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

[monkeypower]

I guess, but they also have the most chance of getting the first overall pick.

[Kramerica Industries]

Incredible.

And Ryan Smyth from last night while I'm at it.

[NEW.ERA]

Flames are guaranteed their first ever top 5 pick!

Also, Johnny Gaudreau scored the only Flames goal tonight. High hopes for thus guy, didn't look out of place tonight.

[twi]

Anybody check out the Islanders roster today? I'm a huge fan of the league and look at the box scores every night but even I have never heard of these guys. Justin Johnson? Scott Mayfield? Brett Gallant? Some of these guys don't even look to be prospects lol, just whomever won the lottery from the AHL team to be called up.

Always fun the last day of the season, friends come over and we watch all of the non-playoff teams we can as a send off for the season/Center Ice package. Should be a fun playoff year as it's the first time both my and my roommate's team have made it in a while (Tampa and Dallas). Although I'd have rathered Phoenix, seemingly some sort of obscenity in these parts. :|

Was interesting to see Bishop in Lindback's jersey and pads today...haha hope that keeps up but not counting on it!

[Still MIGHTY]

Teemu Selanne's final regular season game... almost indescribable.

Videos and ovations during the game, standing ovations during every one of his third period shifts, the long long long ovation after the game. Shaking hands with the refs, shaking hands with the Colorado Avalanche, shaking JS Giguere's hand and dragging him out to center ice for his own victory lap (so many feels).

I mean, it's a night all about Teemu. The season-high crowd of 17, 528 was all there for Teemu Selanne. And yet probably the most Teemu thing he did was, during his own victory lap, raising the hand of the opposing goaltender and former teammate in what may well be Jiggy's last game to join him in a victory lap of his own. The man is just amazing.

It's a night I won't soon forget, and one I can't imagine being replicated. (Except maybe by the man himself at his number retirement next year.)

Perfect cap to a great season. And now the playoffs.

EDIT: According to some people on reddit, Paul Kariya was at the game in a suite with Joe Sakic. It also said that they (the Ducks, Honda Center, etc.) didn't aknowledge it or do anything for it. Maybe Still MIGHTY or anyone else can confirm or deny it.

If he was there, that's great. I personally feel that he needs to be brought back into the Ducks fold somehow, even though he and Teemu tried to do that at the end of Paul career before the doctors shut him down permanently.

I didn't know until someone mentioned it to me, and I did see him in the suite. He was actually in a suite with Sakic as well as Teemu's family. No recognition, and I'm fine with that. I'm glad he was there for Teemu (they're still great friends), but I'd disagree with saying that he "needs" to be brought back into the fold. He doesn't just get to come back.

If the Ducks wanted him to come back, they would have asked and I'm sure it would have come with the provision of him trying to make good with the fans. And you know what, I actually wouldn't be surprised if the Ducks did ask and he declined. Not saying that Paul would have decline because he's a jackass, because from a personal standpoint, he probably isn't. But more so that since he retired, he's kept an extremely low profile. Doesn't do interviews and obviously hasn't done any appearances. At this point, I actually believe that might be the case, the Ducks asking and him simply declining.

[Still MIGHTY]

SO MANY FEELS

[NJTank]

Brodeur got a nice send off in Newark, fans stood and chanted his name the entire Final Five minutes.

[TorinK92]

He should retire now, another season just can't be good for his legacy. He hasn't been the old Marty for a couple of seasons now.

[HedleyLamarr]

Brodeur got a nice send off in Newark, fans stood and chanted his name the entire Final Five minutes.

....then told Brodeur "You suck!" for wanting to spend time with his family.

[The_Admiral]

Barry Trotz gone. Progress!

[waltere]

And for the first time in their history the Nashville Predators are searching for a new coach.

[NJTank]

Brodeur got a nice send off in Newark, fans stood and chanted his name the entire Final Five minutes.

....then told Brodeur "You suck!" for wanting to spend time with his family.

Its time for him to retire, he is 42 and the Devils need to give Corey Schneider a full look

Barry Trotz gone. Progress!

Answer me this, will another coach get 16 years without winning a championship and very limited playoff success? I am shocked Trotz lasted so long it will be interesting to see who gives him a shot becuase he must be some what respected.

[The Giant Pacific Octopus]

Barry Trotz

I like Barry Trotz. He looks like a bulldog. If Quebec ever gets a team again and they call them the Quebec Bulldogs, he could be their coach and mascot.

