Official NHL Season 2015-2016 Thread

[philou21]

Las Vegas is going to have his team for the 17-18 season.

[bruins72]

But will it be expansion or relocation?

[philou21]

Expansion. The league will have 31 teams and a 7 teams only division. That's gonna be a bit weird.6

[rmt_1982]

PENGUINS ARE SO darn FAST. San Jose looks like 1978 Colorado Rockies roster in comparison, and they were one of the fastest teams in the league.

Watched the first couple of games of the final, and yeah, didn't realise the Pens were that fast. Quick players on the SJ team getting left for dead, and the Pens are grinding it out.

That, and BoninoBoninoBonino...!!

[CJ]

Oh man! 6 minutes & 4 goals (2-2).

[m0fownz0r]

SJS Comeback time

[CJ]

SJS Comeback time

If they wanna win the SC they can't be outshot like that.. Second time this series they got lucky enough.. that won't do if they wanna win the whole thing.

[philou21]

Am I the only one that thinks Crosby getting the Conn Smythe is a joke?

[m0fownz0r]

Am I the only one that thinks Crosby getting the Conn Smythe is a joke?

You can count me as well..

[philou21]

It's pretty obvious that it's only a marketing decision....I mean Letang or Murray and even Pavelski or Burns could have been chosen before him.

[CJ]

Am I the only one that thinks Crosby getting the Conn Smythe is a joke?

Not a joke, but I think there were a handful of others deserving it more.

[Primis]

Am I the only one that thinks Crosby getting the Conn Smythe is a joke?

No. I've seen very few defenders of the decision so far, and a whoooooole lot of complaints.

[nino33]

It's pretty obvious that it's only a marketing decision....I mean Letang or Murray and even Pavelski or Burns could have been chosen before him.

I wouldn't sat that...Pavelski/Burns played on a losing team in the SCF that was never actually in it, and they both played poorly in the Final (the Sharks were thoroughly outplayed in the Final IMO)...Murray gave up a lot of bad goals throughout the playoffs, and doesn't derserve consideration at all IMO (he's the reincarnation of Steve Penney, not Ken Dryden HaHa)...Letang maybe

With my early start to summer vacation, my editing (and needing something in the background) and finding the 2016 NHL Playoffs on youtube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCV9V7X ... /playlists I've now watched 10 of the Penguins playoff games, and Crosby's consistently their top or one of their top performers every game (Letang stands out too a bit, and even Kessel...the rest haven't stood out to me)

Am I the only one that thinks Crosby getting the Conn Smythe is a joke?

No. I've seen very few defenders of the decision so far, and a whoooooole lot of complaints.

I don't understand the "hatred" for Crosby that it seems to many fans have

Crosby's the team captain/leader...the Penguin's toughest challenge was against Tampa Bay, where Crosby had 3 game winning goals against the Lightning...while of course such decisions are debatable, it doesn't seem unreasonable
FYI I'm not a "Crosby fan"


EDIT - I thought Joel Ward played really well for San Jose...not Conn Smythe worthy! HaHa but he stood out to me
EDIT - reworded/removed what seemed like (unintended) rudeness on my part

[Primis]

I don't understand the "hatred" for Crosby that it seems to many fans have

Crosby's the team captain/leader...the Penguin's toughest challenge was against Tampa Bay, where Crosby had 3 game winning goals against the Lightning...while of course such decisions are debatable, it doesn't seem unreasonable
FYI I'm not a "Crosby fan"

That's just it though. There are plenty of folks who are normally Crosby apologists whose response to it was "Yeah, in this case he didn't deserve it".

The trophy is supposed to go to the best/most valuable *playoff* performer, not in a single game, or in the Finals, or anything else.

Crosby spent much of playoffs getting grief because he wasn't scoring when his team was struggling, and at times he and Malkin both were shouldering lots of blame. That sure doesn't sound like an MVP to me.

[nino33]

The trophy is supposed to go to the best/most valuable *playoff* performer, not in a single game, or in the Finals, or anything else.

