

Ahh McDavid, the shining light in an overall mediocre team. I really hope they get better as it would be nice to see him hoist the cup

https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2021/02/15/boughner-upset-at-sharks-lack-of-response-after-marchessault-hit-on-simek/

San Jose Sharks coach Bob Boughner was upset that no one came to Radim Simek’s defense after he was injured by a questionable play from Vegas Golden Knights forward Jonathan Marchessault.

Simek was placed on injured reserve over the weekend with an upper-body injury after two run-ins with Marchessault at SAP Center on Saturday

Simek appeared to be a bit woozy after he was first hit by Marchessault against the end boards early in the second period. Shortly after, with the puck in the corner to the left of goalie Martin Jones, Simek — still feeling the effects of the first hit — was cross-checked by Marchessault in the rib area. Simek was able to get to the Sharks’ bench but immediately went to the locker room and did not return.

No penalty was called on the play and Marchessault did not face any sort of retribution from the Sharks. The NHL’s Department of Player Safety also did not issue any supplemental discipline.

Before that sequence, Simek had upended Golden Knights forward Reilly Smith with a check in the Sharks’ corner as the two were racing to retrieve the puck.

Boughner didn’t like Marchessault’s hit when he was asked about it after Saturday’s game, a 3-1 Sharks loss, but added Monday that he wanted to see more of a retort from his team.

“The initial hit you can argue is a little bit high, but I think it’s the nature of the hit, I think it was retaliatory,” Boughner said of the sequence Monday. “I thought that (Simek) was physical on Smith on the first shoulder-to-shoulder puck battle. It looked like Marchessault came in, keying on Simmer and the hit.

“Again, my issue is more the second time around when Simmer was already stung that he came in and added insult to injury, and that’s on us. I mean, it looked to me like someone taking a shot at one of our players and I didn’t like our response. That’s something we are addressing.”

Last month, Boughner was also upset that no Sharks player came to Mario Ferraro’s defense after he and Minnesota Wild forward Jordan Greenway got into a wrestling match in a Jan. 22 game.

“We need to be a tight team, both on and off the ice and (the Simek/Marchessault incident is) an example of being able to get in there, first home game, establishing some identity,” Boughner said. “I understand the game is tight at that point, but you need a response (then) or somewhere else in the game. You can’t let other teams take liberties and that’s something that we will be addressing.”

Boughner said there’s a small chance Simek could be back for the Sharks’ Feb. 20 road game with the St. Louis Blues. If not, the Sharks’ next game is Feb. 25 against Marchessault and the Golden Knights at SAP Center.

Simek had recently seen an uptick in his ice time as he had been playing with Erik Karlsson, who was also injured Saturday and will not play Monday with a lower-body ailment. Fredrik Claesson, signed as a free agent last month, and Nicolas Meloche will play in Simek and Karlsson’s place Monday.

“He was playing more minutes and he was adding that physicality that we need on that back end,” Boughner said of Simek. “It’s a loss for us. We’re going to have Claesson and that’s the reason we signed him, is to have some depth and he’s going to get his opportunity.

“We have to play good team defense. We’re at home and we can get our changes that we need and our matchups. But, definitely, you take (Simek) out and you take (Karlsson) out, two regulars that soak up a lot of ice time, it’s a hole in your lineup.”

At this point the players don't seem to care

https://www.nhltraderumors.me/2021/02/rumor-nhl-considering-suspending-season.html

The Washington Capitals and the Philadelphia Flyers are the latest teams to have their schedule changed as two Flyers have been moved to the COVID protocol list and the game tonight between the two clubs appears to be postponed. 

With COVID running wild throughout the USA and throughout the NHL, according to one league executive, the league has discussed internally about putting a two to three-week stoppage on this season so teams can get their players healthy and the league can begin to re-write the schedule. 

No official word yet from the NHL on this, keep an eye out for an announcement this week if it's coming. 

1 hour ago, J0e Th0rnton said:

They could start by icing a team that has at least 3 lines of NHL caliber players and 5 NHL caliber Dmen.

