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NHL Season 2022-23

#381
dwm74 said:
Pens officially eliminated, their 16-yr playoff run ending with the Islanders' victory over Montreal. Kinda bummed but in all honesty, they wouldn't have gone very far anyway. Too many glaring holes that would only be magnified even more under playoff hockey.

Maybe this will wake up the owners, Fenway Sports Group, and they'll address what's wrong with the current management staff. Hextall is a train wreck and nobody really knows exactly what Brian Burke does. Problem is, the Pens are like fourth on the priority list of FSG. Many of us Pens fans share the belief that as long as they turn a profit, FSG really doesn't care. We'll see shortly.

Now I gotta figure out who's bandwagon to jump on for the post-season. :D
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As an Atlanta Thrashers season ticket holder for 5 seasons, I feel you pain about owners not caring about the team. Extremely frustrating. Hope the pens turn it around for the sake of their fan base.

I used to work in the same building as the owners of the thrashers. The atlanta spirit were the owners at the time. They were never happy when I got in the elevator with them, as I would give them an earful. Only person I wouldn't give an earful to was Dominique Wilkins, as he is a cool cat. I also respect what he did for the Atlanta Hawks.
 
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#382
dwm74 said:
Friggin' Pens. They HAVE to win to control their playoff destiny, so what better way to address that than by hosting the lowly Blackhawks?

But wait, while the Pens dominated play for much of the game, they couldn't finish on so many chances and the 'Hawks skated away with a 5-2 win, basically killing any chances the Pens have to qualify for the post season. With everything riding on this game, how the he** do you lose to a blanking lottery team? At home? :rage:
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dwm74 said:
Pens officially eliminated, their 16-yr playoff run ending with the Islanders' victory over Montreal. Kinda bummed but in all honesty, they wouldn't have gone very far anyway. Too many glaring holes that would only be magnified even more under playoff hockey.

Maybe this will wake up the owners, Fenway Sports Group, and they'll address what's wrong with the current management staff. Hextall is a train wreck and nobody really knows exactly what Brian Burke does. Problem is, the Pens are like fourth on the priority list of FSG. Many of us Pens fans share the belief that as long as they turn a profit, FSG really doesn't care. We'll see shortly.

Now I gotta figure out who's bandwagon to jump on for the post-season. :D
Click to expand...

That game was so disappointing. I'm with you, it stinks they aren't in the playoffs but I had no faith they deserved to be there or would do anything if they got there. Just stinks. I don't even want to watch the game tonight. I'm sure they will find a way to lose to Cbus too. Fire everyone.
 
#383
marko138 said:
That game was so disappointing. I'm with you, it stinks they aren't in the playoffs but I had no faith they deserved to be there or would do anything if they got there. Just stinks. I don't even want to watch the game tonight. I'm sure they will find a way to lose to Cbus too. Fire everyone.
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Well, by losing to the 'Canes tonight, the Panthers "get" to play the Bruins. That oughta go well.:rollno:
 
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#385
And in a fitting conclusion to their season, the Pens (stop me if you've heard this one before) can't hold a lead, give up a late goal, and then lose in OT. To another bottom feeder (CBJ). Not that a win would have meant anything anyway, but still. Hate to sound like a Cubs fan, but wait 'til next year. :rollno:

Playoffs start Monday, and it'll be stress-free for me. Not having a horse in the race, I'll just sit back and enjoy the games, and not lose any sleep (or blood pressure meds) over any loss. Game on!
 
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#386
Yea, my team is out. Have been for a while. Still, I have hope for the future. Next year….
I'll enjoy the games without stress, and just enjoy the show and cheer for a few favorite players along the way.
Is it Boston's turn to go all the way?
The Avs are finally looking like they mean it again after coasting through the season.
A deep Kraken run would be a made for TV story.
I haven't seen a lot of games in the west, at least not western vs western games, so can't really predict, but it seems like a pretty level field so should be fun.
 