Yeah, I know, that's why I referenced he was consistently their best or close to their best player in every game I've seen (11 so far)

Crosby spent much of playoffs getting grief because he wasn't scoring when his team was struggling, and at times he and Malkin both were shouldering lots of blame. That sure doesn't sound like an MVP to me.

Sounds normal, as in all the years I've been watching hockey, top scorers get grief when they don't score (and it's not like overall Crosby didn't score).....and it's OK to "shoulder lots of blame" when you win the Stanley Cup HaHa (it shows how wrong those "blaming" actually were)

FYI I don't consider a bunch of "fans" ranting online after a game as "blame" (and I don't think players pay much if any attention to it)

I haven't watched the Penguins-Capitals yet (when they went up 3-1 and won the series 4-2), but I've watched the whole Rangers/Sharks series' and both teams were totally outplayed by the Penguins...while clearly they didn't win every game, I don't think the evidence shows Pittsburgh was ever "struggling" this playoff

[CJ]

Chicago traded Teräväinen and Bickell to Carolina for a 2nd & 3rd.

I think Carolina got Teräväinen pretty cheap.

[nino33]

Chicago traded Teräväinen and Bickell to Carolina for a 2nd & 3rd.

I think Carolina got Teräväinen pretty cheap.

I think that's the price Chicago paid to get rid of Bickell's contract...

With the house of cards "ever rising Cap" coming crashing down, there's going to be more of these kind of deals coming I think.....looks like the 2016-17 Cap might not rise at all, and might actually fall! http://thehockeywriters.com/nhl-salary-cap-fall/ putting a number of teams in significant trouble regarding to much money spent on to few players

IMO I don't think this surprises any GM/hockey executive, they've been waiting for this to happen for a few years [and if the player's use the escalator clause again, and lose way more in escrow again (because 50% of revenues isn't covering existing player contracts) we'll be in the same boat next year - the Cap is many millions to high now for existing revenues, and unless the Canadian dollar significantly rises (not expected) nothing's going to change regarding revenues IMO (in Canada, hockey is actually losing both amateur participants and viewership of the pros)

[philou21]

I thought it was the second overall and realised Carolina weren't picking at that spot. Dang, that's cheap indeed!

[MWE]

A good old fashioned salary dump that's something I would do on EHM

[m0fownz0r]

Magic man no more

[CJ]

Magic man no more

What, who?

[philou21]

Datsyuk is my guess.

[m0fownz0r]

I'm sure most of you, hockey fans first, appreciated him all along...

Still here is a little highlight reel https://www.youtube.com/embed/jHxlzJPevxQ

...and here is my personal favourite https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMU2-xLUjok

[philou21]

...and here is my personal favourite https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMU2-xLUjok

I actually never seen this one before. Pretty funny and cool!

Both the NHL and the Wings are going to miss him. He provided us with tons of highlights.

[nino33]

Here's some truly fantastic news...Ron MacLean's returning as host to HNIC http://www.msn.com/en-ca/sports/news/fa ... ailsignout

The rumour's always been that Bettman hated MacLean and had a part in his removal as HNIC host....two years of brutal ratings/reviews have been enough I guess

I've long found HNIC to often close to unwatchable, it became so much worse when Rogers took over (for me it became unwatchable).....last fall I "cut my cable" and stopped watching altogether - can't see changing my tune on the cable, but I can see being willing to go out to a pub and watch a CBC telecast now!


EDIT I liked the comments section comment that said "Just because the media inserts the Leafs into every article, it doesn't make them relevent" - the reference in the article to the Leafs struggles the last couple years made me chuckle, as they've been struggling since I started watching hockey in 1976; a couple times they had a season like Vancouver in 1981 or Carolina/Edmonton in 2006 (except the Leafs never made a SCF), but the Leafs have never been a serious team/contender in my experience and for decades have almost always been an example of how not to do things (and I do find the media focus extremely excessive)