"Put your head down and skate" - NHL 2016/17

[Alex78]

Yes, it’s that time of the year again! The World Cup of Hockey will wrap up with Team Canada winning yet another trophy on the biggest international stage, and then attention will shift to the NHL 2016/17 campaign. Who will win the Stanley Cup, who will surprise and who will disappoint are the most general questions, and just maybe this thread can revive some interest in the greatest game on ice

My personal predictions before they get down and dirty:

Stanley Cup winners: Edmonton Oilers, just because they got this now, their first-ever mascot:

Or maybe because they added an underrated defenceman (sic) in Adam Larsson when they traded away a bag of pucks for him.

Stanley Cup runner-ups: Toronto Maple Leafs, just because…

Surprise team: Toronto Maple Leafs

Disappointing team: Toronto Maple Leafs, because The Parade will have to be postponed yet again!

Surprise player: Adam Larsson, he who will morph into an amalgam of Nicklas Lidstrom and Scott Stevens just by virtue of joining the Mighty Oil

Disappointing player: Phil Kessel, close second: Steven Stamkos. Kessel because he should be doing something important to follow up his play-offs heroics, yet I can’t put my finger on why I have a feeling he’ll revert to being a perimeter player now he’s had the ultimate (team) success. Stamkos because the bloom is off the rose, really.

Safe bet: Stringertom to join this thread in 3-2-1 seconds… Or whenever he's awake... Still plenty of time till the 17/18 season...

Edit: Can't change the title, got a little ahead of myself, didn't I...
Edit#2: Thank you, mods, for correcting the title!

 

[stringertom]

Do we really have to skip a season???

Go Isles!

 

[stringertom]

Contact the mods and ask them to change the title.

 

[stringertom]

Now we're talking '16-'17!

I am excite over the Isles' upcoming season! We have maintained the core of a strong team with the exception of losing the Hit King, Matt Martin. Now, we have added front liners Chimera, Ladd and Parenteau and then shored up the blue line with Seidenberg.

Is @Feña14 on board with my excite???

 

[Alex78]

I'm a little skeptical of the Isles' treatment of their young players not named Tavares...
Why did Ryan Strome regress last season? Why did they not try harder to re-sign Baby Iginla? Adding the veterans is an ok move, but I don't see this group as being better than middle-of-the-pack.

 

[stringertom]

I'm a little skeptical of the Isles' treatment of their young players not named Tavares...
Why did Ryan Strome regress last season? Why did they not try harder to sign Baby Iginla? Adding the veterans is an ok move, but I don't see this group as being better than middle-of-the-pack.

Adding the veterans takes a little pressure off of the really young ones Barzal, Ho-Sang and Dal Colle, one of whom is going to make the roster and get significant ice time.

With Grabvoski not passing his physical with concussion syndrome problems, it looks to be Barzal that shores up the center position. The Barzal/Strome dynamic has the potential to produce for many years as they mature together. With Tavares the oldest center at age 26, they're going to be set for a long time at the position and can afford to shuttle in the younger talent as age and injury set in at the wing positions.

 

[Feña14]

Now we're talking '16-'17!

I am excite over the Isles' upcoming season! We have maintained the core of a strong team with the exception of losing the Hit King, Matt Martin. Now, we have added front liners Chimera, Ladd and Parenteau and then shored up the blue line with Seidenberg.

Is @Feña14 on board with my excite???

I'm on board! I think the being in playoff contention and maybe win a round in the playoffs has come to an end though. You never know though

 

[stringertom]

Opening night with four games on the schedule and this year's #1 overall pick has set the bar very high for last year's top pick to surpass...six SOG with four finding the back of the net for the Leafs' phenom Auston Matthews and we still have 3 minutes to play.

McDavid wears the "C" for Edmonton for the first time later on vs Calgary.

Blues/Hawks are knotted 2-2 at the end of two periods.

Kings/Sharks are later on as well.

 

[stringertom]

Matthews' record debut scoring wasn't enough as Ottawa nipped Toronto 5-4 with a goal in the first minute of OT.

The Blues pulled away in the third to defeat the Blackhawks 5-2. Tarasenko had two goals.

Edmonton leads Calgary 3-1 after one. McDavid has an assist.

LA and San Jose are knotted at 1-1 after one.

 

[Alex78]

Yes, this Matthews kid - he gonna be any good?
Just wondering how rare scoring 4 goals in one game really is, statistically. And then doing it in your first NHL game!

 

[stringertom]

Yes, this Matthews kid - he gonna be any good?
Just wondering how rare scoring 4 goals in one game really is, statistically. And then doing it in your first NHL game!

This is the first debut game with four goals...four others had hat tricks, the most recent in 2010 by NYR's Derek Stepan.

Four-goal games are fairly common but the record is seven by Joe Malone in 1920. Since expansion beyond the Original Six, Red Berenson and Daryl Sitler each had six-goal games.

 

[Alex78]

Yeah, but most of those scoring fests came in eras long gone. I'd like to see put things into perspective here, but I don't know how many man-games were played in the NHL during each of the last few seasons, to put that into relation to the number of 4 goal games.

 

[stringertom]

Yeah, but most of those scoring fests came in eras long gone. I'd like to see put things into perspective here, but I don't know how many man-games were played in the NHL during each of the last few seasons, to put that into relation to the number of 4 goal games.

There have been only two five-goal games in the last decade...Gaborik for the Wild and Franzen for the Wings. Gaborik's was the first in over a decade ('06). There were at least one each year for five years before that drought.

 

[Alex78]

It sure ain't the 80ies or early 90ies anymore...
The first 5 goals game I can remember seeing was Alexei Zhamnov for the Jets in '95. Too bad I can't find a statistic for 4 goal games (by 1 player).

 

[FD3S]

PATRIK ****ING LAINE

THANK YOU FOR AIDING ME IN MY HOCKEY POOL YOU MAGNIFICENT FINNISH B*****D

 

[FD3S]

Canucks break the nine game skid and Hattrick Laine (in my pool, naturally) has his second three goal game of the season! It's almost enough good mojo to counter the s**tshow currently dominating my social media feed