#387
I wouldn't say the Avs coasted through the season, rather plagued by substantial injuries. At the all star break, they had more man games lost than any previous cup winner on record. Landeskog is still out

The recent power rankings from the nhl app was interesting. Everything was comparing each other team to the Bruins. But they like any other team are only one injury away from having major issues, or heaven forbid a hot opposing goalie

Either way, should be fun
 
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#391
dwm74 said:
Just saw that news! Now I'm REALLY excited for next season! And I'm relieved to see the ownership IS on board and actively seeking to improve things.

Now to jettison the dead-weight players and albatross contracts that clown Hextall brought in. :sour:
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Whoa, no way. That is impressive.
Seldom have I had reasons for excitement as a Pens fan, but I'm feeling the same as you now.

-Mike
 
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#393
jimfist said:
When the Bruins brought on Montgomery and let Cassidy go, a lot of us fans were surprised. From the outside looking in, it seemed like Cassidy was the least of their problems and had a superior track record as coach. Evidently there must have been some kind of issue in the locker room that wasn't going in the right direction, and it seems like the team collectively has really bought into what Montgomery brings. The Bruins front office deserves credit for getting Krejci back and bolstering the line-up with Orlov and Bertuzzi, and not letting Pastrnak's contract become a sideshow.



It'll be interesting to see where the Bruins land after all is said and done. If they don't make it to the finals all of this happiness, with almost everything going in their favor to this point, will leave a bad taste. They are an entertaining bunch to watch though, and I don't know how other teams are going to game-plan against them. They'll beat you 2-1 or 7-4, and transition from each style comfortably.
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#394
I agree with all of this and admit that I was one of the fans that was surprised by Cassidy's firing. I knew the younger players seemed to dislike playing for him (esp. DeBrusk), but in 20/20 hindsight, I think some of the older players didn't either. In particular, I don't think Krecji comes back and perhaps even Bergeron too. Maybe Pasta doesn't re-sign as well.

Under Montgomery, the younger guys developed faster and the veterans were rejuvenated. Looking forward to more hockey.
 
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#395
I have mixed feelings about Hextall. As a former hockey goalie myself, I have a tremendous amount of respect for his talent, especially with the way he pioneered the mobile goalie style, where he became an active 6th skater who often initiated breakout plays and helped his defensemen in innovative ways.

Yet, he was obnoxious and incendiary, as well, and sometines unnecessarily violent. Hextall claims he needed to have an intimidating personality on the ice in order to protect himself from injury when roaming away from the safety of the goal crease, and that may be true, but it's understandable why he was so reviled during his NHL playing career by hockey fans and players alike.

I don't believe there are too many hockey fans who would regard Hextall as a good general manager, though. "Incompetent" seems to be a word that gets used fairly often to describe his decision making ability as GM.

This Op Ed has an interesting take on his firing.

Yohe: Ron Hextall, in the end, didn't have the backbone for the Penguins' GM job
 
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#398
The Calder Cup Playoffs start this week as well.
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Quinnipiac won the men's NCAA Championship for the first time ever just last week with a brief, but exciting, overtime victory over Minnesota.
I remember a couple road trips to Connecticut to watch Dartmouth play Quinnipiac back when we lived in New Hampshire.

-Mike
 
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#399
Camaro69 said:
I wouldn't say the Avs coasted through the season, rather plagued by substantial injuries. At the all star break, they had more man games lost than any previous cup winner on record. Landeskog is still out

The recent power rankings from the nhl app was interesting. Everything was comparing each other team to the Bruins. But they like any other team are only one injury away from having major issues, or heaven forbid a hot opposing goalie

Either way, should be fun
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I'm looking forward to the playoffs. If the Avs play like I know they can they should hopefully at least get to the Conference finals. 8 weeks ago I didn't think they'd be in the playoffs. They are playing better at just the right time.
 
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