EHM The Blue Line

Well I'm born in 1987 and I follow hockey since maybe 2001 very closely so the Oilers are really one of the only team I've seen been this bad, Stanley Cup finale or not. Leafs were bad but mostly middle of the pack bad, like the Habs were for a while.

I'm aware of what MTL did in the past though but I can't really have an opinion on that since I wasn't there.

philou21 wrote:Well I'm born in 1987 and I follow hockey since maybe 2001 very closely so the Oilers are really one of the only team I've seen been this bad, Stanley Cup finale or not. Leafs were bad but mostly middle of the pack bad, like the Habs were for a while.

I'm aware of what MTL did in the past though but I can't really have an opinion on that since I wasn't there.

Oh you're just a kid then, haha!! I'm born in 86.

Chicago and Pittsburgh were bad at the beginning of the millennium. Then they got Thoews & Kane, Crosby & Malkin, end of story.

I got married in '86

nino33 wrote:I got married in '86

Get out of here old timer! And so was the Chernobyl disaster and Swedish prime minister Olof Palme got murdered... That's about it for me.

CJ wrote:Chicago and Pittsburgh were bad at the beginning of the millennium. Then they got Thoews & Kane, Crosby & Malkin, end of story.

Add those two yeah but it didn't dragged on when they started to draft well enough.

CJ wrote:

nino33 wrote:I got married in '86

Get out of here old timer! And so was the Chernobyl disaster and Swedish prime minister Olof Palme got murdered... That's about it for me.

I didn't know about Olof Palme...1986 was also the Steve Smith banked the puck off Grant Fuhr and into his own net and stopped the Oilers run of Cups, and the year rookie Patrick Roy lead the Habs to victory (and the last time to date that all active Canadian teams have qualified in the same season)

The "Battle of Alberta" (Oilers/Flames) was so great to watch back in the 80s

I was born in 91 and I've been into hockey years ago when I found a SJ Sharks jersey in batch of leftover clothes from one of my cousins.

CJ wrote:Chicago and Pittsburgh were bad at the beginning of the millennium. Then they got Thoews & Kane, Crosby & Malkin, end of story.

It's not just that simple, though.

* Chicago didn't get Kane and Toews.... they drafted Keith and Seabrook too. And one could argue Keith was far more important than either Kane or Toews. They also had to bring in Sharp.
* Pittsburgh didn't get Crosby and Malkin... they also drafted MA Fleury (a #1 Overall) and Jordan Staal (everyone forgets he was a #2 overall the year after Crosby), and to be honest Ryan Whitney (a #5 overall who was VERY good before the drugs finally ruined him).

Drafting one or two studs like that is obviously nice, but... the point being even then it doesn't get the job done. You need to hit some home runs still with a couple other picks too, and those picks tend to also be very early 1st rounders in other years as well. Meaning 2 years of really being bad doesn't cut it. You're looking more like 3 or 4, and that's assuming you knock it out of the park with every single pick and not blow it. And well... let's be honest here, that means you need to be at least a little lucky too.

This is why tanking to get a good pick or two isn't a very viable method. Even the two biggest "success" stories serve as warnings of a sort.

What's up with the "not getting"?

Nashville put Ribeiro on waivers. He was doing a decent job so far this season. Does Nashville have cap issues?

philou21 wrote:Nashville put Ribeiro on waivers. He was doing a decent job so far this season. Does Nashville have cap issues?

Perhaps he's not a beneficial presence in the dressing room?

He's had a history of difficulties not connected to scoring/talent, and at 36 maybe he's not worth keeping around (his career PPG is 0.74, last year he was 0.62, this year it's 0.54)...apparently he's requested a trade (not sure if he had already, or did so in response to being put on waivers...either way doesn't seem like a "happy camper")

philou21 wrote:Nashville put Ribeiro on waivers. He was doing a decent job so far this season. Does Nashville have cap issues?

NAS has somewhere around $10m in cap space, and he's a UFA at the end of the season. But I believe he's redundant on their roster at this point, and there are younger guys waiting in the AHL.

