The 2013 NHL Season Thread

[Kramerica Industries]

The linesman seems strangely amused.

[CS85]

The linesman seems strangely amused.

I think he recognized the scent of Burrows' perfume.

[Kevin W.]

Patrick Sharp with one of the cheapest moves I've seen in an NHL game. Grabs the defencemans stick and smacks himself in the face with it. Maybe Blackhawk fans can remember this next time they rip on the Canucks for their alleged embellishment and diving.

[CS85]

In non-Canuck fan thread pollution discussion, I'd like this thread's diagnosis of why the hell the Oilers can't score.

[Lee.]

In other news, Kings and Blackhawks fans are rapidly becoming as insufferable as Canucks fans.

Less pissing contests, more hockey discussion.

Mod edit: Also, Blues fans.

[rams80]

Patrick Sharp with one of the cheapest moves I've seen in an NHL game. Grabs the defencemans stick and smacks himself in the face with it. Maybe Blackhawk fans can remember this next time they rip on the Canucks for their alleged embellishment and diving.

There's nothing alleged about it.

[IceCap]

Honestly the Oilers just haven't gelled yet. It's a bunch of talented guys and not quite a team yet. If that makes any sense.

Give them a bit more time to come together and shore up a few loose ends and they'll be a force to be reckoned with.

Just probably not this season.

[Still MIGHTY]

1) The Blackhawks second goal was just utter crap

2) The Ducks had more than enough chances to win it in regulation and probably should have. (How does one shoot the puck through the five hole and in between the goalie's leg/post on the other side? Bah.)

3) I liked it better when Corey Crawford was bad.

4) Ducks won. Although in the old days this would have been a game I would have gladly walked away from tied (Really an even game for the most part.), they won the carnival game (second in a row). They'll finish this 6-game road trip with a split at the least, but I expect 4-2 or 4-1-1 after Detroit/Nashville Friday/Saturday. Huge game for the Ducks standings wise and mental confidence wise.

5) and oh yeah, VIKTORY:

Also, come on, Blackhawks fans...

[CS85]

Also, come on, Blackhawks fans...

What? I've almost given up caring at this point because everybody around here seems to loathe Blackhawks/Canucks fans equally. All the members that populate this thread are clearly passionate if not die-hard fans, yet somehow we're supposed to intermingle with one another in a wooden, insipid manner.

Obviously not every fan can help themselves and we need to get our digs in from time to time, but this ridiculous posturing that somehow Team A's fans are a lesser breed of internet humans than fans from Team B is horse crap.

And Zach, you're my guy, but saying "c'mon Blackhawks fans" after utterly dismissing everything the Blackhawks did tonight/posting a homer meme pic kind of strikes me as odd.

[NEW.ERA]

Longer the Oilers continue to not click is fine by me. Also Blue Jackets found their GM by the sounds of it. Jarmo Kekalainen out of Jokerit. Hopefully this opens the door for Euro GM's and Coaches to craft their style over in North America.

Hakan Loob, you're next!

[Lee.]

Jarmo Kekelainen was a fantastic guitarist in his time with the Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna, and will bring international and domestic hockey experience as well as epic acoustic jams to Columbus.

[zpqmaowl]

The Kings have their first Friday home game in seemingly forever this week. Does anyone know when the last one was (playoffs excluded), or any way to find out?

[cmm]

FRI OCT 15, 2010 CANUCKS KINGS 7:30 PM FINAL VAN (1) - LAK (4) RECAP

http://kings.nhl.com/club/schedule.htm

[zpqmaowl]

Duh. I thought of everything except for the schedule on the site itself.

EDIT: And the last one before that was December 26, 2008. Damn other tenants.

[Still MIGHTY]

And Zach, you're my guy, but saying "c'mon Blackhawks fans" after utterly dismissing everything the Blackhawks did tonight/posting a homer meme pic kind of strikes me as odd.

I gave you guys some credit

Saying "I like Corey Crawford when he was bad" means that Corey Crawford played very well tonight. I said that it was really an even game, and I would have been happy with a tie in this game under the old system. And homer meme pic wasn't really directed at you all. It was more just a general " yeah, Fasth" (and a dig at the Kings and their goaltender with the neat coincidence of speed related names)

And the "c'mon Blackhawks fans" was more at the tired, "Look a Canuck fan disparaged a Blackhawk, bust out the biting/riot pictures!" I understand a nice rivalry and some trash talk, but every time a Canucks fan says something? And the always same stuff? And tonight it came right after your loss and The Six's post. It felt more like "we're mad we lost, but hey there's a Canuck fan to taunt".

[Still MIGHTY]

Duh. I thought of everything except for the schedule on the site itself.

EDIT: And the last one before that was December 26, 2008. Damn other tenants.

Actually, it's also part of an agreement from when the Ducks came into the NHL, if I remember correctly.

In a normal season (I haven't bothered to check this year, but it seems the same), the Ducks and Kings kind of alternate the nights they played at home. Ducks are usually Wednesday/Friday/Sunday with an occasional Monday. Kings are usually Tuesday/Thursday/Friday. It's not always a steadfast rule, but I remember being told that it was part of the deal when the Ducks came in, so as not to split the market's hockey audience on any given night.

