Otter

They certainly don't look like they are being cursed by the Hockey Gods at all so far.

I was not sure of the exact amount of ice time he was taking for Toronto , but at the end of the season he was listed as the 3rd Pair Defense on the Toronto Maple Leafs depth chart with Timothy Liljegren. Whether that was a constant, I don't know but that is what it was listed on the teams depth chart at the end of the season. I also do not see him being used ahead of Rielly, Muzzin, Brodie, or even Holl or Sandin next season. That would put him on the 3rd pairing.

If the Leafs go into next season with the same D core as this past season there is no way that Gio gets the top 2 pairings. Who is he going to outplay? Definitely not, Rielly, Muzzin, Brodie, or even Holl or Sandin.

Comparing Ristolanian and Gio really is no comaprison at all. They are like night and day. Gio is over 10 years Risto's senior, but Risto players 10 years more than Gio's 38 years of age. Gio has offensive skills to pass the puck and he also can play defense. Risto is one of the slowest defenseman I have ever witnessed and is horrible on defense and lately has absolutely no offensive skills to add. In his career he has never had a + season and in my opinion never will because his defense is horrible.

At the end of the season the Toronto Maple Leafs had Gio working on the 3rd Line pairing. Now he averaged over 20 minutes of ice time last season between Seattle and Toronto and I don't know how much that went down once he came to Toronto, but next season I definitely continue see him on the 3rd D pairing with below 20 minutes of ice time unless significant injuries happen to the Toronto defense during the season.

With all the craziness that has gone on in this series with the Kadri/Binnington and also the knocking out of Girard of the series with a broken Sterum, I don't see any shenanigans going on while the game is close and up for grabs in this crucial game 4. The game is way too important for any players to put their team into jeopardy with a stupid penalty. Now if the game gets out of hand one way or the other then the Refs could have some trouble to deal with during this game. If there becomes a lead of 3 or 4 goals by one team someone could be targeted. Regardless, this game is going to be really interesting to watch tonight.

I don't see it happening. The Lightning have the correct formula going against the Panthers right now. They are filling up the lanes and blocking just about every possible shot the Panthers try to muster towards the net. The ones that do get to the net are quickly eaten up by Vasy. During the regular season the Panthers averaged around 4 goals per game and here in this series they are averaging 1 goal per game. The PP the Panthers are trying to put together is pretty much not even there. I know the Panthers are a talented club and they can make drastric changes, but you also have to look at the talent of the Lightning and what they are doing. They are just not going to fall off and especially not on home ice. I think tonight is the end for the Panthers in these playoffs.

What happens when Oil and Flame get together? They quickly ignite. That is what I am seeing in this series. A series that is going to ignite to a game 7 and be extremely exciting. So far it has been a series that has had a ton of goals and also has exhibited some really good goalie play on certain nights. The play of Connor McDavid could spark an inferno at any time with the sort of moves he makes so you always have to look out for him.

Gio will be 39 years old next season and he is not the player that is only a few years off of a 74 point season in 2018-19 with Calgary, but he is still a player that can contribute to the defense. Last season between Seattle and Toronto he played 75 games and tallied 27 assists. If the Leafs use him in the bottom end of the pairings of the defense this signing at the minimum cannot be a mistake unless he gets injured and misses most of the season. He will contribute to the team if they utilize him correctly.

Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, and Evander Kane are going to do their thing in this series that is a given. What is going to make all the difference for the Edmonton Oilers in this series is the play of Mike Smith. Will he play like he played in last evening's game or like he played in game one. That will determine the success of the Oilers and if they will move onto the conference finals or not.

My vote goes for the Sedin twins. It just seemed like they had that extra sense when they skated together on the ice. Kind of like that twins sense.

Just heard the announcer on ESPN report that threats have been made towards Kadri on Twitter and beefed up police pressence outside the Colorado hotel has been made. It is one thing to have Jordan Binnington to throw a water bottle at him, but idiots starting to make real threats against him are really unacceptable.

I gotcha, and I am not disagreeing with that at all. I guess I am just disagreeing that everytime an agitator player like Kadri or Marchand makes a play even if it is clean it should be considered as agitating or trying to get something started. I don't really think that was the case at all in this situation. That is all I am saying. I know you didn't agree with what Binnington did.

I have to say it is very enjoyable to watch Connor McDavid play this game. It must be really nice for the Edmonton fans to see this quite often during the season.

I disagree with this mostly because these players are professions and many kids look up to them and these sorts of actions are not acceptable at all no matter how much another player gets under their skin. Players in every sport get a lot of verbal abuse from fans , but we don't see the players running into the stands beating the hell out of the fans because of it or throwing stuff at them because if they did they would no longer be a professional player. There is a certain persona a professional athlete should take on that these kids can look up to. Maybe I am a little more sensitive on this subject because I have two young boys who do play sports and they do look up to some of these athletes. I myself may understand that these players are just regular people , but these young kids do not. Each team has one of these agitators on them and one that comes to mind in the Boston Bruins Brad Marchand. He can definitely get under other players skin, but handle it on the ice. Don't throw bottles or anything else when someone is doing an interview after the game. That to me is unacceptable.

The issue here though with Binnington and Kadri was the crashing of the net that ultimately injured Binnington and knocked him out of the remainder of the series. The play was not deemed to be dirty at all and just a play that was moving extremely quickly that actually happens quite often. I don't like when player get injured at all, but Jordan Binnington's reaction to this is uncalled for.

Max Domi could have earned himself a dance with Ryan Reaves in the next game.

All I know is it will be another enjoyable night watching McDavid make some of those ridiculous moves he makes and put on a show.

I expect Bourque to be a back end of the year player next season. He will show the Stars what he can provide and then in 23-24 will put on a full time show. The future of this team is ROBO, Miro, Otter, Gurianov, Hintz. The future is very bright for this team. They also have players I think in their prime like Namestnikov whom I really like and also Esa Lindell.

I think this whole bitterness between Binnington and Kadri goes back before the incident in the last game. I have never played the game of hockey, but played soccer and softball and know that plays occur that accidental injuries can easily happen. In the game of hockey the game moves so very fast and these players skate so fast things like not being able to stop and avoid colliding with other players are going to happen. Binnington has been playing the game long enough to know this and if he was the one who threw the water bottle at Kadri during the interview that is such a childish act and he should be fined for that.

Didn't realize Risto was only 27 years old. It seems like he has been around for ages. He certainly plays like he is 35 or older.

Through 26-27? Just awful.

That is why I really doubt he will be back in a Stars uniform next season.

I had to pull myself off the floor on that one. What is the salary that Risto is making? It is obviously way too much.

It looked like the last game of the Islanders he was making it his swan song. If not he was leaning that way.