Around the NHL: 2024-2025 Season

[SABRES 0311]

Celebrini displayed some good work ethic against VGK. He’s wasn’t overhyped and seems to be doing well.

Edited December 28, 2024 by SABRES 0311

[SabreFinn]

Waiting for Florida - Montreal game on tv and got some facts: only four teams has scored more PP goals than Patrik Laine in December.

[PerreaultForever]

10 hours ago, SABRES 0311 said:

Celebrini displayed some good work ethic against VGK. He’s wasn’t overhyped and seems to be doing well.

Yup. Better than Bedard right now. He loves his location too which might be factoring in. Looks like the real deal though that's for sure. 

[mjd1001]

I didn't really understand just how bad Chicago is until watching the Sabres game and a couple other of their games recently.

-Bedard is fine.  Coming out of the draft I really didn't get the hype for him, I didn't see a player that excelled at anything that jumped off the ice to me against pros, but for being 18-19, he's almost a point per game guy.  

The rest of the team? They are going to be in trouble for a few years:

-They have a #2 overall and a #7 overall guy in their system (Levshunov and Korchinski), but both are D-men and likely years away from being very good. Nazar looks like he might be a decent prospect, but from what I read he's a 2nd or 3rd line ceiling guy. Hes still young, but from what I read about him, he's getting pushed around big time in his limited stints in the NHL (he's 5'8 or 5'9 and close to 170 lbs) Other than that, no top 20-level picks in their system. As of right now, their farm system is pretty bare, its a shadow of even what the Sabres have.

Not much on their current roster either:

-Foligno is 37 and looking it. On most good teams he would be a 3rd or 4th liner at most.

-Teravainen produces ok for a 2nd or 3rd liner at best.

-Bertuzzi is....Bertuzzi. At times he seems like a head case. He'll have a decent month and then you won't even notice him for a month. At best at this point he's a 20 goal guy that you don't trust to play a good 2-way game

-Taylor Hall looks as washed up as a 32 year old can be.

-Donato and Dickenson are "OK" players, but probably about the level of a Ryan Mcleod.

Thats it for their forwards.  Nothing great, not much even good, and not much help on the way anytime soon.

If the fans and team are patient, this could be a pretty good team in 3-4 years. But it doesn't look like they will be contenders anytime sooner than that.

[HumanSlinky39]

Rags lost again.

[ska-T Palmtown]

15 hours ago, mjd1001 said:

I didn't really understand just how bad Chicago is until watching the Sabres game and a couple other of their games recently.

-Bedard is fine.  Coming out of the draft I really didn't get the hype for him, I didn't see a player that excelled at anything that jumped off the ice to me against pros, but for being 18-19, he's almost a point per game guy.  

The rest of the team? They are going to be in trouble for a few years:

-They have a #2 overall and a #7 overall guy in their system (Levshunov and Korchinski), but both are D-men and likely years away from being very good. Nazar looks like he might be a decent prospect, but from what I read he's a 2nd or 3rd line ceiling guy. Hes still young, but from what I read about him, he's getting pushed around big time in his limited stints in the NHL (he's 5'8 or 5'9 and close to 170 lbs) Other than that, no top 20-level picks in their system. As of right now, their farm system is pretty bare, its a shadow of even what the Sabres have.

Not much on their current roster either:

-Foligno is 37 and looking it. On most good teams he would be a 3rd or 4th liner at most.

-Teravainen produces ok for a 2nd or 3rd liner at best.

-Bertuzzi is....Bertuzzi. At times he seems like a head case. He'll have a decent month and then you won't even notice him for a month. At best at this point he's a 20 goal guy that you don't trust to play a good 2-way game

-Taylor Hall looks as washed up as a 32 year old can be.

-Donato and Dickenson are "OK" players, but probably about the level of a Ryan Mcleod.

Thats it for their forwards.  Nothing great, not much even good, and not much help on the way anytime soon.

If the fans and team are patient, this could be a pretty good team in 3-4 years. But it doesn't look like they will be contenders anytime sooner than that.

I'd add that Reichel is ... there. Drafted 9 spots behind Quinn at 17th. Currently has a career pace of 27 pts/82. In his (and others') defense - they play on the Blackhawks with LESS support and talent than the Sabres have. Poor kids.

Bedard's toe drag to snap shot move is insane. The real problem he is running into this year - really no one else on his line, let alone the team, to keep the other teams from just smothering him. He's got some pretty silky mitts, too.

