Math

The PWHL is like an expansion franchise. There's a lot of excitement right now for the first season but the real challenge will come afterwards to attempt to repeat the success and generate faithful fanbases in the cities where teams are playing. So yeah, marketing will need to do a serious job not only to grow the game, but keep it at a high level year after year. Unfortunately, the generic jerseys with no logo and random colors has been an epic failure to start with and this will be hard to overcome. Teams will need to build their own identity and self-customize their visibility and merch with a team name and logo. This is an essential starting point if this league want to survive. 

18 hours ago, soleila31 said:

Hi everyone! is there a good place to park near the bell centre and is there a place where you can stop and get autographs before and after the game?

Nah, not really... You can still try to find an underground parking attached to one of the hotel nearby but they will charge you a lot. When I go there I usually let my car a bit further and take the metro.

Seriously @pilldoc, you should ask the Canes' organization some royalties about their pig shoulder patch.

1 hour ago, OccamsRazor said:

WTF??

 

Someone here please tell me I am wrong but Denis has always played the RW never seen him on the LW.

 

He is a left shot who played the RW.

 

Maybe I don't know about it.

 

@Math

 

Please help us with this we know you might know.

Yeap you're right, Gurianov has always played on the right.

His main force is his speed. Very fast skater. He has also a good shot and can be an option on the Flyers' second PP unit (on the right side for the one-timer). His main issue is his defensive game. He is/was a turnover machine and makes rookie mistakes, especially on the neutral zone. Putting him on 3-on-3 was also a hugr gamble because either he can make your team win on a solo, or make a game-losing mistake on a huge brain cramp.

It was a bit annoying because he has a great play-off run in 2020 where he literally beat Vegas all by himself in the conference final, and we thought "finally, he's taking off !" But that was a mirage and he's never reached that level since. Overall, I'm wondering if he can fit into a system run by Tortorella. When Bowness took over the team with his defensive mindset, he quickly became Rick's whipping boy.

Ok, it's a major and game misconduct for boarding, that's legit, but why the hell is Dunn staying there, three feet from the boards, almost waiting to be dangerously hit. As a Dman in such position, you have to protect yourself and not put yourself into a vulnerable position. That's exactly what Dunn did.

5 hours ago, Brewin Flames said:

Less than a minute later, Calgary rookie Martin Pospisil was given a major and a game misconduct for drilling Seattle defenseman Vince Dunn into the end boards from behind. Visibly shaken up but leaving the ice on his own, Dunn went to the dressing room and didn’t return.

 

“Garbage,” Hakstol said when asked about the hit. “But not really a whole lot different than the first hit six or seven seconds into the game. You run around like that you probably need to answer when somebody comes to you man to man and that didn’t happen either.”

Ok, it's a major and game misconduct for boarding, that's legit, but why the hell is Dunn staying there, three feet from the boards, almost waiting to be dangerously hit. As a Dman in such position, you have to protect yourself and not put yourself into a vulnerable position. That's exactly what Dunn did.

I'm just coming here quickly to say that I hate the Blues.

I'm entering the room !

Guentzel. Gone to Vegas baby. 

Markstrom. Either stays or becomes a Devil.

Hanifin going to sunrise to lead the Panthers

Wennberg little deal to Motown

Henrique - NY Rangers

Tarasenko - L.A.

Walker and Laughton - Walker to Dallas (but not likely), Laughton stays put.

Vatrano - stays put

Saros stays put. So does Toffoli.

Buchnevich - stays put

Mantha - stays put

Couture and Hertl - both stay put

Eberle - stays put

Berggren - stays put

Broberg - stays put

Allen - NJ Devils

Hanifin - Should've been Toronto, but I'm going Edmonton. They need D.

Dumba and Zucker - Would be funny to see Dumba in victory green, Zucker stays (cap hit is too high)

Ugh, maybe it's more God help them. And Travis Green is the replacement? Okay...

I think it's a whole: Every possible goalie collapsed at one time at least (Daws is the latest) but that's right: they were not help by this leaky defense. Maybe it was a bad idea to part ways with Graves and Severson. Take out Hamilton from the equation and boom. At that point, you have to rely on an offense capable to score 34 goals per game. After Toffoli came back to Earth, you have Bratt, Hischier (ok, it's better lately) and other top-6 that didn't really stepped up when Hughes was down, and the vicious circle kept on rolling.

