NHL Season Starts January 13. 4 Divisions: EAST Boston Buffalo New Jersey NY Islanders NY Rangers Philadelphia Pittsburgh Washington WEST Anaheim Arizona Colorado LA Kings Minnesota San Jose St. Louis Las Vegas CENTRAL Carolina Chicago Columbus Dallas Detroit Florida Nashville Tampa Bay NORTH(all Canadian division) Calgary Edmonton Montreal Ottawa Toronto Vancouver Winnipeg Regular play is with in division only 56 game season(East/West/Central play the other 7 teams in division eight times)/North plays 4 of 6 teams in division nine times and 2 of 6 teams ten times. Regular Season ends May 8th. Should be some great rivalry games.
The NHL has made it very difficult for a Canadian based team to move into the playoffs by aligning them all into 1 division, although it will increase rivalries. I have always felt the NHL should cut back to a 70 game schedule but we all know the Jewish owners are all for the money, not the quality.
That's because "non-essential" travel between Canada and the U.S. is a major problem. I like the idea of all the Canadian teams being in one division, though travel back and forth within such a large country will be a big-time headache. I just hope the NHL can survive another season of few or no fans in the stands without too much financial damage as it's more dependent on ticket revenue than the NBA, NFL and MLB.
Philly wins the first game of the season 6-3 over Pitt in the battle of Pennsylvania. Sidney Crosby scored at least.
Sidney Crosby plays in his 1,000th NHL game on Saturday, the most ever by a Penguin. "Sid The Kid" will turn 34 this year and isn't as dominant as he used to be, but is still one of the best players in the league. I still remember him scoring 100 points in his rookie season as an 18 year old. Time marches on.
Crosby is one of my all time fav players. He was a superstar since he started playing hockey. Just like Eric Lindros before him it seems some players think it is ok to try and decapitate hockey players of his caliber. With his skillset pre concussions Crosby should have been in the top 5 ever. Generational talent imho.
No question Crosby's been everything the Penguins hoped he'd be when they lucked out and won the first pick of the draft lottery in 2005. If he wasn't playing in the dead puck era he might be in the top five conversation. He could still end up as a consensus top ten all-time pick if he can play well for a few more years. Being the captain of three Stanley Cup winners is a huge feather in his cap.
One thing I liked about Crosby was that he was a super star with a name I could pronounce. While I don’t begrudge those talented foreign players playing in the US I miss when the sport was made up of the working class sons of the Canadian middle class (and a few yanks). I wonder if the foreign pipeline might start to decrease in the near future. Euro sports salaries are climbing and I’ve got to believe that the biggest advantage they have—a lot of kids still playing on ponds, is going to fade as Euro society continues to collapse and white replacement falls ever lower.
Here's a tribute to Crosby by Mark Madden, who's a Penguins homer and ranks Crosby as the 4th best of all time, but the article is worth reading anyway, in large part because of the listing of Sid's array of superstitions: With milestone looming, an appreciation for Sidney Crosby’s accomplishments https://triblive.com/sports/mark-ma...reciation-for-sidney-crosbys-accomplishments/
It’s always funny reading about athletes superstitions. I know I felt the same way when I was playing sports. The writer lists Mario Lemieux as his #1 of all time. I’m actually down with that, I bring him up all the time in that regard whereas most people disregard him completely. He was one of my favorites, not better then Gordie of course....
I would put Gretzky at the top based on his amazing career marks and hockey IQ for someone who was fairly average athletically and size-wise. But Mario was probably the most talented hockey player ever, like Gretzky he had a genius aptitude and feel for offense combined with great size, reach and mobility. He missed a ton of games due to recurring back problems (in part because he was never into working out and had poor eating habits and even smoked cigarettes) and also because of a bout with cancer. Otherwise he would have challenged Gretzky's career goals and points marks. I posted this in last year's NHL season thread, but being from Pittsburgh I'll do it again. Lemieux often made scoring look effortless:
I always like watching the big guys score, using their size to impose their will on the other team. I think hockey usually slots the bigger players to defense or checking positions. Watching a player like Lemieux, a big guy that could, shoot skate and score is a real treat.