[Flashsabre]

https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/article/decision-to-healthy-scratch-oilers-jeff-skinner-a-long-time-coming/

[PerreaultForever]

51 minutes ago, Flashsabre said:

https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/article/decision-to-healthy-scratch-oilers-jeff-skinner-a-long-time-coming/

It's funny how the article calls him a "spent player" as if this has never happened before and now he's just over the hill. Clearly they haven't paid attention. 

[mjd1001]

Caps lost, but Ovechkin with another goal. 2 games back from injury, 2 goals already (although one was empty net).

7 goals in his last 4 games played. 

15 goals in his last 13 games.

He has scored in 12 of his 20 games played.

He's a plus 16 in 20 games played. Shooting 23%

This might be the most productive stretch in his entire career, and he's 39 years old (and looks like 50) -- But the 32 year old Jeff Skinner with more than 400 less games played than Ovi is "spent".

 

Edited December 30, 2024 by mjd1001

[Weave]

11 hours ago, mjd1001 said:

Caps lost, but Ovechkin with another goal. 2 games back from injury, 2 goals already (although one was empty net).

7 goals in his last 4 games played. 

15 goals in his last 13 games.

He has scored in 12 of his 20 games played.

He's a plus 16 in 20 games played. Shooting 23%

This might be the most productive stretch in his entire career, and he's 39 years old (and looks like 50) -- But the 32 year old Jeff Skinner with more than 400 less games played than Ovi is "spent".

 

Ovi is a Jagr level freak of nature.

[Flashsabre]

On 12/28/2024 at 4:58 AM, SABRES 0311 said:

Celebrini displayed some good work ethic against VGK. He’s wasn’t overhyped and seems to be doing well.

Celebrini is in the Crosby mold of player.  Plays the game the right way, always working. Isn’t the flashiest but has great skill that he uses effectively.

[Brawndo]

The NHL fined the Stars-100k for having an optional practice on December 26th, against the CBA Rules 

[Indabuff]

[shrader]

3 hours ago, Brawndo said:

The NHL fined the Stars-100k for having an optional practice on December 26th, against the CBA Rules 

How does that even happen? I can’t imagine a team being unaware of those rules. 

[mjd1001]

Montreal seems to be turning things around. They lost to Boston Dec 1, that made them 8-13-3.  

But since then, They have gone 9W-4L.  They are only 3 points back of the last playoff spot in the east.

Its not just going 9-4 though, They beat Tampa handily, just beat Vegas,  shut out the Panhters in Florida, Beat up on Detroit 5-1, blew out the Sabres 6-1, so some pretty big wins in there. If it wasn't for that 9-2 loss to Pittsburgh, I'd say they had a great month.

[ska-T Palmtown]

46 minutes ago, mjd1001 said:

Montreal seems to be turning things around. They lost to Boston Dec 1, that made them 8-13-3.  

But since then, They have gone 9W-4L.  They are only 3 points back of the last playoff spot in the east.

Its not just going 9-4 though, They beat Tampa handily, just beat Vegas,  shut out the Panhters in Florida, Beat up on Detroit 5-1, blew out the Sabres 6-1, so some pretty big wins in there. If it wasn't for that 9-2 loss to Pittsburgh, I'd say they had a great month.

Does this happen to roughly correspond with Laine's return and subsequent powerplay clinic?

[mjd1001]

21 minutes ago, ska-T Palmtown said:

Does this happen to roughly correspond with Laine's return and subsequent powerplay clinic?

Looking back at it, yeah, exactly. He didn't play that game against Boston, but since Laine came back, Montreal has been 9-4.

So, it can't be ALL him, but without him playing, they played at a 65 point pace. Since he came back, they are playing at a 113 point pace.

[Doohicksie]

[mjd1001]

3 minutes ago, Doohicksie said:

Lets see if Montreal sustains this.

I just think though, that many of us on this forum, and a LOT of the national NHL media looked at the least for the past 3-4 years and said something like "Buffalo, Ottawa, Detroit. They are coming. Which of those 3 will be first to make the playoffs? Oh, Montreal, their rebuild is 2, maybe 3 years behind the others".

So far none of Buffalo, Ottawa, and Detroit have made it. Ottawa has a good shot this year, but Montreal is not far behind them in the standings.

[Archie Lee]

1 hour ago, mjd1001 said:

Lets see if Montreal sustains this.