I hate the Blues

lol, just put Klingberg between the pipes and shift good players like Mattews or Knies on the first D pair, and all the Leafs woes will go away all of a sudden.

But I don't really get this deal. I know Toronto needs to solidify its D and that good offensive top-4 Dmen don't grow on trees, but why getting another third-pair shut-down defenseman when you already have McCabe, Benoît, Laggesson, Brodie and some other dudes? They should've gone straight after Hanifin.

I like it.

Adding depth and stabilizating this leaky defense was the #1 objective thru a right-handed Dman. This finally allows Heiskanen to play on his strong side while a having a steady and reliable partner paired with him. My assumption is that the Stars wouldn't give a 1st-round pick so a second, a conditional third (The Stars have to reach the SC final) and Grushnikov is fair. Grushnikov is a decent prospect, I liked him during the Traverse City tournament this summer but he will eventually help the Flames later while the Stars needed a RHD right now.

Also, that's maybe why Hanifin wasn't dealt because he would have required a first for sure.

Now Lyubushkin and Seeler are rumored to be dealt as well to add some toughness in a defense that is still too soft IMO. Hakanpää is the only one witrh that profile but he has been godawful this season.

42 minutes ago, Alexandron said:

Not a good sign at all. Such a long 3 fights practically without any protection for his brain in 5 games. Wow. Probably he already have a mush brains in his young age of 21. Jimtown Guy recently presented Rempe's picture after 5 games at other thread. It looks a very scary sign for this poor kid. It reminds me our Wild enforcer Boogard who finished his life very very sadly. NHL organization  as well as Rangers too should take more attention about this kid. Just my thoughts regarding him.

That's a good point too. His first fight was against Matt Martin during the outdoor game after only 1:23 in the first period, on his first shift and he hadn't skated one bit. That was a bit ridiculous IMO. It's also Laviolette's responsability to tell Rempe to slack a bit in the upcoming games and protect him because he won't last long otherwise...

19 minutes ago, thegx.ca said:

To put in comparison I'm not a big ultimate fighting/boxing/MMA/violence fan...but I truly appreciate hockey  because unlike the other sports the entire team has their individual/personal choice to fight or drop their gloves or slash at others etc and that choice to fight or not or to slash or not etc is exactly what other sports lack...in combats sports there is no choice not to fright and in other sports like soccer etc there is no choice to fight because fighting isn't part of the game...but in hockey you have the choice to take matters into your own hands and try to force your team to play better just with your sheer force and will power anytime during the game...you might not be able to score but you can fight anytime you want and that gives hockey athletes a certain toughness and realness trust non hockey players will never have...and for me as a fan I truly  appreciate realness in our world of ever growing fakeness...

I'm fully on board with this.

56 minutes ago, TropicalFruitGirl26 said:

 

NHL debut I see.

Terrific WHL and AHL numbers.
Small frame for a center....perhaps Brayden Point-like?
Will see if he can translate his minor league success to the bigs

Very small indeed, but capable to play on the wing either. 200+ pts in 100 games in the WHL, had a terrific training camp, was the scoring leader in the AHL, so yeah the kid has potential. He really looks like a cube and his surname is the pittbull because it's almost impossible to steal the puck from him. Two points tonight, one on the PP and played in the OT as well. If this guy is sent down again, it's a crime.

Watch that Stankoven guy in the near future...

I'm watching that game with one eye (Stars are playing the Isles right now too) and I'm still wondering how the Stars managed to lose against Ottawa...

31 minutes ago, Podein25 said:

 

That's a helluva fight right there. Respect is the value added.

Oh I totally agree on that point, that fight was a nice one.

By value-added, I mean towards the gameplan and strategy. What brings such fights into the overall game as a whole aside of trying to switch momentum and try to ignite a spark. Respect has always been there between fighters and enforcers (I hate the term "goon"). Kordic, Probert, Kocur, McRae, Churla, McSorley, Domi, Grimson, Nilan, Boogaard, Fedoruk; just to name a few of them, they all respected each other even if things turned out ugly sometimes. 

