17/18 NHL Season Thread

Post #1 » by **Cactus Jack** » Thu Oct 5, 2017 3:31 am

Beat ya to it, Otis! :winkgrin:

Otis Driftwood · Post #2 » by **Otis Driftwood** » Thu Oct 5, 2017 11:40 am

Cactus Jack wrote:Beat ya to it, Otis!

Thank you good sir...

The staggered start has the Stars dropping first puck tomorrow night. Who came up with this schedule anyway?

And - to the mods... a proper hockey forum needs this smiley. Thank you in advance for your continued support.

Otis Driftwood · Post #3 » by **Otis Driftwood** » Fri Oct 6, 2017 12:31 pm

I'ma just leave this right here...

Read on Twitter

Post #4 » by **Cactus Jack** » Sat Oct 7, 2017 3:14 am

Otis Driftwood wrote:I'ma just leave this right here...

Read on Twitter

Wow 10 goals allowed. Is that a first?

Otis Driftwood · Post #5 » by **Otis Driftwood** » Sat Oct 7, 2017 1:02 pm

Cactus Jack wrote:
Otis Driftwood wrote:I'ma just leave this right here...

Read on Twitter

Wow 10 goals allowed. Is that a first?

Probably not. Except it was against the defending Stanley Cup champions in the second game of the season.

I've got a couple of buddies that are Pens fans. We have a good time kicking each other in the crotch. I fully expect to get my share today.

Watch on YouTube

Otis Driftwood · Post #6 » by **Otis Driftwood** » Sun Oct 8, 2017 4:10 am

This... sucks...

Read on Twitter

Post #7 » by **Cactus Jack** » Wed Oct 11, 2017 3:06 am

Vegas is off to a hot start!

Post #8 » by **Mr Swagtastic** » Thu Oct 12, 2017 5:29 pm

Changing this to a sticky topic only because it should be,

Impressed with a few teams so far,

1) New Jersey Devils, I had them as a bottom feeder in The East right away and they are showing they are a very good young team

2) Toronto Maple Leafs, They are scoring goals at a historic rate but they are still The Leafs and will find ways to lose games.

3) Boston they got blown out by Colorado twice I mean seriously

4) Las Vegas Golden Knights, thought they would have a rough start to their season but they look very good right now

5) Detroit Red Wings, Martin Frk is on fire right now and the team looks like they might be a 6-8th seed in The East, I am not expecting a lot from The Wings but here's hoping Holland finally gets fired

Otis Driftwood · Post #9 » by **Otis Driftwood** » Sun Oct 15, 2017 1:40 pm

Mr Swagtastic wrote:Changing this to a sticky topic only because it should be,

Impressed with a few teams so far,

1) New Jersey Devils, I had them as a bottom feeder in The East right away and they are showing they are a very good young team

2) Toronto Maple Leafs, They are scoring goals at a historic rate but they are still The Leafs and will find ways to lose games.

3) Boston they got blown out by Colorado twice I mean seriously

4) Las Vegas Golden Knights, thought they would have a rough start to their season but they look very good right now

5) Detroit Red Wings, Martin Frk is on fire right now and the team looks like they might be a 6-8th seed in The East, I am not expecting a lot from The Wings but here's hoping Holland finally gets fired

Thanks for making this a sticky. You're right. It should be.

Otis Driftwood · Post #10 » by **Otis Driftwood** » Sun Oct 15, 2017 1:41 pm

Tyler Seguin.

Lady Byng candidate no more.

Watch on YouTube

Post #11 » by **Mr Swagtastic** » Tue Oct 17, 2017 2:55 pm

So after the first major week of hockey I think it's best to do a little recap if you guys don't mind. Please feel free to disagree with anything I said here if you don't agree with it. This isn't a power rankings more of a list

I will start off with The Eastern Conference's

Metropolitan division

1) The clear number one story here to me is how good The Devils have been. I don't think many NHL annalists would have had them this good. Will Butcher is putting up amazing numbers 5 games played with 8 assists while only logging 15 or so minutes per game. Not bad for a rookie who was a 5th round pick of The Avalanche he might be the best bargain in the league right now.