[nash61]

This is almost completely irrelevant, but I still find it a fascinatingly horrible run of luck. If none of the injured Sabres goalies can return for the last game, the Sabres will be down to their fifth-string goalie. Jhonas Enroth, Michael Neuvirth, Nathan Lieuwen and Matt Hackett are all injured. The poor Rochester Americans are trying to make the AHL playoffs, but they have to send all of their goalies up for slaughter with the Sabres.

Edit: At least we have the record now... 9 goalies this season who dressed for the team. It's possible we could get to 10 tomorrow.

It's so bad that Rochester's coach put the wrong number for his backup goalie on the lineup card for Saturday's game against Hamilton. When I pointed it out and said that I wasn't surprised with all the goalie turnover, the coaching staff knowingly laughed.

[JayMac]

Brodeur got a nice send off in Newark, fans stood and chanted his name the entire Final Five minutes.

....then told Brodeur "You suck!" for wanting to spend time with his family.

Its time for him to retire, he is 42 and the Devils need to give Corey Schneider a full look

Barry Trotz gone. Progress!

Answer me this, will another coach get 16 years without winning a championship and very limited playoff success? I am shocked Trotz lasted so long it will be interesting to see who gives him a shot becuase he must be some what respected.

This will never happen again. We are in the age of getting rid of a coach after a bad slump. The Flyers got rid of Laviolette after a bad early start to this season.

[The_Admiral]

On the contrary, it seems like NHL coaches on average have longer leashes than they had before. Guys used to get fired midseason all the time. I don't think Mike Keenan ever lasted more than three years.

[RyanMcD29]

Speaking of which, Jack Capuano's sticking around another year. So back to the Islanders being decent with that pesky 15 game losing streak, followed by 2 wins, followed by another 9 game losing streak in the end of October/November

[buckeye]

Anyone going to any of the playoff games? I'll be at game 3 in Nationwide Arena against the Penguins.

[BigBubba]

He should retire now, another season just can't be good for his legacy. He hasn't been the old Marty for a couple of seasons now.

I dunno, he's this close to 700 wins...I'd stick around for another year.

Barry Trotz

I like Barry Trotz. He looks like a bulldog. If Quebec ever gets a team again and they call them the Quebec Bulldogs, he could be their coach and mascot.

End-of-season rant about the Leafs:

Where do I begin? I thought we really turned a corner last year. Looks like getting obscenely outshot every game ends up catching up with you. The absolute biggest problem is the defence. When Dion-freaking-Phaneuf is your #1 guy, good luck trying to become a contender. Franson? He's good; I like him. Gunnarsson? Not bad, but we need to upgrade. Rielly and Gardiner? Bad defensively, but they've got too much offensive potential to give away unless it's in a blockbuster (and no, not "four bums for three bums" kind of blockbuster, but thanks, Brian). Even then, I'd still view Rielly as untouchable. Gleason? Not bad, but he can't be your best defensive d-man. Ranger? Ugh. Please go. We've got some decent prospects in the system, but no standouts, and arguably our two best (Percy and Finn) are offense-minded. So what I'm saying is do whatever you can to blow up the D corps, be open to trading half the guys if you can get a good return and leave only one guy untouchable. I have a strange feeling that Carlyle will go bye-bye in favour of Trotz. Hmm. Speaking of which, I think Nonis will be gone. And hope so, too. He brought on board two of the worst contracts in the league in the past nine months (Phaneuf and Clarkson). Leiweke and Shanny running things looks promising, and having just watched "Draft Day", I have this fantasy of us trading up to draft Ekblad #1. It's not gonna happen, but I can dream. Though I have a feeling they'll make a big splash. Up front is rather solid, though Kulie's almost surely gone and Komarov may be back. No major changes needed, but again, good depth means lots of trade opportunities. In goal, I hope Reimer goes. No, not because I'm on the "URMAGAUD HE SUXXXX" bandwagon, but rather the opposite - he deserves a chance to start, and we can fetch a decent return for him.

tl;dr I hope Leiweke and Shanny blow up the defence, front office, and coaching staff and manage to fix several glaring errors by next year. Key word being "hope".

[TorinK92]

I accepted Ottawa's fate early on, anything after that was a bonus. I just have two gripes about the season.

1: If Ryan had just admitted he was injured and let Stone take his place sooner, the maybe we could have found the chemistry we had now and build a playoff push, but instead our 'star' forward gets 4 goals from January - March, when his replacement get nearly that much in March/April alone. Instead we get this great run as the NHLs best team over that period, but nobody cares because we're essentially a toddler screaming "Look what I can do, mommy, mommy, LOOK AT IT!!"

2: 0.3 :censored:ing seconds. Look, I know you blew it and all you wanted to do was blame the refs, but you couldn't just fall on the puck for half a second and not have the worst collapse in NHL history? I'm looking at you Lehner.