The 2013 NHL Season Thread

[The_Admiral]

[CS85]

[rams80]

Relatively easy except Detroit and Columbus wanted out of the west so much they weren't going to let the NHL hear the end of it until they got their way.

Tough titties yo. At least that's ho it should have been in a 1 team 1 vote league.

This. Look I can appreciate the Blue Jackets and Red Wings wanting into the East, but I honestly don't think we had to structure the entire realignment process so as to accommodate those two above all else.

At the very least couldn't we just swap Nashville and Winnipeg as a stopgap until the Coyotes situation and future expansion plans were clear before restructuring the league from the ground up?

Guess not.

I think everyone is underestimating just how long and hard the Blue Jackets and the Red Wings bitched to the league about this. Also, same goes for Dallas, Minnesota, and Colorado.

Are you guys aware that Columbus is closer to Raleigh and Washington than Nashville and we're in the same time zone?

I'm increasingly regretting expanding to Columbus as opposed to say, Oklahoma City when we already had a surfeit of Eastern markets, yes. And in the Tivo Era, are Time Zones really that important?

[dbadefense1990]

To the whole scheduling thing, I've noticed a similar pattern of game scheduling between the NBA and NHL:

Sun: NBA

Mon: NHL

Tue: NBA

Wed: True Split

Thu: Split (NHL has more games, but NBA schedules high quality matchups)

Fri: NBA

Sat: NHL

And the scheduling is also apparent in the championship series. While the NBA Finals runs in a Tue-Thu-Sun sequence, the Stanley Cup Final has followed, typically, a Wed-Sat-Mon sequence.

[The_Admiral]

Thursday is only the TNT doubleheader and about half the time a third game between teams of limited consequence. E.g., Bulls-Knicks early, Spurs-Lakers late, Timberwolves-Kings floating somewhere in the ether of RSN overflow feeds.

[Kramerica Industries]

Prospal didn't have to have done anything. It's Mike Smith. He randomly punches guys and then pretends to die. It's just what he does.

To this, I say touche'.

Still, Vinny Prospal is a pissy turd, as well as a masochist. Demanded out of Tampa because of Torts, and then he ends up with the Rangers, well aware of who their head coach was/is.

[infrared41]

Still would've liked to a see a real-life hockey goal. I guess I'll settle for getting to see a Biznasty fight up close and in person.

I was in the gift shop buying my jersey when the Jackets scored their lone goal Tuesday night. I did get to see the replay on TV.

In his last three games, Bobrovsky has faced 116 shots and given up exactly two goals. That's a pretty good run. The Jackets point streak is at ten games - which is pretty cool when you consider that they'd have trouble putting the puck in a soccer goal. After two home games next week, 12 of their last 17 are on the road. They're a scrappy bunch, but with that many road games left, I'm not too confident that they can play well enough to make a serious run at a playoff spot. Still, the improvement has been fun to watch.

[Island_Style]

(sweet Kane move)

So proud he is an American. Punch another cab driver. You deserve it.

[dbadefense1990]

So a perfect 6 wins for Bernier in 7 starts. And a 5-2 knifing of the Sharkies. Overall, good Saturday night.

[The_Admiral]

I'm increasingly regretting expanding to Columbus as opposed to say, Oklahoma City when we already had a surfeit of Eastern markets, yes.

Should've gone to Milwaukee.

And in the Tivo Era, are Time Zones really that important?

Sporting events are going to be the only thing people watch in real time.

[zpqmaowl]

Bernier is a perfect 6 for 6 in starts; his two losses came in relief. He picked up the L on Thursday and back on Groundhog Day in Anaheim.

[ElwoodCuse]

Personally, I'd love to see Bob Mackenzie take over for Grapes on Coaches Corner. Without a doubt, he's the smartest man in hockey.

Coach's Corner is about being a braying jackass, not smart, which is why the next guy will probably be Mike Milbury

[NEW.ERA]

Mike Milbury will never be welcomed back by CBC. They have Glenn Healy to do his crap.

[Cosmic]

This season I think is the way it is because of the lockout, but I know that teams can ask the NHL to arrange their schedules in certain ways. The Sabres used to ask for as many Friday home games as possible for fans and they switched to trying to have the easiest schedule for the players... we were always leading the league in back-to-back games. In 2010-11, the Sabres had 14 Friday games (home and road), in 2011-12 they had 17 and in the pre-lockout schedule for this year they would have had only 7.

