2013-14 NHL Season: "We Are North American Scum"

[Kramerica Industries]

the I never knew McBain had left Carolina. Shows how much attention I pay.

[Coast2CoastAM2006]

The Hurricanes' roster is always like what everyone was afraid salary-cap hockey would look like: all the money tied up in top-line players and a goalie, then a bunch of dog crap to fill out the rest of the lineup. Everyone else seemed to figure it out, including, ironically enough, the Hurricanes themselves, who actually won a championship with what might be the worst roster of any championship team in the modern era. But this is what happens when you're allergic to drafting and development. I don't have the patience to comb over twenty Jim Rutherford drafts, but of the last few, holy guacamole, what a bunch of duds.

EDIT: http://www.hockey-reference.com/teams/CAR/draft.html

Other than Saint Eric, what few players of consequence they've drafted in the last ten years wound up being traded for other assets: Andrew Ladd for Tuomo Ruutu (in turn traded for Loktionov, a sequence reminiscent of "Smart" by Shel Silverstein), Jack Johnson for Tim Gleason, Brandon Sutter for Jordan Staal. I'll give him credit for Jamie McBain for Andrej Sekera, but mostly because I seem to operate under this pesky misconception that Jamie McBain is Chad LaRose, and Chad LaRose really sucked.

79 and 80 yielded no one of consequence.

81 - Ron Francis.

82 - Kevin Dineen, Ulf Samuelsson and Ray Ferraro. Career 2 or third liners at best.

83 - Joe Reekie. most of his work came with the Capitals

84 - Sylvain Cote. Like Reekie probably more remembered being with the Caps

85 - no one significant

86 - Scott Young. More remembered for his work with the Avs during the 96 cup run.

87 and 88 - No one significant

89 - Bobby Holik. isn't going to be remembered for his time with the Whalers but instead with the Devils see 95 and 2000.

90 - Geoff Sanderson.

91 - Michael Nylander. Career 2nd and 3rd liner.

92 - Nobody

93 - Chris Pronger, Manny Legacy. Neither one remembered for their time in Hartford especially Legacy.

94 - Jeff O'Neill.

95 - JS Giguere and Sami Kapanen. Giguere didn't do anything until his time in Anaheim. Kapanen was a solid player for the Whalers/Canes franchise.

96 - Craig Adams. Last kinda/sorta but not really significant player drafted before the move to North Carolina.

97 - Nobody.

98 - Eric Cole and Josef Vasicek. Cole was decent and I'm probably reaching with Vasicek.

99-2001 - yielded nobody I can see that was significant

2002 - Cam Ward. One big year and that's about it.

2003 - Eric Stall

2004 - Andrew Ladd

2005 - Jack Johnson

2006 to present. Nobody of significance I can see.

Alot of these I was reaching for.

[JackieMoon]

So how does the new playoff seeding work exactly? I know the top 3 from each division along with two wild cards make it from each conference. But, how are they seeded? If you click on NHL.com, they have about 5 different standings systems. When they realigned, they should have simply made them East Conference and West Conference. Without a doubt, maybe not this year, you are going to see some mediocre team get in while some better team lose out. Due most in part to how all other teams in their division play. Should just be one group of 16, and one of 14. Top 8 from each go to playoffs.

[Kramerica Industries]

as it is right now?

Atlantic:

1) Boston

2) Tampa Bay

3) Montreal

Metro:

1) Pittsburgh

2) NY Rangers

3) Philadelphia

Wild Cards:

1) Detroit

2) Toronto

Boston has more points than Pittsburgh. As such, Boston would play Toronto, given Toronto's status as the 2nd wild card. Pittsburgh would face Detroit. The 2-3's in each division play each other regardless of anything going on (even though, ATM, Tampa and Montreal both have more points than New York or Philly; the divisional matchups are locked in).

[-kj]

Meanwhile, in the West:

Central

1) St. Louis

2) Chicago

3) Colorado

Pacific

1) San Jose

2) Anaheim

3) Los Angeles

Wild Card

1) Minnesota

2) Phoenix

St. Louis has more points than San Jose, so the matchups would be:

Central

St. Louis vs Phoenix

Chicago vs Colorado

Pacific

San Jose vs Minnesota

Anaheim vs Los Angeles

[The_Admiral]

Central

St. Louis vs Phoenix

Pacific

San Jose vs Minnesota

This is like the Arrested Development when Tobias directed Shakespeare and had boys playing girls and girls playing boys.

[Still MIGHTY]

With that, are we going to have the return of "Division Playoff Champion" banners? Like if say San Jose wins the Pacific Division in the regular season and Anaheim wins the Pacific Division in the playoffs, are we going to see two Pacific Division banners next season?

(And let's not even get into the possibility of Pacific Division Champion Minnesota Wild...)

[rams80]

Really they should just abolish the Wild Card and take the top 4 from the divisions, especially since the Wild Card is an artifact of the "What if each Conference has an 8 team and 7 team division" hand wringing.

[ninersdd]

Just do 1-8 again with the division winners getting the top 2 seeds. Unlike before, there shouldn't be any joke 3 seeds like the Florida Panthers two years ago.

