Jump to content
DVDVR Message Board

NHL - December 2014


Dolfan in NYC

Recommended Posts

 

I just realized that the Sabres are now only 6 points out of a playoff spot. If Nolan were to somehow pull that off he should imediately be inducted into the HHOF. Seriously, is there anyone better at turning chicken shit into chicken salad?

 

 

You're really okay with this? I thought the goal this year was for the Sabres to get a top pick?

 

I figure if anything they'll start trading away guys ASAP to prevent any more wins.

 

I'm torn: McDavid or Eichel would be swell, but it is nice to play meaningful hockey after December. If tanking is the strategy than they made the wrong choice in hiring Nolan because he gets the most out of the least. It's ironic that Islander fans were furious when he was fired there because he made an awful team on paper a team that nearly made playoffs. But then they collapsed the season after he was fired and ended up with JT, which was the single best thing that happened to the organization since they acquired Butch Goering in the trade that put them over the top. Could history repeat itself?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Shout out to all the eastern conference reporters that are suddenly Oilers insiders with intimate knowledge of Taylor Hall that can't be confirmed by anyone actually following the team. "Taylor Hall has a bad attitude" he's been stuck on this shithouse team for 5 of the best years of his life if he didn't have a bad attitude I'd be a lot more worried.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Shout out to all the eastern conference reporters that are suddenly Oilers insiders with intimate knowledge of Taylor Hall that can't be confirmed by anyone actually following the team. "Taylor Hall has a bad attitude" he's been stuck on this shithouse team for 5 of the best years of his life if he didn't have a bad attitude I'd be a lot more worried.

You know, in the past I've said the Oilers should have traded some of there top forwards for things and blah blah blah, but in retrospect, I don't think it matters what they do. As long as that management team is that management team, that team and franchise is screwed.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've never been a big Kevin Lowe fan (as a management team member) so I won't argue against that. I like MacTavish fine as a hockey mind but he's a rookie GM. That isn't great. Then Eakins was a rookie head coach. Which also wasn't great.

 

Add it into the blender of Oilers problems and here we are. The Oilers this offseason really needed to do what Garth Snow pulled off with the Islanders in terms of solidifying the base of what we had, and clearly that didn't work here. Snow went out and moved some picks and got himself the rights to Halak, and a couple of defensemen, and helped himself a lot. In Edmonton Mark Fayne has been fine, steady, but he's a #4 defenseman who plays like one. Nikitin had been a disaster; more so than I think anyone anywhere predicted. Biggest flub was not getting support at C, where you now see it be RNH, an 18-year old rookie that should be in jr, and 2 AHL guys because Boyd Gordon is hurt.

 

Purcell does nothing for me. Pulliot is... well, you know. David Perron has fallen off a lot from last year and looks like a guy pissed off that the team rewarded his really good year by signing Purcell and Pulliot and cutting his ice time down, and now he's stuck in a deck chair on the Titanic.

 

Jury is still out on Scrivens. Fasth is, really, just a guy.

 

Issues.

 

On the bright side we play Arizona and the beloved Devan Dubnyk tonight, what can go wrong?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So, what do y'all think the biggest surprise has been so far this season? A couple weeks ago, I would have gone with the Flames (I'm biased, of course), but now that they have lost 5 straight (going on 6) I guess I'll go with...

 

Rick Nash miracle season.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

No Trouba, no trouble. :)

 

Is this the day that Mark Scheifle became a man?

 

Granted, they were playing the Sabres, but a 5-1 win while missing their top 3 defensemen (well, Enstrom is really addiction by subtraction) is still impressive.

 

Still, the next 2 months without Trouba is gonna suck....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Tarasenko is probably a good pick. Him having a great season is less surprising than Nash having a great season, but the extent of the greatness might put Tarasenko over the edge.

 

The Leafs are probably a good pick as well, but I find it morally repugnant to give them credit for anything, so I vote no.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

No Trouba, no trouble. :)

 

Is this the day that Mark Scheifle became a man?

 

Granted, they were playing the Sabres, but a 5-1 win while missing their top 3 defensemen (well, Enstrom is really addiction by subtraction) is still impressive.

 

Still, the next 2 months without Trouba is gonna suck....

To be honest thought tonight was one of those games that was greatly influenced by the schedule. We were playing good but just ran out of gas midway through the game. Playing a game the night prior and having to fly halfway across the continent sucks.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So the Wings have hit a lull, with an 0-1-3 stretch in their last four.  They looked good against Florida and (once) against Toronto and decent against Columbus.  Terrible against Toronto the second time.  All 3 OT losses were shootouts featuring Jimmy Howard.  Man, he's so terrible at them, it's embarrassing.  He had a .250 save percentage in shootouts going into last night before managing 1 save in 3 tries.  It's no mystery why he's so terrible - his technique is atrocious.  He gets really low - but spreads his legs really wide.  Giant 5-hole and the top half of the net completely open, while also having limited mobility.  Ugh.  Seriously, he'd be better off just laying on his side on the goal line and flailing his arm and leg at any incoming shot.  And, of course, Detroit's shooters are equally awful at shootouts so Jimmy has no room for error either.

 

On an unrelated note, I often find myself wondering what NHL referees are watching at times.  Last night, Z was battling with Jack Johnson along the boards, with the puck right at their feet.  Another Blue Jacket came in and obliterated Z into the boards with a crosscheck - no penalty.  How the heck does that even happen?  I get it if stuff is missed away from the puck but when the puck is right there?  And your view is unobstructed?  WTF?  Stuff like that happens, if not every then every other, game.  I don't get it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've honestly sort of given up even trying to make sense of sports referees. It's a hopeless project, like trying to figure out how to get inside a black hole without being crushed.

Interstellar solved that problem.  Pick something actually difficult, pal.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
×
×
  • Create New...