Crosby and Ovechkin have been the best on offence this generation. I agree with Crosby being ranked 4th. To Flint: I disagree about the pipeline drying up from Europe, if anything it will increase. Consider that only 50000 people in Russia play organized Hockey. That includes Ovechkin all the way down to 4 year olds league in Moscow. Sweden there’s about 50000/Finland 20000/Czech 20000/Slovakia 15000/Austria 15000. USA 650,000/Canada 600,000. European programs are treated like Industry with infrastructure in place and all parts working in sync. Canada has financial constraints so tons of wasted talent and the USA is run haphazardly. Yet Canada and the USA still dominate due to huge numbers of players at all levels. 2020 NHL Draft: (Round One) 1. Alexis Lafreniere CAN Wing 6-1/193 NY Rangers 2. Quinton Byfield CAN Center 6-4/215 (1/2 negro with the ugliest White female that I have ever seen as mom) LA 3. Tim Stuetzle GER Wing 6-1/187 Ottawa 4. Lucas Raymond SWE Wing 5-11/170(intense background search: White French father/ Swedish Mom) Detroit 5. Jake Sanderson USA Defence 6-2/185 (Whitefish,Montana) Ottawa 6. Jamie Drysdale CAN Defence 5-11/175 Anaheim 7. Alexander Holtz SWE Wing 6-0/192 New Jersey 8. Jack Quinn CAN Wing 6-0/176 Buffalo 9. Marco Rossi AUT Center 5-10/184(Great Athlete: World Class, could become Olympic Triple Jumper if no NHL) Minn 10. Cole Perfetti CAN Center 5-10/177 Winnipeg 11. Yaroslavl Askarov RUS Goal 6-3/176(Has played in KHL since age 17, next NHL Star in net) Nashville 12. Anton Lindell FIN Center 6-1/183 Florida 13. Seth Jarvis CAN Center 5-10/175 Carolina 14. Dylan Holloway CAN Center 6-0/203 Edmonton 15. Rodin Amirov RUS Wing 6-0/177 Toronto 16. Kaiden Guhle CAN Defence 6-2/186 Montreal 17. Lucas Reichel GER Wing 6-0/170 Chicago 18. Dawson Mercer CAN Center 6-0/180 (Newfoundland) New Jersey 19. Braden Schneider CAN Defence 6-2/202 NY Rangers 20. Shakir Mukhamadullin RUS Defence 6-4/178 (Tatar, which is a White Muslim) New Jersey 21. Yehorov Chinakov RUS Wing 5-11/179 Columbus 22. Hendrix LaPierre CAN Center 6-0/179 Washington 23. Tyson Foerster CAN Wing 6-2/194 Philadelphia 24. Connor Zary CAN Center 6-0/179 Calgary 25. Justin Barron CAN Defence 6-2/195 Colorado 26. Jake Neighbours CAN Wing 6-0/195 ST. Louis 27. Jacob Perrault CAN Wing 5-11/192 Anaheim 28. Ridley Grieg CAN Center 5-11/163 Ottawa 29. Brendan Brisson USA Center 5-11/179 (LA,California) LasVegas 30. Mavrik Bourque CAN Center 5-10/178 Dallas 31. Ozzy Wiesblatt CAN Wing 5-10/183 San Jose 19 Canada 2 USA 4Russia 2 Sweden 1 Finland 2 Germany 1 Austria 30 White 1 half negro
https://nypost.com/2021/02/19/lindsey-vonn-ex-fiance-p-k-subban-sell-home-amid-breakup/ Question for you hockey experts, my guess is Subban is slow with bad hands but kept around, because you know?
The Russians are not letting their kids get soft. https://dailycaller.com/2021/02/20/russian-hockey-kids-taught-to-fight-video/
Sidney Crosby gets 2 Assists in the win for Pittsburgh, 3-2 over the NYISLANDERS. Pitt goalie won the game for them.
Yep, Sid's 1,000th game was very enjoyable to watch thanks to a nice comeback led by d-men scoring all three goals (2 by Letang, 1 by Matheson). Pitt's goalie Tristan Jarry was very bad to start the season, but has turned it around the past four games. From playing like their objective was to get their head coach fired, the Pens are finally looking competitive and playing with some determination and passion. Hopefully it continues.
Ovechkin scores goal 712 in Washington’s win over NJ. He should catch Phil Esposito (717)/ Marcel Dionne (731) and Brett Hull (741) this year. Jar Jagr (766) next year. Gretzky is number one with 894 goals Gordie Howe is second with 801 goals. He needs to avoid injury to catch Gretzky.
The outdoor games were moved to the evening because of too much sunshine. Has to be a first for that particular weather delay, a "problem" I'd love to see where I live, where the sun disappears each year around mid-November and doesn't reappear again until mid-April.
Yeah I understand lack of sun. From age 4 to 16 I lived above the arctic circle for 8 months a year. Luckily my Mom always made sure we left in early May and didn’t come back till end August. So I got good Vitamin D in southern Ukraine, and missed the White nights in Norilsk. I didn’t mind Polar nights at all but 24 hours of light was hell for most people. Anyway it’s Pittsburgh vs. Washington today. 1-0 Wash in the first. Crosby vs Ovechkin. Both had no points in the last game. None so far this yet either.
Still 1-0 Washington end of the second period. We are around the 1/3 mark of the season. The East Division is the most competitive thus far. East Wins-Losses-Overtime losses Boston 11-3-2 Washington 9-5-4 Pittsburgh 10-6-1 Philadelphia 9-4-3 Central Florida 12-4-2 Tampa 12-4-1 Carolina 12-5-1 West Vegas 11-4-1 North Toronto 15-4-2
T. J. Oshie with a beautiful airborne goal. I'm rooting for the Penguins of course but credit where credit is due. I've always liked Oshie's game, one of the more under-rated wingers in the league.
What a third period 6 goals. One assist for each of Crosby and Ovechkin. I agree about TJ Oshie being underrated. He is part of the main dynamic that makes Washington flow together so well.