I don't know... As much as I like the physicality of hockey, the fights also of course, I'm still struggling with the concept of set-up organized fights. I don't know what it clearly brings and what's the value-added in those. A fight has to come from a sequence of events, a rivalry, animosity, even retaliation (but not on a good legal hit). It has to come from the heart, like two guys that dislike (but respect in the meantime) each other. Maybe the Rempe guy has a real potential and can become a legit NHLer -- at least in today's hockey you have to contribute even if you are an enforcer, but I prefer a Cuylle type of guy that hits a lot and add physicality in this way rather than piling up PIM from fighting major.

lol

On 2/17/2024 at 2:54 PM, TropicalFruitGirl26 said:

Yes, I do like those new thirds, even with the rounded logo.
The color scheme is just fantastic.

I've never been a fan of the Maple Leaf inspired blue n white they switched to years ago as their main colors.
Honestly, nothing wrong with the blue n white...but is just isn't "Tampa Bay"....it is Toronto. Always has been.

Lots of teams have, over the years, adopted a black scheme as their third sweaters, but the Lightning, from their very beginning back in 1992-93 had black as their main color in their unis.
Black, blue n silver (or white).

Lots of amateur designers have come up with a color scheme for the Lightning, and some are pretty damned good....much better (for them) then the blue n white....so just glad to see these!

Makes complete sense. I'm currently watching the Lightning-Senators game, I'm taking a special attention at those jersey and these are absolutely sharp. They have that great blue bottom-right shadowing on the numbers I didn't notice before along with the white-blue-grey stripes. The 3D lightning on the pants are great too.

These really look like the 2004 scheme and for me, that reflects Tampa's true identity. Maybe (hopefully) they will do like Vegas or Calgary and switch those jerseys from alternate to the home main ones because they are much better.

So the League's top team allowed 10 goals. That's interesting.

Some solid goaltending along with strong and disciplined defensive structure in this game. Fleury was the best goalie and ran away with a 6-save win and a a .750 efficiency.

7 minutes ago, JR Ewing said:

You don't want to be the biggest representation of the big headline tournament for a global event? Soccer leagues get it; their star player going off somewhere is going to sell jerseys and create interest in their product.  After 2008 there were a billion Messi Barcelona jerseys in circulation.

All completely valid points there. And in a sense, yeah of course, I would be nice to have an "official" world cup of hockey with the 8, 10 or 12 best nations. In soccer it's easier and also it's more of a cultural thing to have that big event every four years in summer while all national championships are on holiday break. Soccer is a worldwide universal sport whereas hockey is still a niche game. In an ideal world, it would be nice to see an ice hockey world cup every two or four years outside the NHL calender, but the challenges are huge and go beyond the who, where, and more importantly: when. It's still a winter sport and as much as I love this sport, it is also good to have a break in summer and care about something else. The FIFA World Cup trophy is most wanted one, in hockey it's the Stanley.

Such event is very difficult to put in place. Even in Europe, they tried to have some sort of a Champions League with the best european teams but it's a pain in the arse. It existed in the early 1990s, then it was cancelled for lack of interest and support, then they tried a revamp version but nobody really cares. It messes up all different calenders and teams don't want to have extra games and travelling in an already busy schedule. 

I'm the even smaller minority who says "f**k the IOC, I hate to see the NHL stop with its players going to this sh!tshow circus"

For the past decades, the Olympic comittee has become so much involved into politics, acting like parrot spokesmen of debatable regimes thar are running to show to the world who has the most money. I really liked the 1994 Lillehammer Winter games, human size, very friendly people rooting for anyone, ecological, etc. But it has turned worse and worse. I guess we should be looking forward to the 2044 Dubai or Qatar Winter games... So yeah, I despise this farce. Pierre de Coubertin should be turning mad in his grave.

@TropicalFruitGirl26

It completely went under my radar but I noticed that the Lightning played with a new alternate jersey. This one is much better that the previous boring black/gray one even though I'm not a big fan of round logos in general. On the other hand, Tampa doesn't have a real distinct alternate logo on their own. To be honest, having the skull Buccaneers-like as the main crest would have killed it. Too bad they don't go further with this.