[Sport]

Relatively easy except Detroit and Columbus wanted out of the west so much they weren't going to let the NHL hear the end of it until they got their way.

Tough titties yo. At least that's ho it should have been in a 1 team 1 vote league.

This. Look I can appreciate the Blue Jackets and Red Wings wanting into the East, but I honestly don't think we had to structure the entire realignment process so as to accommodate those two above all else.

At the very least couldn't we just swap Nashville and Winnipeg as a stopgap until the Coyotes situation and future expansion plans were clear before restructuring the league from the ground up?

Guess not.

I think everyone is underestimating just how long and hard the Blue Jackets and the Red Wings bitched to the league about this. Also, same goes for Dallas, Minnesota, and Colorado.

Are you guys aware that Columbus is closer to Raleigh and Washington than Nashville and we're in the same time zone?

I'm increasingly regretting expanding to Columbus as opposed to say, Oklahoma City when we already had a surfeit of Eastern markets, yes. And in the Tivo Era, are Time Zones really that important?

I like how you say "regretting" as if you made the decision.

Yes to your question. DVRed sports suck.

[HedleyLamarr]

It is pretty foolish if the NHL is avoiding Fridays just because of the NBA's presence. Only 9 NHL teams share an arena with an NBA team. You only get two weekend-nights during the week, and weekends are when families are more apt to attending games with no school or work to go to the next morning.

My thoughts exactly.

These days it might be a tactical move on the NHL's part to avoid the NBA all together. The NBA kills the NHL in the ratings, and the NHL is at a point where it just signed a significant tv deal with NBC (complete with a bidding war, even). Getting killed by the NBA on a weekly basis might hurt their chances at deals like that in the future.

It has nothing to do with TV ratings.

There's a big drop-off in kids and families in attendance on weeknight vs. weekend games.

The Beej is getting all the attention for their hot streak, but the Jets, also a bad team, have quietly won 8 of their last 11 and moved into first place in the dying NASCAR Division. I'm happy for them, but I fear they'll lose like four straight in the home stretch and yield the division to the crappy dumb mediocre Hurricanes.

They're still the Thrashers. All they did was change their address and their uniforms. They'll shart themselves in the final quarter of their schedule.

[Magnus]

So I see that the Jets are leading the SouthLEAST division at the moment. Bring on the realignment!

[Kramerica Industries]

Diminutive jackass:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQD6VP-csEg

[NEW.ERA]

So I see that the Jets are leading the SouthLEAST division at the moment. Bring on the realignment!

And the world is at peace.

[The_Admiral]

This is probably poor form in the wake of the Stars getting murked, but ah, what the hell:

What is Nieuwendyk's plan down there, exactly? It seems like the team is part really old guys (Whitney, Jagr, Robidas, Morrow) and then a ton of rookies (pretty much everyone else). This isn't a bad plan in and of itself in terms of bringing guys along, except for the fact that the really old guys are Ray Whitney and Jaromir Jagr, who still have a funny way of being among the best players on their team*, so once they leave, what are you really left with? Jamie Benn and the hopes that everyone else came of age? It seems like the idea was to get people talking about the revamped, contending Stars, break up the long string of missing the playoffs, and then get back to developing everyone after Jagr leaves/retires and Whitney finally gets too old to keep compiling (which is all he's ever been; any argument for his HOF candidacy will make me retch). I don't think it's a really good plan!

*This reminds me of a dumb argument I've been seeing elsewhere as of late, namely that the Sharks aren't on the precipice of disaster with their core, because "all you have to do is trade Thornton and Marleau for young guys." While yes, you do need to trade your old guys, your old guys are also your entire team's raison d'etre, and without them, you have Couture and Pavelski, who seem mostly legitimate, and a bunch of forgettable plugs who owe their success, such as it is, to being around Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau. Trading the expiring contracts of star players won't allow you to "reload" rather than rebuild. Those are trades you make to build in the long term. I wish this fanbase would get over itself and accept that they're subject to ebb and flow like everybody else, and may have to experience deep hurting.