[-kj]

I kinda like the wild card idea, but I'd look at it as a 4th vs 5th comparison for a crossover:

Team A is in Division A; they finish fourth in that division with 94 points.

Team B is in Division B; they finish with 96 points, but that's only good enough for fifth in their division.

Team B would then take Team A's spot in the Division A playoffs.

If Team B had less points than Team A, there would be no crossover.

[Still MIGHTY]

So some years you have a Wild Card game and others you don't? No.

If we're already worried about this new system confusing the "casual fan", that definitely would not help the cause.

[-kj]

So some years you have a Wild Card game and others you don't? No.

If we're already worried about this new system confusing the "casual fan", that definitely would not help the cause.

Fine, look at them as two wild cards every time, if you'd like. Higher wild card gets the advantage of staying in their own division.

-----

So, to sum up the arguments here:

1-8 was bad.

Division playoffs are bad, because bad teams might get in instead of better teams from other divisions.

Division playoffs with wild cards are confusing. (Really? Even with the NFL's system that doesn't seem to confuse anyone?)

So, that leaves... nothing?

[Cosmic]

Carolina GM Jim Rutherford expected to step down after season, and it's about time.

Likely to be replaced by Ron Francis.

GOOD. Screw Rutherford. What a terrible GM that guy has been for twenty years, coasting on the nonexistent expectations of his bosses and his customers. I don't know of many GMs more myopic about what it takes to comprehensively build a hockey organization than Rutherford. Of course, go figure that they'd make Ron Francis the new GM, as if Ron Francis has any significant player-personnel credentials beyond having played for the Whalers/Hurricanes. Of course, that's all it takes at the Karmanos Country Club -- isn't Rod Brind'Amour in management? What's his title, "Executive Vice-President Of Showin' Off These Sweet Guns"? Congratulations, Carolina Hurricanes! You're the old Chicago Blackhawks/current Edmonton Oilers. Enjoy the warm embrace of old players hanging around to do real work, a/k/a irrelevance.

BUT JOE SAKIC

[Kramerica Industries]

NBA seeding with the old NHL re-seeding is ideal as far as I'm concerned.

I mean, to use the great 2012 example that exists, Florida can still have it's #3 seed (and shove it up theirs...err, off topic again), but New Jersey would have home ice due to their (substantially) better point total. I don't see why this couldn't happen, but, NHL.

--

to answer that banners question, cmm brought up a while back that the Isles had a '93 banner after they won their first two playoff series'; the NHL forced the banner down at the conclusion of the next season.

[rams80]

So some years you have a Wild Card game and others you don't? No.

If we're already worried about this new system confusing the "casual fan", that definitely would not help the cause.

It worked in the minors, and was far simpler than the current system.

[The_Admiral]

So, to sum up the arguments here:

1-8 was bad.

Division playoffs are bad, because bad teams might get in instead of better teams from other divisions.

Division playoffs with wild cards are confusing. (Really? Even with the NFL's system that doesn't seem to confuse anyone?)

So, that leaves... nothing?

1-8 is just fine with two divisions, because the problem there was the weird 3 seed that wasn't. It's almost impossible for that to happen with just 1 and 2 before the wild cards.

Cam Ward is now mourning the loss of his sugar daddy Jim Rutherford by giving up two super-weak goals to the Isles through the first six minutes. EDIT: Make that three in six, mwahahahahaha, Cam Ward sucks, Cam Ward has always sucked.

[dbadefense1990]

Central

St. Louis vs Phoenix

Pacific

San Jose vs Minnesota

This is like the Arrested Development when Tobias directed Shakespeare and had boys playing girls and girls playing boys.

(And let's not even get into the possibility of Pacific Division Champion Minnesota Wild...)

The worst example of crossover-seedings was in MLS from 2008-2010, when the league allowed teams to crossover to the opposite conference for the playoffs. In 2008, the New York Red Bulls got to the final game as Western Conference champions, while in 2009 and 2010, Real Salt Lake and the Colorado Rapids got to the game through the Eastern Conference.

[TorinK92]

It's a goaltending treat happening in South Florida right now.

[BigBubba]

[Funky Bunky]

The Hurricanes' roster is always like what everyone was afraid salary-cap hockey would look like: all the money tied up in top-line players and a goalie, then a bunch of dog crap to fill out the rest of the lineup. Everyone else seemed to figure it out, including, ironically enough, the Hurricanes themselves, who actually won a championship with what might be the worst roster of any championship team in the modern era. But this is what happens when you're allergic to drafting and development. I don't have the patience to comb over twenty Jim Rutherford drafts, but of the last few, holy guacamole, what a bunch of duds.

EDIT: http://www.hockey-reference.com/teams/CAR/draft.html

Other than Saint Eric, what few players of consequence they've drafted in the last ten years wound up being traded for other assets: Andrew Ladd for Tuomo Ruutu (in turn traded for Loktionov, a sequence reminiscent of "Smart" by Shel Silverstein), Jack Johnson for Tim Gleason, Brandon Sutter for Jordan Staal. I'll give him credit for Jamie McBain for Andrej Sekera, but mostly because I seem to operate under this pesky misconception that Jamie McBain is Chad LaRose, and Chad LaRose really sucked.

Justin Faulk and Jeff Skinner are damn good players, but other then them... dunno