SaucyJack

If Ovie manages to survive 5 more years, scoring some goals along the way, will he manage to finish with a career “plus”? (vs “minus”) In 1197 career games, Ovenchicken is a mere +75. And except for a few lean years, the Caps have generally been a strong regular season squad during his reign. Extrapolated to an even 2000 games played, for a fair comparison…here are the +/- career numbers for some of the star forwards over the last 25 years. (Yes yes some had lousier average teams than others. These legends all played at least 1039 games (Crosby) but no more than 1733 games (Jagr).) Marian Hossa: +374 Jaromir Jagr: +372 Sidney Crosby: +352 Steve Yzerman: +243 Teemu Selanne: +131 Ovenchicken: +125 (Another way would have been to do the average plus per game, giving some decimal fraction. They’re both just ways to get a fair comparison.) Those top three are close to triple Ovie’s work. Side note: Being such Cap Killers for sooo long (2003 *and* 2011 playoffs), I was surprised to see long time Lightning Legends Vinnie Lecavalier at -140 over 1212 games, and Martin St Louis at a puny +37 over 1033 games. Well I suppose with my philosophy about the vast difference between NHL playoffs and regular season, I should instead figure out the comparisons for postseason only. Still…

Yeah…you mean this no doubt: https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.reddit.com/r/caps/comments/8uq1v6/ovenchicken/

Let’s hope there wasn’t anyone nearby with a jersey reading ILSCRATZYA

I phrased this poorly. My point was that any league that plays such a long “regular” season without eliminating a high % of its teams, allowing so many middle-of-the-road teams to advance to its REAL and ultimate challenge, is not a very serious or important campaign. Add college hoops major conference regular seasons to that list. (Interruptions would be tolerable even though the hoopsters currently don’t have them in practice.) Yes the NHL is premier in ice hockey. But the Olympics do not interrupt its critical moments. Now if the Olympics asked to be timed so as to interrupt during the NHL playoffs, of course that would be out of the question. In World Soccer, the top 5 leagues (England, Italy, Spain, Germany, France) plus the UEFA Champions League are probably more important as club competitions than the World Cup, surpassing it at least for many. But they still take “international breaks” on various weekends of the year to do the nation vs nation qualifying, “interrupting” the club competition schedules. (Whether World Cup qualies or Euro Championship qualies or off-season ‘friendlier’ aka ‘Nations League’.). Sure it’s not as long as an Olympic break but they do this every soccer season for some nation v nation event. Hockey has a longer interruption once every 4 years. The Olympics does not interrupt the Stanley Cup pursuit in any meaningful way. This argument might be valid if a lesser number of teams qualified for the playoffs. Then, a team might complain that it’s hot streak got ruined by an Olympic break, preventing them significantly in snaring that 8th and final playoff spot. Right now, any teams qualifying, say, 13th thru 20th, half making playoffs, half not, it’s partly crapshoot luck. (That’s OK, be top 25% in the regular season and you don’t need a bit of luck to eke into the playoffs.)

I find it difficult to swallow arguments that a league that has traditionally advanced more than 50% of its teams (exactly 50% this coming season) to post-season playoffs, cannot abide a break for an international competition like the Olympics. Same argument for NBA as for NHL, one could argue. If these long regular (pre)seasons are so important and sacrosanct from disruption, their “meaning” would, in the purest sense, award the highest prestige to winning the league, just like all the major soccer leagues in Europe do. Of course that’s so opposed to what us North Americans are used to (except for baseball before the 1970’s) a better compromise is an 8 (not 16) team playoff in NHL and NBA. Barring that, it is hard to treat the NHL regular season with overly-magnified importance. Give the Olympics a few weeks to shine. P.S. Love watching biathlon! Endurance and skill, athletics at its best.

Does it make sense to play in the Southern Hemisphere’s spring and summer? (How much temperature difference is there in Australia between winter and summer? If not very much, I can see it could make sense to have an ice hockey season in sync with North America and Europe/Russia.) “Oice ‘ockey dain undah! Crikey, mate!”

I’m presuming they used Star Trek’s transporter to get Kevin Weekes back and forth, to and from, all those Seattle venues so quickly. Looked and felt like an awesome place to start a new franchise. Should be fun to see how they do.

As for who Seattle picks from the “other Washington”, how does a GM figure out whether a young unprotected goalie (who got injured immediately in the playoffs) is a Dream or a Dud? Rather than pick a somewhat uninspiring blue-liner like Nick Jensen, perhaps the Kraken should take a gamble on the Capitals’ Vitek Vanacek. Czech? P.S. Drinks are on me if they pick Ovenchicken!

I have heard very little, I actually spend little time in the greater DC area nowadays since I am primary caretaker of my elderly mom here in the Chicagoland area. But if it were up to me, I’d choose Harassers as the new name. It fits with all the latest revelations of ‘Me Too’ scandals for the past 15 years under this decrepit owner. They could focus on their defensive side and develop a superb pass rush, fitting with the new name. Look, if the NHL can abide Predators, surely the NFL can live with Harassers.

Suppose the Washington NFL franchise soon starts finding success in gridiron foosball not seen since 1991. Then will you agree that the Toronto NHL franchise should abandon their moniker for maybe a year of no-name until they get rechristened as Maple Spinners or Bay Leaves or Senior Marlies or whatever the accursed ⛸ franchise’s fans vote for?

Yes, an impressive TBL squad. They’re such a contrast to, say, the 2018 Capitals who impressed and shocked their fans one year only to fall flat the next 3 years. Repeat champs like the 90’s Wings or the Penguins of 5 years ago impress everyone the most. Congrats to ‘TFG26’ for her club repeating, and thanks to her for setting up these fun discussion threads. (No doubt she excelled beyond the 25 TFGs that preceded her. )

Err…me no can count good. I need big sign near bed in morning which say (big font) : FOUR…*THEN* FIVE. (SIX LATER) Kinda like that old Far Side cartoon with the big bedroom sign saying: “First, pants. THEN shoes.”

