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Around the NHL 2016-2017

spndnchz

By spndnchz
in The Aud Club

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JJFIVEOH All Star

JJFIVEOH

Posted
Posted

It's not surprising. The owner is a change body. He loves creating change, all the time. "Positive friction". I'm not sure that's going to work in the NHL. You might be able to get people who buy into it on Wall Street as there are people who want to spend 5-10 years burning themselves out to make a load of money and then retire.

 

The NHL players play for money but also have a passion. Many value stability and any owner who exhibits a propensity to change for change sake is probably not going to draw well.

 

I'm sure all players want to be evaluated only on their metrics.

 

Well, scratch one competitive team from the Sabres division now. I'd be surprised if Florida doesn't tailspin after this.

It won't surprise me of some players want out.

 

Spuddy's firing had nothing to do with their current record. Viola, who knows nothing about hockey, brought in an analytics group to monitor the entire team. As mentioned, Spuddy is old school and is big on players that bring in leadership and character. Viola is all about numbers and doesn't care about the intangibles. Some of the players they got rid of recently didn't meet his analytic standards, while Spuddy thought their character and leadership more than made up for some bad analytics. Between the character of the players and the respect Spuddy got from his players, this was a tight knit team who busted ass every night. Which, in my opinion, is more important than analytics (some will disagree, that's a discussion for a different day).

 

Somebody mentioned robots, that's what Viola wants. A team full of robots. Spuddy didn't like it and neither did the team. He went to bat for the players who didn't like what was going on. It finally got him fired. Now Viola has a ton of pissed off fans and yes, the team will tailspin. This is going to blow up in his face. The first day I saw Viola, I knew he was a fraud.

From a fan at hfboards:

I was there. It was worse than the photos make it look.

 

At PNC Arena, the service entrance is where both teams leave the building. As a result, a crowd of fans gathers there after every game to look for autographs and get some face time with the players. Tonight, there was a mix of Canes fans, Panthers fans, and miscellaneous Jagr fans. I was out there with my 8 year old son because he wanted to get his stick signed.

 

After nearly all the Hurricanes players had left, the Florida buses were still parked at the loading dock. That never happens, because visiting teams usually have a plane to catch and beat it out of there quickly. It became a topic of conversation between the fans and security that the Panthers were taking a weirdly long time to leave.

 

Around that time, I checked the Canes GDT and saw a post that Gallant had been fired. So naturally, my reaction was to turn to the first person next to me and say something like, 'Holy crap, they're still here because they just canned their coach!". Which of course broke the news to everyone in earshot, and so everyone was talking about it by the time the Panthers buses finally pulled out.

 

By the time Gallant came out 10 or 15 minutes later, the whole crowd at the security gate knew what had happened. He had to come all the way out of the secure area into the public parking lot, with half a dozen arena employees helping him carry his bags to a taxi which was very conspicuously parked right in front of everyone.

 

The point being, what you don't see in those photos is the crowd of fans 50 feet away who were ALL taking pictures and video while Gallant awkwardly waited for the cab to get loaded. The worst part (and I considered not mentioning this, as it really doesn't reflect well on our fanbase) was one guy singing the "Hey Hey Goodbye" song in Gallant's direction.

 

So yes, that was just about the worst possible way it could have gone down, short of breaking the news to him on live TV or something.

Totally classless move. I'm quite sure I won't be going back to BB&T Center. I'll go to Tampa when the Sabres come down south.

TrueBlueGED Hall of Famer

TrueBlueGED

Posted
Posted

#DallasStars coach Lindy Ruff invited broadcaster @TheVoiceDS, who is battling cancer, to announce starting lineup to team tonight ...

 

... in dressing room prior to the game. Stars are playing final game at Joe Louis Arena, where Strader got his start 31 years ago.

 

That's pretty awesome.

Doohicksie Hall of Famer

Doohicksie

Posted
Posted

 

#DallasStars coach Lindy Ruff invited broadcaster @TheVoiceDS, who is battling cancer, to announce starting lineup to team tonight ...

 

... in dressing room prior to the game. Stars are playing final game at Joe Louis Arena, where Strader got his start 31 years ago.

 

That's pretty awesome.

 

 

He actually started in Glens Falls, NY, and from the Adirondack Red Wings made the jump to Detroit.... but yeah, Detroit was his first NHL gig.  A great guy and a great broadcaster.

So the Leafs play the Oilers tonight... should be fun

 

The Leafs had a big 2nd period and actually won pretty handily.  McDavid though....when he scores you're just gobsmacked.  He does stuff you don't see anyone else do- at a very high speed.

 

Watching the Coyotes game now.  Jamie McGinn plays for them now.  He still looks like a pretty solid player, kinda wish we still had him, but I understand life goes on....

ubkev All Star

ubkev

Posted
Posted

That McDavid goal was freaking vicious! The way he went from backhand to forehand was great, but the speed in which he did it was absolutely incredible.

That Aud Smell Hall of Famer

That Aud Smell

Posted
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McDavid is just mind-blowing. And if you watch a whole game, you see that every single time he's on the ice he creates a quality scoring chance. It's unreal. There's never been a player like him, that has his skating/hands/IQ combo.

 

Even with the risks of recency bias, I think this is correct. 

That Aud Smell Hall of Famer

That Aud Smell

Posted
Posted

I imagine Pavel Bure looked similar with his skating ability, but he was more a goal scorer, where I could see McDavid piling up 80 assists in a season

 

Good call. IIRC, he didn't quite have the hands that McDavid does.

Nor did he have, as I think you suggest, the vision that McDavid does either. But even as a finisher, I think McDavid will be better because of those mitts.

spndnchz All Star

spndnchz

Posted
  • Author
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Shaw none too pleased about his penalty. 

 

 

Guy is a ###### embarrassment.

Beer league 1970s redneck hockey cliche.

 

 

He is a disgrace to that proud sweater.

 

Bad call. (but yeah, Shaw is a schmuck).

spndnchz All Star

spndnchz

Posted
  • Author
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How is that a bad call?

 

It looked like the other player got his skate caught up in the other guy and he fell. Shaw's stick (which the guy held with his arm) didn't cause the incident. I'd expect that call in Montreal against the other team but not away.

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