Woah slow down there Mr Moneybags, the sens are a proud $12m below the cap and that's the way they likes it

Given their GAA so far this season I'd say this is them doing anything that might lift things a bit

40 minutes ago, WordsOfWisdom said:

I think the NHL should either:

 

A) Implement a policy whereby teams must either play on without the affected players (treat them as injured)

 

OR

 

B) Those games are dropped from the schedule and the standings are sorted by points percentage. 

 

There won't be enough time to make up this many lost games in a compressed schedule so the NHL's hand is going to be forced on this pretty soon.

Yeah, I'd say at some point near the end of the scheduled season they'd have to do something like this. It'll be too hard to do anything else. 

Bleg, what a mess of a season. I'm glad I didn't renew nhl.tv this year

I got it off Reddit. Apparently he's "states away" from Washington so it's a bit of a mess up by the courier

I would love there to be a Quebec team. There are two things holding it back

1- is there someone with the money to pay for a license? The cost has gone up exponentially (Seattle was what,  $600m?). This is exacerbated by the lower Canadian dollar

2- expanding the game basically means finding untapped markets, and how many new hockey fans will you get with a Quebec team? It's more likely they'll get most of their supporters by eating Montreal's support base. It's the same reason why over here the AFL put two teams in rugby heartland instead of putting one in football obsessed Tasmania

https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/kraken/kraken-practice-facility-damaged-in-adjacent-construction-mishap-team-hopeful-it-wont-impact-completion-date/

Kraken practice facility damaged in adjacent construction mishap; team hopeful it won’t impact completion date

Jan. 11, 2021 at 7:51 pm Updated Jan. 12, 2021 at 1:19 pm

 

 

 

 

 2 of 2 | Seattle’s new NHL franchise, the Kraken, gave reporters a... (Dean Rutz / The Seattle Times) More 

Skip Ad

 

By 

Geoff Baker 

Seattle Times staff reporter

It will take several more days for the Kraken to get a handle on damage caused by a freak weekend construction accident at their planned Northgate Mall practice facility.

But for now, the team is expressing confidence the player training facilities will open by mid-July as scheduled and that the remainder of the building’s public features will be completed in time for September training camp. On Saturday night, a portion of an adjacent building being demolished as part of a completely separate project accidentally toppled into the west wall of the future NHL team’s planned $80 million facility. 

“We are incredibly thankful that no one was injured,’’ a statement put out by the team Monday said. “The Kraken are working to assess the damage. We are confident it will not impact our opening timeline for hockey operations.”

NEW: Construction accident near @SeattleKraken training facility causes damage to future team headquarters.

Early indication is that crews demolishing old Nordstrom building allowed debris to fall on Kraken site.

No one injured.

Images courtesy of @KING5Seattle pic.twitter.com/imeowHVYKu

— Chris Daniels (@ChrisDaniels5) January 12, 2021

The western part of the facility is where a planned public restaurant and bar area is to be built and not where the team’s locker room, offices and on-ice facilities are located. None of the crew members partaking in the Kraken project were on-site when the accident occurred. 

The Kraken is to make its debut next October during a 2021-22 season the NHL hopes will follow a traditional timeline. During a conference call with media members Monday ahead of the league’s Wednesday launch of a pandemic-abbreviated 2020-21 campaign, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said he has been told construction on the Kraken’s practice facility and a $930 million overhaul of Climate Pledge Arena is proceeding on schedule. 

“Everything’s going great,’’ Bettman said. “They’re ready to go. The building’s going to be ready to go.’’

It wasn’t entirely clear whether Bettman was aware of the training center mishap when he made those comments. NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly, who was on Monday’s call, added that giving the Kraken its best launch possible was behind the league’s push to end this coming season by early July and have an expansion draft later that month to remain on-track for a traditional October opening.

“We’re in constant communication with (general manager) Ron Francis and his group as well with respect for preparing for the expansion draft,’’ Daly said. “So, everything … is all teed up and in line for the expansion process.’’

Oh wow I misread the article as 1.5m in gambling total. In one month? Yikes. That's something that needs professional help