Well don’t lose hope! Two storms converge on Tampa Bay on Wednesday for game 6. One, Elsa is bringing her rain and high winds from the south. Two, Allie (that is, Montre-Allie!) is bringing her determination and puck savvy from the north! These two whirlwinds meeting on Wednesday can lead to the Unpredictable!

To imagine this on Wimbledon Centre Court…the fireflies had match point on their own serve and failed to convert. Many a match has had cicadas come back to win afterwards! Well, the Capitals STILL remain the last team to get swept in the Finals, back in ‘98 when they got rolled by the Wings led by the NHL’s first Russkie Wave and Stevie “Wonder” Yzerman.

Most common question asked by TBL players of the hotel concierge: “So what’s the best way to kill 48+ hours in Montreal?”

Leah Hextall announced well in the recent NCAA Frozen Four. Haven’t heard about new TNT announcer decisions since Kenny Albert and Eddie Olczyk were named almost 2 months ago. The good thing about Melrose is that we get free frequent mentions of his small Saskatchewan hometown. Gotta have that regular Kelvington fix!

Yup I suppose. After losing the first game against the Nordiques in OT, Montreal won 10 of their 16 victories in OT, never losing in OT again. Especially killer was erasing a 1-0 Final deficit to Gretzky’s and Mullet Melrose’s LA Kings to win games 2,3, and 4 in OT. Call ‘em lucky, they knew how to play in the clutch. Let’s see if this 2021 batch can come back and adjust to last night’s manhandling.

Montreal has shown highly skilled offensive stick handling and quick effective shotmaking. Such a difference from my Capitals. They look to be a Team Of Destiny as was the ‘93 squad that won an unheard-of number of OT games and killed LA fans hopes of a Gretzky South Cup victory. (And killed the mullet style of one Barry Melrose.) These Quebec cicadas burrow out of the earth with ferociousness every once in a blue moon. But it’s little buggers winning no matter what, cicadas or lightning bugs (fireflies) but I’m on board The Train now… …Montrecicada Canadiennae overcome Photuris Tampabayana in 6. (The losers get impaled on little pins for display at some Natural History museum I guess.)

I had the game on my DVR and kept going forward and the score kept rising, Islandudez unable to bail water out of their sinking boat, so I saw virtually none of it. NHL app game highlights only for me. Others of a certain age were likely reminded of the 1991 finals where Mario Lemieux’s Penguins finally wore down a game Minnesota North Stars squad by seizing the Cup in an 8-0 Game Six blowout.

Not enough, I’m afraid! (Capitals’ Samsonov is now off the hook for the boneheadiest goalie gaffe of this year’s Cup-proceedings.)

I’ve been dying to have somebody follow this up with a joke about the goal mouth, but I suppose it wouldn’t be PG now would it? But, Habs leaving Vegas tied 1-1, seems as apt as Burt Reynolds saving Ned Beatty’s purty you-know-what, before the weird mountain kid could make things a dreadful 2-0.

Simpler than what was described in the first clip (4 win, 3 OT win, 2 shootout win, 1 for OT/shootout loss)... ...would be 3 win, 2 OT/SO win, 1 OT/SO loss. Then it’s a zero-sum game, all contests equal divvying out 3 points total. The league also has to cater to more casual customers who will attend a game in winter because, well, it is winter and it’s not MLB or NFL season. And those folks don’t find ties palatable. If every fan was “serious” about the league, and followed the regular season horse race with interest, ties would be A-OK. I remember the pre-2004-strike days, looking at the fine print scores in the newspaper, and seeing what the IHL did...extra point to an OT winner making some games 3 points, others 2. My immediate thought: BUSH LEAGUE! Nobody gives a doocr@p about the league’s horse race. When it was announced post-strike that the NHL would adopt the same, I groaned.

I think it was 2010, the 3rd year that the Ovenchicken Caps choked at playoff time, that I utterly broke down. Three decades of countless playoff chokes had evolved me to watching less regular season every season,but dutifully viewing their annual spring meltdown. After 2010 it was barely watch regular season, just read the WaPo articles now and then and maybe an occasional game highlight. Playoff watching remained a mandatory viewing assignment, less a joy than a solemn duty. Then the unimaginable 2018 run of luck and skill to a Cup, probably the only one they’ll win in a century of toil. After that I watched a bit more regular season, able to enjoy it knowing that no matter what, the lads didn’t go 0 for 100. The mostly meaningless fluff was at least fun and no longer an utter waste of hope. Yes if you want sport in a true sense then watch playoffs only. NHL, NBA, MLB, College Hoops being the main ones in that category.

Entomologists keep having to reassess whether this group of pests (to other clubs, perhaps going beyond that) qualify as cicadas. Yes, yes, recognized cicadas, such as this past month’s outburst of Brood X centered in the DC/Maryland/Virginia region, are all either 13 or 17 year cycle. Suspicions arose in 1993 after Montreal captured the Cup in three successive 7-year cycles (‘79, ‘86, ‘93). To then upset the Capitals and Penguins as an 8 seed in 2010, on a standard 17-year cycle from their prior success in 1993, raised eyebrows in the science world. Now, what to make of yet another cycle, another prime number cycle of 11 years, repeating similar success here in 2021 as they did on 2010. My sources in the insect study community reveal to me the great excitement, mixed with consternation, now prevailing. I am told that an ever-growing minority of experts believe this warrants declaration of not just a new species, but a new genus as well: Montrecicada Canadiennae We shall keep our eyes and ears open for more on these ground-breaking scientific developments!