2) The Rangers - Wow what happened to this team? Every year people are talking about them as a cup favorite and now they look lost. 21 goals allowed in 6 games is really bad. Everybody was saying last offseason that Shattenkirk was going to take them to the promise land but right now he's giving them points but is a minus 6 as a team they have only 2 players with a +1 that is bad. Their defense needs to clean things up

3) Columbus - They look like the same team they were last season. A big strong team that added in a dangerous Artemi Panarin to help give them that 60+ point player. As long as their defense holds up and Sergei Bobrovsky continues to be a Vezina caliber goalie they are a team that could make a deep run

tie 4) Washington and Pittsburgh - Both teams are offensive machines all you need to do right now is look at the league leaders and you will see like 5 guys from Washington in the top 17 and 3 in the top 5. I don't think they are as complete of a team as last year and will have a great season like last year but they will still be good. They need defense badly when your scoring video game like numbers and have a elite goalie and your only scoring one more goal then allowing that's really bad. As for Pittsburgh I think letting go of Marc-Andre Flurry was a big mistake, he was their clear #1 goalie, I like Murray but I don't see him as a true #1 again like Washington they are a team that will look to score goals and try to blow you out game in and game out. Yes they will be good come the second half but as of right now they are not among the elite.

5+) The rest (Carolina/Philly/New York Islanders) Nothing really to say here other then The Islanders should either lock up Tavares long term or trade him for a kings ransom.

Atlantic Division

1) Tampa Bay Lighting - They have looked like a top 3 team league wide so far. Great defense and offense, they have true stars on all ends from Victor Hedman being a big bruising defenseman to top 15 forwards in Nikita Kucherov and Steven Stamkos (when healthy) they are going to be a dangerous team when healthy and have easily the greatest GM in hockey in Steve Yzerman

2) The Toronto Maple Leafs. I HATE The Leafs with a passion (well their ownership) and they're scoring at a record pace. They are a team that is built for speed and will punish you if you make a mistake. Auston Matthews is as legit of a rookie as I have ever seen, the guy has a knack for scoring goals and coming up with big key plays. Their defense is suspect and I don't see Anderson as a elite #1 goalie that isn't a knock to say he isn't a starting goalie I just don't see him as a top 5 league wide goalie.

3) Detroit Red Wings - The Wings were supposed to be bottom feeders and I am a massive Wings fan and couldn't have predicted the early success. I think they have to do something with regards to Andreas Athanasiou you either sign him or move him for pick(s) and prospects. Jimmy Howard is playing out of his mind and looking like The Howard of old which is really good, I think Ericsson really needs to go he's horrible on the defensive end and Mike Green is playing like he wants to mentioned in the NHL's elite.

4) Montréal Canadians - A team that can't score to save their lives, they have been bad on every single part, their leading player has 3 points! I will say that again 3 points! What's worse is they have only 12 players with a single point and nobody with a plus or even plus minus rating. They are easily the most disappointing team right now.

5) Ottawa Sens - They are a great defensive team right now scoring 20 goals and only allowing 10 without their best player and a top 5 league wide player in Erik Karlsson who should be back in the next game or so. Right now they are a great team who don't take many penalties (outside that goon Mark Borowiecki) in my opinion they will be a lock as a top 3 seed in the East barring any major injuries.

6) The Rest (Boston/Buffalo/Florida) Will fill these in later but right now their isn't much to say outside Jack Eichel might be the biggest weasel in hockey. If you wanted out of Buffalo why resign their? Don't sign a big money deal with a bottom feeder then say "I am sick of losing"

Will do part 2 The Western Conference tomorrow unless somebody wants to fill in their team(s)

Post #12 » by **Cactus Jack** » Sat Nov 25, 2017 5:09 am

Otis Driftwood wrote:
Thanks for making this a sticky. You're right. It should be.