I'm aware of Ribeiro personal issues. He had alot in the past but last I heard he was on the right track, especially in Nashville. That's why I'm surprised.

philou21 wrote:I'm aware of Ribeiro personal issues. He had alot in the past but last I heard he was on the right track, especially in Nashville. That's why I'm surprised.

Exactly what I thought. I wouldn't be "that" surprised if it was a team who wouldn't make the playoffs.

I searched recent news on Ribeiro, saw him called a "defensive liability" (not a surprise) but more interestingly Ribeiro's trade request apparently came before he was put on waivers https://twitter.com/Real_ESPNLeBrun/sta ... 1601054721 and he apparently struggled down the stretch last year and was scratched a couple times in the playoffs http://nhl.nbcsports.com/2017/02/03/pre ... e-request/ - so...maybe given last year, the fact he was scratched the last few Nashville games and requested a trade, the Predators are "cutting their losses"

As the linked article asks - "Should NHL referees be able to curse at coaches, players?" http://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/nhl/nhl ... -1.3964164
This of course is a current issue with referee Frederick L'Ecuyer being caught on his mic aggressively swearing at a player last week...

I've never been a Kerry Fraser fan, but I agree with him that referees should not behave in such a way

I had a good laugh the first time I've seen the video.

After laughing I gave it a second thought. I also think it was extremely unprofessionnal coming from a referee. Maybe he was having a bad day at work, like most of us can have in a year but I don't think this should be allowed.

philou21 wrote:I had a good laugh the first time I've seen the video.

After laughing I gave it a second thought. I also think it was extremely unprofessionnal coming from a referee. Maybe he was having a bad day at work, like most of us can have in a year but I don't think this should be allowed.

I don't have a problem with them slipping up occasionally, they're human.

Context is important though I guess. Unfortunately, in this particular case, it wasn't really a "slip up"... as he said it, and then said it again apparently for emphasis. So I agree with you, it was just unprofessional and shouldn't be tolerated. And quite frankly if I was the PA, I'd be lobbying for him to be fired and making a huge, uncomfortable issue out of it for the NHL to deal with.

Ribeiro hasn't been claimed. I'm a bit surprised by that.

Peter - any thoughts on the "Schedule Adjusted Goal Differential" stat? Apparently it's a stat that takes into consideration the amount of goals scored for and against depending on who you play against...

I see this thread on the HFBoards shows the current Colorado Avalanche are (based on the Schedule Adjusted Goal Differential) really not a good team! http://hfboards.hockeysfuture.com/showt ... t127725041 Only the 1999-2000 Atlanta Thrashers have been worse in the last 20 years


Here's the results of the last 20 years...

1999-00 Atlanta -1.777
2016-17 Colorado -1.453
1997-98 Tampa Bay -1.400
2003-04 Pittsburgh -1.343
2014-15 Buffalo -1.322
1998-99 Tampa Bay -1.315
2001-02 Atlanta -1.297
2012-13 Florida -1.243
2006-07 Philadelphia -1.159
2005-06 St. Louis -1.134
2013-14 Buffalo -1.094
2000-01 NY Islanders -1.061
2008-09 NY Islanders -0.932
2002-03 Carolina -0.925
2010-11 Edmonton -0.916
2007-08 Atlanta -0.829
1996-97 Boston -0.818
2009-10 Edmonton -0.784
2011-12 Columbus -0.666
2015-16 Vancouver -0.601


The worst team ever (according to this stat) is the 1974-75 Washington Capitals, which makes sense as they're generally considered the worst team ever. The next few were San Jose (1992-93), Ottawa (1993-94), the Islanders (1972-73) and the Capitals again (1975-76).

They won a game!! At home on top of that!! Epic comeback to the last spot of the playoffs!!

philou21 wrote:They won a game!! At home on top of that!! Epic comeback to the last spot of the playoffs!!

Who's "they"? I just checked out nhl.com and at this moment the last playoff team in the East is the Flyers, and in the West it's Calgary...

I was sarcastic since the Avs won their first game in 10 and at home on top of that. Their record at home is atrocious this season.

That hit looked clean to me. Hard and pretty devastating, but clean. Don't really understand how he got a charging penalty for that tbh