I just think though, that many of us on this forum, and a LOT of the national NHL media looked at the least for the past 3-4 years and said something like "Buffalo, Ottawa, Detroit. They are coming. Which of those 3 will be first to make the playoffs? Oh, Montreal, their rebuild is 2, maybe 3 years behind the others".

So far none of Buffalo, Ottawa, and Detroit have made it. Ottawa has a good shot this year, but Montreal is not far behind them in the standings.

Adams was hired 19 months prior to Montreal GM Kent Hughes.  Adams had a full year head start on our rebuild.  He also had the benefit of having valuable to elite-level assets to trade in Ristolainen, Reinhart, and Eichel, and the benefit, due to the Sabres prior history of being bad, of already having a stable of good to great young players in Dahlin, Thompson, Mittelstadt, and Cozens. He also had the benefit of greater cap flexibility than Montreal.

It's a bit early in the year still, but Montreal being close to us is just sad. That Montreal appears to have passed us is shameful.

[PerreaultForever]

6 hours ago, Archie Lee said:

Adams was hired 19 months prior to Montreal GM Kent Hughes.  Adams had a full year head start on our rebuild.  He also had the benefit of having valuable to elite-level assets to trade in Ristolainen, Reinhart, and Eichel, and the benefit, due to the Sabres prior history of being bad, of already having a stable of good to great young players in Dahlin, Thompson, Mittelstadt, and Cozens. He also had the benefit of greater cap flexibility than Montreal.

It's a bit early in the year still, but Montreal being close to us is just sad. That Montreal appears to have passed us is shameful.

They've made numerous good strategic moves that show him to be a better GM than KA. Picking up DeSmith for nothing and then flipping him, flipping Monahan for a first, gambling on Laine. Lane Hutson drafted at 62 seems pretty genius and/or lucky as well. 

Most of all though they seem to have gone culture first, then the talent, but in any event it seems to be working. I think they are doing more with less. 

[inkman]

The NHL has an outdoor game on New Years Eve and not one post in a hockey forum about it.   I’m sure it’s partially due to the Sabres irrelevance but we used to have threads dedicated to these games.  Now, I’m not sure how many people here actually knew there was a game.  The NHL destroyed a unique fun experience but forcing the fans to drink from a few hose.  You love outdoor games?  We’ll give you ten a season.  What’s that, you don’t care anymore?  Well put it at 5 o’clock on a day dominated by other sports and for good measure well throw 12 of our own games on to compete.  This league has a gun permanently aimed at their foot.  

[SwampD]

1 hour ago, inkman said:

The NHL has an outdoor game on New Years Eve and not one post in a hockey forum about it.   I’m sure it’s partially due to the Sabres irrelevance but we used to have threads dedicated to these games.  Now, I’m not sure how many people here actually knew there was a game.  The NHL destroyed a unique fun experience but forcing the fans to drink from a few hose.  You love outdoor games?  We’ll give you ten a season.  What’s that, you don’t care anymore?  Well put it at 5 o’clock on a day dominated by other sports and for good measure well throw 12 of our own games on to compete.  This league has a gun permanently aimed at their foot.  

When did they move it to NYE? It's always been on NY Day, no? Is it because of the NCAA football playoffs?

I watched it, and even thought about posting about it. I was going to say that I thought that the NHL was smart to have the Sabres play both teams in the week before the game, as that market always shows the strongest ratings in League events.

Moving it to the EVE was stupid as everyone is usually busy.

Edited Thursday at 02:07 AM by SwampD

[PerreaultForever]

2 hours ago, inkman said:

The NHL has an outdoor game on New Years Eve and not one post in a hockey forum about it.   I’m sure it’s partially due to the Sabres irrelevance but we used to have threads dedicated to these games.  Now, I’m not sure how many people here actually knew there was a game.  The NHL destroyed a unique fun experience but forcing the fans to drink from a few hose.  You love outdoor games?  We’ll give you ten a season.  What’s that, you don’t care anymore?  Well put it at 5 o’clock on a day dominated by other sports and for good measure well throw 12 of our own games on to compete.  This league has a gun permanently aimed at their foot.  

No I think it was because of the teams in question. They obviously favor big cities and big stadiums but they expected Chicago to be rising this year and they want to market Bedard. What they got though was bottom of the barrel against mediocre so like who cares? 

If the outdoor game had been Buffalo vs. Detroit nobody outside of those cities would have watched it either. 

[Andrew Amerk]

I had no idea the game was on NYE this year. 

I woke up this morning to see when the game would be on - and discovered it had already been played.