[CS85]

And the "c'mon Blackhawks fans" was more at the tired, "Look a Canuck fan disparaged a Blackhawk, bust out the biting/riot pictures!" I understand a nice rivalry and some trash talk, but every time a Canucks fan says something? And the always same stuff? And tonight it came right after your loss and The Six's post. It felt more like "we're mad we lost, but hey there's a Canuck fan to taunt".

It was tongue-in-cheek. I try to not instigate the VAN/CHI pissing matches, but if somebody's down to dance, I'm not afraid to tango. I'd rather not do it at all, but I think we all know how tiresome it gets on both sides. There's no winners.

I'll try to take the higher ground next time, but dammit if it's not hard as hell sometimes.

[The_Admiral]

Whoa what's all this fighting about it was just a game between two really good teams. Wasn't even a Canucks game!

Hawks didn't play well enough to win, I'll settle for tying after 65 minutes and sucking in the shootout. Can't play not to lose, friends!

[Sport]

CBJ thoughts (for those of you who aren't tired of reading my CBJ thoughts):

Where do I begin?

Scott Howson wasn't a bad hire at the time. He was young and had done some things as assistant GM with the Oilers. If the Blue Jackets hadn't hired him, somebody else would have. He inherited a mess left by Doug Maclean with almost no prospects in the pipeline and in his first two years nearly every decision he made worked out. (See: Pascal Leclaire for Antoine Vermette) The team made the playoffs in his second year with a hot young goaltender but that may have been a detriment to the team's development in the long run. It put us in the middle of the draft order and Howson developed an unhealthy trust in Steve Mason based off one good half-season who he held onto for far too long. Most GM's would've tried to move him and try a new goaltender. Howson's insistence on sticking with Mason was probably a big reason he lost his job.

Howson managed to re-sign Rick Nash to a 7 year deal after their playoff appearance when everyone thought Nash was going to walk to a bigger market, but Howson failed to match Nash with the kind of player he needed. Rick Nash is the wrong kind of player to build a team around, but Howson really didn't know what he was doing in that regard. He never knew what the identity of the team was and he was not a good talent evaluator. The trade for Jeff Carter doomed the 11-12 season from the day Carter hid at the Jersey Shore. He was the wrong player for that team and his attitude in the locker room was cancerous from day 1. That trade was one of the three worst decisions in team history.

He also made some trades that made you go "Whaaaaaaa". Jason Chimera for Chris Clark and Milan Jurcina is one that sticks out in my mind. He let Manny Malhotra walk, but then began signing guys to contracts that made you go "Whaaaaaa". Probably the most lasting legacy that Howson will leave in Columbus is the mess of horrible contracts that sit on the books. They're STILL paying Mike freaking Commodore a million dollars a year. RJ Umberger is gonna make 4.5 until 2017, Fedor Tyutin, James Wisniewski, Derek Brassard, Steve Mason all have difficult to move contracts. Prior to the 10-11 season he locked up a "core" of guys that had never actually won anything and they're paying for it today.

Like his predecessor, he struggled with draft picks and was impatient when it came to development (see: Nikita Filatov, and maybe Ryan Johansen though it's a little early to say).

Oh, and then there's the coaching decisions this guy made. Ken Hitchcock got them to the playoffs with a team that had no business getting to the playoffs. Howson never delivered a team that worked in Hitchcock's system and he fired him for it. Then he hired Scott Arniel, who save Barry Melrose in Tampa was easily the worst NHL coach of the past decade. I've never seen a coach in any sport who knew less what he was doing and knew less about the game he was coaching than Scott Arniel. Todd Richards has so far been a decent hire and I like him.

Scott Howson is a very nice guy and a father who loves Columbus, Ohio and the Blue Jackets and I feel bad that a man lost his job. I went to training camp in 2011 and he got on the elevator with me and a few other fans and asked us who was impressing us in camp. I told him Cam Atkinson and he agreed. Nobody wanted Scott Howson to work more than me, but I just don't think he knew what he was doing. He was very much in over his head, especially with ownership and a front office who didn't understand enough about hockey to check his balances.

Perhaps shining a light on the dysfunction in the organization, they first let Howson handle the biggest decision in team history (the Rick Nash deal, which has for the most part looked good. Love Artem Anisimov. Like Brandon Dubinsky) and then let him drive the bus for last summer's draft with only Craig Patrick advising from afar. The team lost the lottery, not his fault, but there's an argument to be made that he botched the trade with the Islanders. The Isles proposed trading EVERY SINGLE PICK IN THEIR DRAFT including the 4th overall pick for Ryan Murray and Howson said no. How do you say no to that!

Howson was gone the day they hired John Davidson and I'm sure he feels a bit of relief. It couldn't have been easy going to work as a lame duck GM. The team's been around since 2000, but today begins the John Davidson/JARMO KEKELAINEN era and today will the be first day they'll be run as a competent hockey organization. Look out, NHL, Columbus is coming for you. I've been waiting for this day for a long time.

congrats if you actually read all of that. I'm at work, trying not to work.

[The_Admiral]

Wasn't/isn't the biggest problem with the organization the guy above Howson, Priest or whatever his name is, who is like an emissary from the rest of the ownership's business interests and basically an incompetent bean-counter? Am I making any sense here?

I'd agree that Howson put a lot of bad money on the books. That stood out to me last year. All that money committed for a long time.