What's up with my Oilers dude!? They don't look too good. :wink:

I watched the end of the Stars/Flames game tonight. Good game.

Otis Driftwood · Post #13 » by **Otis Driftwood** » Sat Nov 25, 2017 3:33 pm

Cactus Jack wrote:
Otis Driftwood wrote:
Thanks for making this a sticky. You're right. It should be.

What's up with my Oilers dude!? They don't look too good.

I watched the end of the Stars/Flames game tonight. Good game.

They are suffering from the same ailments the Stars suffered from last year. If both your Power Play and your Penaly Kill tank at the bottom of the league it’s just hard to win even with one of the five best players in the league.

I was stuck watching the Texas Tech/Texas game with my in-laws (until I said screw it at the end of the 3rd quarter when the game was almost 3 1/2 hours in) so I kept up on the Stars via Twitter. Sweet comeback at home. We need some of those on the road. Hell - I’ll anything on the road. 9-2 at home and 2-7 on the road ain’t gonna cut it.

Otis Driftwood · Post #14 » by **Otis Driftwood** » Wed Nov 29, 2017 5:18 pm

Get Ready For Three-Horse Rookie Race As Boeser, Barzal, Keller Battle For Freshman Scoring Lead
http://www.thehockeynews.com/news/article/get-ready-for-three-horse-rookie-race-as-boeser-barzal-keller-battle-for-freshman-scoring-lead

Looks like the race for the Calder is going to be a tight one. Some good kids out there lighting up the scoreboards.

Post #15 » by **Mr Swagtastic** » Wed Dec 13, 2017 9:47 pm

Anybody still interested in a breakdown of the Eastern and Western conferences? Will do a in depth report if there is enough people interested

Otis Driftwood · Post #16 » by **Otis Driftwood** » Thu Dec 14, 2017 10:03 pm

Mr Swagtastic wrote:Anybody still interested in a breakdown of the Eastern and Western conferences? Will do a in depth report if there is enough people interested

My summation.

Stars can beat everyone but the best teams in their own division.

The end.

Post #17 » by **Cactus Jack** » Fri Dec 15, 2017 3:18 am

Otis Driftwood wrote:
Mr Swagtastic wrote:Anybody still interested in a breakdown of the Eastern and Western conferences? Will do a in depth report if there is enough people interested

My summation.

Stars can beat everyone but the best teams in their own division.

The end.

Connor McDavid is also pretty good. The rest of the Edmonton squad, not so much. /thread :wink:

Post #18 » by **Mr Swagtastic** » Fri Dec 15, 2017 2:14 pm

Cactus Jack wrote:
Otis Driftwood wrote:
Mr Swagtastic wrote:Anybody still interested in a breakdown of the Eastern and Western conferences? Will do a in depth report if there is enough people interested

My summation.

Stars can beat everyone but the best teams in their own division.

The end.

Connor McDavid is also pretty good. The rest of the Edmonton squad, not so much. /thread

Leon Draisaitl and Ryan Nugant-Hopkins are good and Talbot is up there as well. I think they are a disappointment

Otis Driftwood · Post #19 » by **Otis Driftwood** » Fri Dec 15, 2017 5:39 pm

Mr Swagtastic wrote:
Cactus Jack wrote:
Otis Driftwood wrote:
My summation.

Stars can beat everyone but the best teams in their own division.

The end.

Connor McDavid is also pretty good. The rest of the Edmonton squad, not so much. /thread

Leon Draisaitl and Ryan Nugant-Hopkins are good and Talbot is up there as well. I think they are a disappointment

A MASSIVE disappointment. Very similar to last year's Stars in terms of expectations-to-results ratio. Their PK is exactly what the Stars was last season. Abysmal.

Otis Driftwood · Post #20 » by **Otis Driftwood** » Wed Dec 20, 2017 1:20 am

Read on Twitter

Hope the kid figures it out. He had plenty of opportunities here.